Week 2 Blog
The performing or doing gender is at the core of everyday life. It affects how our society, our culture, our relationships view us as individuals and even more how we interact within these areas. The doing of our gender is ingrained in each of us early on in our lives and by the daily practice our gender becomes who we are as individuals. The categories, man or woman, in our society come with expectations, roles, rights, (or lack of rights) and become part of the hierarchy of a system we are a part of. We manage our conduct and behavior to match a sex category. We mold and are molded by what we perceive these roles to be.
Gender is made real by the “doing.� Our culture has expectations of how we not only present ourselves but also how we function in society. If my approach to life situations and my daily interactions are to be successful, then I must attain my gender. I must learn what a “woman� should do. The more successful I am at accomplishing my gender, the more real it is made to not only myself but to others. The “performing� becomes a genuine part of who I am – internally, as well as being manifested externally to others.
Although I believe how we act effects us in direct relationship to how we are seen and treated by others, our culture has “gender� expectations. I can change how I do my role, but if I challenge cultural expectations too far out of the “norm� of social standards than I would need to be prepared to express and/or modify gender in new ways.