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Austin Maloco
Professor Rodrick
Queer Studies 115
23 October, 2016
Project Space Draft 2 (Insert Title Here)

Gender, a topic that for many years has been viewed as a two way street. The symbols
above is what people used to define gender for a long period time. It was either someone was
viewed as male or female. People who viewed themselves as as another gender or wished to have
a romantic relationship with someone of the same gender were often harassed and outcasted. In
modern times there began something quite interesting. Various new gender identity were
recognised. ways a people define themselves started to develope and grow. These genders can
range in between the established male or female genders or can range outside even in its own
categories. Eventually many people in society started to accept these genders as fact, however
the past only repeats itself as many people in society began to treat people, who identify
themselves outside of the gender norm as social aliens. This concept of male and female is

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deeply rooted in society, this is a result of reinforcement of ideals at a young age. Although some
people can go against the ideals set forth, they are met with resistance supported by frear. And
supporting this fear is stereotyping that only serves as a deterrent factor feeding into people's fear
and false judgments.
The concept of what is male and what is female is deeply instilled in the rationalization
of society. This process of defining gender starts when, the idea of gender is presented to
children at a very young age. Daniel Curran and Claire Renzetti, both sociologists whose works
focus primarily on gender related issues, writes in the article From Women Men and Society, how
children are taught by their parents about gender roles at a young age and how this influences the
child's development in terms of gender identification. The authors go into detail, including how
the children were treated by their parents based on gender. This treatment is what factors the
children were introduced to such as behavior, clothing, and the toys the children were given. The
authors claim that these attributes are gender specific. One example is that, Clothing, . plays,
a significant role in gender socialization in two ways. First, , certain types of clothing or
discourage particular behaviors or activities [such as rough play for boys and activities for girls
that are careful and eloquent.] [and] Second, by informing others about the sex of the child.
(77). This example shows the basis of gender role, that according to this role both genders must
refrain from doing certain activities of the other gender, that females must be the model of
manners and eloquence and that males must be the aggressive and rough side of the gender
spectrum. This then feeds into the idea that males and females should be distinct from one
another to the point of simplicity. This idea could be a sort of setup for children to fall into a role
that has been prefabricated for them, boy or girl. Since the parents have been influencing the
train of thought for the children it is only reinforced that they must follow this set role.

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Ultimately this limits the childs ideas on gender, and sets up a social barrier or rule that is
strongly reinforced by social expectations and negative social consequences.
Society is constructed of social ideals and norms that the general population of a society
accepts as fact, but people do make mistakes and are not perfect. As such, the norms and ideals
that are made by people, have a possibility of being wrong. And if ideals are forced upon an
individual even if they do not want to live by these rules, this could be then considered tyranny.
Petra Doan, a professor of urban regional planning whose work focuses primarily on gendered
spaces, argues in her work, The Tyranny of Gendered Spaces: Reflections from Beyond the
Gender Dichotomy, that public spaces are ruled by gendered norms and that individuals who
would go against that norm would be alienated and harassed, Professor Doan herself being a
transgendered person faces the scrutiny and harassment for breaking this norm (53). As this
would entail, if a person acts out of line in terms of the set of rules, then this person is subject to
the social stigma of the rest of a group who follows a the rules fed to them. Dictators use fear as
a means of control, similarities aside fear could be a factor of control in society. Fear would
discourage a person from acting in certain way out of the paranoia that anyone could assault
them physically or vocally. This preserves an order that has been set up to conserve something.
Many people have different reasons for wanting to keep the status quo, some for the sake of
simplicity others for their own beliefs but in the end forcing ideas on a group of still can bring
harm to them.
Fear seems to be a driving force to the maintenance of the social order of defined gender.
Harassment and fear are a big deterrent for people to take action or to even speak about certain
subjects. This is what Morgana Bailey, a human resource activist, did for most of her life. Bailey
through her Ted Talk presentation discusses how she has hidden the fact that she has been lesbian

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for several years. She says how she used to a very different and energetic person until she started
to conform in college, she then shied away from every opportunity to tell anyone about her
homosexuality, out of fear of judgement and stereotyping(The Danger of Hiding Who You
Are). Bailey was deterred from telling anyone about her homosexuality out of fear of being
labeled into stereotypes from her peers. When most people think of gay, they would most likely
think of the flamboyant gay stereotype. A flashy, extrovert, who acts to overly
feminine.Stereotypes are a grossly simplified version of a what to expect group from people. The
word grossly simplified comes from the idea of stereotyping, a set personality for a group of
individuals. People are unique and the idea that a person must fit into a certain character just
because of who they are or who they identify as, is just wrong. This only shows that stereotyping
forces people to play their given part, in a play they do not want to be part of.
In conclusion, the ideals of gender defined at a young age strengthens a social construct
that socially harms anyone who would go against it by use of fear tactics and crude stereotyping
ideologies. Tyranny is most likely the best way to describe this current situation. There are still
some places where if you were to fall out of line, and identify as something other than what you
are told you are by other people, you would be ridiculed, arrested, or even killed. Some may say
that the situation has improved as society has come to accept difference, like the in the beginning
of this essay, but saying that there is improvement only supports the reasoning that their is still
an apparent problem that needs to be solved. Changing the social ideologies takes time, it does
not just include patience but also a careful and thoughtful form of judgment aimed at solving the
issue rather than bettering it to a point were minor incidents go unnoticed.

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Works Cited
Blue 3D male Symbol. Digital image. Clipartbest.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
<http://www.clipartbest.com/clipart-xigrgxjiA>.
The Danger of Hiding Who You Are. Perf. Morgana Bailey. Ted.com. Ted, Nov. 2014. Web. 19
Oct. 2016.
<http://www.ted.com/talks/morgana_bailey_the_danger_of_hiding_who_you_are>.
Doan, Petra. "The Tyranny of Gendered Spaces: Reflections from Beyond the Gender
Dichotomy." Composing Gender. By Rachael Groner and John F. O'Hara. Boston:
Bedford/St.Martin's, 2013. 53-64. Print.
A pink 3D female symbol. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
<http://vgc.wikia.com/wiki/File:Venus-female-symbol-pseudo-3D-pink.svg>.
Renzetti, Claire, and Daniel Curran. Composing Gender. By Rachael Groner and John F. O'Hara.
Boston: Bedford/St.Martin's, 2013. 77-84. Print.

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