PSYC 453 The Social Construction of Gender – Assignment Solution
After studying the assigned reading Sociology: The Social Construction of Gender and considering the concept of “gender as socially constructed,†answer the following questions and prompts. A) How does media create meanings about gender? B) Provide examples of how this is manifested in our everyday lives. C) Provide a link to a commercial/ad that stereotypes gender. Even though it is natural to find humor in some of these portrayals, in what ways is this problematic. PSYC 453 The Social Construction of Gender – Assignment Solution Also, consider that sex is a system of classification based on biology and physiology, while gender reflects the cultural meaning that is ascribed to a person’s sex, thus resulting in labels of “masculinity and femininity.†Furthermore, our biology is not distinctively male or female and a significant number of people are born “intersex†with variations in chromosomes or sexual organs. Most biological researchers agree on the estimation that intersex people are about as common as encountering someone with green eyes. PSYC 453 The Social Construction of Gender – Assignment Solution It is important to understand that masculinity and femininity are not oppositional, although it seems to be portrayed so in media. In Western society (such as in the U.S. and Western Europe) we typically adhere to certain ideas and values that define masculinity and femininity as we perform the roles. What if the list was different? All of us, in honesty, could reveal that we interchange among the qualities. Take a look at the list and answer the following questions: Masculinity Femininity PSYC 453 The Social Construction of Gender – Assignment Solution- strength
- dominance
- aggression
- independence
- empowerment
- active
- rational thought
- production
- breadwinner
- subject
- outdoors
- technology
- weakness
- submission
- compliance/vulnerability
- dependence
- disempowerment
- passive
- emotion
- consumption
- nurturer
- object
- indoors
- nature
