Members of the University of Wisconsin community delved into the meaning of gender Monday night as the Campus Women’s Center took on the meanings of masculinity, femininity and the associations held with “gender” during a group workshop.
The discussion was led by UW senior and CWC intern Katie Cierzan and assisted by UW junior and CWC outreach coordinator Danaan Mirr.
The conversation began as Mirr explained the meaning of a safe space – a place where everyone can voice their opinion and where everyone else respects differing viewpoints.
The workshop then transitioned to a brief overview of basic definitions relating to gender.
“There is a difference between gender and sex. Sex deals with if you are biologically born as a male or a female, whereas gender deals with construction – what society views as male or female,” Cierzan said. “Gender, as viewed in society, is assigned rather than chosen by the person.”
Other terms clarified by Cierzan included: asexual – not physically attracted to either male or female; pansexual – someone physically attracted to an individual for the person they are regardless of gender; bisexual – someone who takes into account the gender of another person but is physically attracted to both genders, and transgender – someone who is biologically male or female but associates with the opposite gender.
Mirr clarified some of the misperceptions associated with transgendered individuals.
“A lot of people think that cross-dressing and transgender are the same thing, but they aren’t,” Mirr said.
The discussion then transitioned into stereotypes associated with women.
A major stereotype associated with women is that they are not as good at science and math as men, Cierzan said. Cierzan emphasized that while these roles are not always stated, they are enforced through actions.
Society also enforces gender-related stereotypes beginning at an early age, Cierzan said.
The group tackled the common example where children’s toys are geared toward their biological sex versus the child’s preference. Cierzan pointed out that a two-year-old would not be able to determine which toy they are given and said these decisions, passed down through society’s influences on parents, can have a substantial impact on children later in life.
“No one ever told me that I couldn’t be in science when I was younger,” Cierzan said. “It just kind of happened.”
The discussion then transitioned into how age, race, religion and other core qualities may play into how people identify with their gender in society. The group also focused on how individuals acquire stereotypes from outside societal influences based on their biological sex.
Workshop attendees then viewed the film “Why Men And Women Can’t Be Friends” and took the movie apart to determine its meaning.
In this video, a man goes to a library on a university campus and asks men and women their opinions on whether or not men and women can be just friends. The results were that most of the women agreed that yes, they can be just friends, while most of the men said no, they cannot.
After viewing the video, the group discussed the possibility that the video might be biased and also how men and women might have different definitions of friendship in general.
In regards to how the workshop went in general, participant and UW freshman Emily Cierzan said the event detailed a number of societal issues.
“It was very informal and an eye-opening experience,” she said.
