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Gender as a Dimension of Culture
Gender is certainly a dimension of culture because through the perception of gender roles the culture can be perceived. Patriarchal (like ancient Athens) or matriarchal societies (like ancient Sparta) each have their own culture and gender roles are strong characteristics of those cultures. For example, women played a very dominant role in the political and social life of Sparta and understanding the way the Spartans thought of gender is very instructive when it comes to understanding the ancient Spartan culture (Christesen, 2012; Redfield, 1977). The Athenian culture was much more patriarchal and male and female roles in that society were more uniquely defined (Figueira, 2010). Even in modern times, the role that gender plays in society tells us much about the type of society we have and the culture that we live in. Gender-fluidity is becoming increasingly popular in our own culture, which can be seen on television shows where LGBTQ characters are portrayed in positive lights. On college campuses, gender is discussed with as much if not more weight than any other aspect traditionally...
Ideas about gender clearly define how people behave, think, and project themselves.
Thus, the pros of including gender as a dimension of culture are that 1) it gives the student of culture a better and deeper understanding of a society, its times, the way its people viewed themselves and their roles in life, etc.; 2) it allows for a better and richer comparison of cultures -- some may seem similar on the surface (such as the two ancient city-states of Greece mentioned above) but an examination into their gender norms can shed light on a world of differences if looked at closely; 3) gender is a gateway into a society's view of itself as a whole -- since gender is a social construct (unlike sex which is biological) (ACP, 2016), seeing how the society constructs its sense of gender is very revealing about how its culture is built, what it aims to achieve, where it comes from and where it is leading.
The cons of including gender as a dimension of culture are that 1) it may take away from time in which focus is given to other dimensions, such as religion, ethnicity, politics, etc.; and 2) really, gender ideology could be viewed as an extension of the culture stemming from the…
References
ACP. (2016). Gender Ideology Harms Children. Retrieved from https://www.acpeds.org/the-college-speaks/position-statements/gender-ideology-harms-children
Christesen, P. (2012). Athletics and Social Order in Sparta in the Classical Period.
Classical Antiquity, 31: 193-255.
Figueira, T. (2010). Gynecocracy: how women policed masculine behavior in Archaic
Gender Roles in Contemporary Culture. Fight Club: Gender roles in contemporary culture Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk was a rare cultural phenomenon when it was first released. It was a literary work of trade fiction that became a best-seller because of its ability to tap into a cultural obsession of its time, namely the idea that masculinity is a threatened commodity. In the novel, a group of men create a secret club
Gender Roles Sex is a biological given. Some animal species have one sex, some have two, and some have more than two. This is interesting to scientists perhaps, in terms of its physical construction. However, gender is what culture 'does' with these distinctions of physiology. Gender is how culture interprets the apparent biological differences between particular human bodies of different sexual anatomy. What does it mean, for instance, that a certain
Gender Identities and Gender Roles One has very little choice as to what sex one is born with, but identifying with a certain gender is a different story. Although an individual can be born with a given sex, that does not guarantee the development of a specific type of gender (Lahey, 2005). Gender identity can have both biological and social influential factors, and it is this that in the end, define
References Anderson, I. (2007). What is a typical rape? Effects of victim and participant gender in female and male rape perception. The British Psychological Society, 46, 3225-245. Anderson, I. & Lyons, a. (2005). The Effect of Victims Social Support on Attribution of Blame in Female and Male Rape. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 35(7), 1400-1417. Davies, M. & McCartney S. (2003). Effects of Gender and Sexuality on Judgments of Victim Blame and Rape
Gender roles are influenced by family, peers, culture and the media. Even fifty years ago, gender roles were much more rigidly defined and people were strongly influenced by their families and the communities in which they lived. The women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s eroded many long-held stereotypical views of what was once known as "the fairer sex." An important piece of legislation that resulted from the women's movement
Gender Role Expectations Gender roles have shaped society for centuries and continue to do so now. Various cultures attribute certain attitudes, behaviors and values to particular genders and deviation from the roles for any of the genders may be viewed as inappropriate. Gender roles are a construct of the society and are what cultures view as fit for both women and men as they interact with one another on a daily