Response Paper Assignment | Homework Help Websites

Each one write half page

Stu A

Since time immemorial, the rules governing society have been put in place to favor men. According to Allan Johnson in his book, The Gender Knot, patriarchy is defined as a state in which the male dominates society. The rules governing the community do nothing but propagate the favoring of men in society (Johnson). Senior positions in the community are reserved for men. Patriarchal society is set in such a way that the societal rules favoring men are engrained in everyone’s mind, including women.

In a patriarchal society, the women are at a high disadvantage. It is because opportunities for them are limited. For a woman to succeed, she needs to work twice as hard as a man. From the time a woman is born, she is taught to be less outspoken than men (Johnson). She defines herself by her looks since that is what is expected of her. As Johnson puts it, the domination of men dictates that women are inferior to men. In such a society, a woman is forced to live below her potential, and it becomes so normalized that she becomes accustomed to it.

Although a male-dominated society is built to favor men, it also has a downside. A man is taught to exaggerate his masculinity and anything less is viewed as a sign of weakness. For instance, a married man who decides to stay at home and look after his children as his wife goes off to work will be looked down upon. The aspect that makes him a man according to society is stripped from him, and he is viewed as less of a man.

Gender is a term that has been developed in society to distinguish the roles of males from females. The gender of a person is not determined by the sex of the person but by the tasks allocated to them by society (Lorber).  According to Judith Lorber, from the time a child is born and their sex is determined, society treats each differently (Lorber). The difference in treatment is registered in the children’s brains, and it becomes their reality. Primarily, the children identify with the gender that society imposed on them.

The aspect of gender is very crucial to individuals and how they experience the world. Gender is the basis of the assignment of roles in society because humans organize labor according to certain divisions (Lorber). Gender is born out of the physical traits of males and females. The gender then determines what specific role individuals will play in society (Lorber). Ultimately, gender plays a big part in determining the position of an individual in the community.

A man has social duties that are different from a woman’s. These duties vary significantly and are not ingrained in a person’s biology. However, biology is part of the criteria for the assignment of gender-specific roles. From the moment a girl is born, she is taught not to be anything but pretty, and a boy is trained not to be anything but strong (Lorber). Notably, the roles that will be assigned to them will directly reflect these aspects. Biology is a critical determinant in the assignment of gender, even though gender is an abstract that is socially exacted.

In conclusion, patriarchy is a societal abstract that gives men an upper hand in society. In such a society gender plays a leading role in determining the allocation of duties in the community. These societal constructs disregard women and deem them inferior. However, the aspect of being male or female has no role to play in setting up these laws. The laws governing society, gender, and patriarchy are based on a mindset that needs to change.

Works Cited

Johnson, Allan G. The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy. 3rd ed., N.p.,

2014.

Lorber, Judith. “Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender.” Readings for        Diversity and Social Justice, 2003.

Video Link Representation Project: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPAmjWtHHYs.

Stu b

Response

COLLAPSE

窗体顶端

1. Johnston describes a patriarchal society as a society which men and women participate in and is male dominated and centered. Johnston describes patriarchy as “male dominated in that positions of authority-political, economic, legal, religious, educational, military, domestic-are generally reserved for men” (Johnston, Page 6). Women can also find themselves in a higher position but are described as an exception to the rule are questioned if they will be able to measure up against a man. Women in this type of society are left to make the most of what is left to them by all the men. Women are seen as the subordinate group and the needs of a man come first before her own. A woman is to be in charge of housework and childcare and anything that supports her husband while he is at work. Women are put on a pedestal for their beauty and sex appeal and often romanticized. Men can suffer in this situation as they suffer not because they are oppressed as men but inflict injury on themselves.

2. After a child is born, society transforms its sex into gender by the basis of the genital at birth. “Then babies are dressed or adorned in a way that displays the category because parents don’t want to be constantly asked whether their baby is a girl or boy” (Lorber, Page 243). Sex becomes gender when naming, fashion. Children quickly learn their own pronouns and gender norms soon surround them. Gender completely affects how people experience the world and is an institute of society as a whole because we are brought up around these gender norms and expectations that certain jobs are for men and other women and one’s experience with their feelings and what’s feminine and masculine. The author explains biology in the development of gender as, “Similarly, gender cannot be equated with biological and physiological differences between human females and males. The building blocks of gender are socially constructed statuses. Western societies have only two genders, “man” and “woman” Some societies have three genders—men, women, and berdaches or hijras or xaniths. Berdaches, hijras, and xaniths are biological males who behave, dress, work, and are treated in most respects as social women; they are therefore not men, nor are they female women; they are, in our language, “male women.” ( Lorber, Page 245 The author basically says that gender is not

窗体底端

The author basically says that gender is not attached to a biological substratum. People have learnt how to be a man and a woman .

Work Cited:

Johnson, Allan G. The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy. Temple Univ. Press, 2014.

Lorber, Judith. The Social Construction of Gender. 2003.