Masculinity-Femininity: Society's Difference Dividend - Essay Example

Name: University: Course: Tutor: Date: Gender Studies The assignment evaluates the Foucault theory of “Docile Bodies” in comparing masculinity and femininities of the bodies as described by Michel Foucault, it also takes a look on what the other theorists think of the physical appearance as the main determinant of an individual’s ability to perform certain defined duties in the society today. The universe consists of two different kinds of gender (sex) the male and the female, whose bodies are structured to assume a Feminine and Masculine nature (Buchholz and Boyce, 46). and this according to Foucault in his theory, Foucault states that one piece of the bodies is more docile as than the other, in this paper we are going to take a look into his claims and ascertain if they are considered to be true or false. The dictionary describes docile(docility) to be someone that is able to be submissive and is also wiling to yield to supervision and learn more about the surrounding, according to Rachel Dilley in here article “ Women’s Climbing Physicalities: Bodies, Experience and Representation” she states that the theories of the body is majorly centered on the individuals gender ,and this will generally command the persons behavior to the variety of changes that are around the individuals environment therefore determining the behavior of the group of people (Free essays, 2003). Dilley adds that women bodies are assumed to be weaker, unpredictable and incapable of the men’s achievements as compared to there male counterparts, she further adds that the females capacity is determined with there reproductivity and characteristics, this is why the women are seen to be passive, irrational and frail. In Foucault’s works , he states that women are inferior creatures naturally and further categorizes them in two classes as was in the traditional norm by stating that women are generally a weaker sex , secondly is by there biological body structure ,this is were they are seen as objects of reproduction as they show some motherhood ,as they are seen as the passing over tools from one generation to another, this is because they will mainly remain with the children most of the time while the men will be out there fending for the family in order to improve the lives of the family (Stets and Burke, 2009). Foucault’s sentiments still brings lots of protests from the feminists in the society as they cite that his writings were indicated that the women are inferior creatures as compared to the men, and they are easily manipulated by there surrounding, this definitely influences there actions. In his theory Foucault depicts the men as masculine creatures who takes the advantage of there physical strengths and powers to influence the feminine creatures actions, to conform to there demands (William and Drass, 371) as the feminine will feel scared and heed to the demands for fear of encountering any form of physical confrontation with the men who are more masculine as compared to them. More credit is given to the men in Foucault’s theory, the reason for this is because the men are a lot of muscular (Cleary Cultural, 2009) and this is what makes them to be dominant in almost everything whereas the women are subordinates as they are the ones to take the instructions that are set by the men (Janet and Helmreich, 142). In order to maintain a good relationship between the two groups of individuals and the realization of a better society, it’s believed that a woman should respect and obey the man this is from the Bible and what Christians are always taught in the church. The females are seen as more docile compared to the males as they are very submissive and passive in most occasions as in cases of relationship, politics and economics (Trigiani, 1999,) as they will give in to whatever there male counterparts have asked them do, this is in order to maintain good relations with them as its taught in the churches, mosques and temples. In the recent past the males would be recognized by there physical appearance in that one would be given respect if one possessed a more masculine look as compared to the feminine looks as shown in movies and television show such as the (World Wrestling Federation)WWF (Katz, 117).With this notion the male species got lots of challenge and they would go to the gymnasium and indulge in physical exercises that will increase there masculine look that would enable them to look more strong and appealing and attract the females ,this would also enable them to gain some respect just from there physical appearance. Politically mostly the females will be easily lured by the politicians into voting them in as they are easily manipulated or even bribed by small things that will make them to vote them in public offices therefore they use them as ladders that they use in order to climb up the politically (Neuladen, 1995). It is culturally wrong for a feminine species to contest against a masculine candidate in a public office contest, the society will require the woman to stoop low for the male contestant, and if she doesn’t do this the society will see her as a person that is going against the norms of the society in that she is will get a lot of opposition from both the male and females from the place were she comes from. The male counterpart will use irregular methods in order to frustrate the females a lot such as the use of excess force of strength as a way of making the female insecure and opting to keep out back-down order to secure her life and avoid conflict with the fellow contestants and keep her dignity . Economically females are said to be submissive as mostly they depend on the males as the provider of the family needs and this is from the jobs women occupy, most of them occupy low paying jobs that cant support the family requirements resulting to them depending on the males to cater for the heavy financial tasks and they only chip-in to supplement were they feel they can offer some financial support (Trigiani, 1999). The family duties routines are subdivided by the femininity and masculinity factors theoretical the roles are divided in the basis of feminity and masculinity this is seen when the couples play with there children studies show that almost all couples, mothers play with her children in an intimate way as the fathers are more physical, by these kind of activities of the parents to there children tends to get there influence from identifying with there parents sexuality. The females are easily manipulated by the males financially as stated by Kathreen AuerHahn and Elizabeth Dermody in there article “The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology” in that a female can be coerced into doing certain things in order to win the favor of the men financial support. in a Social setting the women are restricted in the way they carry themselves in public places this is in the way they pose, there body movement and gestures as compared to the men who are less cautious to there body movements, the woman will sit in a posture that will make her to appear smaller as she will enclose her body whereas the male will sit in a manner that will make him appear large. In other situations the women use their feminine physique that will enable them get some favors from the males when confronted with difficulties that might expose them to physical harm from the masculine men (Hofstede, 61). An example in India where there is a specific train that is especially for the women who argued that the struggling with the men is very risky prompting the railway management board to introduce the only train for the women. The men exploit the females in sexual maters, as in most cases women are coerced into “making love” by the men, and they give in to the demands because, they don’t give want to lose the mans’ love, they are also afraid of competition from other women this resulting to the women to do his demands in order to salvage the marriage or in exchange of the material things the man provides her with (William and Drass, 370). According to Sandra Lee article “Foucault, Femininity and the Modernization of Patriarchal power” Sandra disagrees with the Foucault’ theory by saying that someone is only male or female, but not masculine or feminine and she further adds that these different states are acquired as either of these states are imposed on a person therefore making the person to have the specific personality. The reason contributing to these differences are due to the new cultures of individuals, as new fashion trends are cropping up into the world such as dieting in women in order to maintain their feminine looks, this tend to attract the new generation of men as compared the age of our grandparents were they assumed a woman’s feminity by the physique. Additionally Simone de Beauvoir in 1952 argues that “one is not born a woman, but one becomes one” this is because of the duties one has to go through , normal responsibilities a woman goes through such as childbirth, pregnancy ,menstruation and breastfeeding amongst others are all tied to women all-around the world, the men aren’t associated with this and this brands them more prestigious than women, in return men look down upon the women as they believe they are a better species than the women. Butler disagreed with the feminists, claiming that the notion is not stable claiming that the persons gender isn’t a determinant of the individuals’ success and people should get past the cultural rooted notion that states that females are less stronger than men, yet it is not the individual sexuality that performs certain tasks but the individuals aggressiveness. Today and in the near future femininity or masculinity isn’t applicable as both the sexes are at per with each other and each body isn’t left behind as all the bodies indulge in physical exercises such as yoga, gymnastics, motorized exercise, belt massages and dieting, as this activities are said to be going against the proposed cultural norms and beliefs that were in existence in the past. politics was left for the men but the women have also ventured into it as they want to have power they never held previously and this eventually led to them attaining some respect because they have proven that they are capable of doing what was known of to be men’s occupation, with examples of the German chancellor and the president of Liberia Ellen Josephs. The use of cosmetics that is used by both the male and females have shown that femininity and masculinity is acquired, and only one Is born as male or female, the males and female bodies isn’t there any longer as the males are trying to make there bodies to appear soft (Trigiani, 1998). As there is use of cosmetics by the males to make themselves assume the feminine body appealing to there spouses. In sports some games that were strictly left for men such us football and safari rally, the ladies have ventured into the games showing that they are good at them therefore more these games are introduced for the ladies creating a thin line between the ladies and the males (Trigiani, 1998). In the world today the women have excelled academically emerging as top performers raising eyebrows ,proving that they also can do what was left for the men and they can be the best doctors ,teachers ,managers and scientists making the world to accept there contribution to the society . In conclusion many believe that the females are not equal to the males but lately they have proved, learnt and intend to show the male who have always been dominating almost everything that they can make it in every field that men dominated, showing that they don’t intend to sit down and just watch and do what they have been instructed by the men, they want to prove that they have a mind of there own and they can perform certain tasks without being commanded or instructed on what to do. That is why we see many doctors, scientist, politicians and technicians around that occupy occupations that were only selected and left for the men and they are giving out good performance (Jae, 2008). There contributions are aimed at encouraging the other women that they can also perform these tasks without any hindrance and if they are given the opportunity they can perform as well as the men, and that is why we hear a lot of cry from the women advocating for gender equality through out the world. The venturing of the women into the jobs that were left for only the men has brought about the New World Order were the women demand to the same share acknowledgement ,responsibility and respect as they see that they have the capability of doing what the men thought they wouldn’t be able to do before this has brought about the conflicts of interest between the conservative male and the modern male who think the woman should be able to be at the same level with the man ,it has also contributed to the emergence of many conflicts in marriages as the women are said to concentrate much on there careers other than there families as it was in the olden days. Work Cited Buchholz, Zachary and Boyce, Samantha. Masculinity; Gender Roles, Characteristics and Coping. Nova Science Publishers: Nova Science Publishers. 2009. Print. ClearyCultural. “Making Sense of Cross Cultural Communication: Masculinity”. ClearyCultural. June 2009. Freeessays. Double Standard of Masculinity in Gender Role Socialization. Free Essays & Book Reports: Sociology. 2003. April 20, 2010 Hofstede, Geert. Masculinity and Femininity: The Taboo Dimension of National Cultures. Los Angeles: Sage Publications. 1998. Print. Jae. “The Balance of Masculinity and Femininity”. Kinowear. April 18, 2008. April 20, 2010 Janet, Spence and Helmreich, Robert. Masculinity and Femininity: Their Psychological Dimensions, Correlates, and Antecedents. Austin: University of Texas Press. 2007. Print Katz, Jackson. Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity in Dines, Gail and Gender, Race and Class in Media. Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Publications. 1995. Print Neuladen, Bild. “Masculinity Versus Femininity”. 1995. Masculinity. April 20, 2010. Stets, Jan and Burke, Peter. “Femininity/Masculinity”. Department of Sociology, Washington State University. 2009. April 20, 2010. Trigiani, Kathleen. “Masculinity-Femininity: Society's Difference Dividend. 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