Gender Performativity and Feminism

Essay Instructions:

Introduction
Feminism is a range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve political, economic, personal, and social equality of sexes.
Gender Performativity: A central concept of this theory is that your gender is constructed through your own repetitive performance of gender through specific gender-based acts.
Discussion Questions:
Adichie makes the point that the concept of gender tells us how we “should” be in society. What messages do we send about how women “should” behave versus how men “should” behave?
What damage can these messages send to all people? How does this relate to Judith Butler's ideas of "gender performativity"? How do specific expectations of each gender relate to other issues like racism or classism? (Consider the short film, A Girl Like Me.)
Be sure to include quotes from both Adichie and bell hooks in your response. Use the other resources to illustrate your points. You can also include examples from any other text from this course.
"We Should All Be Feminists" by Adichie ------ this one just find the book online
Judith Butler: Your Behavior Creates Your Gender:
https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=Bo7o2LYATDc
A Girl Like Me:
https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?time_continue=132&v=17fEy0q6yqc

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Feminism
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Feminism
In her text, Adichie stated that the notion of gender tells us the way that people should be in society. There are quite a few messages that we send with regard to how women should behave versus how men should behave. Some of these messages are that men should naturally be in charge, boys are taught to be afraid of vulnerability, of weakness, and of fear (Adichie 15). They are taught to mask their true selves. Boys are always expected to prove their masculinity all the time, for instance to pay their bills even when they are not in a position to (Adichie 19). Males are also taught that they are “superior to females and should rule over them” (Hooks 4).
On the other hand, the message sent to girls is that they should “make themselves smaller and that they should shrink themselves. For instance, girls are told to have ambition, but not too much; to aim for success and but not to be too successful or else the man will feel threatened; and if she is the breadwinner, she should pretend as though she is not the breadwinner or else her husband would feel emasculated” (Adichie 23). These messages can send damage to all people. For example, because of these messages, males always have t...

Updated on January 26, 2024

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Gender Performativity and Feminism

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