In chapter 1 we were introduced to the concept of the gender "wars," its prevalence in pop culture, and the debate surrounding the use of this metaphor. We read that this concept has been used to used to sell games, frame a variety of discussions ranging from health care to camping, and generate over 10 million Google hits. Linguist George Lakoff notes that "gender wars" is a structural metaphor, meaning that the phase structures one concept in terms of another (e.g. gender relations = war). Researchers have found that differences account for less of the variance between the sexes than among the sexes. DeFrancisco and Palczewki give us four reasons that account for the popularity of the "gender" wars metaphor: 1) sex and gender as social categories in most cultures; 2) assumptions of heterosexuality; 3) Sex sells in Western, capitalistic countries; 4) difference is political. So the question(s) I pose this week are:
1.) Do the gender wars exist? Why or why not?
2.) How, if at all, have you experienced a war between the genders? You can reference your own personal experience of pop culture examples that you have been exposed to.
3.) Do you think the war metaphor is dangerous? Why or why not? Also what would be some alternative metaphors that could be used?
For your response, please use the concept of the "gender wars" to guide your reflection and also the questions you pose. You can respond to as many of these questions as you like or feel free to create your own tangent related to the gender wars. No right or wrong answers here. Just think of this as a forum for voice and dialogue.
~Sara
I do feel that a gender war does exist, but not the extent that some people make it out to be. For instance, you see many men and women interacting in the workplace such as there are quite a few high executive women in large corporations, not as many as men, but there are still quite a few. Many people seem to think that is a huge place for the gender wars, but maybe the reason we don't see as many women in high executive positions is because they choose not to go that career path and have that as their goals, or they choose a different career such as nursing, or teaching.
ReplyDeleteI have personally never experienced any type of gender war. I have grown up always believing that men and women are equal. I know there are some people who think that women should have all the same rights or I guess a better word would be, the same opportunities such as in the workplace etc. I personally have never had to deal with any type of "gender" war in my own personal life, but I know that it does slightly go on.
I do think the metaphor war is dangerous. When I think of a war I picture people walking around with guns shooting at people with the intent to kill. This is not the case in this war. If it were truly a war, then men and women would not pair up with the intent to marry and procreate, I think a better work or metaphor that could be used would maybe be like the gender controversies or maybe even the gender issues. I just think using the gender wars is not a good metaphor.
I agree with you Kati, that gender "wars" is really not the greatest name for this issue but I can understand why it is used. In today's society it's largely about competition and competition between gender and sex is very common as well as in war. We see women competing with men for equal pay and opportunities, we see homosexuals competing for equal rights to marriage and acceptance and we see transgendered people, among others competing with their identity. I agree with you that it is a dangerous metaphor, and if we don't look beyond the term itself we won't be able to truly understand what it means.
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ReplyDeleteJust an fyi to anyone else who is having the same problem I had and tried to post response by commenting here, in order for it to be commented on by anyone, you actually have to click "new post" in the upper right hand corner at the very top of the page (in blue bar), then click on "edit html" in order to be able to copy and paste from word.
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