Gender Ideas

I. My Idea of Gender

I strongly believe that there is a wide deviation between the treatment of males from the females. Gender is inherently bias. This bias has its strong roots and have been in the minds of everyone, including me, for centuries of human existence. Women have been clamoring for equality but I do not think that equality can be achieved. Equity, yes, but equality is really difficult, or should I say, impossible. At least these days, the gender bias is not as strong as before. The only sad news is, it still exists.

Bias on gender and inequalities are not only towards women though. Although as seen by the naked eye and observable in everyday life, women are the aggrieved party. However, I also believe that men are victims as well. In any situation where there are both men and women present, it is inherent to give a heavy task to men such as construction work or any work requiring force.

In this course I would like to learn many things. Among these are: :1) how can I be more impartial in my idea of gender roles, (2) to develop a strong knowledge of the philosophies on gender, {3) to learn how to minimize gender bias, including that of and to, my peers and friends, and (4) to have a general understanding of the relevant things and ideas talked about in this course.

II. The Masculine and Feminine Archetypes

I agree with the idea of the masculine and feminine archetypes that were presented. Though they may be only “archetypes” as what we call them, they represent the majority of the truth that are happening around us, not the ultimate truth but the one that everyone believes to be, the popular reality. This means that even the majority believes in these archetypes, it does not follow that they are necessarily correct. What we read in the myths, legends, fairy tales, heroic stories and what we hear over the radio and see in the television affect us greatly in terms of gender archetypes.

It is very agreeable that indeed human minds have innate structures in it playing a major role in determining the way our brains perceive the world around us and “which organize and give meaning to the multitude of information which our senses receive every second of our lives. (Knox, 2003, p. 12) Thus, the way we are raised is a very strong determining factor in terms of these archetypes together with our connection to the Universal Mind or Higher Self.

As for me, I feel to have the Hero archetype, the “mega myth” or “super archetype”. I thought to have this archetype due to challenging situations in life and I always imagine myself being able to overcome all the extreme difficulties. Actually these imaginations that I have give me a temporary illusion of triumph over feelings of helplessness and impotence. I also imagine, sometimes, to have battles of my own against the wicked guys and protect some friends and loved ones that I have in case those wicked and crooked-minded guys want to inflict damage or pain upon them.

When I read about archetypes and discovered mine, I was happy of what was Jung tells about it in the book of Sidoli.

“[T]he hero’s nature is human but raised to the limit of the supernatural—he is ‘semi-divine’… The motifs of ‘insignificance,’ exposure, abandonment, danger, etc. try to show how precarious is the psychic possibility of wholeness” (Sidoli, 2000, p. 17)

III. Women, Men and Society by Renzetti and Curran

Presenting the book in a way useful to both men and women is one of the best feature I can observe as I flipped through the pages of Renzetti and Curran’s Women, Men and Society. However, in the later section, male concerns are not as detailed as how it was presented in the first chapters.

Browsing through it, I found one topic that interests me. It is on Gender and Intimate Relationships which I found to be very useful for everyone. I was glad to learn how sexual orientation, race, and age together with the effects of stereotyping in roles of each family member as they were explained in the book. From this chapter I learned the importance of socialization. In this section the authors have thoroughly presented and discussed relevant theories such as the social learning theory, identification theory, cognitive-developmental theory, and Bem's theory.

Gender, Politics, Government, and the Military is the section that does not match my taste very much. I feel it is overrated topic to discuss more of these in a gender book including sexual harassment of women in the military and the exclusion of women from many military training experiences and combat roles. I clearly understand however, that this chapter is necessary part of the entire book.

IV. The Values of Belonging by Carol Lee Flinders

The book of Flinders entitled The Values of Belonging impresses me in a way that it is something revolutionary for my knowledge. I have to agree with her idea that it is all about values and not really of gender why the so called “gender wars” happened and admittedly, still happen.

I like the idea presented in the book that it is only women, or the feminine nature who retained the value of belonging and men or the masculine character has chosen to live the values of enterprise.

The part which I do not like so much about the book is on the “spiritual knot” aspect where Flinders claimed to “only be untied by women and men committed to reclaiming balance, mutuality, intuition, and wholeness together”. I, instead believe, that it is proper values education together with open mindedness that can unite men and women.
References

Knox, J. (2003). Archetype, Attachment, Analysis: Jungian Psychology and the Emergent Mind. New York: Brunner-Routledge.

Sidoli, M. (2000). When the Body Speaks: The Archetypes in the Body (P. Blakemore, Ed.). London: Routledge.

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