Hello Brianne and classmates, my name is Firdawce Elharrab, I usually go by Fifi, and I’m majoring in Communications studies. I believe that each one of us carries a unique story that we can discover and learn from. These exceptional stories represent a lot of life experiences, culture, society, and background’s influences that shaped the way we think and we interact with each other. l can relate to a few concepts from the reading and how they affected my life.
1-The first concept is that gender classification is not only based on the physiology of the body of a woman or a man, but it is related to background, religion, society, and education (6). As a young female immigrant from Morocco, I had to overcome quite a few challenges to adapt to the new norms and to show that the idea of coming from a different culture where women and men are treated differently can be changed. Women and men are assigned different jobs from the day they are born. Most girls are prepared to be married and to care for their families, while men are considered the head of the household just because they carry the XY chromosome (page7). This separation is also influenced by social class. I came from a middle-class family where my father and my mother were more concerned about my studies, my wellbeing, and my future, while others low-class families had the urge to find a good suiter for their daughters. It was quite a challenge to have a different culture and mindset inside the house while the outside society had different norms and expectations.
2-Identity and how I identify myself within the society (page 12). As a little girl, I always saw my mother as my idol and how her interactions with the outside world shaped the women she became and how she transformed that knowledge and experiences to us over the years. As a woman, we had to act, talk, and sit in certain ways. Never crossing the legs or talking with a loud voice because it was not acceptable.
3- The Binary way of thinking and structuring everything around us as mutually exclusive, male-female, and not both. If someone does not in these categories, she or he is considered abnormal and does not fit in the social system or cultural beliefs like homosexuality. Girls are supposed to play with girls, and boys are supposed to play with boys because of the physiology of their bodies.
