In this unit, we learned that sex is the biological factor and gender is relative to culture. Sex is the biological chromosomal pairing. This leads to physical characteristics that we can see, muscle definition, primary, and secondary sex organs, etc. Gender on the other hand, is how we feel. We feel masculine or we feel feminine. Though some of us embody all of the norms associated with either masculinity or femininity, a majority of us live in the middle region, demonstrating characteristics that tend to lean towards either side while demonstrating some traits of the other.
We say gender is a cultural construct, because it is truly a thing respective of culture. Some things seen as masculine in some cultures may be categorized as feminine in others. Some traits seen as feminine in some cultural, may be categorized as ambiguous to gender in others. The combinations are endless. In american society, a man seen crossing this legs is seen as feminine and, and most would jump to the conclusion that because the man is crossing his legs in that way, he must be gay. In Europe, on the other hand, crossing legs is not a sign of masculinity or femininity. It is simply a sign of comfort.
When we learned about gender norms and societal expectations, we mostly focused on the United States. We looked at an excerpt from Michael Kimmel's "Manhood in America", where he talked about the development of our sense of masculinity in the United States, and how it reaches far beyond the confines of barbershop and locker room talk. He talks about it starting on the playgrounds of grade schools, where you can start a fight amongst a group of boys by simply asking them to identify who the "sissy" of the group is. Boys and girls are taught to police gender through "games" like the finger nail test. At a young age, all of this really seems like just fun and games. But we see the effects that the cultivation of a gender based society has on it's citizens when they get older.
In class, we had the opportunity to hear several members of our school's LGBT community speak about their experiences growing up and coming out as an LGBT youth. The panel itself was diverse beyond the various gender's and sexual orientations being represented. We had the opportunity to ask questions and interact with the group. I took away a lot from the experience and being able to connect what we learn in class to real people with real experiences.
