Question 1
Gender is socially constructed, and has been for centuries, by a male-dominated society casting gender roles upon men and women in order to keep men at the top in the gender hierarchy. The difference between sex and gender is subtle, but apparent: as it says in Doing Gender, "Sex...was what is ascribed by biology: anatomy, hormones, and physiology. Gender...was an achieved status: that which is constructed through psychological, cultural, and social means." In Masculinity as Homophobia, they talk about the socialization of gender roles: "Manhood is equated with power-over women, over other men. Everywhere we look, we see the institutional expression of that power." Men use their power to socialize gender roles in order to create more power over women, and you can see it in society. This power also leads to rampant sexual harassment of females, as males who do this believe that because they have all the power, they cannot be punished for their wrongdoings against women. Women have a glass ceiling over them that they cannot breach while males dominate society. As discussed in The Confidence Gap, women are less likely to seek promotions than men unless all the right conditions are met, and we can see in Miss Representation that the media is especially able to socialize us against female politicians by focusing on their looks and/or attitude more than their political views. All of this affects women's looking-glass selves, because they see the socialization of women to be lesser than men, which leads to them thinking that everybody sees them as weak and unimportant. After a while, women begin to feel this way about themselves, especially since they have been socialized since childhood to think themselves unequal to men, as evidenced by I'm Glad I'm a Boy, I'm Glad I'm a Girl. Even the looking-glass selves of men are affected, as they begin to believe that society sees them as effeminate if they don't follow every one of the so-called standards of masculinity. This is discussed in, and is even the thesis of, Masculinity as Homophobia: "Why, then do men feel so powerless? Part of the answer is because we've constructed the rules of manhood so that only the tiniest fraction of men come to believe that they are...the most virulent repudiators of femininity, the most daring and aggressive." Most men don't even feel like they live up to the standards that have been set for them. Gender is socially constructed by a society ruled mainly by males, but this doesn't only affect women, their looking-glass selves, and really every aspect of their lives negatively; it does the same, in some senses, for most men.
Question 2
This unit helped me understand that me being sexist in any way, including tolerating my friends making sexist comments, is harmful to women as a whole, in turn widening my sociological imagination to help me understand how my everyday actions can have an effect on the world. Looking back on my childhood, I realize now how much mass media as an agent of socialization affected my life and views. I constantly watched shows that in some ways demeaned women or featured people not responding to others demeaning women. In Consuming Kids they point out how commercials can also enforce this sexism. I was taught subconsciously from these commercials what stuff was for boys and what stuff was for girls, making it much easier to make fun of people for breaking gendered stereotypes. School was also an agent of socialization for me from a young age, as one of its latent functions, part of the hidden curriculum, was to teach me and my classmates that being separated by gender was a normal thing that happens all the time, further subconsciously enforcing sexism. This was showcased during Freaks and Geeks when the dodgeball gym class is only made up of boys. As explained in Masculinity as Homophobia, all of these overtly sexist things socializing me from a young age made me afraid of being seen as non-masculine: "As adolescents, we learn that our peers are a kind of gender police, constantly threatening to unmask us as feminine, as sissies." My looking-glass self was always aware, always thinking about whether or not what I had just said, had just done, was manly enough. This is reinforced in Freaks and Geeks as well, when Alan implies that Sam is girly for needing to have his sister intervene for him, leading to Sam being willing to do anything to make other people see him as masculine. Because of all of this socialization, as I grew older, I listened to my friends making sexual comments about random women, making rape jokes, or making jokes about women in the kitchen without responding, fearing that I would be called a sissy, or become non-masculine in the eyes of my peers. But just as I now know the motivations behind my quietness, broadening my sociological imagination, I also know how my quietness affects women. As it says in Masculinity as Homophobia, "Shame leads to silence-the silence that keeps other people believing that we actually approve of the things that are done to women, to minorities, to gays and lesbians in our culture." I understand, through this quote and our class discussion, that not only does my silence lead people to potentially see me as sexist, but it also leads to me becoming another one of the faceless masses that deny women the opportunity to be on the same plane as men. My silence means my approval, my becoming a bystander, and in order to help women draw even with men I can't be bystander. This unit has widened my sociological imagination by making me realize that I can no longer be silent, as it affects the world around me in a way i don't want it to.
Question 3
The only way to solve the problems of gender stratification and discrimination is to start from the ground up. We must focus all of our energies on educating children to make sure that they do not grow up to be sexist. In order to do that we must come at the problem from all three sociological perspectives: Social-Conflict, Symbolic-Interaction, and Structural-Functional. In the textbook, they talk about Symbolic-Interaction connecting to gender through everyday life, Social-Conflict doing so through male dominance/power, and Structural-Functional doing so through gender roles and conformity. In terms of Symbolic-Interaction, one way to start solving the problems of gender discrimination through everyday life is to have as many households as possible educate their kids to believe that women and men are equal. We can't use overtly sexist books like I'm Glad I'm a Boy, I'm Glad I'm a Girl anymore, so our generation must create new, non-sexist children's literature. We must take it upon ourselves to teach our kids about gender the right way, without any hidden agendas. As mentioned in The Confidence Gap, girls start showing a lack of confidence and initiative incredibly early on. We need to put an end to that. When it comes to Social-Conflict and gender discrimination, we must change the male-dominated positions of political power in order for little girls to see that they, too, can lead people one day, not just men. In Miss Representation, the video talks a lot about the negative way female politicians are treated in the media and how that often leads to them not being taken seriously politically. In order to end gender discrimination in positions of power, we must stop the media from asking female politicians about their looks, and start getting the media to ask them about their views. This way, we can get more female politicians elected, and kids will be able to see both men and women in positions of power all across the country. Not just in politics, because as mentioned in Masculinity as Homophobia, you can see male dominance "on the boards of directors of every major U.S. corporation or law firm, and in every school or hospital administration." Women must infiltrate these positions of power in order for the next generation to see gender equality in action, so our generation must make it happen. For Structural-Functional, we must take away gender discrimination and the encouragement of gender conformity in the mass media. Target has already taken a step in the right direction for this problem by taking away gender indicators in some of their stores, evidenced by Target Going Gender Neutral, but we still have a long way to go. What Target has done must spread to other stores, and then we must face the bigger issue. Consuming Kids shows that the media pushes gendered stereotypes on kids through commercials from the first time they turn on a television set. Commercials for makeup and dolls tailored for girls and wrestling and other violent things tailored for boys appear in droves on television screens right now. This clear division between girls and boys so early in life leads to the enforcing of other traditional gender roles, like male dominance. Our generation will eventually take control of the media and when we do so we must limit gendered ads in order to ward off traditional gender roles for the next generation. In short, for us to stop gender discrimination and stratification, we must educate the children of the next generation so that they understand that women can and should go just as far as men in terms of careers, be just as powerful as men politically and otherwise, and be equal to men in every way, shape, and form.
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