This article is an extremely interesting one. It discusses science fiction, as a way of teaching the psychology of sex and gender. Gender is a socially constructed entity, and this article shows us ways in which that is proved.
The article talks about 2 different ideas of gender, based on these two science fiction books. The first one which The Left Hand of Darkness, but Ursula Le Guin. In this world citizens aren't defined by whether they are a man or a woman, because everyone is the same. That is until once a month they develop into either a man or a woman. I know this may seem strange, but its called the Kemmer phase. The catch is that you don't know what your going to be changing into. One month you could be a man, and the next month you could be a woman. It could create some issues within society, because you could be the mother to a child, and the father to a child. However, it is amazing in the sense that we would no longer be defined by whether or not we were a man, or a woman. It wouldn't matter.
Imagine not being a man or a woman, and not knowing whether you were going to become a man or a woman during kemmers. I think Marketing teams would struggle with this, because they wouldn't be able to market nail polish and make up to women, and cologne and razors to men. Although it could turn into a companies dream. Knowing capitalist culture it would do just that.
However, the point of the article is to understand that Sex and Gender are socially constructed. Without it there wouldn't be defined roles for men and woman. It would perhaps create a more equal and level playing field.
Lips then goes on to discuss another world. The world of Marge Peircy in Women at the Edge of Time. In this world, woman don't give birth. In fact babies are grown outside the body, in test tubes. Instead of having on set of parents they babies are raised by the community. It is in hopes to reduce the impact of sex and gender on social relationships.
Once again in today's society because right now only woman can get pregnant it puts a huge impact on the jobs they can attain. This is one of the reasons that there is still a glass ceiling. If a woman decides to enter the corporate world it seems she has to make the decision to either not be a mother, or be a mother way later in life. If woman weren't the ones to give birth perhaps this would no longer affect jobs, and society.
In a world defined by socially constructed gender roles, it seems difficult to view a world without them. From birth we are subjected to either the Pink aisle at Toys R Us, or the Blue aisle. This exercise was stimulating, because it allowed for these roles to be changed, and allowed for a different type of thinking.
What if we weren't defined by these roles? How would society react?
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