Essay about Women and Men Are Made, Not Born - 987 Words

‘Women and men are made, not born’ The statement by Simone de Beauvoir, ‘Women and men are made, not born’ proposes that a person acquires the identity of a man or a woman over time, by means of complex social processes. Beauvoir’s statement suggests that gender roles and behaviour are not inherent and that social positioning should not be determined by sex. This essay will begin by drawing a distinction between sex and gender, and will then discuss two arguments that explore the origins of gender difference; social construction theory as implied by Beauvoir’s statement, and the biological determinist position. Gender refers to the socially constructed categories of ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ and the attributes and behaviours that†¦show more content†¦The assertion, ‘Women and men are made, not born’ conveys that we become gendered people. Children are born as blank slates, through their interactions with people; infants learn what sex has bee n attributed to them and what this entails. They acquire their sex and gender by a process of modelling, imitating parent, teachers, siblings of the same sex and so forth. The reinforcement of this behaviour eventually causes the child to internalise the gender identity attributed to them. To support their argument, social constructionists argue that gender cannot be inherent because variations in femininities and masculinities occur across cultures, across a particular culture over time, within a culture at the one point in time, and because there is heterogeneity within one sex. However, there are limitations to the theory; research shows that many boys and girls of a young age make gender stereotyped choices themselves, irrespective of whether parents actively create a sex-neutral environment. Thus, children’s early spontaneous gender commitments cannot be readily explained by the social construction theory. Furthermore, attachment of adult men and women to elements of mas culinity and femininity that they desire to transcend, particularly men and women involved in men’s movement and women’s movements respectively, suggests that gender is something that is embedded and not malleable. On the other end of the continuum is the biological determinist position.Show MoreRelated Why men should do cosmetic surgery Essay641 Words   |  3 Pages Plastic surgery has always been overrated by Hollywood celebrity stars in the past. Nevertheless, all the decisions made about plastic surgery were well known by women. Nowadays, the trend for cosmetic surgery has changed dramatically because more people seeing cosmetic surgery in some way is more normal and acceptable. Cosmetic surgery is a surgical procedure that can be performed primarily to enhance ones physical appearance and self-esteem. 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