Making Gendered People
R.W. Connell

I really enjoyed this reading mainly because it uses examples to show gender differences and also similarities. It also lays out clearly the changing stereotypes surrounding gender and sex. There have been a lot of positive changes such as the increasing tolerance of homosexuality but there is still a long way to go. The mention of homosexuality brings me to my favorite part of this reading, namely, the discussion on foreign societies. I have learned a lot throughout my college career about how sex and gender are defined in Western culture but seeing how it is defined and ever changing in foreign societies is something new to me. It shows that we are not unique in this respect. It also begs the question, is homosexuality more natural than we would like to believe? If all of these other cultures are practicing forms of it, how can it be an inately "bad" thing? Why is it so demonized in our society whereas in others it is somewhat glorified?