It is evident that gender and gender roles vary from society to society. I believe that gender is not only historically contingent, but also geographically contingent. Depending on where you come from or what society it is, gender roles and behaviors expected by society for males and females are different. For example in Anglo-European societies, “men on average are more aggressive, occupy more leadership positions, do more physical labor, get higher-paying jobs, and do less child care or housework than women,” but in the Tahitian culture, men and women have very few differences in what they are expected to be or do (p. 110). The Berdache and Hijras are a prime example of how different societies are and how gender is a socially constructed thing—depending on where you are and what society you belong to, your gender plays a certain role that is often times different from that of another society.
While reading this piece, I came to a point where the question of "Who is what and who gets what?" arose. After proposing that gender inequality began when settlement and resources became more existent, Roy suggests that males and females had different and distinct gender roles from the very beginning of developing societies. Since the focus was more on surviving and things necessary for life, people were identified based on what they were able to do. Women were immediately given a higher status because of their ability to give birth, but men were given power as they focused on agricultural production and “bringing home the bacon”. I think this is the way it is because the main goal that people try to reach is to be as functional in a society as possible. In economic terms, people want to reach their maximum capacity. Men tend to be stronger than women, so they do things that contain manual labor, while women who bear children and spend 9 months with a baby inside of them tend to spend more time with their offspring taking care of them at home.
Men and women are becoming more and more alike as they become more equal and partake in the same activities. Roy mentions the two spheres of private life and public life and how women are associated just in the private sphere taking care of children and household tasks, while men in the public sphere are rational and impersonal as they deal with economics and politics. The emergence of the two spheres allows for gender inequality to slowly be demolished.
After watching Michael Kimmel's video "On Gender: Mars, Venus, or Planet Earth? Men & Women in a New Millenium," I thought it was really interesting and important to note that "privilege is invisible to those who have it"because it is often times true even when it comes to race. He provides a great example between two women, one white and one black. The white woman views herself as a "woman" while the black woman views herself as a "black woman". It is this way because as a white woman, she is considered privileged.
The Clorox commercial plays on the idea of the cliche term that "A women's place is in the home," but recently, I came upon a commercial by Tide that I thought represented the social changes taking place in terms of gender roles in the household or "private sphere".
It's interesting how in the video he not only addresses how other males and females view him as a stay-at-home dad, but also feels the need to increase his masculinity by working out by the increase in femininity people perceive when he does laundry. Societal changes occur slowly and we are beginning to see those changes in gender roles in society.
I find it interesting that laundry is thought of as a woman's job because my dad was always the parent to do the laundry. I didn't ever find this weird or question his masculinity, but now looking back I am sure some of my friends were confused. My dad has a stable job and has many of the "manly" characteristics that people think about when describing men. I don't think that by him doing laundry he is lessening his masculinity, but to many it may appear this way.
ReplyDeleteThis past semester I took a psychology class and in it we discussed the concept of raising a gender neutral child. Is it even possible to raise a child as gender neutral with society so strongly pushing the two genders? We are constantly surrounded by people telling us who and what we should become, and this is also seen in our gender. I found this concept interesting because I didn't realize that people were trying to negate this concept of gender.
Honestly Sarah, you are not the only one who wondered if it is possible to raise a gender neutral child. I thought about it and can not seem to capture how that would be possible. The media constantly emphasizes how women should dress, how we should do our makeup, or how we should present ourselves in front of the significant other during Valentine's Day or whenever. It's difficult to raise a child in those terms.
ReplyDeletePeople are biologically complex and systemize society in a difficult manner as well. In the beginning there were powerful female rulers such as Catherine the Great and Queen Elizabeth who conquered invaders and defended the country, then came along a period where females were thought to be submissive and weak, and soon came the fight for rights. Males became dominant and took over most of the institutions and decision making. It seems as though history made people go back a few steps and then forward a few steps, progress and then no progress.
Sarah, I really like that tide commercial you posted. It really shows the portrayal by the media of the ever changing "gender" and "social norms" in society. This commercial seems to go out of it's way to over emphasis and correct by displaying hyper masculinity. It is showing society that in order to make up for feminine tasks, you must after make up for it by doing hyper masculine activities otherwise you are less of a man.
ReplyDeleteSarah Kamstra I also like the point you brought up of being raised in a household with a father who did the laundry, when I to was raised in a similar environment and town where it was not assigned whoever was free to do the laundry, did it. After coming to Michigan and taking a few classes I learned that most areas are not like that, and that there are many stereotypes about women I had no idea about.
In my psychology class last year we explored gender frequently, and how it affects children and social categorization. When little girls play with an action figure or legos, and trucks it is considered socially acceptable. However when a boy plays with a barbie, or a doll that is completely rejected by society and seen as "not normal". In general, girls have more freedom to explore both genders as children, where as boys have less. Looking at commercials of the portrayal of toys in the media, the display of hyper masculine and hyper feminine characteristics to the maximum is shocking. I definitely think this sets boys up to be sensitive to the way their masculinity is portrayed throughout their lifetime.
In my opinion gender is becoming more and more equal every day. To be honest, even though both my mom and dad worked they also shared the chores equally. Although my mom worked from home in her office, it doesn't mean it was any less of a job. The question of "who is what and who gets what?" in my opinion is becoming less about the who is what. Although we have a long way to go, women are becoming a bigger role in society. Heck, we almost had a woman president if Obama hadn't been chosen by the Democratic party. On the contrary though, I have two friends in particular who said they want their "profession" to be stay at home moms. Some people might say they are playing into the stereotypes, but it is what they want to do. Nothing is wrong with that. I just believe that women should have a choice whether to become a big part of society or take care of their child at home... Or maybe even both.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the Tide commercial, it seemed as if it was trying to tell the audience that men could also do laundry and still be considered masculine. Moreover, I thought the bigger message of the commercial was to show that gender is socially constructed and not based on a biological construction.
ReplyDeleteLike Adam, I also felt that this commercial showed that gender is becoming more and more equal everyday. Today, women have bigger roles in society and same rights as men. What Twani said was interesting about “history made people go back a few steps and then forward a few steps, progress and no progress.” It made me think that even while gender roles in society are becoming more equal and equal everyday, we still tend to follow the gender stereotypes that was laid out throughout history.
Roy stated that gender is indeed historically constructed. We can see how women's role changed during history. We developed from matriarchy to patriarchy. Nowadays, although the inequality between male and female still exits, we are in progress at least. Take the laundry for example, many people now think it's not only the job of women. The Tide commercial shows that the traditional concept is changing. More men take the charge of childcare at home instead of women.
ReplyDeleteI also remembered reading an article in my psychology class about "John and Joan case". It's about a boy who's genital had been burned when he was at birth and he was surgically turned into a girl. He was raised as a girl. But it turned out into a failure that he still consider himself as a boy. The case shows that sex is genetic inherited. On the other hand gender belongs to a social category. The society defines what males and females are and what they should do.