In the cultures there are men, women, and “hijras”. These hijras believe they are neither men nor women. Serena Nanda, the author of Neither Man Nor Woman, studied this group in 1981. Her work gave great insight into what gender actually is and what the implications for more genders are. Gender is defined as a social construction of characteristics based on one’s sex.
They were part of the women life cycle, since many stated that they quit when they find a "beau" or get married. The dance hall culture changed by making "unescorted" women admission fees lower so to attract single women. In addition, the dance halls were a gathering of people looking for amusement and pleasure, so most "new" things in entertainment were tested there or developed there. On the contrary to many assumptions, the charity girls were not prostitutes since they didn't want money, but they wanted presents, attention, and other things that gave them pleasure. Some of them do it just for pleasure and others for financial support in the short term.
Curley’s wife is portrayed as being a whore – but this is only due to the way she dresses, her provocative ways and the way she acts around men, as if she is aware of her femininity. This could suggest that she is only like this because she is bored, like it is something to do – something interesting for a change. She is constantly trying to get people to notice her. But, because of Lennie’s purity and innocence, he doesn’t see her in the way other men do – a sexual object. When Steinbeck quotes “And because she had confided in him, she moved closer to Lennie and sat beside him”, it is clear to the audience that Curley’s Wife is using her sexuality as an object to create some sort of excitement for herself.
However, women aren’t innocent in this controversy either. They have some control over the attention they receive based on how they dress and present themselves socially. I know for a fact the reason my friend dresses up and stands out it for the attention. In conclusion I agree with Sheets-Johnstone’s thoughts about women only being seen as body parts and objects. Although some perspectives on the subject claim women live in bad faith and put themselves in situations to be defined as a body part, if there was no routine of male’s looking or the notion to dominate and females attention starvation or feelings to please, there would be no need for a dominant and submissive relationship.
Where Marie de France comes from, many people disagree with women having power through literature. They disagree with women having much power at all. Because of this, Marie de France feels the urge to protect herself from those people. She argues that credit and respect should be bestowed upon anyone who earns it, regardless of their gender. Before her story even begins, Marie de France contests the idea of female inferiority.
122 As a process, gender creates the social differences that define “woman” and “man.” In social interaction throughout their lives, individuals learn what is expected, see what is expected, act and react in expected ways, and thus simultaneously construct and maintain the gender order pg. 123 As part of a stratification system, gender ranks men above women of the same race and class pg. 123 The dominant categories are the hegemonic ideals, taken so for granted as the way things should be that white is not ordinarily thought of as race, middle class or men as a gender. The characteristics of these categories define the Other as that which lacks the valuable qualities the dominants exhibit. Pg.
Women are expected to put on a motherly overtone while working; they are required to laugh at the jokes of the customers and are expected to go above and beyond their traditional expectations. However, if a man was working in these types of jobs he would not be required to display these types of emotions and nobody would think any differently of him. This is a double standard that many women are subjected to in the workplace. The importance of shadow labor becomes apparent when considering how society reacts to it. There are many feminine jobs that are considered detached from any type of emotional investment, but despite this common misconception, “it’s the emotional labor, the stress of feeling obligated to smile through humiliating comments that marks this work
Three men who enter the society and question the untraditional gender roles present in the utopia. Furthermore, in the film Stepford Wives by Frank Oz, men create a society in which women are inferior and as a result are content to their traditional role to be perfect housewives. Moreover, the article “Pakistani Women Move Beyond Traditional
Based on Entry Denied, “Communities often focus on preserving cultural tradition through controlling the gender and sexual behavior of the women. At the same time, outsiders judge immigrants through stereotypes about the sexuality of the community’s women. Thus, immigrant women find themselves caught between the racism of the dominant society and the sexist expectation of their own community”. This is true for many immigrant communities such as the Arab-Americans. For instance, even though many of the Arab American women are required to cover themselves, almost all of them cover their bodies because they choose and not because they are forced to.
The hijra is a form of third gender individuals located in India. “The hijra, most of whom live in cities in north India, are regarded as neither male nor female, but their roles include elements of both”(Crapo, 2013). The individuals who choose to live the life of a hijra worship the goddess Bahuchara Mata and go through a sex change to remove their genitalia and live an asexual lifestyle. They were regarded as religious figures for their decision of abstaining from sex and having the surgical procedure. They performed at many functions to included