CHAPTER+9+-+Gender

Tim's part

Gender is a much more complicated subject than you may think. We cannot simply look at a two sided coin anymore. Gender is really the role you play in society. This section in the book is very straight foward, which is good for such an ambiguous topic. In today's world there are more ways to identify yourself than previous generations. This really does bring in to mind the nature vs nurture argument. Our gender roles are hardwired, but only to an extent, the majority of our gender identity will be thought in the early stages of your social development. The role you will assume will have to do with your sex but it will also place you in your role in society. There is a lot of talk in this chapter about diffraction cultures and how they have different gender roles than we do, where the woman is the hunter or wood worker. Overall the man is viewed as the hunter provider while the women as home maker and farmer. There are exceptions to every norm, the book goes in to detail about each interesting difference. Some are surprising and most differences will have a lot to do with cultural placement of value and how wealth and power are passed in their culture.

Over all this is a good section to read over, we want to see how this can make us a more culturally responsive teachers. There are just good things to remember, not everyone is going to identify with the gender role they were borne in to. They way the identify and fulfill their role may differ depending on their cultural background. Even if we take this out of a "mass culture" and think local to your classroom. Think of a situation where the child of two fathers, who is straight, will not necessarily subscribe to the mainstream idea of masculinity. All you can do is be aware that there are differences in gender, and there are differences in how it is learned. Be open minded as as judgment free as possible.

This is a really intresting section, it made me think how diffrent things would be if we all tried to change one aspect of our gender role, even if just for a one time experiment.

My little experiment sourround a simple social norm, men are to hold the door for women. In stead of playing this role, i would wait for the door to be held for me, or just breeze through and not hold the door when expect. I would be as non verbal as possible as not to let on that it was an experiment. But the looks i got when people realized that i was expecting the door to be held for me were interesting to say the least. It is wild to see how just changing something as simple when to hold the door for someone can get you strange looks or elicit a response for a stranger.

What would you change for your experiment, and if you feel so inclined give it a try and let us know about your experience.