#jjaygenderstudies

The article "The Medical Construction of Gender" by Kessler explains the painfully long and, one can assume, expensive process of turning an intersexed infant into either a boy or a girl. The whole process just proves how important it is to fit in the social construction of the world. Parents would mutilate their own child just so the child could a life with an identity as a boy or girl and assume a "gender." The intolerance of society pushes people so far to meet its constructed standards including parents and children. It all boils down to conformity and roles in society. If a person cannot be identified being a boy or girl, man or woman, male or female, that person will not have a place in society and the only reason why is because society will not know how to assign gender roles to the person.

The text assigned for February 4th is painfully true. Lorber's essay is dominated with arguments that gender is socially constructed and men are seen to be more prominent than women in wester civilization. Men are paid more and society sees them as a greater asset.  She then makes a daring statement by saying "the continuing purpose of gender as a modern social institution is to construct women as a group to be subordinates of men as a group." One cannot help but to argue that is true, but at the same time one can argue the same for man. In a "normal household" the mother is the one who is seen of more importance. If a child behaves in a classroom the teacher has a higher chance of saying, "Your parents raised your well," or "Your mother raised you well." A common quote, "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth," if someone says something foul or vulgar. This shows that even though "modern social institution" is to make women subordinates of men, it could also be the other way around.

The second text "Welcome To Your Gender Workbook" by Borstein, takes a whole new angle on a proper man or a proper woman. In fact, it questions what is a proper woman and a proper man. The text puts the reader in some situations that might make the reader feel awkward or uncomfortable.  The main point of the text is about the reader. It questions on how the reader defines his or herself. To a reader who doesn't question his or her gender, it seems futile to even take the questionnaire provided within the text. The second text seems more appropriate for someone who is screaming, "Help! I'm a man trapped inside a woman's body," or vice versa.