Essay, Research Paper: Gender Theory

Gender or Sex: Gender Theory
Gender Theory seems to be quite simple on an external level. When one thinks of
gender they think of being entirely, or encompassing the characteristics of, the male or
female species. Gender Theory calls for more than just thinking about gender in a very
dichotomous way, it entails the separation of sex and gender; essentially dismissing the
roles prescribed to a certain sex by which gender category they are associated, thus
explaining why women have been oppressed by men throughout the ages. Gender
Theory has become one of the most popular of all the feminist theories because it proves
to be more inclusive than all the other theories.
The all inclusive Gender Theory states that the oppression of women comes from
the gender biased society we live in. The term gender is part of the attempt by
contemporary feminists to stake claim to a certain definitional ground, to insist on the
inadequacy of existing bodies of theory for explaining persistent inequalities between
women and men (Scott, 41). Most societies throughout the ages have had a universal
need to establish classifications...on the basis of physical traits. (Delphy, 4). Namely,
prescribing roles to those belonging to a certain gender; male or female. Women are
prescribed to be mothers, wives, homemakers, and the subordinate; men are supposed to
be strong, the breadwinners, and the dominant. Gender is, described as the cause of
certain beliefs about the world; the force that molds a plastic humanity, produces
naturalized bodies, or imposes sexual dimorphism; the determinant of identity; the
process that structures labor, power, and cathexis; or the mental category that structures a
form of dichotomous perception (Hawkensworth, 680). According to Gender Theory
we need to separate sex and gender, and renounce the stereotypical attributes that are
associated with being of a certain sex. By doing so the oppression of women could be
reexamined.
Gender Theory has become one of the most popular of all feminist theories
because it includes why women have been oppressed on an all inclusive level. By
renouncing or redefining gender, a society could alleviate the oppression of women and it
leaves open numerous possibilities for thinking about women in history, current
situations, and the future.