Molly Mellott

Blog Post No. 1

In class on, Thursday, November 5^th, 2015, I thought the question of whether or not we should expand the notion of gender or eliminate it was quite interesting. Thinking back to earlier in the semester when the very first group that did their presentation on Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story, they brought up the interesting point of all the cultural labels that seem to grow tighter and tighter throughout the novel eventually becoming so intense, it will explode, eliminating all labels. And once this occurs, everyone will be on an even playing field therefore being able to reconstruct the societal norms that have shaped our perceptions of gender, ethnicity, race, social class, etc.

In my Sociology class, we have recently covered a chapter on race and ethnicity and he went through the census categories of race that everyone in America has probably seen and filled out on a form. The six categories of race are as follows: White, African American/Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander and Some Other Race. I remember my professor commenting that by eliminating these labels, it would probably help racism and make everyone feel more equal.

I thought his hypothesis to be very interesting. I think the most interesting thing about the Census Racial Categories is the order they are listed in. White is listed first which can certainly be a part of the issue. Also, the fact that Hispanic is not listed and would therefore be categorized as “Some Other Race” to be very interesting. By not having them on the list, it’s like a slap in the face that they didn’t make the cut and are therefore not important enough to the government to have a racial category.

Relating this all back to feminism and gender, by having gender labels, it seems to be hindering and creating a large divide between each of the different genders just as labels seem to hinder the relationship between races. The thing that I really find to be interesting is how the whole LGBTQ movement (it probably has a different name I am unaware of so forgive me if I am incorrect) seems to be more interested in the variety and acceptance of all different genders instead of just focusing on one or two and it seems to be working. I’ve personally found that a lot of people are very open to sharing their gender and sexuality along with correcting people on their preferred pronouns. It’s interesting to me how labeling has had a negative impact with race but with gender and sexuality, we as a society are turning it around in to a positive thing, used to help people have a better understanding of each other and the world as a whole. I think it opens people up to new ideas and concepts thus becoming more well rounded as an individual. Labeling in itself has been used since the start of language to differentiate different things and, especially in this case, people. As a final question to ponder, where do you see labeling and differentiation between genders heading in the future?