Godoy

Edgar Godoy
Professor Corri Ditch
English 114A
September 24 2014
What Truly Defines Social Construction
Through my readings about gender construction, there were two articles that stood out to
me the most. One was Judith Lorbers Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender,
which discusses the idea that an individual is pushed to conform to social expectations of his or
her gender group that he or she is a part of. The other is Aaron Devors Becoming Members of
Society: The Social Meanings of Gender, which covers the concept of how society is what holds
the influence that pushes us towards adhering to the ways of our given gender. Both these
articles discuss similar topics: the unspoken rules that society has created and upheld for each
specific gender roles and how we all conform to those rules both consciously and
subconsciously. These articles common theme directs us to the fact that there is a problem
created since society expects us to behave a certain way according to our sex and gender. The
problem is that, since gender is socially constructed, there are obviously restrictions put up and
people feel confined to act a certain way as soon as they become aware that something they did
was deemed unacceptable. Just like how Aaron Devor argues in his article, he states As we
move through our lives society demands different gender performances from us and rewards,
tolerates, or punishes us differently for conformity to or digression from social norms(35). In
other words he describes that if we conform to the unspoken rules that come with our gender
then we are rewarded and if we stray far from the social norms society punishes us. These

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common ideas can be related to my life experiences which were affected by many topics such as
culture, Entertainment, and learning.
Culture is influenced highly by socially constructed norms. People can be easily be
affected by culture and change their views on the way gender is looked at. According to Lober,
Gender is constantly being created and re-created out of human interaction, out of social life,
and is the texture and order of that social life(19). Here in the western hemisphere we have
created this concept of pop culture it consists of everything mainstream and it greatly
influences society; its most influential element is music. Music is constantly changing its views
on how gender is looked at. In today's music many artist are seen as idols to their audiences
which can have its positives but also negative reactions towards gender roles. For example, in
hip hop, rap, and pop music, many singers appearances and actions influence their audience to
behave and dress a certain way. The problem with this is that in today's mainstream music, many
artist are over exaggerated and make gender roles be seen in a negative way. For example,
rappers often rap about how much money they have and how masculine they are while only
demonstrating women as props and trophies. This to me shows that male rappers often want to
be seen as the more dominant gender rather than females. Although there are certain female
singers who degrade themselves; Miley Cyrus takes the stage in very inappropriate attire and
presented herself in a disrespectful way. Her traits often pressure her audience to follow in her
footsteps and demonstrate that type of behavior because she is justifying that by in acting this
way you are seen as socially accepted.
Many kids today are influenced to change because of what they see in todays media.
Television, celebrities, and even athletes, give kids a socially constructed image on how they
should act, behave and dress. For example I remember watching batman the animated series on

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TV and looking up to batman, not only because he was a masculine superhero who everyone
idolized, but also because of the fact that he had all the traits that a male was expected to have
and more. Batman to me was seen as the epitome of masculinity because of the fact that he was a
courageous, powerful man how was able to get through any obstacle no matter how difficult it
was. Kids look up to certain characters and celebrities that they believe are a perfect example of
what truly defines a male and female. Although kids are too young to understand that gender
construction is taking place, media sets the role for kids to show where male and females should
be placed in society while also demonstrating who is the dominant gender is considered to be at
an early age.
Kids are expected to learn and mature into the men and women that they are supposed to
become according to society's expectations. Learning has a big role in how kids grow up and act
all throughout their life. According to Lober gender construction starts assignment to a sex
category on the bias of what the genitalia look like at birth (20). Parents set certain boundaries
and expectations for their kids when they are born and influence them into becoming a part of
society. They teach their kids to behave according to what they believe is socially acceptable. A
personal example of mine demonstrating these views would be was when I was very young. it
began one day when I was walking home from school with my dad. As we began walking, I felt
the urge to skip throughout the sidewalk, as I began skipping my dad quickly grabbed a hold of
me and strictly said to me that skipping was for girls. He described to me that men don't skip
simply because of the fact that it looks feminine. Although I did not necessarily understand or
agreed with his views, I stopped skipping completely because I didn't want to be seen as
feminine.

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During a kids childhood, many factors play a role on the way that kids being established
into society. A person's childhood is a crucial part in figuring out the fundamental ideas that are
places in one's society whose help shape the individual's morals, views, attitude and just about
anything else you could think of. The childhood is where most learning is done through operant
conditioning. This where a child is awarded for doing something that is considered right and
punished for something that is considered wrong. For a long time all the things that are learning
during this period are accepted as facts and the problem with that is that, whats good and bad is
relative and a child might be learning these things from different sources. So lets say at home
your parents often tell you right from wrong but in school your friends might influence you to
think differently. Although society demands genders to behave a certain way according to their
sex, it can be difficult to explain what what exactly is it that we should change about ourselves.
Adolescence is the time where the majority of people get lost in trying to fit in. It
happens a lot throughout your entire life but this is when the prime and most obvious efforts are
put in. Its because during your childhood you have been taught and conditioned to know the sort
of things that are expected from you by your family, teachers, peers, and friends. That means
you are aware of the standards that you believe you need to meet. So you keep yourself from
trying certain things; which could range from what you wear, to where you hang out, or how you
speak and, especially, what you say. Making friends and keeping them is probably what most
teenagers are concerned with, public school has just created the atmosphere for that sort of
thinking. For example, in my adolescent years I was often picked on in school because of the
way I acted and talked. For that reason, I only had a couple of friends. Due to constantly being
ridiculed I decided to use a more masculine tone to demonstrate to my peers that I was capable of
fitting in with them. As it turned out it worked but I soon began to feel guilty of the fact that I

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wasn't being accepted for who I was rather than who I was trying to be. I was trying to fit in with
the social construction of gender, but I realized that it is impossible for me to place myself in a
position where I need to act and behave like someone i'm not and accepted myself fro who i truly
was no matter what anyone said.

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Work Cited
Devor, Holly. "Becoming Members of Society : The Social Meaning of Gender."Gender
Blending: Confronting the Limits of Duality. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1989. N. pag. Print.
Lorber, Judith. "Night to His Day Day:Construction of Gender." Paradoxes of Gender. New
Haven: Yale UP, 1994. N. pag. Print.