Stimulating Classes - Part 5: Sociology of Sex and Gender

This class was just what the title indicates: the difference between “sex” and “gender” (which are NOT the same thing, as commonly believed) from a sociological perspective. Ever since I’ve been finished with the course, I’ve been scrutinizing everything humans do :S I notice and find faults in how everything is so gendered and how women AND men are represented everywhere and in every culture; this includes the implementation of the concept of gender in the books I read, the movies and tv shows I watch, the roles that the families I know have designated for their members, and so on. One of the conclusions I made from this class was that women in both the west and the east are *equally* oppressed but in different ways. Of course, that’s not to even slightly indicate that men are always treated perfectly in every society, since the way each society deals with its men isn’t always the most just, either.

I also realized that there’s a difference between *rights* and *roles*. It seems like whenever we say, “Women and men should have equal rights,” those who don’t agree start saying things like, “But women and men are NOT the same! They have different bodies, in case you haven’t noticed! They don’t look the same, so why should they have the same rights?” Yeah, well, let’s first define what “rights” means because obviously, they’re confusing “rights” with “roles.” Besides, it’s not about how we’re *born* with anything; it’s about how society, which is built on religious and traditional norms and values, raises you to think what your “roles” and “rights” are.

I’ll elaborate on this in some future post if I need to, provided someone reminds me. I’ve a short piece called “Gender is Socially Constructed,” so I’ll just post that then ;)

Oh, we had to write blog posts every week, and this is how one of mine started off:

So today, Monday, June 22nd, we talked about women in the media. I must admit, this class has opened my eyes far wider than I ever imagined possible. Who would have thought that I would ever study a commercial, an ad, a movie, or anything else related to the media and castigate it for its representation of men and women, particularly for the roles played by them?

Yep. :)