Gender, Race, and Society: "I didn't raise you that way."

Hello, and welcome to my blog. This is my second action project for my Humanities course called Rhetoric. In this class, we studied the elements of the rhetorical situation and using rhetoric devices and appeals in writing and speaking. In this second unit of "Challenge", our guiding question was, "How can we use rhetoric to challenge the status quo?" Due to Covid-19, we weren't able to physically attend many field experiences. The only in-person field experience was at Marquette Park on Chicago's South-west side. There in the park, we gathered at the "Living Memorial" which is a reflection of the historical march and uprising against housing discrimination and racism towards black people in Chicago in the late 60s. 

 As preparation for this action project, we spoke with Ugo Okere, a twenty-three-year-old candidate who ran for Alderman of the 40th Ward in Chicago. We learned more about him and how he used rhetoric throughout his campaign by reviewing an article based on a debate between him and his opposing candidate, Pat O’Connor. We also watched the presidential and vice-presidential debates and studied rhetoric between recently elected Vice President Kamal Harris and former Vice President Mike Pence. We reviewed Troy Lariviere, who play an important figure not only in rhetoric but in Chicago's education system. He is known across Chicago for writing an Op-ed that spoke out for the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association.  For this Action Project, we were instructed to use rhetoric in an op-ed about a topic that was relevant in today's world.  I chose to write about gender and racial norms in American society. 

Gender and Racial Norms in the United States

Justin Tran. “Free from Gender Norms” Ted Talk, 17 Jun. 2019.

Gender/Social Norms: I’m Old School is All

The common phrases such as, “I’m just old school”, “I wasn’t brought up like that”, and “When I was your age, that was allowed”, all imply one thing: normatives shape our world. Nowadays whatever is considered trending will most likely become normal to the majority. What is the deciding factor for an object or practice to be referred to as masculine or feminine? Back in the day and now today, the contamination of femininity leads to men being perceived as gay.

Why does someone’s sexual orientation even matter to others in our society? I constantly ask myself these things daily. I chose to change my learned behaviors by understanding that “I wasn’t raised that way” so I should readjust my mind before judging someone or something.

Old school ideals stubbornly force norms upon the youth. I used to be a fool once until I started thinking for myself. As a pre-teen who was starting to mature, I noticed how being called gay was insulting and isolating. I have been perceived as gay for my practice of skateboarding and the act of wearing jewelry being a black male. The biggest contradiction within the philosophy of my elders is that certain people can get a pass for acting or dressing feminine (which is usually resorted to being put down or disassociated for acting gay). Who gets a pass and what does that immunity reflect among values of masculinity and manhood overall? The exception of celebrities and icons such as Tupac, Prince, and Jimi Hendrix for example represent the backfire of the ideology. Challenging gender norms results in people disassociating themselves from you; especially people who deal with toxic masculinity and insecurities of their own. 

“Gender typically refers to "either of the two sexes (male and female), especially when considered with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones", however, gender is also used by some to refer to "a set of behaviors and identities often assumed to be caused by, and to reflect, a person's sex". A gender role is "the role or behavior learned by a person as appropriate to their gender, determined by the prevailing cultural norms" In other words, a gender role is how one is supposed to act and represent themselves based on their gender.” Gender roles are often influenced by culture. Major events throughout history have changed the culture of the U.S. Toxic masculinity and the misrepresentation of LGBTQIA+ community members has played a huge influence on gender roles; as well as the overall deciding factor between what is deemed “gay” or “straight” worldwide.

The use of everyday things and practicing are argumentative support points in what is the perception of masculinity. I had a conversation with my grandparents about gender norms during their time as teenagers. I was shocked to find out that gender norms were rooted in the history of segregation, discrimination, and whitewashing in the United States. Color schemes for example have taken part in this practice. In the 1950s-60s men didn’t wear red unless they were gay or a pimp according to my grandparents. Gender reveals weren’t a common practice at the time as well because the parents wanted to be surprised by the given sex of the child after birth. This specifically stood out to me. Later in life, that very child who was assigned male could decide that they were misgendered and therefore identify as non-binary (non-male or female), at least in our current time as a country and society.

Of course, there were usual misconceptions that gender norms were never meant to be challenged according to the Christian bibles. Interestingly, “Prior to 1946, no Christian had a Bible with the word “Homosexuality” printed in it. This means that no Christians were debating whether or not someone could be a homosexual Christian or not. Why? Because their Bibles didn’t condemn homosexuality.” The bible was updated to make the literature up to date with advancements in the language of the time. During this process in the 1930s and 1940s, medical professions and social culture still did not understand what same‐sex attractions even meant. “They were perceived as a mystery, pathology, and a symptom from a mental illness. The mistake of translating the words “arsenokoitai” and “malakos” lead to identifying homosexuality in society as something negative.” Their mistake was never corrected for the actual reference and context of the word “arsenokoitai” which actually refers to those who use male concubines (prostitutes) and pedophiles. The word “malakos” refers to someone who is acted in a manner that could be culturally interpreted as being “unmanly.”

With reference to those facts and the principles of Christianity that America was built off as a whole; social and gender norms have been in this country for thousands of years. “Gender norms are in the world, embedded in institutions and reproduced by people's actions. Social norms are in the mind; people's beliefs are shaped by their experiences of other people's actions and manifestations of approval and disapproval.” Not accepting the everlasting norms in our world around us pushes humanity forward as a more progressive and inclusive race of people. They say don’t fix something that isn’t broken, but change is necessary and takes dedication and time.  

I used the rhetorical appeals of ethos in addressing gender and social norms and logos in backing up my opinions with facts. I also rhetorical devices of similes and allusion in connection with Christianity, behaviorisms, and mannerisms of society. I used hypophora, parallelism, and meiosis in defending my stance on challenging and defying gender and social norms.

Citations:

Balis, Michael S. “Points to Ponder.” Survey of Ophthalmology, vol. 52, no. 2, Mar. 2007, p. 226, 10.1016/j.survophthal.2006.12.002.

Cislaghi, Beniamino, and Lori Heise. “Gender Norms and Social Norms: Differences, Similarities and Why They Matter in Prevention Science.” Sociology of Health & Illness, vol. 42, no. 2, 13 Dec. 2019, pp. 407–422, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-9566.13008#:~:text=Gender%20norms%20are%2 social%20norms,and%20reproduced%20through%20social%20interaction., 10.1111/1467-9566.13008. Accessed 20 Nov. 2020.

‌“Gender Noun - Definition, Pictures, Pronunciation and Usage Notes | Oxford Advanced American Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com.” Oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com, 2020, www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/gender#:~:text=gender-,noun,differences%2Frelations%2Froles%20compare%20sex. Accessed 20 Nov. 2020.