The essay “Learning to be Gendered” is about gender norms
and why they exist. The authors, Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet,
seem to think that babies are taught how to “be” a male or female, which I disagree
with. The author’s state, “…sex determination sets the stage for a life-long
process of gendering, at the child becomes, and learns how to be, male or
female.” I, personally, do not believe this. I feel like the essay was trying
to say that a newborn child is almost void of being male or female. If that makes
sense. I think gender norms exist because that is how it has always been. That’s
why it the “NORM.” Males used to go out and hunt for food while females would take
care of the children. I do not think that gender norms are so much needed, as
just the way things are. I don’t think girls are taught to female or boys are
taught to be male. The authors even somewhat disprove their own theory by saying,
“There is considerable debate among scholars about the extent to which adults
actually do treat boys and girls differently, and many note that the
similarities far outweigh the differences.” That sentence alone disproves the author’s
argument that parents teach their children to be a boy or a girl. They do go on
to try to discredit the research by saying, “Research on early gender
development…is almost exclusively done by psychologist. As a result, the
research it reports on largely involves observations of behavior in limited
settings-whether in a laboratory or in the home or the preschool.” To me, home
and preschool is just about ALL the settings where you’d find the child they
are describing. The state that the researchers miss “small differences across
many different situations.” The go on to say “Small differences here and there
are PROBABLY enough for children to learn what it means in their community to
be male or female.” They have no evidence so I do not believe this claim. I
think this essay was pretty one sided to say the least. The author’s also didn’t
mention the hormones, testosterone and estrogen, that are almost exclusively set
for each gender.
I agree with your observations though I think that the authors are speaking about gender on a mental level. The way that gender norms are produced are through the way we are raised. "In the beginning, adults will do the gender work for the child, treating it as a boy or a girl..." Yes, we have those natural prehistoric roles, but there are records of women throughout history who have been the hunter/gatherers. The Huns were notorious for having female leaders, that was their culture to include women in things like war and battle. Yet in China, during the same era, if a woman was found in their ranks they would be put to death. I think the point of the article is mainly on how we are raised into our gender norms and not allowed to choose which norm we would like to be in...if that makes sense??
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Jonathan. We may be raised to be a boy or a girl by our parents, but biological changes in our bodies will effect what we like and dislike. I also agree that this essay seemed to be "one sided". Leaning greatly on the weakly supported idea that we fit into a gender norm because of how we are raised by our parents and community.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the essay, I too had the same thoughts about the argument they were trying to produce. I agree with the fact that gender norms are obvious and present from birth, however the essay never stated why that is a bad thing. Like you said, Jonathan, they are norms for a reason... because that is how the evolution of a "man" and a "woman" has been perceived since the dawn of time. I fully support a person who wishes to go against the norms of gender roles, but overall the norms seem to make sense in today's society. Again, though, I do agree with the fact that the authors seemed to disprove their arguments without offering valid reasoning as to why a gender role is hurtful/harmful to a person. The grooming of a child's perception of gender can 100% change as they get older.
ReplyDeleteJonathan, you made really great points. I thought this essay was a little confusing because I didn’t read any clear proof. After reading your thoughts, it helped me to understand a little better. I’m a person who is okay with the societal norms and frankly, I don’t care if I was taught to be a girl. I’m perfectly fine with how things are now. I think that it is fine to have boys be dressed a certain way and have girls dressed a certain way because males and females do differ and we should be able to differentiate between the two. Gender roles are a part of society and I don’t see a problem with that. There’s a reason why we differentiate and have certain things for each gender; because they are different. Parents are just treating the child as their gender because it is what they are. A parent is there to teach a child things and why is it wrong for them to teach them or show them what they are? When the kid grows up and can think for themselves, then they can identify with whatever they want. But until then, I think it is fine for parents to teach them exactly what they are; male or female.
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