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In the article “Night to his Day,” by Judith Lorber the idea of gender is explored through the lens of our society. Lorber discusses how parents/guardians practice gender construction in order to avoid the discomfort of having to correct their baby’s sex to those in their environment. Judith explains how “A sex category becomes a gender status through naming, dress, and the use of other gender markers” (p.1-2). This gender construction is identified through the specific use of colors, clothes and other gendered based acts that correlate with their sex (according to society). This picture is an example of what Lorber discusses as it was taken at my sister’s gender reveal party that was coordinated for the immediate family to discover what the baby was going to be. As it is clearly revealed, the smokers were blue, which meant that the baby was going to be a boy. These gender reveal parties are becoming social norms that are teaching children that there is such a thing as a color defining your sex simply because of gender constructed ideologies.

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From a young age, children are conditioned to like particular things that correlate with their sex in order to avoid “misunderstandings” regarding their identity. Little girls are told to like the colors pink and purple, while playing with their baby dolls and toy kitchens. On the other hand, boys are told that their favorite colors should be green and blue, while playing with their toy cars outdoors. This picture is of my niece's Barbie themed birthday party that was filled with shades of pink, Barbie’s everywhere, and glitter decorations. The guests constantly said how much of a girly girl she was for liking such dolls, while telling their boys that this party wasn’t for them because they’re boys. Hearing these comments made me realize that there is a huge confusion between sex and gender. Although these children were identified as biological males, their parents were using a gendered parenting approach, similar to what is discussed by Judith Lorber. There was this expectation that because everything was pink and Barbied out, their little boys could not enjoy the party because of the preconceptions they have of what being a boy means. The social construction of gender is constantly being upheld and followed by our society which prevents us to move past this and understand that gender and sex are two very different things.

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This picture is a screenshot of my sister’s ultrasound in which they informed her the baby would be a boy. However this picture represents a much more significant process that my sister underwent through her experience with pregnancy. Emily Martin’s article, “The Egg And The Sperm,” states that for many years, “The texts celebrate sperm production because it is continuous from puberty to senescence, while they portray egg production as inferior because it is finished at birth” (p.488). This idea of the egg being inferior to the sperm created a socially constructed idea that men are much more powerful when it comes to the reproductive system, which creates a shadow upon what women have to endure throughout the entire experience. Instead of acknowledging that women, such as my sister, are experiencing health changing experiences, a body evolving process, and quite literally growing a living human in them, women are told how hormonal, dramatic and moody they are during this time. Such misogynist ideas are what constantly surround women throughout their lifetime by being told that they aren’t strong enough or intellectually capable of achieving anything that comes with power because compared to men, they are just not good enough. The research and findings done at John Hopkins University redefining the egg as the active party truly demonstrates how powerful the women’s reproductive system really is, giving women reaffirmation of what was denied for so many years.

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According to Goffman in West and Zimmerman’s article, gender is something that we collectively do. There is a social construct that creates gender norms and expectations of how an individual must act in order to fit in or assimilate their biological sex. West and Zimmerman state that, “These gendered expressions might reveal clues to the underlying, fundamental dimensions of the female and male, but they are, in Goffman's view, optional  performances” (p.130). These performances are based on the way we dress, our comportment, and how we perceive ourselves in society. This picture is a side by side of my 11 year old niece who decided that she wanted to change. From a young age she asked for what society considers to be a boy style to which her parents decided to implement little by little. As you can imagine these subtle changes were getting increasingly more noticeable and she was constantly having to defend what she liked and why she liked it. When she committed to the short hair it was my sister who was constantly being questioned about her parenting style. In my sister’s eyes, this was what her daughter wanted and allowed her to gain a new sense of confidence, so why not do this for her. Society’s view on what a girl should look and act like are what prompted people to question decisions that had absolutely nothing to do with them. In this case, my sister and niece decided to stop performing how society wanted them to because of what they believed to be right.

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This picture was taken in Zacapu, Michoacan where 98% of food stands are run and worked by women. This town in Mexico allowed me to reflect how ingrained gender roles are rooted into our views of society. Gender roles are something that as a society, we collectively uphold and follow, setting limits to what each and every one of us is capable of achieving. Talking to my grandmother, aunts, and some cousins (women from different generations) opened my eyes to how they view the “ideal” women should act. Characteristics such as being housewives, caretakers, mothers, and submissive are all linked to the role of a perfect woman by them. Women, like those in this picture, although making a living for themselves, are simply seen as mujeres de casa (housewives). If the roles were reversed and it was men working as cooks, it would be "right" to call them chefs because of their abilities to cook. This term has such a positive connotation and emphasizes a form of authority/control especially when referring to a male. However, this is quite the opposite for women in the same position. Gender roles could be dismantled if only our society would reconstruct the entire ideologies that revolve around them. Women are powerful, strong-minded, have good work ethic, and capable of achieving greatness, therefore should be treated as such.

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Lorber, Judith. 1994. “‘Night to His Day’: The Social Construction of Gender.” Paradoxes of
Gender.

Martin, Emily. 1991. “The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles.” Signs.

West, Candance and Don H. Zimmerman. 1987. “Doing Gender.” Gender & Society.