This essay is written in response to Go Terps remarks about how we are constantly making changes in order to make things right in our society. She provocatively states: “There will always be problems that individuals will find in the structure of society, but it will get better in time. It is a process. We are only human and mistakes happen, but it seems like our society is constantly practicing trial and error until we get it right. Our social structure has already changed immensely over time, and this should be acknowledged for what it is — very impressive.” It is true that our society is changing. However, we should not assume that those changes are necessarily good. What is truly important is not change but the kind of change that happens. Go Terps brought up interesting areas in which changes are occurring but fails to demonstrate how these changes will eradicate the gender related problems in our society. In the 2005 film TransGeneration, we see how difficult it was for transgendered students to discuss their gender with new friends and colleagues. It took them a whole lot of courage to openly explore issues related to their identities and how they feel as human beings. Lets take for instance one of the characters, Raci, who transitioned from male to female. Even though she was born with male genitalia, she didn’t feel that she was a man. She couldn’t live the norms associated with our social construction of gender. She struggled emotionally and physically with how people perceived her, and it was only after the transformation of her gender from man to woman that she was able to live and feel comfortable. This is an example of how problematic our social construction of gender is. I think it is important to be able to live according to how we feel about ourselves and not necessarily by the demands of others. . I feel it is imperative to allow individuals to explore their own identities. We are all created differently by God and have different aspirations in life. And if we want to impose onto others a rigid definition of what constitutes an appropriate gender, then people will suffer. It is important to realize that no matter how we construct gender, there will always be deviations. Therefore, what needs to change is rigidity. A “constantly improving” society is one which demolishes rigid gender categories. In a recent online post entitled “The Social Construction of Gender,” the author writes that the construction of gender “reveals that gender is not immutable or set in stone. Harmful aspects of our construction of gender can and should be discarded. But beyond that, if gender exists to support hierarchy, then gender, as it is viewed and practiced in our culture, is not only uncomfortable for many people, but a tool of oppression.” This post suggests that gender is not constant and the way we construct it is often offensive or distasteful to others who do not identify with the social construction. As long as we continue to have a rigid gender system, then the system will need to change. Again, the problem is the rigidity of the system, and this is precisely what Go Terps fails to understand. ~ Wenty
4 Comments
Irina
3/28/2010 11:38:34 am
I feel sorry and proud for these people as in some sence this people are socially opressed and have difficulties coping with their careers/education as well as in a personal lifes. From the other side, they have strong personalities as they do not hide their transgenerations and express themselves in a way they are and completely ignoring glances of others as they are walking on streets/campus.
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RIchelle Berry
4/1/2010 08:28:59 am
I agree with Wenty, gender can also be a form of oppression. I never really thought about it this way. A lot of men and even sometimes women feel that female is the weaker sex. Males dominate American society. When I think about a powerful person in America, I think about an upper class white male. Times may be changing though. Today we have a black president, and we had a woman woman for presidency, all in the same year.
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chantelle berry
4/11/2010 11:06:05 am
I think it is very interesting that our sex can divide us so much. I never understood why men got to be the stronger sex. Men have the most power and it is unfair. We are born a certain way and oppressed because of it.
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Go Terps
4/27/2010 05:01:58 am
The video presented in this blog where the transgendered individual confesses her gender proves that our society is changing for the better. In the past if an individual was transgendered society would make fun of and isolated them. But as you can see in the video when the transgendered individual told the male, his reaction was very accepting. He said he understood and was fine with her identity. This is great progress in our society and its only improving and being more excepted.
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AuthorsThe Class Blog Project, or CBP, is a blog featuring undergraduate students forming a critical dialogue with each other around ideas related to the sociology of gender. Archives
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