#social construction of gender

[staged-photography]

Yasumasa Morimura

Yasumasa Morimura:Ego Obscura, his first solo show in NYC, at The Japan Society October 12, 2018 – January 13, 2019

Conceptual artist Yasumasa Morimura (b. 1951, Osaka, Japan) is best known for his staged photography, transforming himself into famous protagonists of European masterpieces, pop culture icons, and notable historical figures through extensive use of props, costumes, makeup, and digital manipulation. His idiosyncratic reinterpretations build on the Cindy Sherman tradition and add a couple of dimensions as an Asian male, making it an examination of the construction of identity across gender lines and across cultural lines. As the author and subject of his (often female) self-portraits, he subverts the power dynamics of the male gaze in returning it.

Staged recommends reading the announcement in Eye of Photography for more.

[flatfreire]

Who doesn’t love Legos? This is an image of a few Lego products taken in Walmart. These particular Legos are themed with Elves, Friends, Disney’s Frozen (not pictured), and Disney’s Moana (not pictured). The section was not as big as it could have been and there was not a lot of variety other than the themes listed before. If you haven’t realized it yet, these Lego toys are located in the girls’ toys section. Two aisles down, there is almost an entire row of Legos that are “for boys.” There are Lego toys themed with Star Wars, Batman, cars, Ninjago, and Marvel Super Heroes. Lorber mentions that everyone “does gender,” meaning people conform to what society has deemed appropriate for the male and female categories. She also mentions “gender is such a familiar part of daily life” that it goes unnoticed until there is a disruption in expectations.

I thought about this article (I had read it for a previous class) when I noticed how the Legos were separated. Lorber argues that gender is constructed by society. People like to place others into categories where they can pick and choose the appropriate characteristics and behaviors the others are expected to show. Are we not telling children that there are specific aisles of toys they are expected to choose from? Are we not telling little girls that they should be playing with the dolls and fairies in pretty castles and houses instead of the Death Star or Batman? Shouldn’t little boys want to be able to play with popular Disney characters such as Anna and Elsa and not be expected to play with fast cars and superheroes? Toys are gateways for children to explore their imaginations and interests. They do not define who they are. Society holds expectations of how girls and boys should behave instead of letting them simply enjoy being young and playing with toys that excite them.

Posted by Jenny 

[othersociologist]

Lightening skin products are set to become a $10 Billion industry by 2015. A new documentary, See Me Now, tackles the subject of race and beauty within the fashion industry. Made by fashion film-maker Glen Mackay, it includes Black women from four continents.

Fiji-Australian model, Indigenous-Australian television host Leila Gurruwiwi is featured in the documentary. She works for Australia's Indigenous broadcast network, NITV, on the Marngrook Footy Show, In the interview below, she tells SBS News:

"For me it was very sad to hear some of the stories of some of the girls that have had really bad experiences especially when it comes to their skin and being uncomfortable in their own skin. Coming from a Yolngu background a strong Yolngu woman from Northeast Arnhem Land it's something that we've always been very proud of."

Read more on SBS News.

Are you in another country and can't see the video? Please let me know, or otherwise tweet at @SBSNews to put their videos on YouTube. I've been tweeting at them and @NITV to share their great content with the world!

[hao-and-yoh]

I swear to God when I have a baby and it’s coming up to the 16 week scan I’m gonna write a post that says "can’t wait to find out if it’s a 💚 or a 💚" and when people say “those hearts are green though?” ima be like ?????? And they’ll be like “it’s pink and blue” and I’ll be like ???????????

[baileywilson013]

Gender is constantly created and re-created out of human interaction, out of social life, and is the texture and order of that social life. Yet gender, like culture, is a human production that depends on everyone constantly 'doing gender'... And everyone 'does gender' without thinking about it.

The Social Construction of Gender, Judith Lorber

[feminismworks-blog]

How My Identity Affects My Understanding of Gender

I was born into a upper middle class white family as a straight, cisgender girl. I believe I am extremely privileged because of this, and for the majority of my life I had no idea that there was more to gender, orientation and identity than cisgender and straight, gay or lesbian orientation. I had heard of drag queens and trans people who were referred to using slurs, but these terms, these people, were mostly attached to the negative connotation media laid on them. Boys in dresses were portrayed on TV as a comedy stunt and a set up for a joke, while girls who dressed “tom boys” were always the tough rural girls with daddy issues who needed saving. Lesbians were butch man-haters and gays were the overly-talkative, sassy best friends of New York socialites. This was not what my parents taught me, but what the media did. To the media, I was a target at which these ideals were thrown at, to influence me to stay how I was; a quiet, straight, cisgender white girl. I was comfortable in this role, I had no desire to look for a missing piece of my identity, and that has stayed mostly the same since I was born. The media had influenced my view about people’s identity before my mom could tell me that she would always accept me no matter what.

My mother was born the same as I was, but in a different time, where an identity other than cisgender and straight was outcasted and shunned. It has never been in her nature to hate anyone, and I don’t believe she ever has. She was uneducated, yes, but not unaccepting. My mother taught me that everyone is different and different is good, that our individual traits are what shape us as humans and that everyone is worthy of the same level of respect as the next. Because of these two teachers I had growing up, I had an internal conflict in my mind whenever I met someone who was not like me. I would outwardly be pleasant and kind, but inside, I would be uncomfortable with them, no matter how good of a person they truly were.

These constructs were overhauled about a year and a half ago, when I returned to Tumblr after about a year of hiatus. Here, I was educated on all the ins and outs of all identities, and how humans are believed to have been born into the “default identity” which is a social construct that is damaging to people who do not fall within it. The media taught me about the default identity; cisgender, heterosexual, white or light skinned, and mentally healthy. This website filled with real people taught me that identity is different for every single person, and that a divergent identity is not a crime, but something to be celebrated.

To me, in this moment, gender identity is the concoction of a person’s femininity, masculinity and androgyny, and how an individual chooses to define themselves by their expression of these traits. It is not defined by the genitalia or chromosomes you were born with; that is the definition of sex. People who have penises are not inherently male, while people with vaginas are not inherently female. Gender is a spectrum of expression, not an either/or choice your genes decide for you. Because I got a fully informed, first person tell-all from some friends I met online, I know that there are differences between sex, gender, and gender identity. People seem to believe that gender and sex are synonymous, when they are a few of the many facets of someone’s identity. Sex is what we cannot change; the biological standing of our bodies determined by our chromosomes. Gender is how society believes a certain sex should behave, act or feel. Gender Identity is an individual’s view of them self and how they fit into the spectrum of gender.

The way I was raised and what I learned growing up is how most cisgender people learn to see the world; as boys and girls and nothing else. For the majority of my life, I thought that straying from the norm that we all seem to blindly accept was abnormal and wrong. Our experiences help us create our own identity and shape our personality and mindset which we look at other people through. Through my self driven research and with information from primary sources, I have changed my view on sex, gender and identity which has broken down barriers I once held so dear. Barriers of discomfort and wariness have disintegrated into acceptance and a thirst to be informed about how to accept people from all walks of life has arisen in those old walls’ place.  

*thanks to againstthepuzzlepiece for pointing out a slur to us used in this paper! It was used for effect, but we would like to be accommodating and make our blog a safe environment for everyone!*

[examing-gender-blog]

A Basic Social "De"Construction on Gender

In "The Social Construction of Gender" Judith Lorber gives an easy to follow look at how gender dictates social order. Lorber has a gift for making you look at the world you live in through a much finer lenses than we do on a daily basis.

Having read this before I still feel that her first page is brilliant. "Talking about gender for most people is the equivalent of fish talking about water." There is no more perfect a description; gender is the water we swim through everyday, the seemingly invisible thing we must mold ourselves to fit within constantly. In describing how we "do gender" (if you can I suggest reading the West and Zimmerman article Lorber sites) Lorber shows how basic an instinct it is to look at/for gender. The description of the babies on a New York City bus shows both how we are making a little progress in our thinking by having dressing babies in less gendered colors. It also shows how things haven't changed, and likely never will, in that the author of this article (who is obviously open minded about gender) was looking at these babies and trying to figure out what gender they are. Even those who are aware of how gendered society is and that changes need to be made will still fall victim to the years of training our brains have been through, making it difficult to challenge the male dominate culture.

[madonnasvswhores-blog]

Social construction of gender

Sex, Gender, and Sexuality: The New Basics provide us with a definition of gender: “Socially constructed categories dividing people into groups, such as women and men” (Ferber, Holcomb, Wenting, 555). Judith Lorber, in her article “Night to His Day” The Social Construction of Gender”, stress this idea that gender is influenced directly by society. Her definition of gender is similar to the one mentioned: “A social status, a legal designation, and a personal identity” (Lorber, 14). Gender serves the purpose of categorizing humans. This picture taken at Cedar Ridge Elementary School, reminded me of one of what Lorber says are the components of gender. “Gendered divisions of labor” (Lorber, 30) is defined as the following:

             the assignment of productive and domestic work to members of  

different gender statuses. The work assigned to  those of

different gender statuses strengthens the society's evaluation of those

statuses- the higher the status, the more prestigious and valued the work and

the greater its rewards (Lorber, 30).

The picture suggests that writing and grammar are for females. When I saw the picture I was immediately reminded of how the job of a secretary is often associated with women. Although unintentionally, this picture is imparting this idea upon young children, the idea that females are supposed to be concerned with grammar and keeping the reader’s attention. Gender is being constructed for the students by such images.

P.S: In every English or writing-oriented class I took in high school, the best writers were female. :)

[viletruths-blog]

A response to "The Social Construction of Gender" by Judith Lober

"The child in the stroller was wearing a dark blue T-shirt and dark print pants...the father put a Yankee baseball cap on the child's head. Ah, a boy, I thought. Then I noticed the gleam of tiny earring the child's ears, and as they got off, I saw the little flowered sneakers and lace-trimmed socks. Not a boy after all. Gender done." 

                         -"The Social Construction of Gender" by Judith Lober 

Overall I liked this piece, because it showed that gender is everywhere and everyone does it, even without thinking. It's like as a female we can put on what is considered male clothing, and yet we will add something to give it a feminine touch. Whether its earrings or lip-gloss/lipstick, we add something to make gender noticeable to others Therefore it becomes a way we organize our lives, because we situate our daily routines that fit our "gender", our walk, our clothes, the way we groom ourselves daily. As a female, we take a long time to get dressed. I always asked myself why in the hell do I take 2-3 hours to get dressed for school or work?! TA-DA! It's gender! I have to make sure I look like a stereotypical female, smell like a female, and make sure my hair and lip-gloss is applied correctly before I walk out the door. Unfortunately, this is how I was shaped by both of my parents, especially my dad who believes appearance is everything. Not realizing it I'm feeding into and supporting this thing called GENDER, which as we know is made up. The same GENDER that tells you what is "normal". The same GENDER that makes us instantly label people. The same GENDER that continues to put an emphasis on female subordination and male domination. I'm tired of this damn GENDER! -_-

Source: "The Social Construction of Gender" by Judith Lober

[anarchistsoup-blog1]

Left and Right

Imagine, for a moment, that we could tell at birth (or even before) whether a child was left-handed or right-handed. By convention, the parents of left-handed babies dress them in pink clothes, wrap them in pink blankets, and decorate their rooms with pink hues. The left-handed baby’s bottle, bibs, and pacifiers—and later, cups, plates, and utensils, lunch box, and backpack—are often pink or purple with motifs such as butterflies, flowers, and fairies. Parents tend to let the hair of left-handers grow long, and while it is still short in babyhood a barrette or bow (often pink) serves as a stand-in. Right-handed babies, by contrast, are never dressed in pink; nor do they ever have pink accessories or toys. Although blue is a popular color for right-handed babies, as they get older any color, excluding pink or purple, is acceptable. Clothing and other items for right-handed babies and children commonly portray vehicles, sporting equipment, and space rockets; never butterflies, flowers, or fairies. The hair of right-handers is usually kept short and is never prettified with accessories. 

Nor do parents just segregate left- and right-handers symbolically, with color and motif, in our imaginary world. They also distinguish between them verbally. “Come on, left-handers!” cries out the mother of two left-handed children in the park. “Time to go home.” Or they might say, “Well, go and ask that right-hander if you can have a turn on the swing now.” At playgroup, children overhear comments like, “Left-handers love drawing, don’t they,” and “Are you hoping for a right-hander this time?” to a pregnant mother. At preschool, the teacher greets them with a cheery, “Good morning, left-handers and right-handers.” In the supermarket, a father says proudly in response to a polite enquiry, “I’ve got three children altogether: one left-hander and two right-handers.” 

And finally, although left-handers and right-handers happily live together in homes and communities, children can’t help but notice that elsewhere they are often physically segregated. The people who care for them—primary caregivers, child care workers, and kindergarten teachers, for example—are almost all left-handed, while building sites and garbage trucks are peopled by right-handers. Public restrooms, sports teams, many adult friendships, and even some schools, are segregated by handedness. 

You get the idea.

It’s not hard to imagine that, in such a society, even very young children would soon learn that there are two categories of people—right-handers and left-handers—and would quickly become proficient in using markers like clothing and hairstyle to distinguish between the two kinds of children and adults. But also, it seems more than likely that children would also come to think that there must be something fundamentally important about whether one is a right-hander or a left-hander, since so much fuss and emphasis is put on the distinction. Children will, one would imagine, want to know what it means to be someone of a particular handedness and to learn what sets apart a child of one handedness from those with a preference for the other hand.

-Fine, Cordelia (2010-08-30). Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference. W. W. Norton & Company.

[designforfeminism]

Was the genderbread bred to be a genderbread or was his bread already genderbread when he was first breaded?

[alexandrathemb]

So I'm watching this show 'Life Before Birth'; it's about exactly what it sounds like- the journey of sperm to egg to fetus to birth blah blah blah

Some things that have been said:

"...find out something that will define it for life- boy or girl?"

"pink team has it this time!"

"there are the testicles! If it comes out a girl get rid of it, that is not your baby"

I'm just sitting here like, WHAAAAT?! Talk about emphasis on gender; and that last quote- I was like, 'wtf can you even say that on tv?!'

It gets better. . .

Then they played music to the developing babies using headphones placed on the mother's belly and ultrasound and heart monitoring technologies. The African American mother's baby responded very well to the hip-hop track as demonstrated by by it's increased heartbeat. The white mother's baby appeared to be crying/angry on the ultrasound. When the white baby was then played classical music, it calmed down and it's heartbeat went up just as the African American baby's had done listening to the hip-hop track. They said something like a baby responds better to music with a beat more in-tune with that of its mother's heartbeat. Maybe I'm reading too much into this but uhhh, idk. This part of the show seemed off to me.

The next part is gonna be the mother's giving birth. The teaser before the commercial said "delivering a baby is both traumatic and exhausting for both mother and baby. . ." Uhh, yeah, when you take a natural process and make it not so. I learned a bit about the medicalization of childbirth this semester. Crazy stuff.

Not gonna watch this part.