Post 5

[Sanura Frazier]

Post 5

Until this class I had never really given real thought to the idea of what sex and gender meant to different people but our recent readings have given me an alternate perspective on that issue. Monique Witting's, "One Is Not Born a Woman" was one of the most influential, enlightening readings for me. It was intriguing that Witting in a nutshell argued that women were not a "natural group" but was instead a product of "mental manipulation" and politics. That women as an entirety are basically trapped inside their bodies, forced to conform to the preconceived notions and ideas of what a woman is suppose to be.....I honestly could understand that especially looking at her essay from the perspective of a person that considered themselves a lesbian or transgender as well as with people that identify themselves as "straight". In our society children are pushed from birth to act like this and play with this instead of that because they were a specific "sex". But what is not understood or sympathized with is those children that comprehend that their sex is for example a girl but their heart and preference's are that of a male. Because there a stigmata attached to children and adults being gay period a lot of men and women are afraid to show their true colors so to speak which leads to an unhealthy repression of their feelings. The exact same thing happens to men and women that are straight because a man who does not completely embody the characteristics of "Bob the Builder" is considered to be and referred to as metrosexual and a woman that isn't "Martha Stewart" (minus the jail time)  is likewise a butch woman or a tom boy. Going outside the boundaries of what you are "classified" to be in my opinion scares our society so instead of fostering and embracing the differences that we all have whether it is sexual preference's or personality types we reject it which is what I feel like Witting was discussing in part of her article.