Identity of gender Literature & Language Essay Paper

I will upload the specific requirements of the composition as an attachment. Note that writer need to choose one of three themes. Some examples and ideas will also be provided in the attachment. My gender is male. Considering my actual situation, the writer can write the topic like the differences between male and female, as well as the social prejudice against them, or the social status of male and female (as written in the attachment), but please don't talk too much about homosexuals or transgenders.

Minimum Final draft length: 2 pages or 500 words. Pieces that are less than two-thirds the recommended length will not be accepted. 

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     Below are three choices for essay one.  Be sure to read through all of them before you decide which approach to take.  Once you decide, be sure to read the directions under that choice thoroughly to make you address all the parts you need to address.  

•  My most important advice to you in this one is to make sure you are SPECIFIC in your use of examples and detail:  name specific people, places, colors, sounds, feelings, experiences, toys, and ads if you use them.    


• For example, your brother Dave, the old saltbox house you rent on Martha's Vineyard each summer, the troll doll you had with the long pink hair, the Old Spice commercial that uses the guy on the horse--for this one you would also have to describe the ad--an episode of Modern Family--in this one you would name a character and describe a scene.


• The point of essay one is to demonstrate your understanding of Social construction through the use of personal narrative.  YOU are the text in this piece.  Show the readers HOW you have been socialized to believe certain things about our gender roles by living in the culture we live in.  Remember that the idea is  that simply by being born into a certain family, class, ethnic group or gender, we are born into certain belief systems ABOUT that culture.  How do we learn to be who we are?  USE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES AND DETAILS:  colors, textures, sights, sounds, neighborhoods, names.  

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     1.  Write an essay explaining what Lorber ("The Social Construction of Gender") means by "doing gender."

You must define what "doing gender" means in this one. 

Use examples from your own life, and Lorber to support your explanations. 

How do you see yourself doing gender? Use SPECIFIC EXAMPLES from your own life.

For this topic choice, as well as the ones listed below, the use of the first person is perfectly fine, since I am asking you to use yourself as one of the texts. 

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 2.  Write a personal narrative in which you explore and/or investigate how a specific gender role has been constructed in you or perpetuated  by you, and how the current culture has influenced this.

 You must name the specific role (see below for examples, but you are not limited to these)

Briefly examine how you were taught this role,  and who (or what) taught you to behave in this manner. Name names! Tell the story.

How did you learn that this was an expected way to be (as a woman or man) in the world?

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3.   Write a narrative in which you have broken down (subverted) a stereotypical role by doing something not typically “feminine” or “ masculine.”

You must name the specific role (see below for examples, but you are not limited to these)

Briefly examine how you were taught this role, and who (or what) taught you to behave in this manner. Name names! Tell the story.

How did you learn that this was an expected way to be (as a woman or man) in the world?

How did you subvert this role? (act differently than society expected you to act?)

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Below are some ideas (terministic screens) to get you thinking. 

Remember that we are socialized to believe some of these things, and that they are NOT necessarily true.

Minimum Final draft length: 2 - 3 pages or 500 - 750 words. Pieces that are less than two-thirds the recommended length will not be accepted 

Boys have to be "tough."

Women are emotional

Women are weak

Women are strong

Men are not allowed to cry

White men can't jump : )

White men can't dance

Women are feminine  (you must define this term as it applies to you)

Men are masculine  (you must define this term as it applies to you)

Women are caregivers or mothers

Men are the main breadwinners

Girls play with dolls

Boys play with trucks

“Girl” games or jobs

"Boy" games or jobs

                                     More ways to thing about the assignment:

• You found out you were playing with the right or wrong toy, or right or wrong game, so you stopped playing, or you went right on playing. How was the game gendered? What were the “roles”? Who was there? How were those playing perpetuating or breaking down the gendered ideas? How did this construct your identity as a woman or a man?

• You have had an experience with gay culture. You found out your good friend is gay. Someone thought you were gay and you aren’t . Someone thought you were gay and you are.  You came out to someone. How is this experience gendered? Did you have to confront your own or someone else’s homophobia? Who was doing gender here? How did this construct your identity as a woman or a man?

• You were pressured into behaving a certain (gendered) way by the opposite or same sex—a group of friends, a girl or boyfriend. What was the behavior? Who was doing the pressuring? How did this construct your identity as a woman or a man?

• You wanted to play a certain sport, or do a certain thing, but met with resistance from a parent, sibling, coach or friend because you are a male or female. How did this construct your identity as a woman or a man?

• You were supported in a non-stereotypical choice you made, thus enabling you to proceed: you are male and want to dance ballet—b oth your girlfriend and your father completely support this idea. What happened the first time you danced? How did this construct your identity as a woman or a man?

• You were NOT supported in a non-stereotypical choice you made, so you didn’t do it, or you went ahead anyway: you are female and want to play football—b oth your boyfriend and your father will disown you if you try out for the team. In the topics above, tell the story of what happened. Set the scene, use dialog. How did this construct your identity as a woman or a man?

• You discovered you are good (or bad) at something but you weren’t supposed to be because of your sex: you are a man but you sure can knit a mean sweater, decorate a living room, write poetry and make jewelry. You are a woman but you sure are good at deep sea fishing, boxing, physics, working on your boyfriend’s car and you can design a building in a single bound. How did this construct your identity as a woman or a man? 


• Write about an event or experience that caused you to change your mind about a gendered identity. What was the identity and how did it change? What was the belief system you were confronting? How do you think that belief system (idea) was constructed in you? By what or by whom? Did it cause you to behave in some way that you wouldn’t have behaved otherwise? Write the story of what happened.