Intro: So it Begins

The introduction to The Sociology of Gender discussed many ideas as to what gender and sex actually mean. It’s difficult to determine these answers because there are different social, psychological, and biological factors that blur the lines of what some would think are typically male and female. While the physiology of sex isn’t exactly as black and white and some may believe, the discourse about sex and gender roles are even more difficult to explain. The fact that gender itself is socially constructed has become quite eerie to me. I find it radical for half of the population to be predetermined to behave one way and the other half dealing with the same predispositions. To think, somewhere long ago in history, different cultures, beliefs, and ideas have shaped what male and female are today. It’s almost too difficult to comprehend.

I didn’t really think of the many differences each gender faced until some of the examples noted in the reading, particularly in the beginning, when asked what would be different if I was the opposite sex today. I think being a women is challenging, but I don’t really sit around and ponder what men have to go through, especially at a time when man-hating seems to be much more frequent.

The chapter goes on to discuss changes in gender based on changes in society, much having to do with the rise of feminism. The different waves of feminism have taken steps to try to make gender roles more equal or at least to help women advance. There are so many social structures in place that have left women behind in the past, many of which I’ve never even thought of, like capitalism.

What bothers me the most is that we are all people, but because were born in a certain time with certain sexuality, there are stigmas to doing things or being things outside of what society has rendered normal. It’s amazing that with all the brilliance that human beings possess we are still these scared creatures who follow the pack. We believe what others have conditioned us to. While some things have changed, one can only hope the future will be more like those androgynous space creatures in sci-fi films. Then, and probably only then, will people start to focus on things that really matter.