Ishell Robinson Essays (676 words) - Gender, Identity, Biology

Ishell Robinson Elizabeth Kim English 10:40 10 August 2015 Gender as Good Hair When talking about gender one automatically classifies on e by s ex, male and female. However, ge nder has a more socially constructed meaning towards it, one being masculine and or feminine. Gender is socially constructed by what society believes how women and men should act. In the film, Good Hair , Men and women deals with not fitting in of how society perceives feminine and masculine to be. The females in the movie see and react to gender as a process and men experience gender as stratification. In the article," The Social Construction of race" Judith Lober argues that gender is socially constructed through human interaction. The women define their gender in terms of hair through the hair magazines a r ound the world. Referring back to the mo v ie when the women were having separate interviews discussing why t hey chose to wear weave, one woma n s a id it is because of the hair magazines around the world. The women want to look as beautiful as those women on the front cover . The women believe if they look like the females in the magazines , they too would be beautiful. The females changed their appearances because they were not happy with the natural look they already had . The females believe that their natural look is not good enough for society and the females in the magazines are what society think s is good /beautiful . The females think to be feminine means to be beautiful. So they go and change their look to become beautiful like the girls in the magazine. According to Lorber, "As a process, gender creates the social differences that defin e woman' and man.' In social interaction throughout their lives, individuals learn what is expected, see what is expected, act and react in expected ways" (Lorber 115). By the females seeing the magazine they reacted to the females in the magazines by changing their appearance. The magazine is a norm made by society of how a female should look. They change their appearances to become more beautiful because they believe their own look is not good enough . The females in the movie believe that to be socially accepted they have to look like the females in the magazines. The magazines allowed the females in the movie to understand and want to change their appearance to something more beautiful. Men in the movie experience gender as a structure of how women think men should act in a relationship. The females in the movie believe men should pay for their girlfriends, wife, or daughters hair because it is their job. Females believe that they do everything the man wants them to do concerning the home , that the least the man can do is pay to get the females hair done. The male should pamper his ladies for all the things they do for him. It is not required for men to do this but females believe it is , so the men are impacted by this and pay for their girlfriend, wife, or daughter's hair to keep them happy . Lorber writes, "As a structure, gender divides work in the home and in economic production, legitimates those in authority, and organizes sexuality and emotional life" (Lorber 117). How women believe what a man should do for them and or their child under the same roof allows the male to be impacted and pay for their hair. Before one has a girlfriend or boyfriend the female has to pay for their own hair and the male has to manage his own. After one becomes a couple the female takes care of the household while the man is out working and the man should be able to pamper his wife or kids. This shows how the role in the house is divided. Works Cited Lorber, Judith. "The Social Construction of Gender" Reconstructing Gender and Multicultural Anthology 4 th ed. (2006): 113-119. Print. Reflection