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Sexuality constructed by society
Women and gender roles
Social pressures including media that impact sexuality
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In Sex in the Heartland, Beth Bailey details how the cultural revolution of the 1960s and 1970s manifested in the seemingly polarized town of Lawrence, Kansas. Though the town was small and was in no way revolutionary like the cities of New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, the city of Lawrence was conditioned by many outside social, cultural, and political aspects, which led to it having such an intricate role in the sexual revolution and the other cultural and social movements of the 1960s. Beth Bailey seems to argue that Lawrence, despite being a small town in the heart of the American farmland and no where near any so-called powder-kegs of the 1960s was still able to become a central location for vocalization because of the roles of
To understand the linkage between sexuality and gender, it is important to reimagine the relationship between sexuality and gender and the rapport they hold with self-identification. Not long ago, sexuality was tied to procreation - becoming the core of one’s identity. Gender had always been tied to biological sex. However, a crisis of gender identity emerged and blurred the gender and sexuality binaries that had become commonplace social facts. A fluidity was created that allowed individuals to not feel the pressure of fitting inside distinct identification categories.
The novel Indian Horse, by Richard Wagamese, depicts the societal injustices done to the Native Americans in the 1960s. The protagonist, Saul, endures an arduous journey that extends throughout his life. At the beginning of his life, he lived with his native family, only to get ripped away from them by an atrocious residential school. The horrid residential school, St. Jeromes, inflicted detrimental damage upon Saul, physically and emotionally. Saul was able to escape the confines of the school through hockey.
Society has had this concept of what women’s role in life should be since the beginning of time. For as long as anyone can remember, humanity expected women to stay at home, attend the men’s needs, and take care of household duties. Since society has evolved, women have more freedom, rights, and respect from others. However, there is still a small percentage who think women have a distinct place in life and shouldn’t drift from their “path”. In Twin Peaks and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, women were treated as if they were irrelevant and melodramatic.
“We are sick of hooking up with guys,”(Mausner, 491). By adding this quote in the essay it shows that Hymowitz wants young women to know they are not alone in their thoughts that men are slacking on the things they are supposed to be doing. Hymowitz describes college males in the 21st century as “relatively affluent, free of family responsibilities, and entertained by an array of media.” She supports her claim by asserting that males treat women like “disposable estrogen toys” and claims that their rooms are decorated in Star Wars posters (494). Hymowitz calls this teenage-like behavior “pre-adulthood”.
Hookup culture is defined as, “one that accepts and encourages casual sexual encounters, including one-night stands and other related activity, without necessarily including emotional bonding or long-term commitment” (do i need to cite). It is a culture that dominates college campuses across the country; within the past decade hookup culture has changed as social society shifts. In today's society with the heavy use of social media, everyone has access to anyone's life, which has been proved to increase mental health effects. Social media has highlighted the need to fit in for college students, and according to Lisa Wade’s Book American Hookup social life and hookup culture has become essentially the same thing. How is the college hookup culture
Society persists in restraining what someone can be, when they can be it, how they can be it, and where they can be it, a precedent set to continue throughout generations. In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, men hold control over women to perpetuate the existence of gender roles that are stipulated in women their whole lives. Womanhood is viewed as a service to men rather than an experience of life with women being equated to the men in their lives. Women are always perceived through the lens of how society believes they should be. Throughout Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the progression of an individual’s womanhood is on a pedestal in front of everybody for the sake of belittling and impeding women’s lives without
Because of these strict beliefs, cultural norms birth rates were down considerably compared to today, for many women wanted to await child birth; until they were financial secure or stable. Additionally, “we never read (or heard) about family violence and almost nothing about singlehood, cohabitation, stepfamilies, or one parent families” (Jones, ASID, IIDA, IDEC and Phyllis Sloan Allen, 2009, p. 74). However, in the 1970’s people began to expand their horizon’s, and soon ventured out to explore other cultures; causing challenges towards the social movement on their views of a traditional family structure. This is why, “since the 1970’s three of the major shifts have occurred in family structure, gender roles, and economic concerns” (Jones, ASID, IIDA, IDEC and Phyllis Sloan Allen, 2009, p. 74).
Splitting is the division or separation of people, objects, and ideas that do not fit into the category. Lumping and splitting are exhibited in the reading of Fear from Falling by Peggy Orenstein. An example of lumping in this article which is simple is that the article discusses about the students at Weston school and the concept of a sex. Another example is what all males at Weston get taught when it comes to sexual education. Also, what all the females at Weston get taught when it comes to sexual education.
They are being forced into prostitution, and they are being barred from the bank lending offices and banned from the ballot box.” This quote provides some of the many struggles that women face daily. It uses the topic of motherhood, which is an extremely emotional topic, and the complications women have watching their children suffer as they try their best to provide for them. This quote also addresses the fact that fathers and brothers of women, or men in general, deny them the right of getting an education.
The differences that separate us as a people such as race, class, age, ethnicity, religion, and sexuality demonstrate the intermeshed oppressions that both men and women experience uniquely from one another. In “Age, Race, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference”, author Audre says that racism and sexism is a “belief in the superiority of one race/ sex over all others.” We have all been manipulated into thinking how society wants us to think and this mindset will set up a lifetime pursuit of attempting to decolonize this way of thinking that has been instilled in us for so long. It is almost impossible not to recognize the difference when you know it is there.
It was twice in the last century that a dramatic upsurge in sexual behaviour was witnessed. That being, in the early 1920s and the 1960s. In the 60s, there was a discerning desire for freedom with war all around- as far as the eyes could see. ‘Make love not war’ flourished and evolved as a concept amidst an inundating hypersexual world.
Sharon Olds is a contemporary poet and is known for writing intensely personal, emotional and political poems. “Sex Without Love” is an erotic poem that captures the beauty of having meaningless sex without love or pleasure. Sharon Olds shows the reader that the sex described in the poem is a cold and lonely act by effectively using imagery and theme, but she also puts an emotional and personal feeling in the poem. In the beginning of the poem, the imagery created seemed like the poet was not criticizing having sex without love, but rather supporting it.
The Grammy Award winning song “Single Ladies” by Beyonce released in 2008 reveals the social power that men hold over women. In the beginning of the song, the speaker seems to encourage the independence of women to walk away from flawed intimate relationships and thrive by oneself. However, as the song continues, the lyrics display a common theme that men often have the ability to act like dictators to women, restricting them from having equal positions in society. The inequality of power between genders in the text begins with the speaker’s experience in the club.
Understanding gender and sexuality as socially constructed categories is important because it helps people understand a certain group. Gender and sexuality is expressed in many categories and people must be careful not to mix people in the wrong category. Simply because one expresses their sexuality different from another person does not mean they should be bashed or treated differently. Sometimes it does not matter what you identify as, who you identify with, people will always judge you, so its best people just do what they want. Putting gender in a category helps others not stereotype them as something they are not.
