Dr. Penner's Belief In The Biological Nature Of Gender

I believe that in having a belief in your biological nature of gender empowers you and also imposes a set understanding onto you. As result of believing in the biological nature of gender, you have the choice of whether or not you want to rebel against them or not, whereas if you were ignorant to them, perhaps you would naturally fall into your biological nature regardless. As Dr. Penner mentioned in lecture “As human beings we are unique, in that we can say yes and no to our instincts […] Saying no to instincts is often called: repression of our natural selves” (Penner, 2015). I believe that these biological impulses are performed through a critical self who is capable of deciding which urges to encourage and which to deny which is another example of repression of our natural selves.

Penner has discussed in lecture in which girls the same age with all the same urges can choose to suppress their urges or not depending on their social class. “Middle class girls want out, poorer girls want in. The girls from less economically stable homes enact, it is said, an attempt to become established women in all their mainstream roles before their time, they lose interest in education and devote themselves to appearances” (Penner, 2015). Upon hearing this in lecture I thought back to myself when I was in high school going through all those urges. I was in a smaller high school so everyone knew each others backgrounds and families, who came from a higher class family, and who was a member of a lower class family. I personally suppressed my urges through my critical self, but I can remember many girls who did not, and a higher percentage of girls from a lower class did not suppress their urges and dressed more provocative for their age. I had never put much thought into the reasons why these girls were dressing and acting the way they were until now, which is incredibly