Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Blog post 7 - discussion topic #6

6. How should one define gender? Is gender natural, or is it socially constructed, and if it is socially constructed, does that mean gender is anything someone wants it to be?


Gender, according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, is defined as, “the state of being male or female” but I think the definition of gender carries different weights for different people. There is not a uniform translation of gender and it meaning and there will always be the displeased individuals claiming something is not fare. Bummer for them. Some might prefer the word gender to have only a scientific meaning and to not carry any social or societal weight. These people might be referred to as feminists whose goal is to create equality among genders. If you ask me, creating this equality erases dimension from human beings as God intended. Gender does place you in society and I mean that without any negative connotations attached. I think woman hold more power than we give ourselves credit for. Sometimes woman are so busy trying to prove that they can do all the things men can do that the advantages we hold over men are forgotten. Take the “gratification of experiencing the beautiful” as an example. It is from our text, it reads, “To experience the beautiful - we give high status to beautiful music, beautiful works of art, and people who are physically attractive- in particular, beautiful women. What is beautiful is another matter, however, and definitions of beauty change over time”. So there you have it- women are far more associated with the word beauty. And beauty, of the mind or physically, is powerful. We give it high status in society and we idolize it socially. With that power comes the responsibility to carry beauty gracefully and in a way that empowers younger generations to have confidence. I’m not the anti-feminist my opinion is just more traditional; I do respect the importance of confidence for any gender. I don’t, however, want the word gender to be a neutral term. Your gender will always define you as a human.

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