'Gender Biologically Determined Essay\r'

'Drawing upon ethnographic examples from 2-3 societies. trip universe ‘biologically fit(p)’ means that whether grammatical sex is inherited or passed down by genetics. If a or so unmatched is a existence or charr, (which is normally called ‘The Sex’), that is biologically determined because they inherit the chromosomes to be born(p) a man, or to be born as a woman. In the early 1970’s conjure up was described by â€Å"biology as: anatomy, hormones, and physiology” (West and Zimmerman 1987). Apart from gender existence a biological f human actionor, there be another(prenominal) things which be non biologically determined; â€Å" sexual activity was an achieved view, which was re bring ined through psychological, pagan and social means” (West and Zimmerman1987).\r\n then the answer to the interrogatory â€Å"is gender biologically determined?”Is no, sex is a socially constructed pheno handson. gender refers t o a set of roles masses perform in their communities, which ar their determine and attitudes that concourse study toward man and woman (Bonvillain 2006). In this essay, the topics which would be discussed to support this argu man force-outt ar Gender individuality with examples of how manpower and wo workforce be expected to act, walk, talk and make out in a certain manner which is sufficient in their monastic order, Gender and Sexuality with the examples of culturally in-built norms of sexual deport manpowert, along with existing issues surrounding sexual urge, and finally Gender and Status with an example of manful dominance in conventional Chinese society.\r\nGender identity is outlined in terms of how volume (i.e. work force and women) are hypothetical to behave in the social category. Their attitudes and the counsel the dress, talk and claim themselves in the public are encoded â€Å"in a set of cultural assumptions” which are based on the soilâ €™s values and roles and people are expected to learn these as they are a part of that society (Bonvillain 2006). separately culture has certain ‘norms’ for gender and these ‘norms’ vary from culture to culture, nearly of these norms have a universal harsh normal and people seem to dwell on these social constructs as they make a bread and butter based on these ideologies. â€Å"Cultural constructs are models of demeanour and attitudes that a particular culture transmits to its members. These constructs are dual-lane beliefs and values that be stick with taken for granted direct principles” (Bonvillain 2006). in that location are so m some(prenominal) ways that these socially constructed behaviours are exhibited in different communities, the messages much(prenominal) or less how each(prenominal) man and woman should act depends upon several(prenominal) featureors much(prenominal) as language and religious beliefs.\r\n custody and W omen were distinguished based on their clothing, what they were allowed to wear as a man and woman, hence in public signalling their genders, men wore pants and had other bodily arts much(prenominal) as tattoos season woman adorned dresses, jewellery and make up. This made up the very introductory structure of Gender Identity. Apart from, the basic examples of gender identity, there are several other lessons where women and men have nonequivalent identities, one such(prenominal) case is the, Identity inequality of men and woman in family farms. In today’s world, Gender revolves nearly creation the fact that women are less recognize than men, and are subjected to work which are in the shadows of confinement. That being the generalised factor, the depicted object of the ‘European family farm’ wholly made this issue recognizable to the world. Farms were considered to be the superior agricultural production in the capitalist countries (Brandth 2002). The study used theories of gender role and identity, explaining the issue in the form of discourses. In the 1990’s questions were being embossed towards identity of women and men in the rural farms, these questions lastly shifted towards feminism (Brandth 2002). â€Å"Discourses are forms of power.\r\nThey constitute minds, bodies, identities of individuals as move of wider net whole works of power dealing” (Brandth 2002). It was used in the background of giving out a meaning towards the differences of men and women, there were three discourses formulated by Hirschman, called as the exit, character and loyalty. Women, who didn’t want to be subjected to unequal status left the system, some used their voice to protest against it, while others simply were loyal and control themselves to the syndicate activities. The law stated that the ‘family farm’ should be passed on from father to son, since women were considered weak and have no access and k pro mptlyledge of property and agriculture. Women entirely came into this, only(prenominal) by marriage.\r\n wherefore, the staminate leads the family into it, he allocates what job has to be done, and he participates in forums decisions, and doing so he becomes publically recognised. Since women are adaptable and flexible, their tasks are hold to household chores, and these tasks are unpaid and not recognised as prolific output from them. On the other hand, men’s identities were tied to their ownership of the farms, their occupation and the productive outcome which give them status and economic income. â€Å" substantive work was equated with physical tasks and women’s self jut out is based on the absence of such qualities” (Brandth 2002). In recent days, with the improvement of farming technologies, the feminine work, such as milking cows, and so on are now being done by these improvised machines, reservation women less efficient and thus making farming a whole masculine activity (Brandth 2002). Hence with this example it is clearly pointed out that the social construct differentiates and distinguishes men and women.\r\nApart from gender being carve up apart by a social construct, there are factors which raised questions and studies in the society, one of such being gender and its relation to sexuality. There is always a taboo when it comes to sex, and it seems to be a common pattern in the world. Even though, we have sexual feelings and we consecrate them as it being a part of nature, it is besides deeply influenced by culture (Bonvillain 2006). Culture teaches people what is the right thing to do, in what way, when, where and so on. There are a lot of examples where culture intervenes and states the ‘norms’ down the stairs which the people in that society or confederation should behave sexually. For example, sexual relationship amongst members of a nuclear family or distant relations is proscribe in more or l ess cultures. There are other countries which have the legal age of having sex, which are usually the Americans and Europeans, where the legal age is 16, so if a person indulges in a sexual relationship with a person who is below 16 it is considered against the law and get out be filed for statutory rape (Bonvillain 2006).\r\nOther regions such as India, sex before marriage is considered as sin based on the cultural beliefs, whereas in American society it is inappropriate to have sex if you’re not husband or married woman (Bonvillain 2006). While in some countries where sex could be considered as normal, other societies, like Islamic countries for example, any adultery committed by a male or by a female is intemperately punished, or most commonly stoned to final stage (Bonvillain 2006). But this isn’t the only issue considering sexuality, the most recent yet shocking development, is crotchet between men and woman. â€Å"Homosexuality was considered to be a trespa ss of the natural law” (Bonvillain 2006). People were only meant to hire in heterosexual activity (between man and woman) to reproduce. During the 1980’s indulging in homosexual activity was considered in crime, people were imprisoned when caught doing so. But in 2003 some parts of the United States, suspended the law, and made homosexuality legal, soon European countries such as Canada, Belgium, and Netherlands passed an act which approved of homosexual weddings (Bonvillain 2006).\r\nIf one digs deeper into this issue, where these debatable, one can find that it roots back from religions. virtually religion disapprove of homosexuality but in religions such as Hindu, for sexuality, scriptures of homosexual activity only stated that it was normal and natural, to be attracted to the same sex (Bonvillain 2006). But in today’s society the main issue is regarding the issue of males being attracted to each other, an example of this issue is ‘Homophobia of menà ¢â‚¬â„¢. Homosexuality is considered to be a cultural construct, which apart from the ‘lesbian identities’ gave heave to the ‘ homophile identities’ (Herek 1986). It is common for normal men, to avoid influencing with homosexual men, as they fear what the public might count of them being judged as not ‘masculine’, where as its more normal for woman to associate with lesbians or homosexual women, as they are not being judged by the rest of the females (Herek 1986).\r\nStudies showed, that the social construction of gay identities meant that there was something psychologically wrong with that person, it was never attributed to the fact that homosexuality is more of a social construct than something being wrong with the individuals mental state (Herek 1986). laughable men are more scared to come out, or feel comfortable most their sexuality in the public than gay woman. The reason for this is because, men verbal expression for other menâ€⠄¢s grace to gain the status of being ‘a man’ (Kimmel).\r\nâ€Å"We are under the constant careful testing of other men. Other men watch us, rove us, and grant our acceptance into the realm of manhood. Manhood is present of other men’s approval. It is other men who evaluate the performance” (Kimmel). As mentioned earlier, men look for other men’s approval, and because of this gay men are subjected to stigma and discrimination (Herek 1986). As a result, they develop ‘defensiveness,’ an unconscious defence mechanism (defined in psychodynamic terms). This helps them avoid or repress their homosexual tendencies (Kimmel). To summarise, gender is not biologically determined because people have the free will to choose their sexuality (i.e. they are not born being homosexuals, it is clearly a social construct).\r\nGender roles, is defined as a set of rules or rather guidelines towards the behaviour of men and woman. The rights and duties, a ttitudes and behaviours of men and women constitutes of how they are culturally associated with gender (Bonvillain 2006). The works of men and women are separate, as in, men carry on doing work which they are culturally hypothetic to be doing and women do their work, based on what the norms of cultures tell them to do. When these two norms interact with each other, they reflect a lot of differences and changes in status, prestige and power of men and woman this is called as ‘gender relations’ (Bonvillain 2006). It is transparent that men are thought to be more superior to women as they are more power driven and physically stronger than woman. While, men get more prestigious and leadership jobs, woman are confined to their homely duties of being a house-wife or in other words a care- giver (Bonvillain 2006).\r\nThis brings about the inequality of men and woman. There tasks which categorize what woman are capable of doing such as, caring for children and their husbands, planning food, making clothes and other homely chores, while men on the other hand do more physical and dangerous tasks such as, hunt down animals, conducting warfare etc, this is called division of labour (Bonvillain 2006). Gender and status are the most recent conflict and the most studied topic in today’s society. Gender equality, happens when both the male and female chequer to equal rights and behaviours. Gender inequality happens when the male and female do not agree to equal rights, attitudes and behaviour (Bonvillain 2006). An example of this, is male dominance in china, the male adult, was the head of the family and they expressed their dominance over their children and wives.\r\nTraditional Chinese cultures had more Patriarchal gender relations (Bonvillain 2006). In conclusion, the question â€Å"is gender biologically determined?” is incorrect, even though gender has a biological definition, gender is mostly socially defined in this context. The tasks or norms which each gender (i.e. male and female) is supposed to perform in the society, is based on a social construct. They are not born to be who there are, instead these social constructions are in-built within them since childhood. Since they taught to act and behave in a proper(postnominal) way which is culturally approved. They choose to be what sexuality appeals to them and what each individualistic gender they are taught to be. Hence ‘Gender’ is strongly driven by culture.\r\nREFERENCES:\r\nWest,C and Zimmerman, Don. 1987. Doing Gender. Sociologists for Women in Society 1(2): 125-155 Herek, Gregory. 1986.on Heterosexual masculinity. American Behavioural Scientist 29(5): 563-577 Brandth, Berit. 2002. Gender Identity in European Family\r\nFarming: A Literature Review. European Society for Rural Sociology 42(3): 181-200 Kimmel, Michael. Masculinity as homophobia: Fear, Shame and Silence in the Constructions of Gender Identity. Bonvillain, Nancy. 2006. Chapter 10, â€Å"Gender” from Cultural Anthropology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Pp. 251-282. ISBN: 0-13-045545-8\r\n'