Summary Of The Social Construction Of Gender By Judith Lorber
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In Judith Lorber’s essay The Social Construction of Gender she claims that gender is both a process and a system of stratification and structure. The following essay will illustrate what Lorber means when she makes theses claims. Examples of gender as a process and system of stratification will be drawn from the movie “Orchids: my intersex adventure” as well as previously assigned readings to further explain Lorber’s points. Lorber explains, “gender is a process of creating distinguishable social statuses for the assignment of rights and responsibilities” (Lorber, 142). The process of “doing gender” (Lorber, 141) is in fact a process because through social interactions individuals learn how they are expected to act and react as a person of their given sex. Through both formal and informal punishment, individuals learn not to deviate far from the way that their society defines gender (Lorber, 141-143).…show more content… The comic entitled Enlightened, Educational, Contemporary Toys on page 124 does an excellent job of demonstrating this. A shopper is looking to buy a unisex toy and finds it impossible to find a non-gendered toy. Even the dinosaurs, a seemingly neutral choice, sport typically male or female attire. The shopper leaves frustrated (Guisewite, 124). This comic shows us not only how saturated with gendering we are at a young age, but also how hard and frustrating it can be to attempt to not buy into societies gendered