Knowledge on Gender and Sexuality - Paper Sample

Introduction

Feminist worldwide have various definitions on what gender and sexuality is and what it denotes with their central focus being women. As a black first-generation West African-Canadian, I came to know about gender and sexuality during my childhood. In a nutshell, the understanding I had for sex was also that of gender, and this was what I grew up knowing. In the words of Butler, gender formation practices and general division bring out the formation of identity. If indeed essence can be said to be normative, then its feature in a descriptive form may experience discontinuous or incoherence, gendered individuals have an appearance of persons (Vera & Foucault, 1979). Instead, they encounter failure in conformity to the values of those considered gendered within the culture and how which other individuals are defined as gendered. In my society, I saw that specific tasks were left for women and others for the men. For the women did example tailoring, and women gathered to cook in the kitchen (Vera & Foucault, 1979).

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My gender allowed me to play with dolls, and with the different body shapes of those older than me of my gender, I quickly understood my place in society. Butler defines sex as a body that can attach discourse, which creates a shape that eventually equals a representation. In the construction of gender Simone de Beauvoir suggests that there is an extent of agency and purpose. The church also shaped my sexuality. Women were supposed to take care of the family, which shaped my idea of gender from what I saw was expected from my mother within the church. In an argument, Butler says, “The incoherence and lack of continuity is a production based on the same laws that are there for the sake of ensuring there are connections with expressive lines among what culture has created as gender and the effect caused by sexual desire manifestation.” Culture also defines the role of gender as a black first-generation West African Canadian. Further, a society set its expectations for a particular gender, and this, together with the church, culture, and family, gave me knowledge on gender and sexuality.

Understanding Gender and Sexuality

Discourse, according to Foucault, referred to ways that help in bringing together. An analysis of speech referred to focusing on relations of power in the society, which are either expressed as through practices or language. This analysis can be done to note an individual worldview, ideology, and even politics. Women in leadership roles beginning from the church much affected my understanding of sexuality and gender. The women I saw on television having political positions also shapes my understanding of gender and sexuality. A feminist would say gender has not for all time been made up of consistency and coherence among different context within the society as gender runs across class, ethnicity, regions, race, and even sex, this was not the case when I was growing up as sex constituted gender, and your sex defined whether you were male or female. On the political scene, the making of gender comes about with individual goals, and the operations of those goals are hidden with many effects. "This matter is similar to pitch, for, however one might handle it, even to cast it far from oneself, it sticks nonetheless, and always soils." (Vera & Foucault, 1979 p.19).Construction and Dismantling of Gender and Sexuality

Woman as a Topic of Interest

Gender and sexuality can be constructed as Butler states, “I have a challenge to believe that gender has been completed.” (Butler, 1986 p.35). In her opinion, when a particular culture that had erected the gender is brought to understanding as accepting the recipients of governance that have been set to the specific group of individuals, then it is fixed and determined. Various cultures can indeed construct gender by giving expectations to it, according to Butler. She also creates an argument that emphasizes that in a bid to dismantle gender, ways are designed to get rid of those who have been naturalized and those who believe that gender is in support of power that is viewed to be heterosexist and hegemony among men. According to Butler, the requirements that meet the criteria of being labeled a subject, in this case, in terms of dealing with the female gender, had to be completed before there can be an extension of representation. She referred to this as linguistic representation.

Conclusion

In the same way that gender and sexuality can be constructed is the same way, it can be dismantled. Moving to a different society can dismantle what they perceived in their culture to be gender and sexuality. Interactions with other people from different backgrounds can lead to a dismantling of gender and sexuality. It is in my opinion that from the writings of Foucault Michal and Butler Judy, there is much insight on feminist ideology on what constitutes the construction of gender and sexuality but in the same way gender and sexuality can be made or created is the same way it can be dismantled (Butler, 1986).

References

Butler, J. (1986). Sex and Gender in Simone de Beauvoir’s Second Sex. Yale French Studies, 72, 35. https://doi.org/10.2307/2930225

Vera, H., & Foucault, M. (1979). The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction. Contemporary Sociology, 17-35 https://doi.org/10.2307/2065177.