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mcruz135_1 — 2024-05-20 05:01:00 UTC

This is a picture of my beautiful mother who as a woman, has dealt with more than one could ever handle. At the young age of 17, my mother had an abortion. Exercising her right as a woman in America to get an abortion. As it has always been controversial, but now more than ever following Trump’s presidency. Baker and College in “Why GWSS Still Matters” go into detail on how Trump’s administration put in an immense effort to strip abortion rights from women. Trump granted millions of dollars to anti-abortion/pro-life Christian organizations “Trump’s new rule is aimed at cutting off Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health care centers” (Baker, College 2021). Though my mother had her own reasons, reasons that only she could understand, does not mean that fast forward years later she, and other women would face the fear of possibly not being able to make this decision for themselves. It is important that GWSS programs are put into place so as women, we can know our rights and know how to fight back.

mcruz135_1 — 2024-05-20 05:13:44 UTC

This is a picture of flowers gifted to me from my boyfriend. This plays a huge role into the social norms of a man and a woman in a relationship. Often times, it is expected from society of a man to be the decision maker, the provider, the one who lavishes their partner in gifts. As a woman, the norms are to be there emotionally for a man, to be feminine, etc. However, if I were to gift my boyfriend flowers, a lot of people would point it out as “weird” due to that not being a social norm. But what really is a social norm? A social norm is a fake concept, made by us humans, as argued by Lorber in “The Social Construction of Gender”.

mcruz135_1 — 2024-05-20 05:34:20 UTC

This is my father who is from an older generation in which masculinity is something he has heavily embodied over time. There are several definitions to masculinity however, Raewyn Connell in the “Social Organization of Masculinity” says that there a four main concepts to define masculinity, being, essentialist, constructionist, relational, hegemonic (2018). Gender is expressed differently from all the different genders in society. What my dad expresses as masculinity may be completely different than from what our neighbor may express as masculinity. My dad embodies his masculinity by being a provider, being a worker, he is calm although society might paint him as an aggressive man due to him being masculine.

mcruz135_1 — 2024-05-20 05:43:11 UTC

This is a picture of my sisters and I as young girls. We grew up knowing none other than what it means to be a girl. We grew up only knowing she/her pronouns. As we got older, to now in present day, we now know the different pronouns and the importance of respecting one another in society. One of the three, now uses they/them pronouns and as a group and as sisters, we have come to learn how to properly address them and what this essentially means. We have since learned that gender is a human invented concept and that how we embody it is different from how others may embody it.

mcruz135_1 — 2024-05-20 05:47:05 UTC

Last, but not least, is a picture of me. A young woman who is about to venture out into the world knowing the intimidations of what it means to be a woman in the workforce. Being a woman means going against all social norms and having to prove ourselves a lot more than men in order to get the job, get the promotion, and get the recognition. Being a young woman means going through several changes and questioning myself as I was often times afraid of being too “womanly” or not “womanly” enough for society. I have came to the acceptance that society will never be truly happy or satisfied with gender.