Han 1

Bobbi Han
Professor Corri Ditch
English 113A
September 21, 2015

Progression 1
In the first second of the second paragraph in the United States Independence Declaration
starts as follow: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty
and Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the governed. Among all, the phrase All men are created
equal has been an immortal declaration to the American Revolutionary period as well as a
controversy about gender, that the phrase all men represents gender biased in writing. When
reading the article: Night To His Day: The Social Construction Of Gender by Judith Lorber,
readers can easily interpret the quotation in the title as Night for female and Day for male.
This indicates the dominance of the male gender in most human society and also influences ones
social behaviors. Human individuals, including myself, are imprinted with the idea of male
gender dominates. Many researchers, behaviorists or sociologists seek for the explanation of why
and how this process is done throughout the extent of a human beings life. The studies for the
two questions Why and How,mentioned above, are composited in Becoming Members of
Society by Aaron Devor and Night To His Day: The Social Construction Of Gender by Judith
Lorber. Both articles provide a social definition of gender and demonstrate gender expectations

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and performance: masculinity and femininity, which, both Lorber and Devor believe, a person
will learn and practice throughout the extent of their life.

Judith Lorber, in her article, defines gender as a social construction that starts as birth and
prolongs through life. The gendering process results in different expected performances in
female and male: femininity and masculinity. Lorber extents her definition by claiming gender
is not sex. Sex is the physiological appearance of a human beings genitalia, whereas, gender
refers to social statuses. That is to say, gender statuses-masculinity or femininity-is what society
assign to the two sex categories-male and female. While Lorber assumes her readers to
understand what femininity or masculinity is, Devor describes precisely the difference between
two gender performances. To behave in a feminine way, one expresses a series of subordinate or
no threat actions through body postures, gestures, inflections, intonations and phrases. Devor
states: people appear feminine when they keep their arms closer to their bodies, their legs closer
together, use their hands in small or childlike gestures and speak in high frequencies
sound (Devor 41) Thus, to outgrow the subordinate status, individuals should behave in an
aggressive, threatening or dominant postures and gestures, to be conceived as masculine.

Beside that, in Lorbers article, the process of gendering is outlined from the beginning of
ones life. After birth, babies are named, dressed and adorned according to his/her gender. When
children start to develop perception, they learn their social status and gender group. Adolescent
boys and girls approach and avoid each other in an elaborately and scripted and gendered mating
dance. (Lorber 20) With this bit of information from Lorbers article, readers can easily relate to

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their own life experience. Mean while, Devor describes this process with a scientific approach.
He applied psychology theories to explain how gendering perception is assimilated and
constructing childrens identities. Devors article is a reversal to that of Lorbers. Lorbers is
about the conventional stereotypes of gender, which, in the essay, is analyzed by a logical and
semi-formal approach. However, both share the idea of gender, as a social construction device,
feeds on juvenile mentality and shape it.

These two articles raise a question to societys conformity to these gender norms. In
Night to his day, Lorber undermining patriarchal nature of our society and subtly express her
desire for gender equality. Moreover, Lorber infused her personal tone into the article. Readers
can sense a trivial pathos approach. On the other hand, Devor prefers a neutral analysis of gender
as a biased social institute to both gender. In general, two articles exemplifies western society as
problematic dichotomized civilization, but is advanced at economy resources. Lorber said: The
more economic resources, such as education and job opportunities, are available to a group, the
more they tend to be monopolized by men. In poorer groups that have few resources (such as
working-class African Americans in the United States), women and men are more nearly
equal. (Lorber 29) This is to say, gendering has its pros and cons, which leads us to the next
question: how can we overcome gender norms since it plays an important roles in our society.

Gender serves as a device for human to organize their life and allocate resources. People
are constantly doing gender (West and Zimmerman 1978). For example, I personally have
preference to dress for comfort, for instance, in shorts or unisex shirts. However, as society

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constantly ascribes membership in a category of people, I am called a Tomboy. Although the
differentiation process is necessary for the welfare of human society, social groups that it
provides are not inclusive and sometimes create confusion for its members. For example, there
are certain traits on my body that I would prefer to look feminine: my hair! That is to say, I
would likely try out that really short hairstyle if I see a female modeling it and lesser chance
when it comes to male models. Most of us are influenced by gender models subconsciously. I
have always consider myself to be radical when it comes to gender norms, however, i still
conform to certain gender qualities so that i have a sense of belonging-conformity-to my peers.

In conclusion, It is hard to overcome gender norms. There have been rebels who find its
way to escape the circle. However, that part is still trivial compared to the degree of influence
gender gives society. The idea of gender is explicitly addressed in both articles. Lorbers Night
to his day: A Social Construction Of Gender is established with a non-formal viewpoint so that
readers can form connection. Devors Becoming Members Of Society: The Social Meanings Of
Gender has a rather scholastic and formal prose that some audience might find sophisticated and
uninteresting. Both assert that gender construction is an important element for developed
civilizations, but is problematic for people to fit into only two categories.

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Works Cited

Lorber, Judith. Night to his day: The social construction of gender. Composing Gender. Ed.
Rachel Groner and John F. OHara. Boston: Bedford/ St.Martins, 2014. Print.
Devor, Aaron. Becoming members of society: The social meanings of gender. Composing
Gender. Ed. Rachel Groner and John F. OHara. Boston: Bedford/ St.Martins, 2014.
Print
All men are created equal. Creating The United States. The Congress Library. N.d. Web