The Male-Dominance System and How It Affects Gender Inequality in Society

The Male-Dominance System and How It Affects Gender Inequality in Society Katherine Glock Shippensburg University SOC241-01 Abstract This paper looks at society to determine if today’s society is mostly male dominated or not. According to several studies done by sociologists and personal experiences, it appears that most societies in the world today are male dominated. It is found that male dominance is learned at a very early age with childhood socialization from the parents of the children. Boys are given more freedom than girls, as well as the difference in toys. Girls are encouraged to be more domestic with household chores than boys are. Women also tend to be objectified in advertisements around the world as well as portrayed to be “perfect” looking, physically. This is a problem because if the media is showing that it is okay to look at women as objects, violence can often occur. This is especially because a lot of advertisements portray sexual violence as appealing which leads to men’s desire for rape. Finally women are widely discouraged around the country for entering the labor force instead of taking care of their children and household chores. Is our society mostly male dominated or female dominated? Most people would answer that most societies in the world are male dominated. Understanding the male dominance system in our world is

  • Word count: 2594
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Is gender behaviour learned or innate?

Gender Is gender behaviour learned or innate? Construction of one's gender often starts at birth, and perhaps even before. John Bowlby (1953) says that the preparation is the very beginning of gender construction. It is even possible to find out the sex of a child before birth and when this happens, parents often begin to buy clothes and toys which are usual to a specific gender, i.e. blue for a boy, and pink for a girl, dolls for girls and cars for a boys. So gender construction happens from the outset. It is difficult to determine whether gender behaviour is innate when the parents of a child begin this construction of gender identity at such an early stage. Lionel Tiger and Robin Fox (1972) however believe that the difference in behaviour of both males and females can be explained in part by hormone production. As hormones are so closely related to the actions of the nervous system, this would then mean that hormones affect sexual behaviour, personality and emotion. Increased levels of testosterone and androgen in the human male can make them more boisterous, influencing change in their physical self as well as their psychological self. Sexual desire and aggressiveness are also related to these hormones. This would present a very 'animal' way of looking at the human male. The behaviour of many animals (such as wolves and monkeys) has been linked to hormone levels, and

  • Word count: 639
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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To what extent have changing gender identities affected the performance of girls and boys at school in the contemporary UK?

To what extent have changing gender identities affected the performance of girls and boys at school in the contemporary UK? In response to this question this essay will begin with a brief outline on the importance of agency and structure in relation to gender identity. In particular it will discuss how social change in consequence has changed people's perceptions of gender identity. It will then proceed by looking at media claims that girls are out achieving boys at school and show how social scientists explore these claims and how they may relate to changing gender identities. Our gender identities are formed by the use of gender categories, which is how the culture of a society categorizes feminine and masculine characteristics associated with men and women. Although gender identities are stereotyped they are not fixed and there is room for diversity. Hence a woman may have a typical masculine characteristic yet still be a woman and vice versa. We do as individuals have a degree of agency over the decisions and choices we make, however there are structures in society, social, cultural and economic factors which influence these choices. When social change occurs this can cause uncertainty and dversity in our identities but can also offer opportunities to form new identities. Lets considr how the roles of men and women in society have changed since the 1950'. Men at

  • Word count: 860
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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