Question 1: Explain West and Zimmerman's theory of doing gender. What does it mean to "do" gender? According to this theory, how is gender constructed? What happens if someone performs the "wrong" gender? Provide examples.
According to West and Zimmerman, “doing gender” is the social acceptance and ascription of identity through their biological sexual attributes. This ascribes members of either gender certain behavior codes, performance, and expectations that ‘place’ them into those accepted gender class. This theory thus constructs gender as per those differences that allow one gender to adopt certain behavior norms while allowing the other to find their definition from the roles they play. For instance, men are expected to wear trousers, while women are defined by wearing skirts and dresses. The wearing of trousers is constructively associated with men, creating a masculine endearment to the idea of donning trousers. This association of masculinity and feminism with specific physical roles and requirements places social burdens when such performance of gender is disregarded. Take an example of wearing trousers, while in the modern society women have been accepted to wear trousers, in conservative and religious societies, such action will attract criticism and in some societies, even death or prosecution. A good example is the conservative Islamic nations, where “non-performance” of gender will attract very serious consequences, to both men and women.
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Question 2: How is the gendered divide between men and women perpetuated in society? According to Cynthia Epstein, is this divide based in biology? Why or why not?
Gendered divide is perpetuated by culture, religion, traditions, sex, and to some extent selfish interest, as society tries to compartmentalize people into functional groups. The gendered divide is constructed through social expectations that allow for the definition of one gender as per the set roles, duties, and responsibilities. Either sex is expected to perform specific roles and behave in a certain way in order to qualify their identity as either male or female, with deviation from such expectation viewed as taboo. Cynthia Epstein regards this divide to be biologically driven, with sex playing a huge role as to what ‘performance’ a male should play as compared to a female. The biological formulation of a person provides the basis from which the society finds a reason to ascribe one to a certain group while placing the other to another group. the use of biology as the basic determinant of gendered divide is because biological differentiation forms the most basic means through which the society is clearly divided as either male or female, and hence the preference.
