During the Ted Talk "Understanding the Complexities of Gender” Sam defines genders and their roles as we see them in modern day America, "Boys are aggressive, impetuous, good at math, love the color blue. They get dirty, rough house, play sports, not house. Trucks and soldiers and legos are their toys, but they break them all, ‘cuz boys will be boys.” meanwhile, "Girls are passive, docile, natural caretakers, love the color pink, born to be good bakers. They hate bugs, love hugs, and are better at vacuuming rugs.”
Based on “Social Construction” by Hanfler, we base our reality upon what society has constructed, and when “people agree on a definition of the situation they act in predictable ways.” But for those not born in to those definitions, life isn’t that straight forward. This social construction that has worked for our species for so long, has got to evolve, it has evolved between races, it has evolved between two genders, but was we know from Sam’s talk especially, there’s not longer the case of two definitions but that of many. These definitions need freedom to learn and grow, and deserve to be treated just like any one else. So social construction can be a bad thing and good thing. It’s simply the question of whether or not it can develop, along with us?
I must say that I absolutely agree with you whole first paragraph. The whole blog actually but I really enjoyed the first paragraph. I too believe that social construction is an under-talked subject because it is viewed to be a negative topic. Perhaps that is because the more privileged groups feel guilty when subjects get brought up and possibly because the underprivileged groups may not want to bother causing disruptions in societies by raising the issues. Most people are not intentionally putting roles on people because it is such a natural thing that people just don't think about. Just like your lion talk above, the women hunt while the men lay around and rest all day. In our society most the of the women in households cook while men wait to be fed their meals. Those are roles that have been around forever practically. I'm a bit curious how you think we are progressing though. I see men cooking more often now either because they want to be helpful to their girlfriends or wives (be a little romantic maybe?) or they know that if they don't learn to cook they will just be eating junk their entire lives. So like I said, I'm a bit curious in what aspects you think we are moving forward as a species.
ReplyDelete