Gender Language, images, and contexts - Essay Example

Gendered Language, Images, and Contexts The Art and Nature of Gender Introduction The deviates from the simple things such as the language and sexism that tries to define gender to focus on the biological complexities that define men and women, with more focus on women who are at the middle of sexuality. More focus is however put on the individual perception of gender and sexuality. Analysis According to the author, gender is more feminist due to the feminist movement, which is as a result of the dominance and oppression model from which our culture has developed. Transgender activists and gender theorists have been vocal in advocating for an abolition of gender to free the society from the bonds of arbitrary behavioural norms that define gender. The assumption of gender to be a system consisting of two exclusively opposite categories in which people are placed is simple and does not give the full definition of what encompasses gender. The difference between the art and nature of gender is transsexual and non-transsexual aspects of gender. Transsexual gender is the physical change of people’s sexuality to be who they feel they are. On its part, natural gender is the acceptance and appreciation of what the society defines us to be. Non-transsexual theorists are ignorant of the form that a transsexual person undertakes after going through the physical change. The femininity and the masculinity according to them are naturally the actual aspects of defining gender. The art of changing one’s sexuality does little in changing who one is. They refer to the Godliness of the act and the creativity aspect of the whole process. To transsexual theorists, creativity is evident when mankind begin exercising power of creativity, the power to increase our vocabulary, power to change our environment, our clothing as well as our bodies. She acknowledges that both the art and the nature of gen der reside in an individual person. From Interiority to Gender Performances The author seeks to address the issue of gender from the inside of a person and how this affects a person’s acts and performances. By linking the soul to an individual’s performances, the politics of the body are inherent there in. The article shows that desires of the soul define exactly what gender a particular person belongs to. Analysis The author believes that gender is not naturally what the society has bestowed upon the individual, but the actions of the individual from desires of the soul. The soul is the centre of everything it generates the actions that a person is likely to follow subconsciously and determines the social performances that depict one to be either male or female. The biological characteristics do not have much influence on gender determinants. Raising the argument a notch higher, the article holds that acts, desires, and gestures give birth to an internal substance, which is produced on the outside surface of the body, although they never reveal but suggest the organizing principle of identity as a cause. Such signs, gestures, or enactments according to the article are performative, meaning that the identity that they claim to express are not original, but rather manufactured and sustained through corporeal signs among other means. This means that what is outwardly expressed is in fact from the inside, and that the outward signs are simply fabrications of the inner expressions. The argument that the inner truth of gender is a fabrication and that the true gander is nothing but just a fantasy instituted on the surface of the body, then gender cannot be either true or false. For instance, being feminine is not a cultural tag placed upon the individual woman, but rather, the actins seen on the surface of a person that are characterized to be feminine are actually from within the soul. The Contemporary Transgender Movement Abstract The paper aims at examining what the existing social movement literature can teach on collective identities. Traditional community has classified gender in binary gender categories of intersexual, transgendered and transsexuals. These categories have however been divided by science and classifying them as mentally ill or candidates for surgery. Theoretical Background The article holds that it is futile trying to differentiate gender, sex and sexuality since they are interwoven and one cannot define one without the other. In trying to define sexuality without putting behaviour into the equation cannot give a true answer. Thus gender is a complex concept when defined in reference to sexuality. Transsexual people, intersexes individuals and transsexual persons have gender identities, yet they cannot be classified male or female. Pathologized Identities Although the debates on transgender, transsexual and intersex conditions have been significantly discussed in relation to the nature of sex, gender and sexuality, they have not been successful in helpful to the people living with the conditions. People who express fluid concepts of gender and sexuality are faced with various predicaments as to where they lie in the question of gender. Historically, gender is determined by the biological sex, and thus, there is no single question of transsexuals in the society. People who purport to have these characteristics are thus met with stigma. Real Life Issues To set the records straight, medical reports indicate of the existence of people with conditions of transgender, transsexual and intersex. A number of highest cases reveal that people really face this problem and should thus be let to be. Such instances are they the Gay and Lesbianism movements which advocated for equal rights of this group of people in the society. Importance of Identity to Social Change Identification of the people who are either transgender, transsexual and intersexual is likely to help them in a significant manner to avoid stigmatization from the society. Individuals who openly reveal their statues are in a better position to be accepted by the society, especially if they were to join identity politics movements that advocate for their rights such as Gay and Lesbians movement. Conclusion The only way that the transgender, transsexual and intersex persons can be represented in the identity politics movements is only if their definitions can be medically and socially be ascertained. Read More