I will raise the lowest commentary grade by one (1) letter for the first five (5) people who answer any of the following questions about chapter 3 correctly. You can submit answers to all of the questions, but I will only raise one (1) commentary grade per respondent. Submit your answers as "comments" to this post. Answers must quote textual evidence and use proper citations. Here are the questions:
1. According to the readings, why do we need to accommodate more than two genders?
2. According to the readings, what limitations does the two-gender system impose? On whom?
3. How early does gender performance training occur, in the U.S. context, according to the readings? What form(s) do(es) such early gendering take?
4. In your day-to-day activities and interactions this past week, in what two ways were you rewarded for performing your gender correctly? In what two ways, if any, were you penalized for for not performing your gender correctly?
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1. In "Two Sexes Are Not Enough," Anne Fausto-Sterling suggests that we need to accommodate more than two genders because "while male and female stand on the extreme ends of a biological continuum, there are many other bodies…that evidently mix together anatomical components conventionally attributed to both male and females” (Fausto-Sterling 140).
ReplyDelete2. A two-gender system imposes limitations on those such as Levi Suydam, whose “sex” is not easily determined. Fausto-Sterling states, “For Suydam-and still today for women in some parts of the world-it meant the right to vote. It might mean being subject to military draft and to various laws concerning the family and marriage. In many parts of the United States, for example, two individuals legally registered as men cannot have sexual relations without breaking antisodomy laws” (Fausto-Sterling 140).
3. In “The Social Construction of Gender,” Judith Lorber states that, “For the individual, gender construction starts with assignment to a sex category on the basis of what the genitalia look like at birth” (Lorber 142). This is only the beginning. She continues on to say that, “Then babies are dressed or adorned in a way that displays the category…A sex category becomes a gender status through naming, dress, and the use of other gender markings. Once a child’s gender is evident, others treat those in one gender differently from those in the other, and the children respond to the different treatment by feeling different and behaving differently” (Lorber 142). This is evident by the anecdote she opens her article with about the baby on the bus in New York City.
Fausto-Sterling, Anne. "Two Sexes are Not Enough." Women's Voices, Feminist Visions Classic and Contemporary Readings. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 140-142. Print.
Lorber, Judith. "The Social Construction of Gender." Women's Voices, Feminist Visions. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 142-44. Print.
According to Anne Fausto-Sterling's essay "Two Sexes are Not Enough," "European and American culture is deeply devoted to the idea that there are only two sexes," however, there are many people who do not fit into either the female or male category (140). Imagine growing up as a hermaphrodites, pseudohermaphrodite, transgendered, or gay child and feeling ostracized and confused because you do not identify with either the female or male gender roles. We are teaching the youth of America, from a very young age, that you are either female and have female characteristics, or you are male, and behave as a man should behave, yet this idea is unrealistic and needs to be expanded to include everyone. By reading chapter 3, "Learning Gender in a Diverse Society" one learns that "through a process of gender socialization, we are taught and learn the appropriate thinking and behaviors associated with being a boy or girl in this culture" and "women and men learn the practices of gender, internalize the norms associated with masculinity and femininity, are rewarded for appropriate behaviors and sanctioned for inappropriate behaviors, and learn to perform the ones that are expected of them" (Lee and Shaw 126-128). This internalization of gender norms begins at a very young age, however if one does not fit in with either the female or male category, one will constantly be chastised by his or her peers for performing acts that do not fit the gender roles of the gender they appear to be. For example, if a hermaphrodite child, who appears to be only male, begins playing with a barbie doll instead of a football, his peers will most likely tease him for being girly. This child might identify more with the typical female gender norms, even though he looks like a male, but may be too afraid to act on his true feelings for fear of being made fun of by his peers. If society could accept that there are more two than two genders and that those genders do not fit in to the typical gender norms, the lives of many, such as heterosexuals and transgendered people, would be much easier. Society needs to accommodate more than two genders so no one feels ostracized, especially at a young age.
ReplyDeleteFausto-Sterling, Anne. "Two Sexes are Not Enough." Women's Voices, Feminist Visions Classic and Contemporary Readings. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 140-142. Print.
Lee, Janet and Susan Shaw. Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions, Feminist Visions Classic and Contemporary Readings. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 124-139. Print.
-Stephanie Phillips
According to the readings, why do we need to accommodate more than two genders?
ReplyDeleteAfter reading, “(Rethinking) Gender” by Debra Rosenberg, I realized that people who consider themselves as masculine or feminine take their gender for granted. When I was little I knew that I was a little girl, and my parents explained why I was different from a little boy. But for children who are transgender, it must be extremely confusing as a child to decide what gender they feel comfortable as. Rosenberg stated that, “But to those who consider themselves transgender, there’s a disconnect between the sex they were assigned at birth and the way they see or express themselves.” (Rosenberg 158) If we accommodated more than two genders, people who are transgender wouldn’t have to feel as if they didn’t ‘fit in.’ There was a girl in my class in elementary school who kids used to make fun of her, because she dressed like a boy and she wasn’t interested in playing with the girls. It’s unfair and extremely hurtful for these children to endure this type of verbal abuse because their gender isn’t established as ‘normal’ yet. Their gender doesn’t fit our societies’ mythical norm. I strongly feel that we need to accommodate more than two genders in order to make everyone feel comfortable with who they are.
Rosenberg, Debra. “(Rethinking) Gender.” Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions. 4th ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2009. Print.
How early does gender performance training occur, in the U.S. context, according to the readings? What form(s) do(es) such early gendering take?
ReplyDeleteAccording to Judith Lorber in The Social Construction of Gender, “gender construction starts with the assignment to a sex category on the basis of what the genitalia look like at birth.” Before the child can even speak or walk it is assigned a specific gender and is expected to act in ways deemed normal of this gender. Then once they are born they are dressed in certain colors and bought certain toys that are typical of the gender like pink for girls and blue for boys. Most children are taught not to play with toys of the opposite gender like cars for girls and barbies for boys. Beginning this early, children begin to learn about gender and why they should act differently than the opposite sex. They are also taught different gendered activities like playing baseball for boys or using easy bake ovens as girls. Since it is ingrained in children from the minute they are born (and even before) they grow up to believe they must wear certain clothes and have different mannerisms in order to portray their sex and not be mistaken for the opposite gender.
Lorber, Judith. “The Social Construction of Gender.” Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions Classic and Contemporary Readings. Ed. Susan Shaw and Janet Lee. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 142-145.
Question 1: According to the readings, why do we need to accomodate more than two genders?
ReplyDeleteAs a culture, we like to put everything into categories or imaginary little "boxes." It helps us explain things and make sense of our world. But by doing this, we are identifying what doesn't "fit" and when this comes to categorizing people, it can get complicated and hurtful. Though the majority of us fall into one of the categories of sex (male or female), that is not the case for everyone, just like everyone can't fit into one type of race. Fausto-Sterling sums it up well when she states that, "...if the state and legal system has an interest in maintaining only two sexes, our collective bological bodies do not." We need to accomodate more than two different genders because it is evident that there are more than two sexes in nature. We cannot assume then that someone of a combination of both sexes will fit into one of the two genders we have constructed.
Fausto-Sterling, Anne. "Two Sexes are Not Enough." Women's Voices, Feminist Visions Classic and Contemporary Readings. 4th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009. 140-142. Print.
5) In the past week I was congratulated for my gender by my choices in feminine clothing. I enjoy looking nice, wearing heels or pretty clothes. I was told by my boyfriend that I looked very nice over the weekend and was rewarded with a kiss. I was told by my parents over Sunday brunch that I looked nice and put together and was rewarded with free breakfast.
ReplyDeleteHowever, when I work I wear semi-clunky l.l. bean duck boots, my friends at work tease me for never wearing other (more feminine) shoes. As a woman, I am supposed to be flattered when a man flirts with me. However, when I'm working and have no interest in being flirted with I become annoyed. But my annoyance and rebuffing of comments is then seen as bitchiness, which isn't what nice girls should be.