Becoming members of society: Learning the social meanings of gender

In Aaron H. Devor's "Becoming Members of Society:Learning the Social Meanings of Gender", he explores the gender roles casted by our society. Gender roles vary between culture to culture. In some areas gender is loosely guarded while in others there are very strict behaviors between men and women.   As children we "learn" how to become boys and girls. Everyone is born male or female BUT society forms us into men and women. These known behaviors for men and women are commonly known as masculinity and femininity. Masculinity is associated with aggression while femininity deals with passivity. Women are almost naturally given the role of the caregiver, mother, and a dependence on men. The way women are supposed dress, act, and speak is meant to attract a male counterpart. There are many things that are considered feminine to our society. From our body postures to our careers. Women and men have distinct characteristics to show the separation between man and woman. Men are established in society as successful, confident, and self reliant. This level of success often makes men more competitive and aggressive in order to achieve this idealized sense of being a "man." Along with this perception men are advised to become insensitive to emotion. People who often take control of situations and speak loudly or crudely are considered more manly. In many senses men and women are complete oppositions of each other.

Gender role characteristics reflect the conceptions that our society sees as acceptable and natural for human behavior. We are vunerable to these assumptions as young children and grow up to believe these assumptions are true. People who do not conform to our social gender roles are often not accepted and seen as "unnatural." It's a bit unfair and without justice that gender is assumed for all of us. In the United States I see gender roles with a much larger emphasis than any other. Society plays a larger part here and as individuals we seek acceptance from our society which fuels our motives to becoming more manly or more womanly. Not only does society shape how others see us but how we see other people also. We assume the ideal of a man or woman and take on that role ourselves. 

Revising Process: Project Two

In the response I received from my peers I hardly received any useful feedback. The simple "good" and "needs more" doesn't quite help me much. I need to have a true critical analysis of my work. I think that the best feedback is the most truthful one. Even if it counters my entire essay it would eventually improve my writing far greater than simple feedback. Therefore I'm going to critique my own work. Sometimes the best reviser is yourself. I'll admit my first draft was SHITTY! I don't even have half enough words to fulfill the requirement. Nor do I have any quotes. Well I know exactly what to do in my revision.

In my revision I would like to lengthen my paper. I feel that my introduction is the strongest aspect of my first draft so I'll leave that as it is. I want to find quotes that will add to my argument. I need to find at least four quotes from each of my sources. I'll narrow it down to two per source. I already have a bit of summary so I'm going to find a quote that relates to my already established topic. Once I find these quotes I'll briefly describe what it's saying and then analyze it. I'll have to make sure that this analysis correlates to my thesis. After my summaries of my sources I'm going to add my own personal opinions. This will advocate my position on the argument along with the influence of the sources I've chosen. I want to incorporate what I've learned from these sources into my own argument and statement. I'll finally include a conclusion which summarizes all the topics that have been discussed throughout my paper. I'll restate my thesis then answer it within a sentence. And end with a thought provoking statement that doesn't create a new argument but manages to keep the reader interested and settled on the argument at hand. If that makes sense? I am also missing a works cited so I'll be sure to include that at the end of my essay.

The sources I plan to use are Gary Soto's "Looking For Work" and "The Color of Family Ties." In Soto's "Looking For Work", a young boy realizes the imperfection of his family compared to the family he has watched on television. He attempt to lessen this gap and make his family just like the one on T.V. However his attempts are futile. He descends from a Latino/Latina family while the family on T.V. is White. His family has certain traditions that are difficult to change and remove. This shows the extent to which someone will go to change their traditions and values. The young boy is willing to rid all his culture in order to become this "perfect" family. "The Color of Family Ties" reveals the differences of value between certain races. This leads to misconceptions of family value between certain races. It's not that minorities care more for their extended family but that financial issues have forced them to rely on a large array of people, not just within their nuclear family. This reveals the reliance that Americans have on statistics rather than understanding. The nuclear family is based on pure statistic. It does not deal with the needs of any other culture or race.