The readings of Gendered/sex bodies and Theories of gender / sex highlights numerous important concepts. I want to talk about men this time and not focus so much on women. After watching ” Ten responses to the phrase ‘Man up'” by Guante i was drawn in. In this video the poet passionately expressed his personal experiences and the social construction that society tries to hold men in. One point in the video Guante talks about him wanting to be emotional and weak sometimes. He also said he wants to be strong without it relating to physical power and to have talks with his son about something other than sports. All of these points he made were powerful. The concept of body politics and body surveillance connects with Guantes speech.
Body politics is an assumption of a persons sexuality and character based off of our physical appearance. Usually men are told to man up, this comment already suggest that the male that is being told to man up is lacking in a certain area of what a “man” should be. If a man isn’t built with muscles or dresses like a nerd the assumptions come along that the individual is weak or not a ladies man . These ideas are false, according to theories of gender/ sex (Beauvior 2011) states that one is not born, but rather becomes,woman.” Beauvior continues on and expresses that the biological sex of a person, physic or economic destiny does not determine the influence actions a human women will take on in society. I referring back to a mans stand point, their appearance and/or economic background has nothing to do with what kind of human being they will be .
Looking at gender through the physiological theories lens, it focuses more on the past experiences from our childhoods. We may learn and believe things now , due to our upbringings. Our parents, family and friends . Sometimes we can unconsciously do things and have no clue where these behaviors come from , until we stop and retrace when and where. Cognitive development is a theory that helps explains the behavior of an human. This development theory focuses on the process of our identity and behavior influenced from teachings and environment in our adolescence. Personally for me, growing up my parents taught me at a young age to not sit with my legs open. As a 5 year old i can remember me always making sure my legs weren’t spread apart , i would always hear my mother or fathers voice saying ” that is not lady like”. The other reasons they installed with me was being protective and safe from any perverts . i do believe that some not all of our behaviors are encouraged by our upbringings.
Hi Kiara,
I have to say that you made me see things from a new perspective, I agree when you said that men are allowed to feel weak. Men have a right to feel good about themselves without relying on their body. It is a shame that they have to have a good appearance to be considered as a man. The strength of human(man) should not be determined by how he looks
Hi Anaya – YES! As humans we are all allowed to feel weak and that doesn’t have anything to do with our appearance. I wanted to note that you are welcome to comment on Journal entries, but you should be sure that you comment on discussions – because those are what count toward your grade.