Gender Identity

[Alexis Perez]

Post 5

Judith Butler describes in her essay titled Gender Identity, “Nothing is natural, not even sexual identity”. I agree with Judith Butler’s statement because sexual identity is a category that society has placed upon human kind. When a child is born they do not know the difference between female and male. This compares to teaching of language. Language is not natural; it is a tool that people use to communicate. Like language, gender is used to distinguish the difference between one another. The use of gender identity connects to the groupings of ethnicity, race, and nationalism. In my opinion gender should not be identified. The use of gender identity in nationalism is displayed in the separation of Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants. There is a separation in Ireland that has been determined by different religions. This concept is ridiculous because the people who are fighting each other are both Irish. The reason that this fight has continued is because the English had ruled over Ireland and declared it a Protestant nation. There were people (Catholics) who refused to convert to Protestantism. England is no longer ruler of Ireland but the separation is still present. It is ridiculous that they have adopted this conflict because the English people who have settled in Ireland no longer have true ties to England, they are Irish. The Irish who have lived there forever still believes that the land should only be present with “true Irishmen”. The idea of identity with race, ethnicity, and gender has created great disagreements throughout history. Unfortunately Ireland has taken the identity of nationality so literally that it is still present today. I would say that great examples of people who refuse to accept an identity are people who are transgender. They do not identify with neither female nor male. A good piece of work to further look into the rejection of gender identity is Brendan Behan’s play The Hostage. Brendan Behan uses gender ambiguity as a literary technique to reveal the shared human conditions of his characters regardless of nationality, religion, and gender identity in The Hostage. This play is about Ireland’s absurd separation.

[Sarah Shellabarger]

Post 5: 

To play off of what Alexis mentioned about gender identification, and to go off on a bit of a tangent, this reminded me slightly of the whole Willa Cather ordeal, and the criticism surrounding her "sexual identification", which was, as most of us can agree, totally mishandled by society. While it's definitely more acceptable within our generation to express how you define your sexual "identity", be it heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual, what have you, Willa Cather wasn't granted that same luxury. Maybe society is so interested in other people's sexual identities because of the "taboo" factor surrounding it, but the fact that this woman had so persistently stated that she didn't want her personal letters published for all of society to see her "dirty laundry", only to have her wishes completely ignored upon her death, was just so shocking to me. Is it really that important to our society to prove that yes, this woman was a lesbian? Is it just the fact that our society, and mainly our generation, lives to pry and unearth scandals that we basically have no business meddling in? For example, TMZ and paparazzi, trailing celebrities, keeping up with the latest gossip and juicy story and what for? Why do we buy gossip magazines while in the checkout line at the grocery store? Why does it matter that Kim Kardashian looked like a killer whale while pregnant? Why does it matter that Miley Cyrus dyed her eyebrows? (*I'm probably killing my argument by even knowing that stuff, but hey, check the yahoo homepage and it's breaking news, am I right?) I feel like I'm straying from the topic at hand, but my main point here, is that people are just way too curious and nosy about other people's lives. Does the fact that Willa Cather identified as a lesbian affect her writing? Probably in some sense, but why can't we focus on how it may have subtly been leaked into her writing, instead of taking this so called "private person" and putting her on blast? It's not even like she's alive to defend herself or have any say in the matter... Sure in her story "Paul's Case" we see the homosexual undertones in the character of Paul, but O'Brien's piece analyzing Willa Cather's personal letters, just totally rubbed me the wrong way. It seems as if writers were just patiently waiting for her death, and the death of her family members(?) to jump on the opportunity to "out" this woman as a lesbian, instead of just appreciating her works for what they are, and keeping her sexual identity out of the picture. 

Word Count: 437

[Dillon Freeman]

Post 5:

I completely agree with what you have to say, Sarah, when it comes to today’s society being obsessed with knowing everything they can about other people, including ones that they don’t, and will not ever, know.  However, by me saying this does not mean in any way that I am not the type of person to Google ‘Miley Cyrus eyebrows’ as soon as I read that in your post.  I am sure that not many people will agree with what I am saying, but I don’t think that it’s that big of a deal that people revealed Willa Cather’s sexual orientation after she had died and wished for it to not be revealed.  As a gay male myself, I personally do not care if people are ever speculating about my sexual orientation.  I assume that it has to do with a difference of society norms between now and in her time period.  Also, I do not think that her sexual orientation would have a great influence on her writing.  Of course there would inevitably be a few areas in her writing that might be different if she was heterosexual, but not enough for it to make a difference in the interpretation of her stories.  I have not read any other of her work so I am not certain that this is true.  I personally don’t think that sexual orientation has any effect how you act as a person.  A ‘good person’ is based on their actions and has nothing to do with race, sexuality, gender or class. 

Also, I do not agree with what Alexis has to say at all when it comes to the topic of transgender people.  I, however, also do not know for certain that I am correct since I cannot relate.  The way I believe to be true is that they do not choose to “refuse to accept an identity” they are just a gender that does not correlate to their physical sex.

[csb...@gmail.com]

Carly Bardfeld 

Post #5:  Gender Roles

November 22, 2013

 

When I first read Alexis Perez’s post number five, I immediately thought about a lesson I learned in a child development course. In the class, I learned that children are taught that there are associations and expectations for gender roles. Alexis’s comment that “when a child is born they do not know the difference between female and male” resonated with me, because I think that is very true. Children are not born with an instinctual drive to uphold gender roles. Children are taught, by caregivers and parents, that there are expectations associated with gender. For instance, in a hypothetical scenario, parents with twins of the opposite sex might make it clear to their twins that boys and girls are not the same. In relation to playtime, the parents might introduce gender-associated toys. For example, the parents might say something along the lines of: “little girls should be playing with dolls.” Likewise, the parents might encourage the little boy that dolls are meant for little girls, and he should prefer batman and robin toys. Also, colorization is widely associated with gender. Going back to the example of the parents with twins, it would not be farfetched to assume that the little girl’s blankets, bibs, basinet, etc. were of “female” colors (possibly, a light pink or lavender). It would, also, be safe to assume that the baby boy’s belongings were “male” colors (baby blue and/or light green). This poses the question of “why are gender roles important, taught, and instilled in children?” additionally, why are gender roles different in young children? Personally, I think that if a young boy wants to play with his sister’s dolls, then he should be allowed to. There is absolutely no reason to correct such behavior. Therefore, I think societal expectations have put too much pressure on children to learn about things that do not matter. 

[Stacy Machado]

Post #5

After reading the articles and some of the responses by our fellow students on this topic about gender identity I couldn’t help but think of a story I recently saw on the new somewhere. I can’t remember where I saw it exactly but I instantly thought of this story. When we are born up to a certain age we do not associate the difference of gender. It is when we get a little older from what our parents tell us is how we associate them. I read a story about a little boy who went with his mom to the store and picked out a pair of shoes for his first day of school. These shoes were pink zebra pink flats. The mom proceeded to explain to him that the shows were really made for girls to wear. He told her that he didn’t care ninjas wear pink shoes too. I thought that part alone was the cutest, because this 5 year old boy does not care whether they were made for girls or not. The thing that bothered me when I read the article was that when the mom posted a cute picture of the little boy on her facebook , the mom received about 20 comments on her facebook how ‘wrong’ it was and even a comment from a great aunt “that sh** will turn him gay”. First of all what does it matter what it does? The child chose to wear the shoes! The mom allowed him to do as he pleased. It is this idea that society has about how certain things are supposed to run that they feel entitled to judge.

I however was glad when I continued to read that the mom deleted the photo (which I wouldn’t have deleted the photo, I would have just deleted the comments of people whom had not involvement in my Childs life so I didn’t care for their negative opinion) and she told him he could wear whatever he wants.

I couldn’t believe that adults who are supposed to be mature are the ones acting like little kids when in the article it states that the boy went to school and was not told one thing negative on the school he actually got several compliments on his new shows.

The boy didn’t wear the shows because they were pink, he liked them because they were “made out of zebras” and zebras are his favorite animal.

I know this is a bit of a tangent but it somewhat related to the trend in this conversation and thought it was so sweet of the mom, boy and sister.

 

This is the link:  http://americablog.com/2012/12/5-year-old-boy-picks-out-pink-shoes-for-1st-day-of-pre-school.html

[Brittany Wilson]

I would like to focus this journal on gender identities. A gender identity by definition is a person’s private sense of their own gender. This is extremely subjective and can be different in every person. To the outside world one person can look like a female and identity as a male. The same can be said about a male that identifies as a female. I always wondered what affects a person views. In many societies there can only be two identities. This is referred to as a gender binary. The people in the society are either masculine or feminine. In the recent years a new term has been created. This term is the “Third-gender”.

I feel that gender identities are formed at a very young age. Society gives a person their identity before they are even born. As soon as the doctor says “Congratulations it is a boy/girl”. The parents and family go crazy with buying pink or blue clothes. Normally by the age of three a person is able to accurately identify with their gender for themselves.

Understanding gender can be broken down into four parts: (1) understanding the concept of gender, (2) learning gender role standards and stereotypes, (3) identifying with parents, and (4) forming gender preference. This explains why a three year old can recognize if they are a boy or girl. However, this identity does not become permanent. A certain event or experience can change this throughout the person’s lifetime.

I feel that people can be whoever or whatever they want. Society is so judgmental. If a person is comfortable and not causing harm to others let them live the life they want. I don’t like when people try to force their views on others. I do feel like society is making some moves in the right direction. Hopefully in a couple of years we can overcome these judgmental views.

 

[Leah Ruchlin]

Post 5

When we were discussing Wittig’s essay on what is a woman and how we define “woman,” I didn’t really think much of it. I mean, it’s not as if I walk around campus and people are walking up to me asking me, “Hey, you’re a woman. What makes you a woman?” What makes a woman a woman and a man a man isn’t something that’s really talked about, despite the huge debate about transgendered and transsexuals. Personally, I think that a woman is any person who identifies with the female gender and presents them socially as female. To say that a woman is someone who was born as female and that’s the end of that then leaves transgendered and transsexual females with nothing to call themselves: They identify themselves as female mentally, and therefore are often rejected by their male peers.

On another note, for the ladies of the class, how do we identify as women. I’m not quite sure if this is what Wittig meant when she wrote this piece, but I keep finding myself asking the question, “How do I identify myself as a woman and when did I become a woman?” So, I want to get your opinion on this: When does a girl become a woman? Do we become women when we start gaining the ability to reproduce? If so, what about females who are unable to have children? Do we become a woman when we lose our virginity? Then what about nuns and celibates? Do we become women when we start learning about typically female careers and start learning the skills for those careers? Or do you think it’s a combination of all of these or something else entirely that makes us women. I know I said these were questions for ladies, but if any men want to contribute their input, please feel free to do so.