I believe gender is the physical sense in which someone can categorize themselves or another person. This pertains mainly to the male and female roles in society. People take on these characteristics that most people try to fit in to. That is, until recently. There are certain people who are opposed to the "norms" of our society. These people are using their freedoms to explore the other options out there besides the ones they are told to have. A person can take on a new identity or conform to one that is in their mind. I believe the way in which a person sees themselves is the identity of their choosing, in relation to gender. The role in this identity can be something learned from others yet it can also be a new idea and can break the status-quot. Most often, humans, they try to take on a role that makes them feel comfortable. Others may not welcome such a plan but learn something new about themselves by rebelling against these preset gender roles.
The essay written by Judith Lorber entitled "Night to his Day": Social Construction of Gender is something that can be both agreed with and disagreed with. The idea that we as humans created or "constructed" this idea of gender is something that I can agree with and believe in. Just like no person is born knowing about discrimination, no person is born knowing about gender. The values we have in our culture put gender differences at a higher mark than most other issues. Rules are created and the social context of everyday interactions speak for themselves. People assume these are the norms and anyone who breaks them will be outcast. Girls and boys are expected to be different on many levels; from going to bathrooms and in the way they dress. These ideas that were sparked early on were what stuck and there is no real way of changing it now. Most people know this as a "rule" for years and they do nothing to stop it because they accept it.
This class, I hope, will change my perspective on women in this country and broaden my knowledge of the past and how it affects everyone now. Something that troubles me about the topic of this class is that I don't agree that women should be put on a higher rank than men. As humans and as a race people need to be equal; not one better than another. I do see that over the years there is no clear definition as to when that stops but slow changes have worked for women in the past and will work for them in the future. We do not need to radically change our world and values to make sure that people recognize women and give them more acknowledgment than men. Contrary to what most people might believe after reading that, it does not mean that I favor more support for men. I strongly believe that no one particular race deserves to be heard out more than another, so why would it be any different with gender? We are all humans and of course there have been wrongs in the past but that is what we are here for now.
What we can do now is speak out against wrongs that were made and change them so they don't happen again. Another belief I have is that life is a process and things can't happen at the snap of a finger, or we at least shouldn't expect them to. Change is inevitable so we should just continue to lobby for our interests and hope that one small step at a time is taken to resolve the issue.
