Political Theories of sexuality - Essay Example

American Society in relation to Male and Female Gender Roles A number of different observations, as well as numerous studies suggest that American culture is represented by two main stereotypes about gender roles to be performed by men and women. Men initially regarded as having such qualities as strength, endurance, courage, determination, and activity. On the turn, stereotypes about women look less attractive because femininity is seen in close connection with such qualities as weakness, passivity, inertia, and indecision.

Based on these traditional stereotypes, men and women are required to perform certain social roles, In particular, women should manifest themselves primarily as wives, mothers and householders, while men are considered to be responsible for the financial well-being of the family. These social norms are so common that any violation of these representations threatens men and women condemnation from society but also isolation from it. Appeal to a variety of philosophical and scientific research sheds light on this issue and one can understand why the modern American society suffers from this problem.

The fact that its origins have deep roots. They are so widely grown in the human world that even modern American culture in spite of the achievements in the field of science and technological progress continues to demonstrate a strict policy of gender roles. In particular, one of the reasons can be seen in the influence of the Christian heritage in the culture of the Western world. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche pointed to the fact that the Christian culture and morality based on it and presented in the Western world have a deep contempt for the individual human freedom in the choice of gender roles and ways to implement one’s sexuality.

The merit of Nietzsche is that he tried to make a person able to influence the formation of public morality that takes into account the fact that the man is not a machine but a living creature having his/her needs and preferences, including sexual. Even the great psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud also draws attention to the negative impact of social norms of Western culture on the individual persons life. He points to the fact that Western culture is permeated with the desire to put a person in a very rigid framework, including in relation to his/her status of gender and sexuality.

With regard to the widespread stereotype that femininity is primarily connected with weakness, passivity, etc., one can refer to the conclusions of Simone de Beauvoir. As a result of thorough research Beauvoir came to the idea that such an opinion in relation to femininity and womens roles in society is due to the fact that a woman is regarded as Other, that is a hostile object that must obey the will of men. In many respects, this makes it clear why American women still suffer from the fact that they are faced with different kinds of restrictions and prohibitions in almost all areas of their life (family, professional, creative, etc.). Thus, one can assume that the rigid gender stratification presented in American society is a result of the influence of outdated social norms and stereotypes that have been partly formulated by the Christian ideology.