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下面为大家整理一篇优秀的paper代写范文- Gender essentialism，供大家参考学习，这篇论文讨论了性别本质主义。性别本质主义是解释性别差异的重要理论。性别分类主要依据的是女性和男性的生物学特征。性别被认为是与生俱来的，并由生物机制决定。因此，性别不能被内部或外部力量所改变。性别本质主义强调不同性别群体之间的自然差异，忽略了个体的特定特征，把一个固定的本质归于群体的成员。性别本质主义也助长了性别不平等，特别是由于性别而对妇女的不平等待遇。

Today it seems very normal in our society that people believe in certain ways of classifying people. Most of people take their way of classification for granted and have no doubt about it. For example, gender is used as a concept to differentiate the biological differences between two groups of human beings. People are classified into men and women, and they are required to accept and obey this classification by the society. However, it is assumed that the classification of gender is not only based on biology, but is profoundly influenced by social norms and values. The social role of women and men actually reflects the social structure of the society. This article aims to explore the reasons for gender classification from the perspective of essentialism and social constructionism. By comparing the different idea of essentialism and social constructionism, it argues that essentialism held the view that gender identities will not change due to biological differences, whereas social constructionism thinks that gender identities can be changed.

Gender is a complex concept and can be interpreted in various ways. The core idea of essentialism is that biological factors play a predominant role in influencing the characteristics of individuals (Vance, 1989). In terms of classification, essentialism attaches a label to a group of phenomena and group certain things that share same characteristics. Following this, the essence that is shared by all the members of a group is identified. Additional characteristics are attributed to people with the same label (Martin, 2017). Therefore, essentialism is often associated with stereotyping and prejudice, creating an overgeneralized and oversimplified image of a particular category of people (Smiler & Gelman, 2008). Gender essentialism is an important theory that explains gender differences. Gender classification is mainly based on biological characteristics of women and men. Gender is assumed to be inherent and predetermined by biological mechanisms (Vance, 1989). Therefore, gender cannot be altered by internal or external forces. Gender essentialism emphasize the natural differences between different gender groups. Women and men are treated as members of two groups rather than unique individuals, which leads to gender stereotype. It is expected that all the men should strong enough to protect women while all the women are weak and need the protection from men. However, the fact is that not all the men are strong and not all the women are weaker than men. Gender essentialism neglects the specific characteristics of individuals by attributing a fixed essence to the member of the group. Moreover, gender essentialism also contributes to gender inequality, especially the unequal treatment of women because of their gender. Due to their biological characteristics, women are believed to be less intelligent than men and they are unable to compete with men in academic performance as well as work performance. Therefore, women have less opportunities to get education and fewer options in the workplace. Women are encouraged to maintain their traditional role as a housewife and the society have prejudice against working women. To some extent, gender essentialism justifies gender inequality by highlighting the natural differences between men and women. As gender essentialism highlights the fixed role of women and men, gender essentialism believes that the traditional role of women and men will be maintained across time or place. It is impossible for gender identities to change. Therefore, our society would still be dominated by men and women would keep their role as an obedient and submissive follower.

Social constructionism believes that the meaning of the world is generated through the use of language (Martin, 2017). Language plays a vital role in social constructionist. Language is used to constitute and represent various social phenomena within specific social contexts (Brickell, 2006). Therefore, language is an important resource for constructing meaning and subjectivity. The world is produced through the word used by humans; if they use different words, the world that they produce will be totally different (Martin, p. 39). Women and men are two concepts created by humans to categorize gender groups. The two words seems to have contradictory meanings. For example, women are perceived as weak and vulnerable, whereas men tend to be strong and powerful. People are treated differently according to their gender.  In our society, it is a normal phenomenon that men have higher income than women because men are believed to have better performance at work. However, if different words rather women and men are used to represent gender, we probably perceive gender differently. For instance, if people do not attach importance to gender and there is no word to describe gender differences in our society, then people will be treated equally without gender bias. What if there are more than two types of genders? A range of gender categories such as heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual are created to represent gender differences. This would also make the world we are living distinctively different. There would be less controversial issues about sexual prejudice and homophobia. Therefore, it is through the words humans create that gender differences between men and women are created and emphasized.

One fundamental principle of social constructionism is that humans themselves are produced by the concepts and practices of societies. All the human identities are social (Martin, 2017). This means that our gender identity is also socially constructed. The social significance of gender in our society is a result of social rituals and practices. In our society, socially constructed gender Identity reflects the rights and privileges of men. The social role of men is a breadwinner and leader, whereas the social role of women is a home maker and followers. Men is the decision-maker and women should be obedient and submissive. However, gender classification and gender differences are not fixed and subject to change. Social constructionism believes that social facts are not real facts, but are perceived by the members of community as true. This means that gender identity is only recognized by people as true but not represent the truth. If people change their perception and regard the current gender identities as false, then gender identities can be altered. With the development of the society, more and more people question the social role of women and men. They think that it is unequal for women to keep the role as an obedient and submissive wife. There are a large number of working women who challenge the traditional social norms. Therefore, from the perspective of social constructionism, gender identities can be changed with the development of the society.

In conclusion, this article has discussed the gender identity in our society from the perspective of essentialism and social constructionism. Essentialism believes in the importance of biological differences in classifying men and women. As essentialism thinks that gender is predetermined and not subject to change, it is impossible for woman and men to change their gender characteristics. On the other hand, social constructionism assumes that gender classification is influenced by social practices and values. Gender identity social constructed and can be changed with the development of society and change of human perception.

Reference:

Brickell, C. (2006). The sociological construction of gender and sexuality. The Sociological Review.

Martin, G. (2017). A critical introduction to the study of religion, 2nd Edition. London: Routledge.

Smiler, A. P. & Gelman, S. A. (2008). Determinants of gender essentialism in college students. Sex Roles, 58, pp. 864–874.

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