http://gas.sagepub.com/content/1/2/125.short
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West, C. (n.d.). Doing Gender . Gender & Society . Retrieved April 09, 2011, from http://gas.sagepub.com/content/1/2/125.short
Picture:
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| Jeffrey Stanton in TAKE FIVE... More or Less. Photo © Angela Sterling |
Video:
IWFL. (n.d.). IWFL women's tackle football, Western Conference Champions . YouTube.com. Retrieved April 9, 2011, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pcSYyNeTF0
Web Resources:
http://www.trinity.edu/MKEARL/gender.html
http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/gender
"Class, race, sexuality, gender and all other categories by which we categorize and dismiss each other need to be excavated from the inside."
Crossword:
http://www.armoredpenguin.com/crossword/Data/2011.04/1100/11000831.870.html
key: http://www.armoredpenguin.com/crossword/Data/2011.04/1100/11000831.870.ans.pdf
The reason for my interest in this chapter can be found in my post in this week's discussion board:
Personally, in looking at the issue of gender identity and stereotyping, I am very critical. Why do girls and boys have to be one way or another? If a girl plays Hockey, as I have one friend who does, and she's really good at it, often times it is thought that she isn't girlie enough and that that is a bad thing.
Growing up I went through a "tomboy phase" and though I am relatively "girlie" i.e. I love to wear dresses and watch romantic movies and such, what would people have said if, in my childhood explorations, I had decided that I liked playing sports and wearing t-shirts and baggy jeans more than anything else? I probably would have more guy friends and I would spend less time worrying about my makeup and hair, but there probably wouldn't be a lot of ridicule.
On the other hand, I have a friend I have known for years who has just become a professional ballet dancer. Now, no, he's not gay as the stereotype goes (I have nothing against homosexuality, I just know there is this stereotype that is decidedly wrong about men in artist professions). In fact, there is only one gay man and a couple of lesbians in the entire company. And that's not exclusion, it's just who happens to have been hired. I'm not sure if anyone has ever met a male ballerina, but he's an athlete if I've ever seen one. I know that he has had a really difficult time growing up, unfortunately. Most of his friends were girls, unless the guy really tried to understand him and realize that there was nothing "girly" about him.
I think it's sad that people have to be one way or another or they don't fit the stereotype that people want to give them. I think, ultimately, it's hard for many in society when they can't paint a box around an individual and say they must be this way or that way.
I began with the photo of one of the male dancers in the Pacific Northwest Ballet Company (a company a girl friend of mine dances in) that I felt most exemplifies the idea that gender identity tends to be associated with different kinds of socialization and activities that individuals partake in. The Video clip is one showing women playing football, a sport that until recently has been only the domain of men. These women and several like it are pressing the boundaries of gender and stereotypes as they play this rough and tumble sports not as men but as women. The article discusses gender roles and their part in everyday interactions within and between society and what it means to be a parituclar gender or to identify with a different gender. The web resources are from one gender studies class at Trinity and the other has a host of articles found on psychology today all about the psychology of gender. The final quote to me shows that society's issues boil down to a host of prejudices and stereotypes that need to be looked at critically when trying to deal with these issues as the heart of the matter.
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