Sunday, July 18, 2010

Week Nine Blog Entry: Social Construction of Gender

What you've read about the social construction of gender may have seemed totally normal to you, or you may have strongly disagreed with sociologists' arguments about gender, or you may just have been shocked at some of what you learned. Please take some time to reflect on this material by adding an entry to your blog. You can write about whatever aspect you'd like of this segment of the reading, discussing your personal responses to it and how your personal experiences and observations support or fail to support the sociological perspective.

Before taking this Sociology course, I gave the most weight to the role of biology in the creation of our gender identities and roles. In studying our text, podcasts and videos, I continue to believe there is a strong biological basis for many gender differences, such as the natural instinct women have to become the primary caregivers for their babies. But I’ve now expanded my views to also understand the growing belief that gender identities might be entirely created by society linking gender identities with sex differences (social construction).

The story of Jan Morris, a well-known travel writer who underwent a sex change to become a woman, struck me the most. She described her experiences at a restaurant as formerly a man and then now as a woman. When she was a man, the waiter would greet her with “respectful seriousness.” Now that she is a woman, the waiter greets her with playfulness and humor, and expects her to respond with something frivolous… which she does. This reinforces the social perception that characterizes masculinity with strength and tough attitudes, and therefore, specific mannerisms like seriousness and respect. And vice versa, it reinforces the social perception that characterizes femininity with grace and gentleness, and therefore, specific mannerisms like passiveness.

My beliefs on the role of biology were further challenged with the study on the hormonal makeup of monkeys. It was shown that providing opportunities for monkeys to be dominant over others increased their testosterone levels. This means hormones may not necessarily cause certain behaviors. Instead, certain behaviors may cause the production of hormones.

These two examples of social construction have certainly challenged my belief that biology, not culture, underlies gender differences. However, I continue to reason that gender identities, for the most part, seem to be so similar across countries, societies, cultures, time, etc, that there has to be more than social construction. There must be a biological basis for our identities. Also, in my experience within my own network of family, friends and colleagues, there seems to be a common thread between the way male minds operate and a common thread between the way female minds operate. Furthermore, the mere existence of the vast library of books like “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus,” suggests there are incredible differences in the ways male and female brains function.

1 comment:

  1. Professor Cook and Classmates, please disregard the first paragraph of my week 9 blog post. I accidentally copy pasted the assignment directions in addition to my post. Thank you! ~ Heather

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