Thursday, February 14, 2013

Genderbread (Post 1)



Here's the link for it

http://itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2012/03/the-genderbread-person-v2-0/

This image was presented to me in a different class but I think it really helps to explain the ideas of sex and gender.  Gender and sex need to be thought of as continuums.  At certain points in life on certain days you may be at a different point then the day before.  It also helps to show that everyone is different and may identify differently on certain scales. This image was very eye opening for me and the first image that I have seen that has included all of the different elements of gender and sex.

It is important to remember this image in the context of this class to understand that gender and identity may be communicated differently throughout different points in a persons life.  It also begins to support that parts of gender are socially constructed and certain parts are biological.  Your sex or body parts are biology, but the ideas of attraction, expression, and identity are socially constructed.

Since identity is mostly constructed.  It is important to understand where the construction of identity comes from.  A big factor in the construction of identity is media.  The book by David Gauntlett called "Media, Gender and Identity," states, "the media shows us situations and relationships from other people's points of view - indeed, it is part of the eternal fascination of drama that we can see "how the world works" in lives other than our own (p. 2).". The media gives us the ideas of how we are supposed to be what it means to be a man or a woman or straight or gay. 

What other factors contribute to identity development?  Should more attention be paid to how the media effects identity construction?