WST 200 PRESENTATION FOR WEDS

Appoint 1 plus observer

Challenges in defining gender and power:

Our group had an incredibly hard time trying to think “outside the box” and not going on a linear pathway, when it came to defining actual gender and power, and how each related to each other. What we did realize was that the societies and cultures we as individuals grew up in heavily influenced what we thought gender was, and actually if gender was an adjective or a verb in society. Our ideas on the difference between sex and gender, and how society influences what one’s sex means we realized is heavily bias, only because it depends on what culture, government, society, etc. one has been raised within. The connection between gender and power was another challenging definition. Our group struggled with the concept of power in general, and what that meant in society, how people in general saw power, and what made power. That was the big question that seemed to lead the conversation. The other difficulty was trying to connect gender and power without thinking in a “linear” way. Achieving a global perspective with all of our experiences as individuals was challenging in that so many of us have had the same experiences and grown up in similar social settings.

Resistance among members of group:

There was not much tension at all during our group discussion. Yet, we did have some varying opinions and inputs from each individual. The best way to sum up the aspects of different views on gender and power in the group would be that each person would bring up a new point about what gender is, and much of the group would support that belief. When it came to what power was we had some different views. Some believed it had to do more with judgment as whole, and what the concept of judgment does to society. Others saw power relating more to feminism and masculinity, and masculinity being the concept with the most power. Some of the group members also were disagreeing on how in depth the analysis should be when it came to examining gender and power.

Agreement in making the group:

When it came to power, the idea of feminism and masculinity was brought up, and how in American culture, masculinity has the most power. As a group we realized that we needed to question this more, and saw that as society we give masculinity the power, but then that led again to the question of what is power? And what role does that play in society, and how does it connect to gender? We agreed that gender is not something, but rather a verb. We came to the conclusion that people in society are “gendered”, according to the rules that society sets for each sex, biologically speaking. These rules come from the power in society, and then the group seemed to lean towards the question of “what creates this power in society?” It was suggested and agreed on by most that judgment by others is silently creating power, because those that do not follow the rules of society are seen as outsiders, and this led to a connection we all enthusiastically agreed upon: when it comes to being “gendered”, one can either follow the rules or rebel in expressing themselves. Then who has the power to judge? The idea of those that are charismatic leaders in society, and those that are not scared to have their voice be heard will ultimately set the rules that society will sub-consciously follow.