|
Gender describes the cultural conventions by which we expect different things from women and men that are not necessarily determined by that individual's sex as female or male. Gender, instead, involves masculinity and femininity. While a person's sex does not vary in his lifetime, their behavior during particular moments may be interpreted differently in terms of gender as more masculine or more femininine.
While sex is determined at birth, gender is constructed culturally, and is not the same cross-culturally or even within the same culture at different time periods. Understanding our biological maleness as ultimately distinct from our cultural awareness of our masculinity is a profound perspective made possible by considering how we are socially and personally organized around gender. While gender is most visibly the concern of women considering femininity, masculinity is equally gendered, and they define and are defined by one another
. While feminism influences the nature of femininity, masculinity is necessarily and consequently influenced as well. It couldn't be a bad thing if men were to play a conscious and informed role in this evolution...
|
