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Post by Tamrin on Nov 8, 2008 16:30:40 GMT 10
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Post by Tamrin on Nov 15, 2008 10:45:10 GMT 10
Playing Doctors and Nurses:Few, if any, disciplines exceed that of Medicine in the complexities of integrating objective and subjective perspectives. Thus, a current medical approach to the issue of sex and gender may lighten our way. Gender and Medicine[Excerpt - Faculty of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University - Linked Above] [/b] So in essence: Sex refers to biological differences; chromosomes, hormonal profiles, internal and external sex organs. Gender describes the characteristics that a society or culture delineates as masculine or feminine. So while your sex as male or female is a biological fact that is the same in any culture, what that sex means in terms of your gender role as a 'man' or a 'woman' in society can be quite different cross culturally. These 'gender roles' have an impact on the health of the individual. In sociological terms 'gender role' refers to the characteristics and behaviours that different cultures attribute to the sexes. What it means to be a 'real man' in any culture requires male sex plus what our various cultures define as masculine characteristics and behaviours, likewise a 'real woman' needs female sex and feminine characteristics. To summarise: 'man' = male sex + masculine social role(a 'real man', 'masculine' or 'manly') 'woman' = female sex + feminine social role(a 'real woman', 'feminine' or 'womanly')[/size][/quote]
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Post by Tamrin on Nov 17, 2008 17:58:47 GMT 10
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Post by Tamrin on Nov 23, 2008 6:40:40 GMT 10
An Analogy between Skin Types and Gender Despite differing and even contrary assumptions about gender between cultures, in any one culture gender stereotypes may be so ingrained that they appear to be inherent and concrete facts of life, rather than arising through conditioning and through selective and subjective perceptions. To lift the gender veil or to see through its looking glass, an analogy with skin types among indigenous Australians may be useful, (bearing-in-mind there are also Aboriginal notions regarding gender). Generally, one is born into a skin type determined by but different to those of one's parents and must marry outside one's own skin type (attraction to someone of the "wrong" skin type is considered "deviant"). There may be a number of skin types but these are usually said to be either "sun side" or "shade side." Thus, we read: A moiety system (i.e. division into two groups: 'sun side' and 'shade side') exists across the region. Most language groups also use a section or subsection system with either four to eight 'skin names'. An individual gains a 'skin name' upon birth based on the skin names of his or her parents, to indicate the section/subsection that he/she belongs to. Very broadly speaking, although there are no causal, genetic differences between those sides, the "sun side" (males and females) are subjectively considered to be more robust (analogous to "masculine" in Western cultures) and are treated accordingly. While those men and women on the "shade side" are literally sheltered where possible and assigned less strenuous work, giving rise at one level to objective differences in pigmentation and physique, and, at another level, to differing pursuits and avoidances: Their differences are manifest for all to see, giving rise to a conviction of there being an unarguable, inherent dichotomy. Might not Western, cultural notions of gender be similarly grounded in sociology more than in biology?
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Post by Tamrin on Nov 23, 2008 12:41:16 GMT 10
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Post by synchronicity on Nov 27, 2008 6:50:26 GMT 10
Sometimes it's hard to tell...
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Post by Tamrin on Nov 30, 2008 9:59:51 GMT 10
For my part I distrust all generalizations about women, favorable and unfavorable, masculine and feminine, ancient and modern; all alike, I should say, result from paucity of experience Bertrand Russell In our understanding of human nature and especially that of gender we commonly hold mutually exclusive views, rendering such notions meaningless to the point of nonsense. This nonsense can even be found in published esoteric opinions. Rather than entertaining such opinions to aid in looking beyond common delusions, (so as to comprehend the essential unity of all that is), such opinions are, paradoxically, all too often taken as "gospel"!? When we contemplate many such texts we find their perspectives are fraught with inconsistent, even contrary notions of women and men emanating, respectively, some unconditioned, inherent feminine and male “energies,” proper to each. When asked to describe such energies, respondents are typically at a loss, even expressing annoyance at the question and baldly asserting there is a difference, without being able to define what it is they are asserting. To those few respondents who offer some suggestions as to the nature of such energies, one may, in turn, suggest commonly held, contrary opinions or cultural exceptions. As was attributed to Mark Twain: “ All generalizations are false, including this one." With this qualification in mind, I suggest that, generally within Western cultures, women are more likely than men to be judged in reference to perceived notions of gender, rather than in reference to their individuality. Please consider the following sayings, used in relation to the so-called Seven Deadly Sins, as examples of contrary opinions: SlothA woman, a dog, and a walnut tree, the more you beat them the better they be Old English proverb
For man's work ends at setting sun, Yet women's work is never done Old English couplet AngerStrange isn't it? that when a man expresses a conviction fearlessly, he is reported to have made a trenchant and forceful statement, but when a lady speaks thus earnestly, she is reported as a lady who has lost her temper Jessie B. Fremont
Miss Manners cannot think of a more succinct definition of a lady than 'someone who wants to punch another person in the nose, but doesn't' Judith Martin GluttonyA woman's appetite is twice that of a man's; her sexual desire, four times; her intelligence, eight times Sanskrit Proverb
They [women] do everything and cost only a little; for since they must be forever cooking, they can be satisfied in lean times by licking their fingers A Chippewa Chief, 1930 EnvyYou may take it as an instance of male injustice if I assert that envy and jealousy play an even greater part in the mental life of women than of men Sigmund Freud
The errors of women spring, almost always, from their faith in the good, or their confidence in the true Honore de Balzac LustGod created sexual desire in ten parts; then he gave nine parts to women and one to men Ali ibn Abu Taleb
A vulgar opinion prevails that [women] are creatures of like passions with ourselves; that they experience desires as ardent, and often as ungovernable …. Nothing is more utterly untrue…. Only in rare instances do women experience one-tenth of the sexual feeling which is familiar to most men George H. Napheys, M.D., 1878 CovetousnessWomen are one and all a set of vultures Gaius Petronius, Satyricon
The appalling thing is the degree of charity women are capable of Lawrence Durrell PrideVanity ruins more women than love Marie Anne du Deffand
Humility becomes our fallen nature... Mary Martha Sherwood
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Post by Tamrin on Nov 30, 2008 14:04:07 GMT 10
Obviously there are primary and secondary sexual differences between men and women. In most circumstances these are irrelevant but, the times they are relevant can be a lot of fun. At such times playing along with gender roles may be harmless, if done mindfully (knowing them to be fantasies). The prevalence of such fantasies raises a corollary issue: That of the Incest Taboo or exogamy. Arguably, this taboo is universal, even instinctual, having evolved through natural selection, with progeny through inbreeding being marginally less viable (many societies also have limits to the expression of exogamy, with limits being placed on mating outside the wider society, this is called endogamy). An instinctive tendency to mate outside one's immediate group might lend itself to homophobic taboos and, more aptly to the subject under consideration, to a perceived need to differentiate oneself from suitable mates, so as to perceive "them" as distinct from "us." Gender roles may be useful in that context. In other situations they may be a hindrance, especially in relation to the apportionment and exercise of power. The various cultural expressions of gender are powerful tools in determining sexual attraction (in some societies it is even thought a man and a woman alone together cannot help themselves). Even so, the different (even converse) expressions of gender show these to be conditioned rather than innate responses and fetishists demonstrate how malleable such attraction may be, with fixations on items associated with early, instances of intense arousal and release rather than on more conventional "objects of desire" (some fixations are uncommon, while others, such as confounding sensual with sexual, are widespread).
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 1, 2008 21:16:52 GMT 10
The prevalence of such fantasies raises a corollary issue: That of the Incest Taboo or exogamy. Arguably, this taboo is universal, even instinctual, having evolved through natural selection, with progeny through inbreeding being marginally less viable (many societies also have limits to the expression of exogamy, with limits being placed on mating outside the wider society, this is called endogamy). Among the several Hindu creation legends, we find the following superb allegory which suggests the unity of all that is and further suggests the Incest Taboo arose from that unity ( emphasis added): Eastern & Western Images(Note contrary associations of emblems with genders)
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 2, 2008 6:20:20 GMT 10
The Oak School and The Stanford Prison experiments demonstrate some of the dynamics underlying The Pygmalion Effect and provide salutary lessons in the power of expectations and assigned roles. Of the Stanford Prison experiment we read: In psychology, the results of the experiment are said to support situational attributions of behaviour rather than dispositional attribution. In other words, it seemed the situation caused the participants' behaviour, rather than anything inherent in their individual personalities. The experiment was cut short after only six days because of the devastating effects of the participants becoming caught up with with their arbitrarily assigned roles as guards or prisoners. One may contemplate the impact of the same phenomenon in relation to the long-term assignment of gender roles. I suggest the principles of Freemasonry are such that we might ordinarily be expected to be leaders in enabling society to look beyond gender so as to assert our common humanity. After all, we declare: "...we are all sprung from the same stock, are partakers of the same Nature and sharers of the same hope..."
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