Gender Sexuality As A Social Construct

Within Tennessee Williams's story about love and abuse within marriage and challenging familial ties, there lie three very different characters that all see the world in vastly different ways. These members of a family that operate completely outside of our generation’s norms, are constantly unsure of themselves and their station within the binary not only of their familial unit, but within the gender binary that is established for them to follow. Throughout the story of the strange family, each character goes through a different arch that changes them irrevocably whether it is able to be perceived or not by those around them. The only male, Stanley is initially the macho force in the home who controls everything without question. He has

It can argued that the original sexual revolution took place after World War I during the “roaring 20s” but for the purposes of this paper the time period between 1960 and 1980 is the time period where the most significant changes took place in regards to the way sex was viewed by western society. During this time period sexual liberation was showcased in the form of increased acceptance of homosexuality, emergence of non-monogamous relationships, availability of contraception’s such as birth control and abortion, and the prevalence of pre-marital sexual relations. The long-term effects of the sexual revolution are: the depiction of sex in the media, the sexual liberation of women, and the

Contemporary understandings of sexuality are not the same as back in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Understandings and terminology in the past hold multiple differences and similarities than our current contemporary understandings.

During the early 1800s into the nineteenth century it was believed that men and women came from two separate spheres. These spheres influenced the way gender roles were shaped and perceived. Suggesting that women belonged in the household, apart of the private sphere and men belonged in the economic world, apart of the public sphere. Men and women were understood to be polar opposites and because of this, women were oppressed. Female sexuality was defined as “passionlessness,” and only for the purpose of reproduction. We learn that women were considered “voracious” for expressing their sexuality however, men were encouraged to express their sexuality as part of maintaining power, prestige, and masculinity. (Cott, 1978, 222). Men

As the story progresses, Stanley's barbaric masculinity unveils itself to the reader. Stanley Kowalski is a man's man; he goes to work to provide for his family, goes home to a submissive wife who always has dinner prepared, and spends his evenings hanging out with the boys. However, being the super-masculine character can sometimes have wicked effects. Between card games and drinking, Stanley still finds time to lash out at his wife. In scene three, Stella is pleading with Stanley to call it a night and send his poker friends home, but Stanley is resistant. In a drunken fit, Stanley finds it necessary to strike his pregnant wife in order to get his point across. The outburst is shockingly forgiven almost immediately. Stella explains the episode to her displeased sister Blanche the next day, telling her that it's not a big deal, and that she shouldn't fuss over it. She says, "In the first place, when men are drinking and playing poker anything can happen. It's always a powder-keg. He didn't know what he was doing…" Stanley Kowalski takes the role of masculinity to another level altogether. He serves as the super-dominant barbarian provider who says what he means when he wants to. In spite all of Stanley's flaws, Stella not only loves him, but also appreciates and defends his character.

The American family has continuously been changing over the years and has been shaped by changing ideas about gender, sexuality, race, and class. The institution of the family has changed but it has also remained the same in some aspects. Society’s acceptance of changes in gender and sexual norms have reshaped representations of the family. Betty Friedan, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Dorothy Sue Cobble have written articles that pertain to the changing of the institution. As the American society changes its views on gender and sexual norms, sometimes through movements, it has informed representations of the family.

Even in the male dominated society of the late 1940s, he is the alpha male. Despite this, Stanley represents men as a whole, and certainly William’s description of him affirms his dominance of the females present, and misogyny.

The repression of sex started from Victorian bourgeoisie. Sex was “carefully confined”: there were a lot of taboos, silence became the rule, and sex was considered as serious function of reproduction. (3) Sex had to be repressed because “it is incompatible with a general and intensive work imperative”.

According to the Foucault’s “repressive hypothesis”, the eighteenth century was the beginning of an age of repression, which sexuality started to become a language of silence, secrecy, and suppression (Foucault, 1990). This form of sexual repression alongside with the rise of the bourgeoisie, which purposed all purely pleasurable activities as an expenditure of energy, which has been frowned upon. As the result, the idea of a public-private segregation towards human sexuality was created which sex was treated as a private and practical affair that only should be taken place between a married couple. Sex outside theses confines were not simply prohibited but repressed, and any discourses on sexuality should be based on marriages (Foucault,

Following this trend, society has advanced today so as to add several variations to the list of “human sexualities.” Modern society, however, still tries to restrict sexuality and how individuals engage in alternate lifestyles.

Throughout the entire play Stanley gives the impression of the alpha male. He uses violence, loud actions and loud speech in order to get what he wants. From the play we get a good first impression by how Stella explains it but we later realise he isn’t a great husband as he physically abuses and verbally abuses Stella and Blanche. Stella not seeing fault with his actions, she acts as its completely normal for psychical abuse to be present a marriage. Even from his physical appearance asserts him to be very masculine as he is always drawing attention to his chest by removing his clothes leaving his shirtless in certain scenes.

In The Introduction to the History of Sexuality, Foucault explains how during the 19th century with the raise of new societies, the discourse or knowledge about sex was not confronted with repulsion but it “put into operation an entire machinery for producing true discourses concerning sex” (Foucault 69). In fact, this spreading of discourse on sexuality itself gives a clear account of how sexuality has been controlled and confined because it was determined in a certain kind of knowledge that carries power within it. Foucault reflects on the general working hypothesis or “repressive hypothesis,” and how this has exercised power to suppress people’s sexuality. It has power on deciding what is normal or abnormal and ethical or unethical

Throughout history, definitions of sexuality within a culture are created and then changed time after time. During these changes, we have seen the impact and power one individual or group can have over others. In the Late Nineteenth Century into the Early Twentieth Century, we see multiple groups of people and or authorities taking control over the idea of sex and how they believe society is being impacted by sex. At this point in time, society had groups of people who believed they had the power to control how society as whole viewed and acted upon sex. Those particular groups and ideas changed many lives and the overall definition of sexuality within that culture.

For this response paper, I will be analyzing Michel Foucault’s History of Sexuality. It talks about the Victorian regime and how that affected topic of sex. Sex had its place in the Victorian era, but it had strict regulations on what made sex appropriate; “Codes regulating the coarse, the obscene, and the indecent were quite lax compared to those of the nineteenth century” (p. 3). Picking apart this statement, I can conclude that “coarse, obscene and indecent” were acts of promiscuity, homosexuality, and polyandry. These views, though most are not punishable by law, are still held in a separate category in our modern day society. While they may not be vilified as they once were, they create a divide within communities: The Victorians and the Non- Victorians.

According to a study by Chua and Fujino, white men ascribe themselves a greater variety of characteristics - from ‘masculine’ to ‘sensitive to feelings’ - than other men of different ethnicity, suggesting that there is greater room for variances among white men’s expression of masculinity (400). In About a Boy, Hornby introduces readers to Will - a well-to-do, selfish, and carefree Caucasian male living in London, England. Despite this expanded freedom of masculine expression afforded to white men, Will still expresses his masculinity in similar ways to men of other ethnicities with greater leniency in maintenance.