Gender

The opening line in the book Paradoxes of Gender, by Judith Lorber states, “Talking about gender for most people is the equivalent of fish talking about water” (13). Gender has become such a part of our everyday life that we do not take the time to notice. We do not notice that gender is structured through our everyday activities and routines. For example, the clothes we wear, jobs, toys, sports, and many others are all based around gender. Lorber writes “…gender, like culture, is a human production that depends on everyone constantly ‘doing gender’” (13). People “do gender” by dressing their babies in blue or pink, or by a women settling for an office job while the men settle for the higher paying construction jobs. Gender starts at being based on the genitals, from that point on individuals are taught how do “do gender” by certain actions and behaviors.
The first chapter in Lorber’s book explains how gender is “done” and gives supporting evidence that people do not take the time to think about. According to Lorber, “For the individual, gender starts with assignment to a sex category on the basis of what the genitalia looks like at birth” (14). When babies are born, their gender is based on their genitals. From that moment on, gender is done by how they are dressed, named, and even how they are treated. Gender is also shown by the way the parent treats the child. Girls are treated differently than boys, so therefore they respond in a different way when they are adults. Girls are treated softer, and receive more sympathy than boys, where as the boys are taught to be “tough” and to just shake things off. From birth to death, gender is part of everyday life. Gender is done in the sports world; there are girls’ sports, like volleyball, and boys’ sports like football. Gender is also done in the clothes, shoes, and perfume/cologne we wear. When you walk into a clothing store, gender is done by having the store split up into Boy/Girl, and Men/Women’s sections. Gender is even done at some schools or universities; Stephens College in Columbia Missouri is an all girl school.
Gender is a social status, meaning it is learned through different processes. Lorber puts it as, “Social statuses are carefully constructed through prescribed processes of teaching, learning, emulation, and enforcement” (17). Cultures are different, so there are different social statuses out there. For example, Western societies have only two genders (man and woman), but other societies have three genders (men, women, and hijras). Hijras are simply males who dress, behave, work, and are treated as social women (17). This leads to gender bending, which is very common in some cultures like Egypt. In Egypt women dress as men and are treated as men. Gender bending is also common in theatre; where men play women’s roles, like Shakespeare. Lorber explains how people are born sexed, but not gendered, and that individuals have to be taught to be masculine of feminine. She says, “Children learn to walk, talk, and gesture the way their social group says girls and boys should”(22).
One of the main things I liked that Lorber talked about was how gender means sameness. It is about how individuals are born sexed but not gendered. The sex is a physical characteristic, and there are many different physical characteristics that vary between humans like body shapes and clothing. The gender part of humans however, is taught, and humans are taught to be either masculine or feminine. Teaching certain traits like walking and talking begins at a young age. Children are taught to act as “boys and girls should”. When children are young, the gender starts developing personality and sexual orientations through their interactions with parents (22).