Essentialist vs. Social Constructionist free essay sample

In the article â€Å" Night To His Day: The social construction of gender† the author discusses the difference between sex and gender; sex being the difference between male and female and gender being the difference between man and woman. Sex is an essentialist term because people are born either male or female depending on whether they have a penis or a vagina. As soon as a person is born, the sex is determined; this is when through society gender comes into play. Through the way people are dressed, are they way they act or even by their names, people are constantly doing gender. In society you can tell the difference between a man and a woman by these different characteristics because of the meanings that society has given to them. For example because of society, it is socially okay for a woman to wear a skirt oppose to a man wearing one because society says so. An Essentialist will argue that because that woman is born a female that it is okay for her to wear that skirt but a Social Constructionist would argue that because of society and the meaning it has giving to that skirt that it is okay for the woman to wear the skirt. It’s not just because of that woman’s reproductive organ that it’s acceptable for her to wear that skirt, but because of the social construction of the word â€Å"female† that society has created. In the documentary â€Å"The Mother hood Manifesto†, it talks about the struggles that women in today’s society have to go through when they become mothers. The documentary touches points such as insufficient maternity leave, insufficient pay for single mothers and the fact that it is legal for women to not get hired a job simply because she has children. In the article â€Å" If Men Could Menstruate† the author uses humor to show how in society women are treated so unequally from men and the fact that if men performed an act like menstruation, the idea of power would be added to it simply because men could do it and women couldn’t. Throughout time gender roles have change even though the sexes are still the same. In older times, men were seen as the one in the household to have the job and to bring in all of the revenue for the rest of the family. Now in society woman are getting jobs that once only men could get, and it’s now socially acceptable for a man to decide that he wants to stay home with the children if necessary or desired. From birth, people start acting how society says girls and boys should act. Little girls play with dolls and like the color pink and little boys are told that pink is for girls and when they pick up a doll, it is taking away from them because â€Å"dollies are for girls and not boys†. The social construction of gender is in our everyday life and it’s so apart of our lives that some people don’t even notice when they are doing it. The first thing people notice about someone is whether they are male or female or in today’s society someone can be a â€Å"transvestite† or a â€Å"Transsexual†(Lorber). In the video â€Å"Tough Guise† it focuses on how media gives a helping hand to the social construction of masculinity in today’s society. Most people get how the ideas on how they act from what they see on the television or what they hear in music. The video discusses that through the media, men are related to violence, that in order to be a real man, you have to be tough and strong and well respected by people. The video continues to say that majority of social problems are caused by this misinterpreted meaning of manhood. Men commit 85% of murders, 90% acts of assault are by men and 99. 8% of people convicted for rape in prison are men. Society has made the male species feel that in order to be a real man; they have to be and act a certain way and this is all done through social construction. As discussed in class, one of the most influential agencies of socialization is the media. The way we see ourselves or the way other people see us come from what we are told by others and what we tell ourselves. In the Better world handbook, the chapter on media states that â€Å"the way we think and act in our daily lives is inextricably linked to the information we receive about the world† (Jones, Haenfler and Johnson). The chapter continues to discus how information delivered to us can be bias and this raises the issue on who controls the media and what we see through it. The problem with this could be that that whoever controls the media does not necessary have our best interest in mind and the content that is transmitted through the media is profit driven. In the article â€Å"Lies my teacher told me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong† gives a perfect accept of how easy it is for information to get omitted based on what people what you to know and what they don’t want you to know. From a young age, people decide what they want you to know, so that they can decide on what they want you to think about certain topics whether its American history or so mething else, its like the saying â€Å"what you don’t know won’t hurt you†. What you see in the media helps you to decide what you think of certain aspects of the world. Millions of events occur every day and how is what makes the news is decided? Well mainstream media tends to only report on things that are newsworthy and well make a good story and bring in viewers. Like seen in the documentary â€Å"Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood†, the idea that people are seeing as objects of money making, everyone holds the master status of being a consumer. In today’s society, there is a consumer society where people link the idea of being happy or successful, and well being with their material possessions – the more you have, the higher your social class and standing. In the documentary it discusses the fact that from the time someone is born, they are entered into a world filled with advertisements and different tactics to get people to buy things. The idea that the more expensive the better, is socially constructed because if you don’t have the newest name brand stuff then you’re outcasted or looked at being at a lower standard. One example was the article we looked at where kids were put into a study where they tried two batches of nuggets, they were the exact same nuggets but one batch had the MacDonald’s logo on the container. The study showed that majority of the kids said that the batch with MacDonald’s logo tasted better even though they were the same nuggets. Society has made these kids believe that because of the fact that nuggets come from MacDonald’s, it means that they are of better value. This topic can be linked to the idea that there is no equality amongst people and the problem of oppression and the devaluation of certain statuses. In the reading Systems of Oppression, it discusses the reality that some people it is easier for them to reach the American dream than other people. A system of oppression is organized by rules of rights and obligations that are expected as normal lines of behavior for certain social statuses. It lays out rules on how people from one social level must interact with another level depending on whether it’s higher or lower (Demos, Lemelle and Gashaw). A system of oppression is power based; it involves groups dominating other groups. The power that these groups get come from society and the ideas that they have built that states that the more someone has whether it be money or social status, says how much power they have over people that has less than them, whether it be poor and the rich or black and whites in the older days or even in some cases men and women. A system of oppression is socially justified and is accepted by many. It can be persuasive into letting people believe in it because it is seeing as natural in the society and therefore morally correct. Both the oppressor and the oppressed accept it so it is easier for it to be maintained because no one is speaking up and fighting against it. Oppression can lead to the problem of discrimination in today’s society. In the video â€Å"The Eye of The storm†, the perfect example of discrimination is demonstrated. A schoolteacher divides the classroom depending on the children’s eye color. An example of internalized discrimination in this video is when the children of the inferior eye color believed that they weren’t good enough simply because the teacher told them that people who had that eye color were seen as stupid and mediocre.