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Gender Studies 2
Gender Studies 2
Jump to: navigation, search Gender studies is a field of interdisciplinary study which analyses race, ethnicity, sexuality and location.[1] Gender study has many different forms. One view exposed by the philosopher Simone de Beauvoir said: "One is not born a woman, one becomes one".[2] This view proposes that in gender studies, the term "gender" should be used to refer to the social and cultural constructions of masculinities and femininities, not to the state of being male or female in its entirety.[3] However, this view is not held by all gender theorists. Other areas of gender study closely examine the role that the biological states of being male or female have on social constructs of gender. Specifically, in what way gender roles are defined by biology and how they are defined by cultural trends. The field emerged from a number of different areas: the sociology of the 1950s and later (see Sociology of gender); the theories of the psychoanalyst Jaques Lacan; and the work of feminists such as Judith Butler. Each field came to regard "gender" as a practice, sometimes referred to as something that is performative.[4] Feminist theory of psychoanalysis, articulated mainly by Julia Kristeva[5] (the "semiotic" and "abjection") and Bracha Ettinger[6] (the "matrixial trans-subjectivity" and the "primal mother-phantasies"), and informed both by Freud, Lacan and the Object relations theory, is very influential in gender studies.
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1 Studying gender 2 Influences of gender studies o 2.1 Gender studies and psychoanalytic theory 2.1.1 Sigmund Freud 2.1.2 Jacques Lacan 2.1.3 Julia Kristeva 2.1.4 Mark Blechner o 2.2 Literary theory o 2.3 Post-modern influence o 2.4 Visual theory 3 The development of gender theory o 3.1 History of gender studies o 3.2 Women's studies o 3.3 Men's studies o 3.4 Judith Butler 4 Criticism 5 Other people whose work is associated with gender studies 6 See also 7 References
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Juli it i i i tl l t i l i ti j ti t uctures subjecti it upon t e abjection of t e mot er and argues t at t eway in which an indi idual excludes (or abjects) their mother as means of forming an identity is similar to the way in which societies are constructed. She contends that patriarchal cultures, li e indi iduals, have had to exclude the maternal and the feminine so that they can come into being.[15] [edi M k Blechner Mai arti l Mark Bl h r
Mark Blechner expanded psychoanalytic views of sex and gender, calling psychoanalysis "the once and future queer science".[16] He has argued that there is a "gender fetish" in western society, in which the gender of sexual partners is given enormously disproportionate attention over other factors involved in sexual attraction, such as age and social class. He proposes that the words "homosexuality" and "heterosexuality" be given prefixes, depending [1 on the dimension that is the same or different between partners. ] "Age heterosexuality" would indicate an attraction between people of different ages, for example. What is conventionally called "heterosexuality" (attraction between a man and a woman) would be called "gender heterosexuality". Cultures can have very different norms of maleness and masculinity. Blechner identifies the terror, in Western males, of penetration. Yet in many societies, being gay is defined only by being a male who lets himself be penetrated. Males who penetrate other males are considered [1 masculine and not gay and are not the targets of prejudice. ] In other cultures, however, receptive fellatio is the norm for early adolescence and seen as a requirement for developing normal manliness.[19]
stable. See Reeser, Masculinities in T eory (2010) for a comprehensive overview of this approach. Gender studies is criticized by Paul Nathanson and Katherine K. Young for being a discipline that "philosophizes, theorizes and politicizes on the nature of the female gender" as a social construct, to the point of excluding the male gender from analysis. They also claim that the 'gender' in gender studies is "routinely used as a synonym for 'women'.[29] Historian and theorist Bryan Palmer argues that the current reliance on poststructuralism with its reification of discourse and avoidance of the structures of oppression and struggles of resistance obscures the origins, meanings, and consequences of historical events and processes, and he seeks to counter the current "gender studies" with an argument for the necessity to analyze lived experience and the structures of subordination and power.[30] Pope Benedict XVI has denounced some of the gender theories, warning that they blur the distinction between male and female and could thus lead to the "self-destruction" of the human race.[31] He warned against the manipulation that takes place in national and international forums when the term "gender" is altered. "What is often expressed and understood by the term 'gender,' is definitively resolved in the self -emancipation of the human being from creation and the Creator," he warned. "Man wants to create himself, and to decide always and exclusively on his own about what concerns him." The Pontiff said this is man living "against truth, against the creating Spirit".[32] Rosi Braidotti has criticized gender studies as: "the take-over of the feminist agenda by studies on masculinity, which results in transferring funding from feminist faculty positions to other kinds of positions. There have been cases...of positions advertised as 'gender studies' being given away to the 'bright boys'. Some of the competitive take-over has to do with gay studies. Of special significance in this discussion is the role of the mainstream publisher Routledge who, in our opinion, is responsible for promoting gender as a way of deradicalizing the feminist agenda, re-marketing masculinity and gay male identity instead."[citation needed] Calvin Thomas countered that, "as Joseph llen Boone points out, 'many of the men in the academy who are feminism's most supportive 'allies' are gay,'" and that it is "disingenuous" to ignore the ways in which mainstream publishers such as Routledge have promoted feminist theorists.[citation needed ] Gynocentrism (Greek, gyno-, "woman, female") is the practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing female human beings or the feminine point of view at the center of one's world view. The perceptions, needs, and desires of women have primacy in this system, where the female view is the reference point or lens through which matters are analysed. Ideologically, gynocentrism prioritizes females hierarchically, as the overriding focus, and at the exclusion of all else. Observed in practice, the preeminence of women is seen as absolute: interpersonally, culturally, historically, politically, or in broader contexts socially (i.e. popular entertainment). It is the reverse of androcentrism where the male view is the central reference point.
Androcentrism
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Androcentrism (Greek, andro-, "man, male") is the practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing male human beings or the masculine point of view at the center of one's view of the world and its culture and history. The related adjective is androcentric, while the practice of placing the feminine point of view at the center is gynocentri .
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1 Origin of the term 2 Education 3 Literature 4 TV and film 5 The arts 6 Generic male language 7 Generic male symbols 8 Politics and the law 9 Christianity 10 Sports 11 See also 12 Literature 13 References 14 External links
[edit] Education
In the past boys and men were expected to have better formal education than girls and women. Girls and women were less frequently able to read and write than boys and men were. Therefore written material tended to reflect the male point of view. Well into the second half of the 20th century young men entered university far more frequently than young women. Some universities consciously practised a numerus clausus and restricted the number of female undergraduates they accepted. Therefore "educated opinion" risked being androcentric. Today women in industrialized countries have far better access to education.[1]
[edit] Literature
In Western societies today, books, magazine articles and book reviews are written predominantly by men and therefore may privilege a male viewpoint. For instance, in 2010 only 37% of the books published by Random House were written by women, and only 17% of the books reviewed by The New York Review of Books were written by women.[2] Research conducted by VID in 2010 found that men wrote the vast majority of articles and book reviews in leading magazines in the United States and the UK.[3] Research by Dr. David nderson and Dr. Mykol Hamilton has documented the underrepresentation of female characters in 200 top-selling children's books from 2001 and a seven-year sample of Caldecott award-winning books.[4] There were nearly twice as many male main characters as female main characters, and male characters appeared in illustrations 53 percent more than female characters. Most of the plot-lines centered around the male characters and their experiences of life.
In 1985 a group of female artists from New York, the Guerrilla Girls, began to protest the under-representation of female artists. ccording to them, male artists and the male viewpoint continued to dominate the visual art world. In a 1989 poster (displayed on NYC buses) titled "Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?" they reported that less than 5% of the artists in the Modern rt sections of the Met. Museum were women, but 85% of the nudes were female.[8] Over twenty years later, women were still under-represented in the art world. In 2007, Jerry Saltz (journalist from the New York Times) criticized the Museum of Modern rt for undervaluing work by female artists. Of the 400 works of art he counted in the Museum of Modern rt, only 14 were by women (3.5%).[9] Saltz also found a significant underrepresentation of female artists in the six other art institutions he studied.[10]
symbol for 'woman' looks quite different (with long hair and a triangle body to indicate she is wearing a dress). On the internet, many avatars are gender-neutral (such as an image of a smiley face). However, when an avatar is human and discernibly gendered, it usually appears to be male.[16] This indicates that the image of a man (but not that of a woman) is considered to be a normative representation of humankind in general.
[edit] Christianity
Much of the development of Christianity, historically and today, has been primarily driven by men therefore our understanding of Christianity and the Bible may come from a more masculine perspective. The vast majority of Bibles available today were translated mainly by men. For instance, 93% of the New International Version (NIV) translators were male and 86% of the NRSV translators were male.[19] In most churches today, women are allowed to be leaders and to preach; however, the majority of churches are still led by a man, and most sermons are still delivered by men. Therefore, arguably, many Christian teachings come from a more masculine or androcentric viewpoint, and women's experiences and viewpoints can be marginalised. bout half of the Bible translations today use male generic words exclusively in genderinclusive context (words such as 'mankind', 'man, 'forefathers' and 'he')[20], arguably marginalizing women and making them invisible. Some of the more recent translations of the Bible have tried to use gender-accurate language where appropriate in the context. The 1989 New Revised Standard Version, NRSV, and the 2005 Today's New International Version, TNIV) are examples. ll of the known authors of the Bible are male. Most well-known biblical characters are men, and women make up only 14% of named characters in the bible (1,181 men are named in the Bible but only 188 women are named).[21][22][23] Therefore, the Bible is largely written from a male perspective and the experiences of women in the Bible are either invisible or are interpreted by men.
[edit] Sports
Sports media channels such as ESPN and Fox Sports, as well as sports magazines like Sports Illustrated, basically only appeal to a male audience. dditionally, this is reflected by its advertisers who almost exclusively target men.[citation needed]
Part of the Politics series
Androcracy Anarchy Aristocracy Autocracy Communist state Confederation Consociationalism Corporatocracy Corporatism Demarchy Democracy Despotism Empire Ethnocracy Fascist state Federation Feudalism Garrison state Gerontocracy Green state Hierocracy Isocracy Interregnum Kakistocracy Kratocracy Kleptocracy Kritarchy Kritocracy Kyriarchy
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Logocracy Matriarchy Mediocracy Meritocracy Minarchism Monarchy Nanny state Nation-state Monocracy Nomocracy Noocracy Ochlocracy Oligarchy Panarchism Pantisocracy Parliamentary state Patriarchy Plantocracy Plutocracy Police state Polyarchy Presidential Puppet state Republic Socialist state Sociocracy Squirearchy Stratocracy Sultanism Superpower Supranational union Synarchy Technocracy Thalassocracy Theocracy Timocracy Tribal Tyranny Unitary state
Welfare state
Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and is dependent on female subordination. Historically, patriarchy has manifested itself in the social, legal, political, and economic organization of a range of different cultures. Patriarchy also has a strong influence on modern civilization, although many cultures have moved towards a more egalitarian social system over the past century.[1]
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1 Definition and usage 2 History 3 Feminist theory 4 Biological vs. social theories 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links
[edit] History
Anthropological and historical evidence indicates that most prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies were generally relatively egalitarian, and that patriarchal social structures did not develop until many years after the end of the Pleistocene era, following social and
technological innovations such as agriculture and domestication.[10][11] However, according to Robert M. Strozier, historical research has not yet found a specific "initiating event" of the origin of patriarchy.[12] Some scholars point to about six thousand years ago (4000 BCE), when the concept of fatherhood took root, as the beginning of the spread of patriarchy.[13][14] Domination by men of women is found in the Ancient Near East as far back as 3100 BCE, as are restrictions on a woman's reproductive capacity and exclusion from "the process of representing or the construction of history".[12] With the appearance of the Hebrews, there is also "the exclusion of woman from the God-humanity covenant".[12][15] However, see Jesus and women. The works of Aristotle viewed women as morally, intellectually, and physically inferior to men; saw women as the property of men; claimed that women's role in society was to reproduce and serve men in the household; and saw male domination of women as natural and virtuous.[16][17][18] Egypt left no philosophical record, but Herodotus left a record of his shock at the contrast between the roles of Egyptian women and the women of Athens. He observed that Egyptian women attended market and were employed in trade. In ancient Egypt a middle-class woman might sit on a local tribunal, engage in real estate transactions, and inherit or bequeath property. Women also secured loans, and witnessed legal documents. Greek influence spread, however, with the conquests of Alexander the Great, who was educated by Aristotle.[19] From the time of Martin Luther, Protestantism regularly used the commandment in Exodus 20:12 to justify the duties owed to all superiors. Honor thy father, became a euphemism for the duty to obey the king. But it was primarily as a secular doctrine that Aristotles appeal took on political meaning. Although many 16th and 17th Century theorists agreed with Aristotles views concerning the place of women in society, none of them tried to prove political obligation on the basis of the patriarchal family until sometime after 1680. The patriarchal political theory is associated primarily with Sir Robert Filmer. Sometime before 1653, Filmer completed a work entitled Patriarc a. However, it was not published until after his death. In it, he defended the divine right of kings as having title inherited from Adam, the first man of the human race, according to Judeo-Christian tradition.[20][unreliable source?] In the 19th Century, various women began to question to commonly accepted patriarchal interpretation of Christian scripture. One of the foremost of these was Sarah Grimk, who voiced skepticism about the ability of men to translate and interpret passages relating to the roles of the sexes without bias. She proposed alternative translations and interpretations of passages relating to women, and she applied historical and cultural criticism to a number of verses, arguing that their admonitions applied to specific historical situations, and were not to be viewed as universal commands.[21] Elizabeth Cady Stanton used Grimks criticism of biblical sources to establish a basis for feminist thought. She published T e Woman's Bible, which proposed a feminist reading of the Old and New Testament. This tendency was enlarged by feminist theory, which denounced the patriarchal Judeo-Christian tradition.[22]
construction of the difference between masculinity and femininity is the political difference between freedom and subjection."[23] In feminist theory the concept of patriarchy often includes all the social mechanisms that reproduce and exert male dominance over women. Feminist theory typically characteri es patriarchy as a social construction, which can be [24] overcome by revealing and critically analyzing its manifestations.