User:Ckgreen/sandbox

Personal Interests


 * 1) National disability insurance scheme - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Disability_Insurance_Scheme
 * 2) basketball - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball
 * 3) Hamish and Andy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamish_%26_Andy

Academic Interests


 * 1) Social model of disability - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_model_of_disability
 * 2) Nature vs Nurture debate  - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_versus_nurture
 * 3) Gender and sexuality - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gendered_sexuality

Wiki Edits

Original: Some supporters of this idea argue that the different behaviours between men and women are entirely social conventions, whereas others believe that behaviour is influenced by universal biological factors to varying degrees, with social conventions having a major effect on gendered behaviour.

Edit: Some supporters of this idea argue that the differences of behaviour within men and women are social conventions, whereas others believe that behaviour is influenced by universal biological factors to varying degrees, with social conventions having a major effect on gendered behaviour.

Activist Article

The Social Construction of Gender

Gender Binary is a term understood as the social distinction between men and women, labelled masculinity and femininity. This distinction in derived from social structures of everyday lived experiences. This topic of interest is frequently explored by various sociologist in classical and contemporary studies. Gender binaries play a contributing role into one’s everyday life, influencing the way we interpret and experience certain events. The sociological definition of gender binary is the organisation of gender through two distinct, opposite and disconnected forms of feminine and masculine traits, whether it be through social systems of cultural beliefs. The binary model, inclusive of sex, gender and sexuality perceives one’s default characteristics to be inherently linked to one’s genetic make-up or assigned sex at birth. For example, when a male is born, the gender binary model would suggest that he is masculine in appearance, personality traits and behaviours, as well as a heterosexual attraction to females. As a result, expectations such as clothing, behaviour, sexual orientation, names and pronouns follow a certain protocol as such.

One Sex Model

Prior to the 18th century a ‘One Sex Model’ was the social understanding of gender suggesting that although there was a physical sex difference, ‘men’ and ‘women’, were not determined through these organs. “no one was interested in looking for evidence of two distinct sexes, at the anatomical and concrete physiological differences between man and women, until such differences became politically important”. In present society the “Two Sex Theory” has created a foundation of gender to be segregated and distinct based on biological features as opposed to chosen identities.

Structure, Agency & Gender

The social construction of gender refers to cultural values of feminine and masculine which dictate how men and women should behave, as opposed to the categories driven from biological sex. Common themes of structure and agency play a crucial role in shaping the way individuals appear in society, whether it is through the following of gender norms or structural challenges within them. Structure and agency are a reflection of one another, influencing experiences of everyday living, further being a representation of gender. Structure is a concept inclusive of social structures, institutions and other patterned relationships amongst various social groups which constrain and enable individuals, whereas, agency is the freedom of individuality allowing one to create their own life choices and opportunities. Gender is a social construct shaped, negotiated and sustained through interactions rather than a subject of biological organs.

Performances of Gender: Theorist Perspectives

Judith Butler developed the ideology that gender is driven through motives of everyday performances, similar to Erving Goffman’s approach. Butlers perceived ideas have been particularly influential within the evaluation of identity classifications. The book, Gender Trouble written by Judith Butler, suggested that gender cannot be determined as an essential bias as there is no unique meaning of masculinity or femininity within one’s physical body or inner self. Butler critiqued further the traits of masculinity and femininity as foundations for one’s identity, the binary of sex and gender. This suggestion is a reflection of Oakley’s (1985) concept of gender, which entails gender as a drive of ethnic and social interpretation. This intuition engenders social boundaries which discourage many individuals from displaying diverse trait-based behaviour, which challenged societal expectations. Butler advocated that individuals are generally not presented with the opportunity to identify as their own gender but are more so expected to perform gender heteronormatively.

Erving Goffman took a dramaturgy approach to gender, he suggested that people are “continuously involved in performances in order to influence others to view them in a particular way” (McLeod, 2015, p. 42). More so recently, individuality has been based on how one presented themselves through clothing language and other no verbal cues, which are slowly diverting away from gender to be a result of primary sex organs.

West and Zimmerman moved beyond Goffman’s approach to the social construction of gender, they presented an argument which suggested that “gender is best understood as a routine we must work at in everyday interaction”. This view incorporates the ideology that performing and/or doing a gender is a complex socially constructed guide. Combing interactional and micropolitical activities in which certain traits are expressed. They understood the fluidity behind gender as a consistently changing social interaction which develops within the advances of technology, societal, cultural and political expressions.

Sigmund Freud approached gender from a ‘Polymorphous Perversity’ direction, this concept is driven from psychanalytic concepts which suggest that individuals should have freedom to gain sexual gratification aside from gendered norms and behaviours. These implications suggest that biological features are associated with a certain gender, however, people have the right to freely identify as whom they please. Gender scripts are part of the social construction of gender and correlate with the idea of “boys being boys” and “girls being girls”, which disregards the limitation of no two individuals being the same. Although gender is perceived a choice, it is often a concept which an individual is brought up with and influenced to take part in, complicating the barriers and consequences of challenging gendered norms.