¶ … women and men differently. Men see men as different and often are afraid to be alone without discussion of "sex." The woman is marked differently than a man, but is she?
GENDER AND SEXUALITY
How are gender and sexuality socially constructed? Are men and women different in the workforce? Should men be able to be who they are without discussion of women? What are the masks that women wear? Why? Often men are afraid to be with a group of males without discussion about women. Women are considered marked. Why is this? How does this fit into life? Women are discriminated at home, at work, and in life by both males and females. Men are unmarked by women and men. However, no man or women should be considered "marked," but as the individual who they are.
When men and women think about women, they often have thoughts of the "sexy" women, the "co-worker," the "mother" and the "sister." Deborah Tannen described different women in her article (291). She states that the woman is "marked." One of the examples can be seen in her description of the woman that could be classified as Cleopatra with brown hair with wavy bangs who wore little make-up and medium heels could be a co-worker or friend. She is not dolled up to be a "sexy" woman. This is discrimination because this woman could easily be a "knock-out," "sexy," or "the wife." Just because she has brown hair doesn't make her un-sexy. Yet, if you asked a man if this description was sexy, most of them would answer "no." Why is that? Women should be able to wear business attire and still be sexy. Brunettes can be just as sexy as any blonde. On the other hand, who knows what a woman is until she is behind closed doors. Tennan's descriptions of the different women are typical of most people describing different people at work or in the marketplace. Her strong viewpoints of women as "marked" and men as "unmarked" can be argued, but in many ways she is right. Women and men have images of different women as stereotypes; such as the blonde is usually "dumb" and "sexy." The woman wearing a tight jumpsuit with heels is...
This is often the viewpoint that both men and women share. Yet, that women dressed sexy may be one of the best "lawyers', "doctors," "professors," or etc. She may dress "sexy" but inside she may be the best that she can be.
Tennan states that women are "marked" and men are "unmarked" (291). "Gender markers pick up extra meanings that reflect common associations with the female gender, not quite serious, often sexual. This can be seen when men are sitting across the table from a woman who is dressed "sexy." He is thinking about what he would like to do to her if she was behind closed doors. Yet, if a man sat across from the table, he would not be thinking sexual thoughts although they might discuss women who are sexy. Jason Schultz's article about the bachelor party and not wanting a stripper, because this is sexist shows how difficult it is for men to relate to each other without discussing women. "Merely eliminating the old ways of relating (i.e. The female sex workers) left a gap, an empty space which in many ways felt worse than the sexist connection that existed there before; we felt passive and powerless" (Schultz 398). Do men have to have women to feel they have power? His argument is true when it comes to men getting together. They must be able to talk about women to feel complete. Is this because they feel incomplete alone? Are men not able to form boundaries together? His article describes men as having to have boundaries where they can only be comfortable together by discussing women.
On the other hand, the article about lusting for freedom shows a woman has power when she can sexually entice a man. However, was this really "power"? Clearly, both articles show that men need women as much as women need men to feel complete and in their own way they are "marked."
Tennan and Schultz were internalizing oppression concerning their viewpoints of men and women. Tennan states that the male is unmarked. Schultz implies that men are "unmarked" without women. Both seem unsure of what they feel about "men" and "women." These…
