What is the purpose of Gender?

As we found out in class gender is a very sensitive and complex idea. As Lesleigh stated above, we had a very large discussion about this. There were many differences. I think there are multiple fixations to gender. In "Night to His Day" by Judith Lorber, she argues that gender is socially constructed and there is a relationship between gender toles and power/ structure. She mentioned that masculinity equals power. I see everywhere (media, walking on the streest, tv shows) men thinking they have to be masculine. I know I have brought this up in class a couple of times but the snickers commercial at the super bowl. After the two men ended up touching lips they HAD to prove their masculinity by ripping off their shirts. I believe if it were two girls that happened to kiss, there would not be a problem.

According to Ivy and Blacklund, "doing gender" is using sexist languages. I have to agree that in today's english there is still a one way language. I personally think that there are some words that we should get away with but I am guilty of using sexist language sometimes, not in the bad way. I will see a bunch of people and say 'hey guys' even if there are females present. It is a habit and I do not see anything wrong with that. I agree with Sam in that I don't see a problem of having "male" or "female" but do not categorize (other) them into something they are not. The Framework essay is a great place to look for "othering". It talks about the different levels of "othering".

There is an individual level which one can experience being "othered" or one can see in which ways he or she may "other". There is a community level, where one may put a whole community into one category. After the community level, there is a societal/structural Institutional level, where comments like "the society does...". I agree with Whitney that it can be very dangerous of identifying people as "A" and not "A". I think that it is ok that we put oursleves into boxes but we should leave to just ourselves. Julie hit it right on the nose when she talked about "unconscious" categorizing. Whether you are aware of it or not, everyone "others" other people. I just did it there by stating "everyone" and did not realize it until I was done. One is not aware of it when they do it most of the time.

In my service learning, I help with the children's group for a domestic violence organization. On Thursday nights, I get to run the group. We teach them that violence is more than just physical pain and try to help them understand how to deal with it. It becomes really hard at times because these kids come in looking so innocent. I have two younger volunteers that come in and help and not to say that I do not do it but as I am watching them, I see them "othering" some of the kids. The group is a hispanic group and there are a couple of kids in there that do not speak much english if any. I heard one of the volunteers, I believe she is 12, say that she didn't think that the two that did not speak english were not very smart. She also mentioned that they did not say much either, even when we ask them, so that helped her come to think that they were not as smart as they actually are. I see "othering" everywhere, even in me. I do not think that it is necessarily a good or bad thing. I think we grew up in an era that it seems like the norm to do.

How does your social call, cultural/ethnic background and geographic region shape your beliefs about gender?

I think your social class, cultural/ethnic background and geographical shape beliefs about gender. Where you live and how you live will have a lot to do to determine what you think about gender. In the Jessica Lynch piece, The Dangers of Playing Dress-up, her fear of abandament by her male comrades and the fear that she will be harmed more severely by the Iraqis, because of being a wome, brought on some emotional distress to her. I was talking in class about this with Maria and she compared Jessica Lynch and Mohammad's daughter in the same situation. Mohammad shields his daughter from the war in fear that she will be harmed. In parts of the documentary that was shown in class (I believe it was called Tough Guise) it showed that ethnicity and environment shape gender and social class influences portraying certain aspects of gender. James William Gibson stated in Warrior Dreams that white men s masculinity is threatened or challenged by social movements in the US and worldwide. I think that there is some truth to that statement. In class we talked about wanting power. As white men, throughout the century, they have always had an upperhand and when they see that power slipping, it might be hard for them to take in.

I agree wholeheartedly with Lesleigh about growing up in this area, being so close to DC, we are living in a very diverse area. I have come to encounter a variety of people. I believe, along with Lesleigh, that I am very accepting of people who are not just like me. I will not sit here and say that I do not have some work to do on certain things, like Professor GP, I also get relieved when someone walking behind me is an older white lady. I know that I need to work on it and I have gotten much better.

How does media shape the ideas about gender roles?

The media has a major impact of the ideas about gender roles. There are people that idolize the stars and wants to be and act like them. I like that examples that Lesleigh used with Jennifer Lopez and Angelina Jolie. If you look at the music vidoes done in todays world. I can go right now and turn it on to MTV or BET and see about five videos in a row with half naked women dancing. Teenagers see those women getting the attention from the celebrities that they love and adore and feel like that is how they have to act to get a boy's attention.

In the movie, "Boys Don't Cry", it shows Brandon Teena posing as a male when he has the parts of a women. I cannot remember who said this during our class discussion but after they found out that she was a women and not a man, they treated him like something other than human, as an "it". I found that very disturbing. Just because he wasn't not a man in their eyes anymore, they still couldn't treat her women. I have been using "he" to describe Brandon Teena. As Angela pointed out in class, I am not sure how to relate with Brandon Teena. I am not sure what to write when talking about Brandon Teena. I have been using "he" because that is what he wanted to be, a man. Just out of respect, and since that is what he wanted anyways. But I still think it is a hard call, at least for me, when writing about Brandon Teena. I not only saw this is "Boy's Don't Cry" but I was watching "Ugly Bettery" and one of the episodes was about a man coming back from faking his own death and now being a women. They did not know how to respond and was called a freak. The man who turned into a women had a brother. This brother still called him his brother on occasion.

The information in this section could go on forever. There are things that I agree with and others that I disagree but it is a section that everyone should learn about. I have found myself thinking about the class more and more lately. I see what we talk about around me and I am aware of it. This is one of very few classes that have done that to me. It has helped me open my eyes and see what is going on around me.