Gender is a hotly contested topic in the world today. According to Gender Spectrum (2019), there is an increased need to understand gender as the topic has evolved over time. It is perceived that in one’s life, their likes and dislikes especially career, clothing, manners, and activities such as hobbies are all domains of gender. It believed that today’s young people have a better understanding and awareness of gender than the previous generations. Gender-related issues have direct influences in a person's life, affects their relationships, influences families, places of work, and institutions (Gender Spectrum, 2019). Most people tend to use gender to mean sex and vice versa, while the two words are interconnected, they differ greatly. Sex is assigned due to the genital outcomes of a newborn baby. It is then deemed fit to assign a child's gender due to their sex. However, as noted by Gender spectrum (2019), one’s gender depends on the major dimensions which include body, expression, and identity. According to Spade and Valentine (2016), majority of intersex traits are not harmful psychologically but the birth of an intersex baby is regarded a medical emergency. Therefore, this paper shows my understanding of gender before and after the course as informed by coursework readings and discussions.
My Thinking about Gender Prior to Taking the Course
Before this course, gender matters never bothered me much. Just like many other people, I thought that males were just males and females just females. Nonetheless, I was aware of the fact that males and females had different roles and expected to behave in certain away. Growing up, I realized that most girls were tasked with taking care of their sisters and brothers. Therefore, I learnt that women were exposed to taking care of the family as opposed to men. Moreover, in elementary school, boys did not like girls getting better grades than them as they ended up feeling pressurized to work extra harder. Moreover, prior to this course, I believed that certain games, roles, and careers were meant for women. I also believed that men and women are supposed to behave in a certain way different from each other. The debate on gender did not make much sense to me as my perceptions were that gender roles were natural, and, therefore, there was no need for continued debates on what was needed to change or not.
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How My Thinking about Gender has changed over the Course of the Semester
After pursuing this course, much has changed as I am informed by course readings, my own research, together with class discussions. While gender issues had been a non-issue to me due to the way I was cultured, I have developed new insights on the topic. The most serious realization is the struggle many people go through to identify themselves and the social-cultural pressure and expectation of both genders; and the effect the pressure has on a person and more so on growing children. I no longer view myself the way I used to. Therefore, I am able to understand the need for gender equality. My expectations towards gender assigned roles have also reduced and my belief is that gender roles should be complementary. This means that there is no work that man can do that a woman cannot. Additionally, I am more positive towards female leaders, and can now view them as role models in different views. I now believe that there is a need to find gender congruence as people grow so as to accept themselves by seeking harmony. Gender harmony through congruence can be achieved by taking several measures such as hormonal, surgical, legal, and social.
Summary of Readings that substantially contributed to my Learning about Gender
This section gives a summary of the lessons learned from the course materials such as films like ‘Gender Revolution’, ‘The Mask You Live In’, and the article, ‘I Don’t Like Passing as a Straight Woman: Queer Negotiations of Identity’ in the book The Kaleidoscope of Gender: Prisms, Patterns, and Possibilities by Spade and Valentine in 2016 .
‘ The Mask You Live In’
Through ‘The Mask You Live In’, I learned of the negative effect of pressuring boys to be what is referred to as "be a man". The film outlines the social construction sexuality that raises the expectations of men to be tough. This kind of pressure destroys the confidence of not only boys but also grownup men. This makes boys be intolerant, sexists and even homophobic. The pressure of wanting boys to behave in a certain way makes them to view women as weak, and have a bad attitude toward gay people. This may increase cases of violence towards women and gay people. The film shows how boys are prevented from expressing themselves and their feelings in a way that can help them live happily.
I believe that boys should be left to freely express themselves without undue pressure to change their identity. In the film, one person who resonates with me is Tommy (The Mask You Live in, 1:11:20). Tommy was abused by his father at a very young age through intimidation. Tommy states that he started taking drugs to reduce the pain he underwent from his father, and that his act of killing by shooting a man made him feel like a man. This was the first time that Tommy stood for himself. Unfortunately, this came at a great cost. The film just like its title shows how boys live with the fear of expressing themselves due to how they are socialized.
‘ Gender Revolution’
The film, ‘Gender Revolution’, shows Couric interview different people with an aim to understanding transgender in today's society. The aim of the film is to help understand transgender and people’s views about the topic. Through the documentary, Couric is able to introduce the term gender as related to sex and sexuality by presenting the status of American citizens with regard to the topic of transgender. The different views people have towards transgender is seen when she interviews a group of college students who give their identifiers as they understand them (National Geographic, 2017). An interview on gender reassignments is also given in the documentary and the controversy surrounding malleability. This is done through an interview with Dr. Money (National Geographic, 2017). Generally, the documentary does a good job in emphasizing the importance of having a healthy discussion with regard to the revolution of gender matters and concerns. Furthermore, gender issues affect everyone and we all have to live with them.
“ I Don’t Like Passing as a Straight Woman: Queer Negotiations of Identity"
‘ I Don’t Like Passing as a Straight Woman: Queer Negotiations of Identity’ shows how our lives are dictated by normative structures of sex, gender, and sexuality (Spade & Valentine, 2016). However, things are changing as gay families come out visibly to prove the theory on normative structures as inadequate in explaining the normative binaries between gay people. The study, therefore, offers a potential ground of rubbishing the foundation on which the normative binary is set (Spade & Valentine, 2016). This offers a vital opportunity for collaboration, solidarity, and transformation of common beliefs surrounding sex, sexuality, and gender.
Concepts I learned this Semester that I will Find useful in My Personal Life
From the course, much has been learned that can be used in day to day lives. At a personal level, the course gives me an insight in understanding myself and others. This will form a basis for interacting with others. This course has also encouraged me to be a champion of equality and solidarity with others regardless of their gender manifestation. Moreover, through the course, as indicated by Spade and Valentine (2016), I can encourage intersex persons to pursue normalization surgeries. Similarly, the knowledge can be used to campaign for the rights of children, especially boys to be allowed to express themselves in the best way possible. Moreover, the course is significant in informing policymakers in making inclusive laws that are gender sensitive.
Conclusion
It is important to stress the importance of understanding the concept of gender and what it entails. It is also paramount to pinpoint the importance of letting individuals freely express themselves without undue pressure to conform to societal expectations of them in regard to gender matters. Markedly, the change in believing on how one views gender comes from a deep study of the topic so as to erode the socialized believes that one is born and brought up with. The understanding of gender revolution will help people come into terms with the ever-changing world with regard to gender issues. Thus, this will create solidarity and a more understanding society that allows people to express themselves.
References
Green Spectrum, (2019). Understanding Gender. Retrieved from https://www.genderspectrum.org/quick-links/understanding-gender/
National Geographic, (2017). Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u3YO2CJNcg
Spade, J., & Valentine, C. (2016). The Kaleidoscope of Gender: Prisms, Patterns, and Possibilities (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc.
The Representation Project, (2013) The Mask You Live In. Retrieved from http://therepresentationproject.org/film/the-mask-you-live-in-film/
