Author Archives: Anevay Darlington

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Sex and Gender 101 by Kyl Myers gave an overview over the difference between gender and biology, as well as the definitions for them. Biological sex explains purely physical attributes that people often confuse as the very things that contribute to a person’s gender and identity. Gender, however is a social construct that doesn’t have anything to do with a person’s biological sex. It is easy to confuse the two because we assign gender to our children based on their biological sex thus raising people to think that there are only two ways to identify. Alongside gender identity is gender expression which can sometimes confuse people because it may challenge your assumptions on what a “woman” or a “man” should look like. Sexual orientation is also something that people align too much within gender stereotypes, there are many sexual orientations and they don’t have anything to do with someone’s individual gender.

In Bell Hook’s chapter in “Feminism is for Everyone”, she writes critically about how society treats people based on their gender as well as how to radically shift your perception to challenge the status quo. She explains what feminism is as well as what it isn’t and talked about some of the earlier movements as well as branches of it. I like that she spoke about how women can be sexist as well, as we are often raised to be so to uphold our patriarchal society. She spoke about how feminism isn’t an “anti-man” movement but an anti-sexist and a equal rights issue. People often miss the point and don’t realize how deeply ingrained these issues are in our society.

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This week’s reading reminded me of last year’s quarantine amid the pandemic when I read Bell Hook’s “Communion: The Female Search for Love”. My mom had given me the book and has always been very passionate about speaking to me about feminism, which is something that I’m very grateful for. Bell Hook’s is a great author because she approaches subjects in a way that feels very accessible and immediately gives definitions of concepts so that the reader can understand what she’s talking about. In her book that I read she would often talk about the fact that mostly women take gender studies courses rather than men, even though the topic is something that is important for everybody. Men typically don’t care as much about feminism because they don’t see how they benefit from it, even though for example, toxic masculinity and gender roles harmfully affect everybody. Although, at times even I didn’t want to care about learning about feminism and gender studies. I was afraid at times that I would be alienated in society for noticing or speaking up about sexism. Bell Hook’s writing made it feel more real and important to notice my self-worth enough to be able to call out things that make me uncomfortable. I also read it right before moving out with my boyfriend which was great timing as it gave me food for thought when it came to noticing gender roles around the house and things like that.