Women and men are certainly aware of and responsive to traditional gender
role expectations about responsibility and reputation. When they 'hook up'
(what region is this?) or 'get together' (N. California) these roles
operate regardless of the sex of their partner. My work is on gender and
sexual negotiation from an interactionist perspective. According to my
research, this has an effect on their ability to discuss or negotiate their
sexual activity. Here are two references if anyone is interested:
Lear D. 'You're gonna be naked anyway': College students negotiating
safer sex. Qualitative Health Research, 6(1), February 1996.
Lear D. Sexual communication in the age of AIDS: The construction of
risk and trust among young adults. Social Science and Medicine,
41(9):1311-1323, November 1995.
Because I, too, was left with the question 'how do you go about
communicating anything to men,' I am now focusing on men only.
I heard Catherine Hakim on the radio yesterday talking about how the
majority of women in her London study would prefer to stay home and look
after house and kids than work. I think the pendulum is swinging back from
the behavioural view to one in which gender roles (and just about all other
behaviours) are biologically based but _mediated_ by culture. This is where
hope comes in. As a fairly radical feminist with a son who is as butch as
they come, I'm inclined to agree. He has an unarguable attraction to sticks
(which is universal among boys according my experience in many different
cultures) and Legos and aggressive behaviour, but because of his upbringing
he is also free to play dress up or with dolls. However when he does
traditionally feminine things, he does them in a masculine way.
Like Iisha and Louisa I believe racism will always exist; I would go so far
as to say that xenophobia is biologically natural, but what makes us
uniquely human is the ability, even the imperative, to work against it.
Makes me think there will never be an end to war, but that doesn't mean we
shouldn't aim for it.
Dana
>Chrissy:
> I'm working on a project about stigmas also. In response to your
>question regarding whether or not it can be a stigma if the person is not
>aware of it, I think that maybe it can. For example, the girl who has
>been too promiscuous is generally stigmatized by her peers, but, often
>the girl is not aware that she is carrying the stigma. It still effects
>her behavior though because other people will be treating her differently
>due to the stigma. Her behavior is naturally influenced by how she is
>treated, therefore she can be affected by the stigma with out even
>realizing it. I don't know though, just a thought.
and
What I understood of feminism is that basically the roles of women are
completed defined by society but we are so used to them that we take for
granted that they are real. There is this idea that there are major
natural differences between men and women that determine there different
roles, when as is becoming more obvious in today's society, women are
just as capable to do many things the men do as men. Men do not
necessarily have to be dominant over women, but since that is the way it
has been for years and years we take for granted that that is the way it
is supposed be.
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Dana Lear, DrPH e-mail: d.lear@cchs.su.edu.au
School of Community Health ,-_|\
Faculty of Health Sciences / \
University of Sydney \_,-._*
PO Box 170 voice: +61 2 646 6128 v
Lidcombe NSW 2141 fax: +61 2 646 6112
AUSTRALIA