It’s difficult to predict how the system of gender
will change in the future. “Doing gender” isn’t the same now as it has been in
the past. While the process seems slow, it continues to move forward. It seems
as if the only way to drastically change the gender system is to get rid of it,
although that would be impossible. I suppose if there was a way to send new
born babies to some island with some mechanism for helping them survive without
associating any types of gender, then we would adequately see what the
situation would become.
I find it interesting that in many science fiction
movies, people are all wearing the same things and everyone looks androgynous. Perhaps
there will be a time when humans get so advanced, that historic social
structures will seem silly?
In the meantime, it seems that our best hope is to
try to change the idea of gender and its roles. We have come so far to
disassociate gender with sex and I think that is a great step forward. However,
people have theorized about the difference for decades now, and word doesn’t
seem to bet getting out there. The first time I heard about gender being a
social construction was in my junior level classes in college. It seems that
the best way to change a society is to start with the youth. Teach them the
differences between sex and gender before they are too obstructed by the rules
of society. I think many young people are open to the idea of homosexual
relationships becoming more normal. More open-mindedness and acceptance should
lead to more ideas and less distractions from the archaic social constructions
that have been holding people back for centuries.
