Trumpet By Jackie Kay

In his sociology paper, Professor Robert Bell (1973, p1) defines mateship as 'the sex segregated involvement of men and it implies both physical and intellectual exclusion of women.' Miriam Dixson (1976, cited by Ken Inglis, 1998, p417), from another point of view, defines mateship as including sublimation of homosexuality. The definitions of mateship and mate cited here are by no means comprehensive and exhaustive.

Some women seek lesbian relationships because they want to reject this sort of powerless state they may feel in a heterosexual situation. Relationships between men to men and women to women hold several differences, but at the same time they share several similarities. Downing concludes the article by stating that there are both gay men and lesbians that dismiss the homosexuality myth, but it is crucial that they understand that the myth does hold a cultural vision on the power of gender and human selfhood. In order to get past the myth, we must understand to accept its existence.

In the three short stories “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, and “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, each author provides insight into the complexity of human nature through the internal struggles faced by a main character within each story. In “The Chrysanthemums” Steinbeck paints Elisa in a way that displays her lack of feminine identity, highlighting her personal sexual views of herself and ¬¬the internal struggle it creates, then in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Oates also presents a female who struggles with her sexual view of herself which we see throughout the story as Connie hides her sexuality at home but lets it run wild for the rest of the world, ultimately leading to her demise, and lastly in “Sonny’s Blues”, Baldwin introduces Sonny and the complex issues he goes through as his brother doubts his

A peculiarity he mentions after explaining the search for a specific gender partner is how, in the South where he is, gay men tend to seek “masculine” partners, which defeats the idea of gender roles in same-sex relationships. The concept of gender is defined as “the identity and roles associated with, and/or appropriated by specific persons, regardless of their biological sex,” (Rich, 2016). While the concept is different across cultures and time, a constant happens to be the grouping and automatic attribution of roles based on a person’s biological sex. The author challenges the idea of gender roles associated with biological sex, however, saying that these men in the South tend to seek boyfriends who are sporty and have other classic masculine characteristics. Mays comments that there are few actions or characteristics that can be classified as gender neutral as these can be in present-day society. Thus, in their case, if both partners will exhibit these masculine qualities, they will both, in turn, be forced to take up women’s roles to live normal lives, for example cooking and cleaning, which would lead to the canceling out of masculine or feminine qualities.

In society, heterosexuality is a principal method of organizing institutions and regulating individual behavior. A culture based on ideas of heterosexuality values relationships that are between men and women; as a result, sexual contact occurring between same sex individuals is seen as deviant and labeled as homosexual. In her book, Ward explains how straight white men can have sex with other white men while retaining their heterosexuality in addition to gaining a masculine appeal. Ingraham and Namaste’s discussion of heteronormativity, heterogenders, and supplementarity aids in understanding why straight white men are not labeled as homosexual and how this functions to reproduce inequalities based on race, gender, and sexuality.

In Octavia Butler’s Dawn the idea of gender is deconstructed and reformed from the typical human’s definition. Often people do not consider the role of gender in society today. Usually the first thing one notices when meeting someone new is their gender or their presumed gender. However, there becomes a problem when the person whose gender we perceived identifies as a different gender. Butler forces the reader to examine how they judge and perceive gender. While the ooloi are actually “its” their personalities seem to imply a certain gender. The transgender community often brings up this issue because these assumptions of gender based on our judgments of what defines a male and what defines a female can skew how a transgender person is treated and addressed. In Chapter One of Gender Through the Prism of Difference by Anne Fausto-Sterling, the idea of expanding the number of genders based on one’s biological differences is examined through the five sexes theory. By now the concept of gender being defined solely by one’s biology has mostly been left in the past but the question remains of how do we truly define gender? How does being outside of the social norms that Michael Warner talks about cause us to feel shame when discussing our gender and our perceptions of gender? In this essay, I will argue that preconceived notions of gender create shame when a person’s own perception of their gender does not fit the social norms. This stigma around the limited and strict definitions

Still today I cannot relate to anything that’s going on with my daughter, but I am accepting it”, in obvious discuss, hurt and shame. [Debating Diversity, ’02, R. Takaki] HOM quoting Lee goes on to say: “I was hoping that it was a stage she’s going through and that she could change”. Again cognitive dissonance rears its Janus Face again in the naïve thinking of Ms Lee’s believe that her daughter’s same-sexual gender travails are only superficialities that are motivated by the capricious actions that come along with youth. Life’s choices of a sexual partner are more in-depth and substantive than that.

In Odd Couples, Anna Muraco interviews intersectional friendships between gay men and straight women as well as straight men and lesbian women. The author is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Muraco is careful to incorporate gender, sexual preferences, and age each time she mentions interviewees. Most of the intersectional friendships involve a gay man and straight woman; however, she makes a great effort to interview friendships between a straight man and lesbian woman, though sometimes these friendships may be difficult to find. The author aims to challenge two large assumptions. The first assumption she confronts is that men and women are fundamentally different. The second assumption is

Kay critiques the conflicts between biological sex and self-identification in the passage. This undressing scene is significant as it is the first time Joss reveals his body to Millie, and tells Millie the secret that he is hiding from the public. Identity here is presented as Joss’ self-choice, is free from the body, Kay uses “his breasts” (21) to indicate that Joss wants to live like a man, even though his sex is female. Millie states that when Joss is undressing, “he has a strange expression on his face, as if for a moment he is suspended, not quite himself” (20). At this moment, Joss is not just Joss Moody, he is also Josephine Moore, he is showing his Josephine side, his complex past to someone he loves. In this passage, Kay critiques that the society

In his novel The Hours, Michael Cunningham creates a dazzling fabric of queer references managing to intertwine the lives of three different women into one smooth narrative. In this essay, I will discuss what makes The Hours queer literature, how the novel has contributed to the queer genre, the cultural significance of the novel, and I will discuss several points made in Jeanette McVicker’s critical article “Gaps and Absences in The Hours.” My aim, however, is not to say that Michael Cunningham’s The Hours is strictly a queer novel, but to highlight what makes the novel queer and to discuss Cunningham’s idea of sexual orientation as a fluid entity.

There are various perceptions of gay and lesbian couples that they represent a more egalitarian relationship. (Civettini 2015:1) However, when same-sex couples are observed there is still a tendency to believe that the relationship contains a masculine and feminine figure following the heterosexual model. So, it is necessary to address both how these couples deviate from society’s norms as gay individuals but might still be reproducing the same behaviors as heterosexual couples because the ideologies are so deeply rooted in social institutions. The stereotypical connotations of masculinity and femininity influence all aspects of American society and gender display relies heavily on meeting those given expectations. So, in the case of this article, the author Civettini views a connection between sex, gender, and sexual orientation when it comes to displaying

In her essay titled “Compulsive Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,” Adrienne Rich claims that any alternative to heterosexual outcome is discouraged by society. The essay claims that Western tradition has used the heterosexual family model as the basic social

In general, individuals are interested in people of the countering sex. However, a compelling number of people are particularly interested in someone of the identical gender (Slife, 2013). Sexual assimilation is a physiological attribute that exhibit one of the greatest scopes of sexual distinction, given that 90-97% of human beings of one sex demonstrate an appeal that is dissimilar from that of the alternate gender (Slife, 2013, p. 36). In like manner, the devices that conclude characteristics of people 's sexual assimilation have been the topic of intense debates. In fact these dialogues frequently concentrated on homosexuality proper, because the assimilation is slightly frequent and thus occasionally expressed unjustly as different from standard or norm (Slife, 2013, p. 40). Essentially,

The heterosexual imaginary is immensely ingrained in our everyday experience that most people, including feminist sociologists, has become inclined to conceptualize and theorize based around the heteronormative. The heterosexual imaginary acts as an invisible framework at play that structures our thinking processes and in which constructs our social identity. For instance, the inquiry of a survey taker’s marital status in most social science surveys come to show that our recognized and appropriate social identity is formed around heterosexuality. That is, any deviation from this heterosexual norm would be considered abnormal and be marginalized. To a minimal extent, this focus has served the interests of women because of the lack of activism

The use of technology is worldwide domineering owing to its impact on human life and improvement of the socio-economic relations worldwide. For instance, the wireless communication involving mobile phones and computers are the fastest diffusing globally. This has given technology a lot of popularity among the teens and the youths. One thing we have to agree on is that technology cannot be done away with from students since it helps them in preparing for the real world. Therefore, for them to be relevant in the world, they have to have an encounter with it. Technology has been viewed to have both positive and negative impacts. Some youths and teens are of the opinion that, technology makes their lives safer and more expedient. However, in this paper I take a different perspective since students are not able to do tasks on their own anymore. Electronics and current technology such as a computer and cellphones hinder the students’ academic performance and basic learning abilities by promoting procrastination, increasing distractions during class, and inhibiting the use of outside resources. Nonetheless, technology cannot be solely blamed for hindering students and their academic studies (Rossing et al., 11).