A Semester With Anastasia

       When beginning the reading of Asta's book, Categories We Live By: The Construction of Sex, Gender, Race and Other Social Categories , I was introduced to the metaphysics of social categories from a feminist analytic metaphysics perspective.       As opposed to the reading of Butler’s book, Beyond the Binary, I frequently found myself researching certain words and topics to try to better understand what I was reading. For example, I learned that metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space through the use of the Oxford Dictionary.       Asta’s book focuses on the question of what a social category is and why it has come to exist in our present-day society. Asta uses metaphysics to explain social categories as a feminist. She does this by giving a theory of the social properties of the in...

          After reading Judith Butler's article, Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory , I began thinking deeper into the idea of the social construction behind gender. Butler questions whether society has created the role of gender versus it being related to our natural bodies. Throughout this reading, I thought, to what extent is gender constructed?      While taking this class, I have learned more about gender and how it is different from sex, and how the two came to play such an immense role in our every day lives. As I learn more and more about gender, I believe less and less about its necessity in our lives. Society has molded us to believe there are two genders, falling back on science to back up this idea. Meanwhile, according to The New York Times, “.. biologically speaking, there are many gradations running from female to male; along that spectrum lie at least five sexes -- perhaps ...

          In Paula Stone’s Ted Talk "I've lived as a man and a woman. Here's what I learned", she speaks of her differentiating experiences living as a female and male in present-day society. When listening to the privilege she received when she identified as a male versus the lack of when identifying as a woman, I was not surprised. Just look at the gender gap pay in the United States. A woman will earn 82 cents for every $1 a man makes for doing that same job. While America preaches racial and gender equality, we must face reality to progress as a society. All people are not treated equally, and it is each individual’s responsibility to comprehend this and try to do the most we can to better the country we live in.       When I read that 100% of Siena transgender students expressed that they had personally experienced bias/harassment/discrimination at our college, I was saddened but not shocked. To become a more inclusive whole, we mus...

     In Patricia Hill Collins' article "It's All in the Family: Intersections of Gender, Race, and Nation", she introduces the idea of the traditional family ideal. For generations in America, the “perfect family” has often been depicted by a heterosexual married white couple. The “American Dream” has always portrayed this, along with two kids, and a white home with a picket fence. While people in these exact circumstances don’t necessarily live the “ideal” lives, this is what our society has formulated as the goal. This family is exposed to the highest levels of privilege society has to offer.        Before speaking about the many ways in which we can resist the traditional family, I would like to further address the intersectional inequalities which present themselves in numerous aspects of life. A couple of years ago I came across this video which perfectly explains privilege, class, and social inequalities. This video can be accessed at https:...

     In Chapter 12 of Shannon Dea’s “Beyond the Binary: Thinking about Sex and gender”, the other simply describes that a thing or idea is socially constructed if it is the product of human society rather than being naturally occurring. She then explains that the three social construction claims about any X include the following:  1. X need not have existed, or need not be at all as it is. X, or X as it is at present, is not determined by the nature of things; it is not inevitable.  2. X is quite bad as it is.  3. We would be much better off if X were done away with, or at least radically transformed.       I believe that gender is very much if not all gender constructed. The way we sexualize and assume the way of life for different sexes is deeply rooted in process of evolution. Men were sent out to hunt while women stayed home to take care of the children. While men provided, women stayed home. I believe I sway towards the third way of...

     Liberation is the act of setting someone free from oppression, imprisonment, or slavery. I believe that regarding sexual orientation as something that develops over time can even be liberating to oneself. Meanwhile, I do also how being born in a society that assumes gender and sexual orientation, being deemed a certain gender can also be liberating.       Often I hear stories of people “coming out of the closet”. This is the moment in which they decide to reveal either their gender identity or their sexual orientation. While most people may describe this process to be scary and stressful, they are ultimately relieved and feel “free” after the deed is complete. This is because while someone may have been pretending to be straight their entire lives to abide by social standards, they are finally liberated. This is because they can now live their truth and be exactly who they really are. I have seen friends struggle with their identities because they...