Chico 1

Jazmin I. Chico

English 113A

Professor Ditch C.

09 May, 2017

Progression 1

Societys Influences on Sexuality Gender Construction

Society as it is known it has turned out to be one of the most unjustified, sexist,

contradictory and controlling matters. The social balance has tipped over both social construction

and identity, which is brought down to an inequality within these categories that is represented

and influenced in daily lives. Many depend on societys acceptance to define those between the

roles many choose to play throughout work, home, school, and/or cultures. In these two articles

Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender by Judith Lorber and From Women,

Men, and Society by Claire Renzetti, and Daniel Curran, have the common idea is that socially

constructed gender roles influence parenting on gender and sex roles. In my own life experience

culture, has had many influences set up to specify the actions of a gender/sex.

Throughout time we notice an expectation that is upheld for a specific title, that societies

influence. The difference between sex and gender pushes those to influence the way they

perform within their daily lives. Judith Lorber wrote in, Night to His Day: The Social

Construction of Gender, that although gender has become a part of our daily life, we are also

forced to choose in which category we may fall into because of how we look or dress. Gender is
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such a familiar part of our daily life that it usually takes a deliberate disruption of our

expectations of how women and men are supposed to act to pay attention to how it is produced.

For the individual, gender construction starts with assignment to sex category based on what the

genitalia looked like at birth. Then babies are dressed and adorned in a way that displays the

category because parents dont want to be constantly asked whether their baby is a girl or boy.

Sex category becomes a gender status through naming, dressed, the use of other gender markers

(Lorber 20). Many people feel the need to either judge or hide who they are, or what their family

might perceive to see them or feel towards them.

Society can also be looked upon as a family, where we are told to act, look, dress and

talk. Claire Renzetti, and Daniel Curran wrote in From Women, Men, and Society how parents

have come to show a differential treatment for boys and girls, making great impact on their

childrens views and ways of being. The knowledge of sex implies more than chromosomal or

anatomical differences. It implies gender, and with it images or personality and social role

expectations (Renzetti, and Curran 76). Declaring what a child will act like or be before they are

even born is identity roles and developmental growth- choosing how their life will play out as

long as the parent has control over the identification specifications. So, when the child is

growing into a young adult, they follow the roles that have been given to them. Such as the

saying, boys dont cry is implying that if a boy shows any form of femininity that he is not

playing the role of a man or boy as it is seen in the eyes of their parents specifically to the

way most parents would want to raise their children. It is looked down upon because his level of

masculinity is dropped. Gender roles create categories for males and females to act in. That is

where the term, role comes in. Gender roles require males and females to act their part, and be

either masculine or feminine. According to Emily W. Kane, author of No Way My Boys Are
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Going to Be Like That: Parents Responses to Childrens Gender Non -Conformity. She

addresses a situation where a father is discussing how he does not want his five-year old son to

be a sissy, while another father becomes easily irritated with his four-year old son is crying

because of physical pain. Gender roles are pushed upon us by our own parents during our

developmental stages, solidifying the way we choose to act and think.

As for how the common idea can relate to my own life experiences, in Chicana/o culture,

it is common for the ideal woman to be nothing more than a caretaker. Gender roles are very

prevalent in my culture and now with society challenging these roles, it causes internal conflict

in some Chicana/o families. It is hard for some of the more traditional members of my family to

understand the concept of gender roles because their way of thinking is simply, Thats just the

way its always been. Besides gender roles affecting Chicana/o culture in my life, chivalry has

also been pushed in my experiences. In my culture, along with several others, it is believed that a

man should be a man and pay for dates, protect his woman, etc. These ideals are what enforces

the idea of arbitrary roles that society has given us.

Over all society has made its way to generalizing and representing gender construction

within daily lives as if it may be harmless to label. Many individuals feel the need to call gender

and sex the same labels, the reality is that it is more than that. Society has shaped the views of

the public on gender and sex using media and the influences pasted on throughout family.

Although it may be sexist, unjustified, and a contradictive matter little by little many have come

to realize that they are the reason the next generation has become so judgmental and criticizing

toward the variety of individual groups we have come to create. Gender, sex, or plainly

genderless how one chooses to define or identify themselves is up to themselves.

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Works Cited

Renzetti, Claire and Daniel Curran From Woman, Men, and Society. (2003) (p. 19- 34)

Emily W. Kane No Way My Boys Are Going to Be Like That: Parents Responses to

Childrens Gender Non -Conformity (p.91- 98)

Judith Lorber Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender (p.19- 34)