After learning about post-modernism, I instantly thought about how our society lives by a binary system. It’s either black or white, this or that. Baumans’s idea of post-modernism is that we live in a world with categories, often binary, which creates similarity among people. However, creating sameness between people leads to less difference, but more certainty. He also suggests that post-modernism focuses on the diversity of the truth in a world where being different is seen as bad or ‘not normal’.
The cartoon image shows the universal signs for male and female. There is a woman inside the female symbol and a male inside the male symbol. Both are holding a hammer and knocking down the boundaries society has set to differentiate males and females. I connected this to a gender and society sociology class I took last semester. That class opened my eyes and helped me understand how there really is no such thing as only two genders. We have been socially constructed from birth that you are either female because you have a vagina, or male because you have a penis. When a woman becomes pregnant, she finds out the sex of the child so she knows what color items to buy for the baby. Of course it is always pink for a girl and blue for a boy. Even in elementary school when lining up for anything, girls are in one line while boys are in another. From the start we are taught this binary system of genders. But what about the individuals who do not identify as either, both or neither one? After taking the gender and society class I understand the complexity behind ‘other’ genders such as those who identify as the opposite gender their body displays, which is transgendered. In the past transgendered people have been labeled as hermaphrodites, trannys, transvestites, etc., all derogatory names. Society sees these people as deviants because they do not fit into the standard female or male boxed that have been in place for so long.
I am glad though, that individuals who identify as transgender or anything other than female or male have challenged these beliefs. There are also females and males, heterosexual and homosexual, who have joined in the fight against the discrimination and misconceptions they may face. There are lots of studies and information about this topic so people can know the truth and correctly educate themselves about it. After having this class, I would definitely recommend it to others because it could help one overcome prejudices you may not have thought you even had.
Milissa Jordan
The cartoon image shows the universal signs for male and female. There is a woman inside the female symbol and a male inside the male symbol. Both are holding a hammer and knocking down the boundaries society has set to differentiate males and females. I connected this to a gender and society sociology class I took last semester. That class opened my eyes and helped me understand how there really is no such thing as only two genders. We have been socially constructed from birth that you are either female because you have a vagina, or male because you have a penis. When a woman becomes pregnant, she finds out the sex of the child so she knows what color items to buy for the baby. Of course it is always pink for a girl and blue for a boy. Even in elementary school when lining up for anything, girls are in one line while boys are in another. From the start we are taught this binary system of genders. But what about the individuals who do not identify as either, both or neither one? After taking the gender and society class I understand the complexity behind ‘other’ genders such as those who identify as the opposite gender their body displays, which is transgendered. In the past transgendered people have been labeled as hermaphrodites, trannys, transvestites, etc., all derogatory names. Society sees these people as deviants because they do not fit into the standard female or male boxed that have been in place for so long.
I am glad though, that individuals who identify as transgender or anything other than female or male have challenged these beliefs. There are also females and males, heterosexual and homosexual, who have joined in the fight against the discrimination and misconceptions they may face. There are lots of studies and information about this topic so people can know the truth and correctly educate themselves about it. After having this class, I would definitely recommend it to others because it could help one overcome prejudices you may not have thought you even had.
Milissa Jordan