Blog Two Assignment
Gender is something that we "perform" or "do" every day, whether we are conscious of it or not. It is the way we fit in to meet the expectations of others and so that others can recognize what we are. We were not born knowing automatically what was normal for a boy and what was normal for a girl. We were taught by our parents and the men and women in our lives, as well as the media. From the way we stand to the way we interact with others, almost everything we do (or rather, how we do it) can be related back to what gender we relate with. We are acting out we have learned to be the societal norms and views of what a man and what a woman is and how each defined gender should act. The way we perform gender is situational, meaning depending on who are "audience" is, the way we do gender can change.
Although gender can be seen as an un-natural, learned thing that we act out, it is still a very real distinction that affects who we are and how we are treated in everyday life. I think that defining our gender is something we couldn't live without; people need to be able to define themselves in one category or another and need to be able to define others. So it has become very real. And like we were discussing in class, our society doesn't let you NOT define your gender. When applying for jobs, applying for schools, and even on our drivers licenses, you have to define and mark down what you are.
I think by being able to define our and others' gender is also a way that we know how to interact with someone because there are huge characteristic differences between men and women. I think that if someone normally looked at as a woman (has all the biological woman parts) presents herself like a man or performs her gender as male, she would be treated alot differently if she were to perform gender as a woman. In our society, people need straightforward answers about gender for us to feel comfortable with someone. If we can't label what type of gender someone is, I think there is a bit of an uneasy or uncomfortable feeling that anyone can catch onto, because such a huge way of how we communicate (verbal and nonverbal) and interact is based off of gender differences or similarities.