Category: Reading Journal

The chapter 2 Theories of Gender/Sex of “Gender in Communication: A Critical Introduction / Edition 2” by “Victoria Pruin DeFrancisco, Catherine H. Palczewski, Danielle McGeough” analyzes the different study about gender and communication and provide a clear understanding and formal explanation to readers about the perception of their gender’s identities.

Before the authors reach out to definition of gender/sex communication they analyze for us the theories of many searchers in 3 categories. The first, on a biological point where they said chromosomes (Hormones and Genitalia) do not have an impact in our aggression, delinquent or violence behavior but otherwise it is caused by an aggressive situation that affect our testosterone. And for the brain development, it is just the experience that we have as a girl or boy in our childhood from society that impact our masculine and feminine behavior, therefore our biology differences do not determine our sex.

Second, Psychological theories include psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic feminism that our conscious or unconscious thoughts and memories don’t related to our gender identity but our emotional experience during our childhood. Social learning that focuses in our learning method and observation from society can’t influence gender/sex but separated it instead. And cognitive development may variable to the change of someone sex because man and woman are not that different.

And third, is a critical/Cultural theory that is someone’s customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group influence someone lifestyle and the separation of power between female and male rather than our gender identity and sex.

And in chapter 4 of the second “Gendered/Sexed Bodies” how norms and cultures illustrate sexed bodies differently and project different pattern on those bodies so that they can creating feminine and masculine persons puppets. Acting like a man or woman is not natural, this is manipulation of your beliefs, changing the way you look into things and your thoughts like a slave.

Like Guante said in his poem “Ten Responses to the Phrase ‘Man Up” gender categorized is just a stereotype, society wants “man who doesn’t eat steak, drive a pickup truck, have lots of sex with women are nothing more than background characters, comic relief, props.” But the reality is we are all equal in emotion and we are just different by physical anatomy and the poet add that “women and the women’s movement figured out a long time ago that being directly ordered around by commercials, magazines and music is dehumanizing. When will men figure that out?” all those stereotypes are poisons and mental chains for humanity I believe if everybody was themselves maybe society will be a better place to live, people will be more happy like I am instead of looking for a reason to exist, a safe place and happy place to be with all those unnecessary expensive therapy and medications.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Physiology, family, society has a huge influence on our persona and the person we become today.

Body politics and disciplining gendered bodies were the first aspects that caught my eyes because I can relate to them so much. Stereotyping based on Physiology and body starts from birth until the adult’s life.

Perceptions of bodies and their reflection on our social image have become very important. Women need to have a slim proportional figure, small hands, neat fingernails, talk with a lower voice, skinny and soft legs that what’s called being feminine. I always remember being a little girl and my mom was always concern about my way of acting around people, I need to sit properly never crossing my legs, or sitting next to a male figure except for my dad, while my brothers were running all over the place showing their free spirit. At the end of any ceremony or event, I would get a pink doll and my brothers would get toy guns as a reward.

On the other hand, men need to show more masculinity by having big and strong body parts, muscles, loud voice. I wonder if women have strong muscle, loud voice if even she has a physiology of women would she still be looked at as a woman or as a man? or she will be rejected by  society just because she not following the norms that another human lay down as a characteristic for being feminine.”People who identify as women are encouraged to be continually aware of their bodies as they prune, pose, provide sexual gratification, menstruate, give birth, and nurse children. People who identify as men tend to experience their bodies as a double bind: They dare not pay too much attention to their bodies for fear of appearing effeminate (Gill, Henwood, &McLean, 2005)”.

Another interesting aspect is objectification ”occurs when people are viewed as objects existing solely for the pleasure of the viewer, rather than as agents capable of action”. I believe most women are looked at an object on pleasure and need to look great all the time. every morning I spent around thirty minutes doing my hair and my make up to look decent while my husband takes Five minutes to get ready.  It gets frustrating sometimes but I can’t help it because I have to look a certain way before leaving the house. I do feel that the forth aspect is Attractiveness, we are all attractive to specific body shapes, beautiful faces, muscular men, skinny and beautiful women. As described in the book ” normative physical appearance that is seen as pleasing, beautiful, and sexually appealing. The norm of attractiveness that merges beauty and sexuality “moves sexuality into the public realm . . . and thereby[makes it] amenable to inspection, definition, social monitoring, and control” (Travis et al., 2000, p. 239).

today’s market has put specific characters on how a beautiful woman should look like and therefore they spent a lot of money buying cosmetics and going through surgeries to fit and be beautiful.

why, can’t we all feel and look beautiful the way we were, and just embrace it? without trying to look like Angelina Jolie or Brad pit.

There are several sub-schools of gender and sex theorists that give insight into different contrasting approaches which include materialist and psychoanalytical feminists as well as  postmodern and poststructuralist theorists of gender. Psychoanalytical feminists are further divided into Laconian, Kristen, and freudian feminists. Poststructuralist theorist has been contesting the historical feminist discrimination between nature as well as nurture and Thomas Laqueur, a famous writer, happens to follow the former theorists.

Back in the era of ancient Greece and Rome, the theorists were mainly interested in then idea of sexual relations between same gender partners. Most feminists  of that time followed Sappho who being an influencer openly express her desire for lesbian love. However, this notion on the same sex relations was not accepted by the majority. Thomas Laqueur, in his Making Sex, writes that the concept of sexuality in ancient time  was different than modern times. Men and women were not perceived as two  different genders, rather two versions of one same  gender. Women were taken as slightly  different version  of men with  clitoris as a genital in place of the penis. Laqueur come up with the conclusion that sex, like gender, is determined historically.

During the Renaissance period, Non-reproductive sexual acts including sodomy and bestiality were considered as capital offense. However, gender of sexual partners was not clarified by Parliament. The reason behind the non-clarification pf the sex  of partners was the fact that the medical world has still not differentiated between male and female genitals.

During the 18th century, the concept of gender categories was naturalized. Advancement  in medical science has led to the differentiation and categorization of genders (male and female). Women with all their anatomical  and behavioral difference were  considered opposite to men. Women were considered  to be passive, sexually less active type while men  were associated with aggressive and sexually associated nature. However, this concept of dimorphism  also fought with older beliefs like gender is produced by performative activities and not natural. After the categorization of gender, there were  initiated enlightenment  values  for gender equality and women’s rights. Feminists of the time argued for liberty of women  and giving them equal rights to them as men. Women were not even able to enjoy basic right owing  to the conflicts of race, class, and politics. Another major  concept that was put forward in the 18th century was the association of masturbation with many contagious diseases. Along  with prohibition from masturbation, disciplining of private parts was among the strict instructions.

During the 19th century, the concept of natural gender types was widely accepted  and followed by normal procreative sexuality. However, the social society in the 19th century was divided into an upper class and middle-class cultures. The upper-class culture showed equality between men and women  regarding both work and home while middle-class culture was classified onto two separate spheres:

Public sphere: This was associated with male partners and men were publicly more active. Men were considered to work outside and bring money to the house. Men were supposed to face all the struggles of industrial, political, or business nature.

Private sphere: This sphere belongs to women and it consisted of house-chores, nurture, and child-rearing jobs.

In this two phased culture, men had the privilege to enjoy both public and private spheres where they could just wing around between home and outside while women were only restricted to private space. This double sphere system were not good in bringing a good image of women to society. Women were divided into two types depending on the space were they existed such as domestic angelic and demonic whores.

The 19th century was about to bring revolution in the lives of women when Divorce Court was created which allowed women to give divorce to their spouses. Besides, sodomy was also removed from the list of capital offenses leading to the de-intensification in the regulation of sexuality in women. However,  the major drawback of de-intensification in the regulation of sexuality was that prostitution was adopted  as a profession of women at a big level owing to the increased population of women. The parliament had to put a stop to increasing population and CD Act was implemented. A large number of women  suspected as prostitutes were arrested. However, this CD Act was suspended in 1883 due to long protest by groups of the working class and a new Act Criminal Law Amendment Act which also clearly prohibited  men from any indecent act with any other man. Oscar Wilde who was allegedly reported to have sexual relations with a man had raised his voice vigorously against these kind of Acts. Along with sexuality regulation, another worth mentioning even took place in the 19th century was creating The New Women concept which was supposed to be completely denying the feminine qualities  described before. The New Women  wanted equal rights and place in society with men and was public, active, and aggressive as men. A completed switch between  the gender was seen leading to change in concepts of home, race, and even politics. The new women who were before labeled as feminists had changed the notion every soon. Women become part of society acquiring different roles as feminists, socialists, or as child-rearing partners in the house. The male domination in the society though had not finished yet. It was forced by a lot of competition by women. This new women which emerged from 19th century and is ruling the present era has proven as a threat to male-oriented society in almost all fields of life including politics, imperialism, or economy. The 19th century has unveiled the stereotypes and created a society of natural sexuality and gender equality creating a balance between proper desires and proper roles of both genders. Feminists have still got to run a long battle to achieve the rights they are demanding.

The theories of gender and sexuality have been very distinct from each other from ancient times. Some theorists consider gender to be nurture and sex to be natural are the one who believe in insignificant subject values including race. Some of the theorists who believe in ideology and language to be the main determining factors of everything are followers of postmodernists and poststructuralist approaches. Regardless of the position, all the critics suggest us to be critically conscious of the performative natural identity.

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.

Society has placed rules and behaviors considered normal according to gender and sex that guides the manner people live their lives. Until recently, men and women body types had a blueprint look. Men had to be six feet and above, muscular with a full head of hair and dominant. Hence, a man that looks otherwise gets their masculinity revoked and deemed effeminate. Women had to have voluminous hair with an hourglass-shaped body and submissive. It is important to note these are mostly western and European beauty standards that have traveled through cultures and influenced the way parents raise their children. Gender shapes the way most people live daily, as going against one’s gender opens them to ridicule.

In response to forced gender behaviors, people have responded by ignoring such rules and, instead, challenging them. In 1967, Katherine Switzer became the first woman to run a marathon despite people trying to stop her. By doing so, she proved that marathons were not just for men anymore, and women were strong enough to participate. The celebrity Jaden smith continuously opposes the rigidity in gendered clothing by wearing clothes considered ‘feminine.’ Consequently, it opposes the notion that black men are aggressive and hypersexualized. Finally, a group of women artists called the Guerrilla Girls advocated for women’s presence in museums and the art world as more than just feminine objectification on canvases in 1985, which led to more inclusion of women in art. Challenging all manner of norms society expects sparks debates that could lead to change.

Body objectification is an issue facing many people, which has roots in childhood. Many children grow up playing with specific toys, which could shape the way they relate to ideas such as beauty standards and gender behaviors. When I was a young child, the only available dolls to play with were white, with long hair and short provocative clothing. The result was I wanted to change my hair to look like the dolls as it was advertised to be the standard of beauty. Other industries, such as the beauty pageant sector where little girls are judged based on their beauty and makeup, further increase personal objectification and from others. Currently, there is progress where dolls exist in every race, shape, and sex, which reduces objectification that rises from low self-esteem.

Thurmya Davis

Gender Communication

June 4^th 2020

 

Journal Entry 3

 

“People share common nature, but we a trained on gender roles”. I decided to utilize this quote for today’s journal entry in light of the fact that I agree that humans are trained depending on their sexual orientation. While I am still a believer in there being two genders, I do recognize that society has forced elements on human depending on your gender. Who said pink is for girls, and blue is for girls? There are many examples of this and it definitely makes it harder for parents and children as children start to develop their own likes and interests.

 

Predominately going off of facts, men brains are typically bigger than female brains. This chapter reminded us to not over analyze everything and to actually see things for what it is. Men are typically bigger than woman so that why their brains are a bit bigger, simple! However, it is not about how big the brain is, it is about how our brains are made to make us act certain ways and possess specific traits. Studies prove that women and men brains have differences physically and mentally. I think it is only right to acknowledge that two different species will act in two different ways. What causes the debate is the fact that a percentage of men and women act differently then what science say they should.

 

Regarding this chapter, the author enlightens us that the brain commonly develops in one of three ways: biological, psychological, or cultural. I totally agree with this because biologically the brain is going to cause a child to do certain things because of their chemical makeup. Psychological experiences can change the develop of a child’s brain because their brains are still learning and developing (this can cause change in a child’s interests). Cultural elements and experiences can also influence a child. For example, if a girl child is raised by two mothers than it is a strong possibility that she will accept same sex relations.

I understand the concept of gender as evolving as the text mentions. Prior to 2016, I never would have thought there could be more than two genders. Luckily I grew and learned to accept things. I don’t think that gender should just be two categories or that “traditional gender roles” should be something normalized.

The text mentions different conceptualizations of gender. The one that I grew up on is Gender as Equivalent to Sex. Before I started to understand more I was taught that your sex is automatically what your gender is. If you are born with one thing then that defines your gender. As I started to become more educated I started to agree with the conceptualization of Gender as Separate from Sex. This is how I was able to understand how trans gendered people are able to identify themselves. It makes a lot of sense to me that you can be born one sex but identify as a completely different gender. “Gender is a social construct” has been a statement that has been drilled in my head for the past four years and I believe it is 100% true. Our perspective on gender in the beginning is shaped by the society we grew up in. As the world gets more progressive I do believe that it is our responsibility to educate ourselves further and to accept people for whom they really are.

The gender binary definitely is something that limits us in my opinion. I think it stifles opportunities and mental wellness for people of all genders especially those who do not fit into the two sexes.  There is a lot more to learn when it comes to gender and I will do my best to get more knowledge this way I can accept people for who they are.

Journal #2

The reading is based on the importance of women’s gender, sex, and sexual identities. When a person is born, they are characterized by chromosome, organs, or hormones. It is important that we know that whenever the doctor is referring to the sex of a person, we should always know that he is talking based on physical appearance. Gender identifies us as male and female in social life. Identity has automatically been assigned during childbirth. We are assigned labels as girls or boys based on genitalia. While the term “sex” refers to someone’s sexual anatomy and has a biological distinction between male and female. Such genitalia and genetic differences tell us when a baby girl is born that she is female or a baby boy is born male. Gender is based on fact or condition of belonging to or identifying with a particular gender. We can express our sexuality through our thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes, values, behavior, practice, roles, and relationships towards people. It varies based on identity physical, emotional, and romantic attraction. I believe sexuality can be identified in so many ways like homosexual, heterosexual, pansexual, demi sexual, bisexual, and straight sexuality are a part of a massive spectrum and can’t truly be minimized by society’s idea of it. All of these tell us about the sexual orientation of a person. The binary makes us understand that these identities are not the same for everyone. It is important to know the difference between when and where to use the proper terms and how to respect gender, sex, and sexual identity. Though my understanding is limited, I plan on learning to express the perspective view of how sex, gender, and sexual orientation is important. I personally identify with my physical sex and gender-basedn societies view on what female is. In the beginning m,y idea of gender sex and sexual identity was all interchangeable and I really had no distinction. I have a feeling that this class will help me see the difference and help communicate and understand the complexity and spectrum of such.