Sex, Gender and Gender roles redefined In her book The Second Sex, Simone De Beauvoir states, “One is not born, but, rather becomes a woman”. This statement highlights the difference between sex and gender. While sex is a biological term, gender is a social and cultural construct. An individual is born into the categories of male or female but it is the very task of ‘accomplishing gender’ that determines the social identity of the person. Women are under a constant pressure to adhere to roles that are specific to their gender and so are men.
These struggles are hardly far from over. American Gender roles and sexism can be defined as a social identity consisting of a role a person is to play because of their sex. There is a variety in male and female roles, making it impossible to define gender by the term male and female. Gender is defer significantly by culture to culture. Anthropologists conducted studies to ascertain the range of behaviors that have developed to define gender and their forces at work in the creation of these roles.
However, not everyone agrees with the heavy stereotypes laid down by the social order such as male dominance and proper courting. Marie de France is one of these people. She depicts her views of gender expectations through literature. Within the poem Guigemar, Guigemar and his lady fulfill and contradict what would be considered as gender norms within society: female inferiority, traditional courtship, and male dominance. Marie de France does this to criticize and combat the societal expectations and inherent inequalities in Norman England.
The author also uses irony to add a bit of humor, and also emphasize judgment on men’s idea of the gender roles. “ I want a wife who will work and send me to school”. Hyperbole: The author creates an unrealistic image of the typical wife and exaggerates to make a point. “I want a wife who will go along when our family takes a vacation …rest and change of scene”. This is an exaggeration because even on her free time, the wife is portrayed as a slave to the husband.
Are gender and sex the same thing? Explain why or why not? Gender is basically the state of being either male or female, masculine or feminine. Sex biologically means the categorization of whether an organism is male or female, of having parts of the male reproductive system or female reproductive system. Although gender and sex have very similar meaning, generally they usually differ where majority relate reproductive traits to sex than gender.
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. Pg. 122 The process of gendering and its outcome are legitimated by religion, law, science and the society’s entire set of values. Pg. 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.
This blatant sexism at the start of a woman’s life leads to nothing but a life under a man’s thumb, from her father to later on, her husband. Being from a culture where traditionally there are subtle influences of male dominance, I immediately found this issue to be quite relatable. The way Euripides handles gender inequality in 431 BC, with sarcastic humour and cunningness is something that provided, for me, the spark in Medea, both as a play and as a character. Also, I believe that ancient Greek culture was only by that time beginning to fathom the inner workings of a woman’s mind. I feel inspired to see how open-minded Euripides was about a controversial topic that still causes problems in the 21st century.
Across the centuries women were repudiated entitlements equal to men and due the assembly of gender, men were given higher power above women. This has managed to disparate arguments of what is indeed the act of the woman in a gendered area and clashing for the credit of a female species (Rosenstand, 2009: 586). 3 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SEX AND GENDER Liberal feminists squabble that both boys and girls across origin are born the alike merely the area will craft them on how ought to a man and a woman behave in a gender crafted society. Sex could be described as biological contrasts both inner and external organs. Gender could denote to communal institutionalization of sexual differences; they believed gender is utilized by those who comprehend not merely sexual inequality but far of sexual contrasts to be communal craft were by men and women are crafted to behave in precise methods that could be categorized as feminine of masculine (Okin, 1989: 116).
“THE GENDERED NOTIONS OF EMOTION” To begin with , it is neccessary to differ the term gender from sex. Sex refers to our anatomical and genetical identity as being a female or male that is inscribed in our genes, whereas gender is an outcome of process of socialization combined with the effect of the genes. Our gender becomes evident in the way we dress, we make our hair,we walk and speak. The ways we express and experience emotions also seems to be dependent on our gender. As the way of walking or speaking diverges in male and female, the expression and experience of emotions in different genders also diverges.
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.