gender moments Essay -- essays research papers

He throws like a girl This insult is heard tout ensemble too often and is harsh to boys because of the perception of girls being weak. We are constantly bombarded with moments emphasizing sexual workivity in everyday situations. After training myself to see these differences my eye have been opened to something I have previously believed natural and allowed a new perspective to push through. I see attitudes and behavior now as socially constructed and not usually inherent. In R. W. Connels concur sex activity, he defines gender as the structure of social relationship that centers on the reproductive arena, and the unsex of practices that bring reproductive distinctions between bodies into social processes (pg 10). I have found that gender is an institution, a pattern that has attained a social state. Gender is erratic in that it is meshed with many an(prenominal) other institutions, thus changing gender, it would mean changing much of society. I chose to focus my paper on th e different institutions gender is a part of, in education throughout development, relationships, religion, and politics. Although I have only touched the surface, I believe that gender is an institution an order or pattern that has attained a social state or property. Education is a potent institution used to reinforce gender differences. In our course session we found that children are much more likely to separate themselves at school in gender categories than in their neighborhoods. As Barrie Thorne points out in her book Gender Play, Apart from age, of all the social categories of the students, gender was the most formally, and informally, highlighted in the course of each school day (pg 34). I feel that many experiences in elementary school have reinforced my gender outlook. I spent much of my time in elementary school racing the boys and biting my nails to repoint I wasnt scared to break a nail and never wearing a dress. Recess was a fight for me half the time. I didnt like the connotation of being called a girl. Now I realize that I was trying to oppose the gender role I was expected to perform, in time eventually I grew out of that phase of fighting against the norm and joined the ranks of the girls. I moved from the field, to the bars and jump rope. I see now that the diverseness I went through was just giving in to the reinforcement around me to be feminine. Instead of fighting against the grain, I chose the easy road by... ...ibed in the article, Gender and New Institutionalism Cornwall and King define institutions as possessing 1. Classification 2. Institutionalized logics and 3. Diffusion, legitimization, and taken for grantedness. After reading this, I found all the characteristics in my gender moments. Although individuals act on a personal basis, their acts collectively fit societies pre-determined standard and mold. I see much of individuality as either conforming to decisions already make or trying to push against the mold. Men and women are different, but not as different as society would like to assume. Gender is intertwined in many of societys institutions-education, religion, relationships, and politics- and because it is tangled up in all, it is very hard to change gender as an institution. It is very likely to be reinforced offset printing in childhood from children, adults, and peers. Because of the reinforcement, it is reproduced from parents to children and conforming is the easiest way to go through society. Change happens very slowly and although there is change from my grandmothers experience to my own, I see the change as not very fluid- instead of water its more like heavy mud.