Gender and Social Construction Theory †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Gender and Social Construction Theory. Answer: Introduction: Gender and sex has been the topic of discussion for a long time. Universally there were two sexes that had been recognised: male and female. With modernisation of thoughts and knowledge a third gender has also been recognised by many governments and institutions as well. The usage of the terms sex and gender as synonymous is an old concept. Both the terms have two very different meanings and outlook. Sex is the physical or biological differences in human beings that differentiate between a man and women, whereas gender is the traits a person grows which are associated with masculine and famine behaviour that has been regarded by the society and the culture. There has been several scholars and sociologist discussing about sex and gender. Over the years and in many parts of the world even today women are regarded as the lesser of the two genders. In large modern corporate also there are incidents of sexual discrimination and violation of womens rights etc. Women for over the years seek equality a perspective that will ensure that what a women and a man can do in their lives are equally significant for the growth and development of the society. The period in which this book was written by Simone de Beauvoir was a time when not even 1% of women got the due recognition of equality. For example: education for the longest time in history was the right of only men hence working in an organisation to earn livelihood was the task that was associated with men. The title of the book the second sex is appropriate as it talks about the women in that era. Women were regarded as the second sex (Shepherd 2015). Feminism is a term that is used very loosely these days in order to describe the contribution and the position of women in the society. The second sex by Simone de Beauvoir is known as one of the first and revolutionary literary work surrounding the term feminism. In the book De Beauvoir discusses about how the male sex is given significance whereas the women are regarded as the other. A man occupies the role of the subject in a situation and in the society while a woman has the object. The quote, one is not born, but rather becomes a woman, from Simone de Beauvoirs magnum opus The Second Sex proposed an avant-garde view of sex and gender and their difference. It defined sex as physical features and gender as merely a societal construction, this being at the time a revolutionary view. This reduction of gender to social norm implied that the contemporary treatment of women was unfair; an arbitrary reduction of women to secondary humans. Furthermore, de Beauvoirs believed the female di scourse had been bothered by the male one. That a female should be able to control how she views her gender and have freedom in sexual matters, such as abortion, had implications that became massively influential in second wave feminism (Simon 2017). When a child is born with female physical and biological traits she is brought up by the parents and the society in a way that she develops characteristics of a woman. No one is born in a certain way culture, society and family has a great influence on the behaviour of a person. A person after growing up develops traits which he or she may not have while they were a child. One is not born, but rather becomes a woman, is a commentary on the similarities and differences between gender and sex. It rejected earlier Differentialist feminist views, which held that women and men were inherently different, but both equally valuable; the man served as the bread winner and the women bore children. In this stereotype, women were seen to be passive and inferior (Simon 2017). De Beauvoir rather espouses existentialistically inspired egalitarian feminism, stating that a womans sex does not define her position as a woman. To de Beauvoir sex is ones natural organs and appearance, it is fixed and not what gender is based on, for example, one can be a man and a eunuch. Fundamentally if a woman was taught to behave in a male manner from birth she would be a man depending on the characteristics that he is thought to practice by the society and the culture which are associated with masculinity. Gender, rather, is the social construct which is commonly based off sex; women are formed by society to be passive, of inferior wit and secondary to man, but not born this way. Equally and inversely men were historically viewed as possessing the qualities of action, command, intelligence and superiority, but merely learned their powers rather than inherently possessing them. This egalitarian view is supported by experiments showing that adults will treat babies that have been named male and female differently thereby fostering a social role by giving them different toys, calling the little girls cute and being harsher on the boys. The primary focus of The Second Sex is an examination of the implications of this gender-sex divide. De Beauvoir finds that the female social role has been made other to that of the man. The male is positioned as the subject, who then proceeds to define himself in reference to what he is not, namely a woman who is now the other and opposite, thereby possessing opposing qualities. This othering of women is a mechanism in which women are historically restricted to what de Beauvoir calls immanence, the realm of the interior and inferior, defined by passiveness and lack of action. This was opposed to transcendence which is traditionally male and consists of the active, creative, productive and powerful (Giddens et al. 2016). One of the direct and plausible explanations to the statement, One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman, is that a person who is born with the traits of a woman physically slowly develops mental traits and characteristics in the due course of life. But his explanation is vague as an infant has clear differences in the sex. In his case the concept of womanhood is segregated in two folds either as a nonfigurative concept here an individual feels and behaves like a woman (Simon 2017). The second fold is of a category in the societal tier, though the two are closely related. One question that crops up in reference to the statement is that if a person who is born with famine physical and biological traits what was the stage a person was before being women? Dose a man also has to become a man in the course of life? The statement follows that there are prerequisites of being a women and if those criterion are met only then a person can be called a women. In this interpretation the question that arises is that what are these prerequisites? Who decides these are the points that define being women? Are these associated with physical and biological development or is it based on the cognitive growth of a person? What is the point of difference in a person that makes her a woman and the other person not a woman? The concept of a clean slate is very common among the perspectives of existentialism, the idea of an individual born with no fixed distinction of any gender or sex. For example Sartre explains that the idea that people are free to create themselves is a core concept in the philosophies of other existentialists as well. An individual can only decide what they truly want to become when their minds are not blocked with predetermined concepts (Haslanger 2017). In discussing this statement the concept to of how social constructions of male or female identities are determined should be understood. To become a woman or to develop the characteristics of a woman there are some set guidelines. The present concept or understanding of gender as a category of historical analysis is generated from the twentieth -century feminist political mobilization that took place in Europe and the United States. This phenomenon led to the improvement of the field of women's history both as a product and practice. Society is formed and is not a natural phenomenon and anything that has been invented by the society is called social construction (Dragonas et al. 2015). The cultural exercise and rules that human beings follow give rise to the being of social constructs and govern the practices, customs, and rules concerning the way human beings perceive these ideas. In the case of gender identities sex of a child is assigned and then the task begins to socialize this baby and teach them the prerequisite that are associated with the gender be it man or woman. People act their role in the society with great distinction and certificates. A women according to the society should be graceful, poised, delicate, physically weak and hence do domestic work, giving birth to a child is the prime idea and motive behind the existence of a woman and hence she has to be ready for it by exhibiting motherly expression of patience, love and endurance. Social etiquettes of men and women are also different the way a w oman should talk; sit and dress are also decided by the society with. A woman has to be looked after by a man and hence a father and then a husband are imperative in the life of woman of stature (Haslanger 2017). As a woman is considered a gender that demands that care and protection as there are certain incapability associated with the gender such as earning of livelihood etc. The existence of a woman is dependent on the father as even a woman takes the name of the man she is married to. An individual is also taught which emotions they are supposed to display in certain situations. There are activities as well which are segregated by the gender an individual is supposed to enjoy and excel the activities which they are associated with in the view of the society. Hobbies and body language is also taught by the society to a child from the day he or she is born. To become a woman a person has to personify these qualities. The concept of social construction explain that the statement by One is not born, but rather becomes a woman", Simon de Beauvior is relevant and true (Germain 2013). A woman has been described as a personification of beauty and grace by many literary scholars. Some describes women as muse, some as the inertia of universe. The role of a woman has seen a great change from the time Simon de Beauvior published her work. The quote from her book certainly calls attention to the way women are treated differently in society as well as the impact this discrimination has on the an individual be it a man or a woman. Free to choose the sexuality and gender has been the topic of discussion and debate all over the world and that is a complete different idea. Women are now more independent they have the liberty to choose the role that they want to play in the society. Slowly the society is driven towards progression where women no longer need the help of a man to survive in the world. Education has evolved and no discrimination of gender is entertained. Cultures around the world has adopted and acknowledged the power of a woman. The pressure to abide by the soc ietal norms and conditions are slowly being lifted by the people due to a greater understanding and knowledge about the potential of a human being. A child has an innocent mind that is open to all understanding and knowledge. A child with female biological traits may develop male characteristics dose that make her less of a woman? It is not justified to define a gender and to set it with boundaries, human minds are the most extraordinary natural creation with each different form another in that case categorising of the population in three gender is unfair. Reference list: Dragonas, T., Gergen, K.J., McNamee, S. and Tseliou, E., 2015. Education as social construction: Contributions to theory, research and practice. Germain, R., 2013. Reading The Second Sex in 1950s America.The Historical Journal,56(4), pp.1041-1062. Giddens, A., Duneier, M., Appelbaum, R.P. and Carr, D.S., 2016.Introduction to sociology. WW Norton. Haslanger, S., 2017. Gender and Social Construction.Applied Ethics: A Multicultural Approach, p.299. Shepherd, A., 2015.De Beauvoir and'The Second Sex': a Marxist interpretation(Doctoral dissertation, University of Hull). Simon, W., 2017.Sexual conduct: The social sources of human sexuality. Routledge.