Sorry I forgot to include feedback on the project in my video:
I really enjoyed this project. I am not sure how to improve it. I think making the videos were the best part! I love that we can each pick a unique topic.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Project Summary
Amanda Wesely
My approach to this
project has been different because of my own cultural identity. I am a white,
middle class, and female. A woman studying the male identity would probably
irritate most men. The assumption is most likely the woman will try to make the
male race the enemy. However, I hope I am not perceived as such after reading
my research. Being a non-religious individual is probably a benefit for this
research. Religious texts can sometimes express gender roles that influence the
followers.
I am interested in gender
roles. I know we cannot put males and females in separate categories without
overlap. The world is shades of gray, not black and white. There are no set
qualities, but what are the bases of these generalizations? Are they partially
based on biology? Going through the differences in biology between men and
women can help illuminate these generalizations, which are imprecise.
Let’s start with the
human brain. Men and women have different regular brain activity. Women have
more brain activity, because they are thinking about multiple things at once. A
man has lower brain activity and concentrate on one thing at a time. This can
lead to some gender roles being defined. Men are often times put into the role
of the sexual gender. Men are supposed to want sex all the time and women are
supposed to be more naïve. What research has found is that because men have
lower brain activity they like to spark more activity in the brain by thinking
about sex. Women on the other hand generally have more activity going on, so
sex does not get on the mind as often. This difference in brain activity could
be one of many factors that lead men to become the more sexual gender typecast.
However, creating this gender role has created unrealistic expectations on both
genders. Men cannot always be in the mood, nor can a woman never be the more
sexual partner.
Below is a great
video illustrating many differences in the brains of the different genders and the
generalizations are made because of these differences.
As children girls
and boys have similar muscle mass makeup, but when puberty hits boys increase
their muscle mass as women decrease theirs. The surge of testosterone boys
receive in puberty results in larger frames, increased muscle mass and
increased bone mass. On the opposite spectrum, women are preparing to give life
to a child. Their body begins to store more fat cells for potential
pregnancies. Their higher levels of estrogen lessen muscle and bone mass, along
with wider hips. The factors for men result in a stronger body than the results
of the women after puberty.
The generally
stronger male bodies can possibly be attributed to the role males have taken
over centuries of being the protector. Let’s be realistic, the average man can
overpower the average woman. These physical differences are contributing factor
in many male gender roles created. Perhaps physical strength has somehow been
associated with leadership. The weak following the strong is a survival
technique, which seems to have continued today. Men feel the need to lead their
“weaker” partners. This leading, I think, can be traced back to physical
strength and hunting abilities of men in the early civilizations. Women gave
childbirth and needed male companions to hunt and gather food. Nowadays, women
can give childbirth and be a leader simultaneously. However, I think the
previous generations of women following men because of their physical strengths
have entered into a time period when it is no longer necessary construct
genders so. Men are again trapped in this role as leader and protector. I
believe this gender role is based largely on physical strengths of men.
In the video I
posted last time, many men find the idea of taking a women’s last name
insulting while insisting a woman to take their last name. This could be tie
into the idea of physical strength snowballing onto males being the leading
gender. A leader would never submit to changing themselves for a follower, so a
man should never adjust his last name for a woman. However, a woman is a
follower so she should change her last name.
The research I have
found instructs us that gender roles may have some biological basis, but ultimately
they are simplifications of a more complex process. Men are not always better
at math. Women more often think about math with their right brains, while men
use their left brain. This causes them to learn it in different ways and
understand it in different ways. Until recently math was taught for the male
left brains and not the female right brain. Now that schools have adjusted for
both genders, women are excelling in mathematics. This is another example of
how the simplifications about the differences in males and females can have
negative impacts. Assuming women just were not as talented in mathematics
limits the female sex.
When communicating
with different sexes one must always remember gender renders are stereotyping that
cannot be taken too seriously. Pigeonholing a sex to a certain gender role
limits communication and the progress of the civilization. We must communicate
with one another, being aware of biological differences and their affects, but
never assuming identities on others that may be inaccurate.
Sweden is attempting
to create a gender-neutral society. They are starting in schools, where boys
are girls are not separated by gender. They are referred to as the
gender-neutral terms “hen” or “buddies”. Sports are not separated by sex and there
is encouragement to create friendships with both genders. This is an ideal
world of communication. I am not going to make assumptions on the outcome, but it
is an admirable goal.
References
Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T.
K. (2009). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (5th Edition ed.).
New York, NY: McGraww-Hill.
Birkeland, Charlene Prince. Yahoo.
http://shine.yahoo.com/team-mom/kids-raised-gender-neutral-society-sweden-thinks-033400030.html.
Ulmer, Graham. LiveStrong.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/246036-how-much-more-muscle-mass-does-a-male-have-than-a-female/
(accessed April 2012).
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