I found that the term 'sex' will often be used by academics while defining those biological differences which separate women. These differences are determined by genetics and there is little room for debate or change in our biological make-up. Definitions of 'gender', however are cultural. The qualities which are identified which masculinity and femininity are very much debatable and certainly subject to a great deal of change over time.
Masculinity | Femininity |
Professional | Domesticated |
Strong | Weak |
Rational | Emotional |
Competitive | Co-operative |
Independent | Communal |
Aggressive | Passive |
Ruthless | Sensitive |
Ambitious | Supportive |
This table that we created above shows how some of these stereotypical qualities are linked to our understanding of gender. These are not meant as descriptions of how men and women actually are, but rather they indicate the kinds of ideas out of which conventional representations tend to be built. It is worth nothing that female characters can be constructed out of the qualities which tend to be associated with masculinity. However we seemed to find that more often than not, the character will be portrayed in a negative light and 'punished' through the narrative for her actions.
No comments:
Post a Comment