Masculine Qualities Associated with a Male Adult - Assignment Example

Race Manhood is a term used to refer to the masculine qualities such as courage and determination that are associated with a male adult. Manhood is a gender stratification used to differentiate between the male and the female gender by the society. It is more prevalent in the patriarchal system which is created in order to give males a higher status in the society and to make females the substitutes. Femininity is a term used by society to refer to the female portion of the society for having qualities such as subordination and submission towards elites such as the male gender. Femininity is especially differentiated by masculinity in the means of their beauty and is seen as elements that help satisfy the masculine desire for sex and intimacy. They are not really devalued by the overall society and have an important role to play in the society, but the way they are controlled leads to their devaluation. The system of patriarchy views them as fragile and due to this perception they are mostly redeemed important to carry out functions such as caring for others and these functions carried out by females is recognized as Pink-collar labor and these jobs are even regarded as blue-collar labor as these jobs require lower amount of skills. According to Kimmel, manhood can be described as homophobia which is the fear of being unmasked by other males of failing to be a real man (Rothenberg 91). He even defines manhood as flight from feminine as boys tend to prove that they do not have traits that are shared by females and lastly Kimmel defines manhood as power relations in which males tend to exhibit behaviors that represent masculinity. 2. By the period of the 18th century, whiteness and the term white which was used to differentiate between the white races of America from other races became very popular and this kind of differentiation among people is recognized as overt racism. The term is used to give a certain population of America a better status in different spheres of life. Immigrants were never treated well in US and they have been exploited mainly due to Xenophobia which is regarded as the fear that a particular society experiences from foreign elements. Institutional racism was in practice and employees who migrated from foreign regions were treated differently as compared to the whites. Not only those already living in US were able to gain the status of being white, some immigrants such as the Jews were even regarded as white folks because of their excellence in the academic sphere during the 1920s (Rothenberg 38). There were other reasons due to which Jews were no longer seen as immigrants or people from the inferior class. One of the main reasons was the program of affirmative action which was not actually created for the purpose of decreasing discrimination against Jews. According to this program, even the migrants from the European nations such as Jews were categorized as whites. The black slaves in US were referred to as chattel slavery as they were recognized as assets owned by their owners by the law and these assets could be bought or sold. Restricted naturalized citizenship is a term used to refer to those individual who were recognized as citizens and were free white individuals and had lived in US for over two years and this citizenship was awarded under the Naturalization Act of 1970. It is quite difficult to define the national culture of America as there are huge numbers of people from different parts of the world and different religions who follow different practices. 3. Under legitimate chattel slavery practiced in US, the black slaves were suppressed for several years and during this period the whites continue to increase their wealth and the blacks continued to experience worse economic conditions. The blacks were even suppressed by law as laws were made in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson in which the court of law ruled that the blacks and whites of US had access to separate resources. Due to this, even today the whites have supremacy because of the wealth they have inherited from their forefathers who enslaved blacks. Under restricted naturalized citizenship all the whites were allowed to be recognized as citizens of US after spending a certain period of time. Due to this only the white people were able to gain access to more resources and benefits awarded as a citizen of US and thus lead to increase in the power of the whites in the US which continues to prevail. The main issue surrounding the anti immigration movement of Arizona is that it does not recognize immigration laws and gives full authority to law enforcers to treat immigrants in a vicious manner (Rothenberg 241). Later racial discrimination and slavery was abolished under the 13th amendment in US and blacks gained several of their rights. The thirteenth amendment of the constitution of US banned discrimination as well as slavery in US and recognized it as an illegal act and thus was a method through which the suffering of the black Americans came to an end. The amendment was passed during 1864 and enacted in 1865. For example: the 15th amendment allowed all citizens of US to vote regardless of their race or color. Due to globalization, capitalism and colonialism, the developed nations are attracting more and more immigrant workforce to their nations where they are exploited and paid lower wages, while the natives and the citizens keep conflicting with these immigrants as they seen them as a threat to their livelihood. Globalization is a term used to refer to the decrease in the boundaries that separate one nation from another and due to globalization transfer of goods and services as well as opinions between nations increased. Colonialism is a term used to refer to considering of a specific group as elites and others as inferior. The practice still takes place in US and is even witnessed in the educational settings of US. Due to this, the whites of US still are considered elites and hold favorable positions in the educational front which leads to benefiting of whites over people of other races. 4. All the stories including Yellow, Suicide Note, Los Intersicios: Recasting Moving Selves, and the Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria are stories about different aspects of the American society. The Suicide Note talks about the difficulties experienced by a girl in living up to the standards set by her parents and due to these standards she commits suicide. The story Yellow talk about an individual’s experience with the issue of race and how race is embedded in the society of America and how people are separated on the basis of race through overt racism and covert racism (Rothenberg 365). The story Los Intersicios: Recasting Moving Selves talks about ethnicity and how people in US are treated in accordance to their color and the issues that colored people face for being in USand how institutional racism is practiced against them in order to give certain groups more benefit as compared to the minorities. The story of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria talks about different cultures that are practiced in US and issues experienced by immigrants as they fail to gel in with other citizens and their differences in dressing sense. All these stories have several themes in common; one of the main commonality between these stories is that social concepts such as race, gender, ethnicity, color, religion as well as social status is given ample amount of importance in the American society. Individualism is another important concept that can be witnessed in these stories. In US people are viewed as individuals and not as a united nation and people are divided for the betterment of certain over the expanse of others. 5. Interracial marriages take place when two couples from two different races join together as they enter into the institution of marriage. Interracial marriages were banned by the congress and the congress was thus involved in the act of institutional racism as well as overt racism as by making such laws, the congress was denying the right of certain number of people on the basis of their skin color. In the case of Loving v. Virginia the Supreme Court ruled that interracial marriages are legal and should be allowed as it is a personal decision of the couples to decide who to marry and by banning such marriages the law of freedom of choice and expression is hampered. The court’s decision in the case of Loving v. Virginia put an end to institutional racism as well as overt racism and to a certain extend made these kind of racisms illegal which helped in stopping people from conducting such activities. The court even stated that not allowing interracial couples to marry are equal to conducting the act of racism and state is violating the rights of the couples by not permitting them to marry. Currently the debate over Same gender marriage is going on where some states have recognized it as legal while others continue to prevent them by law but by doing so they are violating the couples right to decide who to marry and violating their right of freedom of choice. Changes in such rules and regulations and portions of constitution have assisted various groups such as the LGBT groups to stand up for the civil liberties and fight for their rights. As interracial couples are recognized as legal couples, those days are not far away when LGBT couples will be recognized as legal couples as the acceptability of such couples is rising and voice is being raised against violation of the rights of the LGBT couples (Rothenberg 508). Incidences where civil liberty has been achieved such as the case of Loving v. Virginia has made it clear that people in US are fighting for their liberty and will eventually be able to gain them. Works Cited Rothenberg, Paula S.. Race, class, and gender in the United States: an integrated study. 8th ed. New York: Worth Publishers, 2010. Print. Read More