BECOMING A GENDERED BODY:
The bodily differences between men
and women can’t be based on a mere assumption that bodies will behave different
naturally. Of course men and women won’t behave in the same way, but the
environment that surrounds them, and how and where they were educated as
children will affect the development of bodily skills as well. In “becoming a gendered body” it is
very noticeable that children are taught the differences between being a boy
and a girl very early on, from teachers enforcing boys not to have a violent
behavior, to mothers dressing girls constantly in pink, making the boys believe
that is not an okay color for them to wear after seeing so many girls in pink.
It is very interesting to observe the much larger interest of girls to play
dress-up than for boys, and how girls, even being around boys the whole day,
they will still go for a more girly pink ballerina look, while boys will try a
mask or two, or not even try anything at all. Boys and girls are segregated in
the classroom in the dress-up game because of what they were thought at home, I
believe, that girls must wear pink and look like their mothers, while boys
don’t need to worry about their appearance so much. Thus, physical reactions
and looks aren’t established naturally, they occur due to the society that
surrounds boys and girls at a young age.
BELIEVING IS SEEING:
Being a man or a woman goes beyond just the physical and
genital aspects of the body. Per say, being a woman goes far beyond just
menstruation or breast feeding, because there are many women who won’t ever
have a normal cycle, or will never even get pregnant, but that doesn’t mean
they are any less of a female. What makes a girl feminine is much based on how
they look and act in the society. A woman is expected to dress femininity, and
to have poise. It is interesting to look at the differences between men and
women in sports. In a sport like gymnastics, women are expected to small,
fragile, and feminine, while men in the exact sport get a great emphasis on
their muscles and masculinity. It is obvious to notice then men’s bodies are
considered powerful, while women’s are considered to be sexual.
As Aline said, the concept of femininity is necessary to understand our structural dichotomies of male and female. When I was reading Lorber’s article “Believing is Seeing: Biology as Ideology” one passage that made my blood boil was that about a women’s college basketball team; how they “did athlete” on the court, and “did woman” off the court. The fact that a woman who “took fifteen minutes to prepare for the game” and “thirty minutes to dress, apply make-up and style hair” afterwards could not be considered an athlete just made me mad! The structural concept of femininity demands that women be small, timid, and beautiful—however, the western ideology of sports demands physical strength, and therefore women can’t really be athletes. I think the only way to change this would be to change what children are taught, and what our society instills as ‘proper’. This of course, is a point that Martin makes in her article, “Believing is Seeing: Biology as Ideology” where she implies that boys are encouraged to pursue more relaxed behavior whereas girls are more often told to “quiet down,” use a “nice voice,” participate in quiet activates such as painting and drawing, help clean up, and contain excitement. They are taught to be small, confined, quiet and feminine. The basketball players from the previous study were taught to “perform gender,” our society demands they be womanly and feminine and that they “do woman” off the court, and yet, to be considered (almost) equal to men they must “do athlete” on the court. I think it would be impossible for these basketball players to even come close to pleasing everyone, either being too meek for basketball or to unfeminine for grown women. – Gracie Hall
ReplyDeleteGendered Bodies: The fact that bodies with anatomical differences of sex are coerced into becoming gendered bodies through an institution as seemingly innocuous as pre-school is a frightening thought. Parents send their children to pre-school in the hopes that their child will become matriculated both educationally and socially. However I don’t think that parents are giving major thought to their preschooler’s gender identity formation. This is a major flaw in my opinion because to shape the life of a three year old in accordance with warped societal views on gender is a great loss to the child’s sense of self. I agree with Aline in the falsity of the assumption that bodies of different sexes will behave different organically. I believe that because the way we instruct young girls and boys, both unconsciously and consciously, it is easy to both believe in and defend our society’s prescribed gender roles. As Aline stated, gender roles are also influenced by the parents, such as a girl looking to her mother for guidance in how to act. However, when a pre-school teacher instructs pre-school girls to be quiet, nice, calm, and essentially submissive that is where the danger begins. The danger, I believe, is creating a subordinate generation of women.
ReplyDeleteBelieving is Seeing: As Aline said, being a women goes beyond menstruation and lactation. Gender cannot be defined by these biological occurrences. However I disagree that appearance and behavior are what constitutes society’s definition of femininity. Aline’s discussion about the Olympics and its sexist coverage is something that also caught my attention in Lorber’s article. The idea of limiting jumps for female ice skaters and the coercion of male skaters into a more athletic performance is a prime example of social control. I believe it is a ludicrous attempt to enforce gender roles, cultural norms, and expectations.
Anna Grofik
Sarah Wills: I agree with Aline’s point that the biological differences between men and women cause different behaviors. However, biology is only one factor that creates the difference between men and women. Society is the other factor. Society creates an image of the ideal man and the ideal woman. For example, strength, violence, and power are qualities that men should strive to achieve. The ideal woman should be fragile, submissive, and nurturing. Biology doesn’t create these images. For example, boys aren’t born with a natural instinct to hate the color pink. Since pink is a “girl color”, society programs boys to disassociate themselves from the color. Just like Aline stated, boys and girls follow the patterns of the men and women around them. If a girl watches her mother cooking dinner in the kitchen every night, then this behavior passes down to the girl. If a boy’s father spends his Sundays watching sports, then an interest in sports will pass onto the boy. These gendered behaviors are passed down to children from their parents and other adults. Children emulate the behaviors of the same gendered adults around them.
ReplyDeleteI like what you're saying, but I find it interesting that when describing what a female gymnast is expected to look like one of the adjectives you used was feminine. That makes it seem to me that you expect, as I think most people would, for the rest of us to understand what you mean by that term. Feminine suggests that a woman is small, fragile, gentile, graceful, everything like that.
ReplyDeleteI hate the idea that boys can't play dress up. I don't care if in order to play they will only be a dragon or something, but I don't get why a boy can't put on clothes and pretend. Everyone wears clothes and hopefully every child likes to pretend. I really don't see anything 'girly' about playing dress up. Maybe it's the name or something.
Natalie Bennett
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