Damn, I hope I can shut my brain off some time today

In response to yesterday's fractional essay on manhood, Netwoman forced me to invoke my poor overused brain:

I think that much of your notions of masculinity are rooted in biology, and I have to disagree. Masculinity and femininity are socially constructed - historically and culturally fluid - ever changing and contested. It is not the same as categories of man and woman, which is based on biological sex characteristics (and even this dualism is challenged as the case with hermaphrodites and so forth).

bell hook's "We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity [2003]" is an interesting read

Actually, my analysis of the notion of masculinity is rooted in the recognition that it grew seamlessly from out of the experience of the biology. And the twistyness of that sentence is a sign of why the essay is unfinished. I haven't found the right level of observation and expression to be simple and clear about it.

Masculinity and femininity are socially constructed - historically and culturally fluid - ever changing and contested. It is not the same as categories of man and woman, which is based on biological sex characteristics

Granted. Gender is the meaning assigned to sexuality. Meaning can only be assembled from the content we have in our minds, which content (of necessity) varies from person to person, culture to culture, era to era. Gender roles are behavior patterns (jobs, stylistic gestures) to which a gender (NOT a sexuality!) has been assigned.

Hermaphroditism not withstanding, sexuality is a binary thing on this planet, That hasn't changed and likely won't. Sexuality is physically fundamental, which means gender is of necessity psychologically fundamental. I strongly feel the meaning we attach to sexuality…our root notions of gender…haven't changed much either. Real changes in our patterns of activity are too new to have been processed by the collective mind.

On an individual level, we seem to have our personal understanding of gender assignments, created by taking the current cultural model and modifying it according to our experiences and desires. We "add up" the traits we see in a person and issue the appropriate (learned) behavior.

We have women doing…well…things they "couldn't" a few years back because they had masculine gender assignments. Males who see nothing else to base their masculinity on cannot accept that; which makes them like dinosaurs in China half a second after that meteor hit around the Gulf of Mexico 65 million years ago.

See? Not clear enough.

Posted by Prometheus 6 on June 8, 2004 - 11:52am :: Race and Identity
 
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Thanks for responding to my comment, and engaging in a discussion (one of my favourite things about blogs). We seem to agree for the most part. I think these issues between sex - gender - and sexuality are often very difficult to unpack, and even harder to contextualize in our own lives.

A couple things -

"Gender is the meaning assigned to sexuality" "Sexuality is physically fundamental" and "sexuality is a binary thing on this planet" - I am assuming you mean to refer to sex (male/female) and not sexuality (hetero/homo/bi/trans etc). So maybe this would read:

"Hermaphroditism not withstanding, sex is a binary thing on this planet, That hasn't changed and likely won't. Sex is physically fundamental, which means gender is of necessity psychologically fundamental. I strongly feel the meaning we attach to sex…our root notions of gender…haven't changed much either."

Is this what you mean? Though I don't understand what you mean by "which means gender is of necessity psychologically fundamental". Do you mean that we need gender roles to define ourselves or our identities? I think I would be much happier if people could just be themselves without thinking about whether their behaviour is masculine or feminine. Gender roles within a capitalist system were created to instill hierarchies between women and men - relations of power. Gender also creates power imbalances when there are different types of masculinity (dependent on race and class) for example. Ultimately hegemonic masculinity and femininity are unrealistic expectations for people that leave them feeling less than worthy - an unattainable goal to strive for. Alas, I am rambling.

and uh "we have women doing..." - how about women are now able to access positions that were once deemed masculine and for men only? It sounds less like a man is 'letting' me do the work that I do *grin*

Posted by  Netwoman (not verified) on June 8, 2004 - 6:10pm.

I think you got what I meant, but I won't say "sex" instead of "sexuality" because the three letter one is immediately heard as a verb;
"sex is binary" is a lot different than "being male or female is binary."

I'd rather stick to my terminology, get called on it and explain, than use someone else's and find out four discussions later we disagree on something fundamental. Like I remember once being told that EVERYONE has a sex life, even celibate people. If the simultaneous posession of genitals and a pulse is all one is talking about then you say wholly different things than you would if you're talking about actual patterns of activity.

Posted by  P6 (not verified) on June 8, 2004 - 7:11pm.