In her publication titled “Gender Trouble”, Judith Butler presents her view that gender is a performative role in society, meaning that in order for gender identity to be genuinely expressed and understood, it must be conveyed openly in social spaces. Throughout her book she provides numerous examples of these “social spaces” that would be a necessary ground for women in order to better establish an identity in society. These include political representation, cultural movements, and the economic climate. These social spaces are presented in great depth and explain how they limit a person by identifying with a specific gender. In this paper, I will argue for Butler’s view on how certain gender performance is restricted in these numerous fields, and how Ms. Butler would object to these various situations.
In order to communicate the significance of such a question I will consider aspects of Freud’s symbolic order and feminist criticism of patriarchal discourse as well as the categorisation of women therein. I will use these selected theoretical aspects in conjunction with specific instances from Hart’s narrative in order to effectively examine a process of fictionalisation. As a point of departure I will briefly discuss the problems inherent within this said rigid discourse and in what ways the notions of gender related trauma emerge from its violence. I will relate the notions of trauma as defined by Cathy Caruth to the above mentioned problematic discourse and, furthermore, draw on LaCapra’s concept of acting out and working through as approaches to dealing with trauma. In historical discourse the focus is on men and the furthering of mankind through their achievements.
What are the distinctive characteristics of feminist social science? This essay will explore whether there are distinctive characteristics in feminist social science and will begin by defining what we mean by feminist social theory. The challenge of different feminist theorists to the validity of scientific methods will be examined, in particular their search for ‘objectivity’. Differing approaches adopted within each wave of the feminist social movement will be explored and different feminist standpoints, their criticisms and their methods will be considered. Each approach derives from the fact that feminist social theorists were considered to be mainly concerned with gender equality and preoccupied with ensuring that women’s interests were not marginalised .Feminist theorists have continued to concentrate on the position of women in society and their research is generally based on the notion that women are regarded as under the control and authority of men.
According to Nevid (2008) in his book, Psychology: Concepts and Applications, the biggest argument related to gender identity is the nature versus nurture, the role played by hereditary and environmental factors as well as their relationship to gender identity. In addition, there is evidence that hormones have an effect, and plays a pivotal role in determining one’s gender. This paper will discuss gender identity, the interaction of hormones and behavior and examine the biological, psychological and environmental aspects and influences on sexual differentiation. ** Hormones are the chemical messengers that produced in different glands and are in general responsible for the body to function on the proper chemical level. As needed hormones are secreted to the site of action to allow certain biological activity to take
What are gender stereotypes and how are they conveyed in our society? According to Mior and Jessel (1989), gender refers to the socially constructed roles of, and relations between, men and women, while 'Sex' refers to biological characteristics which define humans as female or male. These biological characteristics are not mutually exclusive however, as there are individuals who possess both. This definition is also shared by the website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender. A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals.
Simone was referring to how females of the female sex assume the feminine gender-gender meaning the restrictive, socially prescribed attitudes and behaviors that we associate with femininity. Not the same but similar….. 1. Feminist and gender criticism are not exactly the same, but also are not opposites. They exist along a line of attitudes towards sex and sexism, sexuality and gender, language and the literary canon. Distinctions of Difference…… 2.
Is biology destiny? While biology does determine the group a person is segregated into, society has the ultimate power to establish the way we are perceived as ‘gender’. By comparing the views of social biologists and social constructionists, I intend to put forth the idea that biology is in fact, not destiny. Sex is a biological term where as gender is a cultural one. Socio- biologists argue that biology, meaning our genetic make up; shapes the behavior of the individual and in turn also determines social in-equalities such as gender inequalities present in society.
Through a feminist critique of Othello, it is possible to examine the influences of sexism in the society by inspecting the construction of the patriarchy, the idea that gender is not the same as sex, and lastly, the construction of femininity within the play. Feminism, is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary to be “the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes”, and as A. Balu Vijayaraghavan said, by applying feminist criticism, one could “investigate how Shakespeare’s plays relate to the codes and conventions of the gender system specific to the early modern period”, as well as having an understanding of “how thoroughly Shakespeare shared the gender assumptions of his own time and the ways in which his plays must have disrupted these assumptions”. The
ENGL 0349 Jose Costa 10-11-13 The positively and negatively ways influenced by traditional gender roles and expectations From the beginning of this year I realized that I have been influenced positively and negatively ways by traditional gender roles and expectation. The traditional gender roles are present in all parts of world and they vary between cultures. Basically these are behaviors, attitudes and values established by society as appropriate for us and should be passed for all generations. Nowadays our society almost obligate us to follow many expectations such us the way I should act, dress, and talk I figure out that these expectations are known as gender roles, so I started to obey it due the influence of our society and the media. Because I wanted to avoid problems in my social life.
Seminar paper On Feminism in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar Course code: ENGL705 Course Title: Literary Theory Submitted by: SAYANTANI SARKAR ENROLL NO: A0710313014 Submitted to: Dr. Shweta Saxena Assistant Professor AMITY INSTITUTE OF ENGLISH STUDIES AND RESEARCH AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH INTRODUCTION Simone de Beauvoir's gender theory is considered to be one of the pioneers of feminist thought. Her book The Second Sex is seen as a milestone in explaining how and why women were and are subjected to men's rule. While some of Simone de Beauvoir's insights might be seen today as self-evident (such as “one is not born a woman but becomes one"), other remain revolutionary till this day. Simone de Beauvoir argues that whenever there are two different human categories at the same time and place, there will always be one striving to subject the other to its rule. The burden of childbirth in ancient societies made women dependant on men's labor, and thus enabled the initial inequality.