Atividade de Literatura Inglesa

Aula 2 InTRODUCTIOn TO GEnDER STUDIES META To introduce students to gender studies and its basic concepts OBJETIVO To present the main tenets of Gender Studies a brief history its development and the basic concepts frequently employed in this field pRERREQUISITO Notions about the historicity of the concept of literature Notions of the process of formation and institutionalization of Literary History and Theory of Literature as disciplines that have in Literature its object of study Luiz Eduardo Oliveira José Augusto Batista dos Santos 26 Literatura de Língua Inglesa V Introdução Before anything you should know that we will have two lessons in which gender studies will be discuss This one aims to provide you with some general information on the field Therefore you will be presented to its definition main tenets a brief history and the main terms that are commonly used by its scholars Let us begin shall we You have probably heard the term gender before have you not However do you know what it means Or should we say are you aware of some of the meanings it might take on Understanding the distinction between gender and sex and the possible meanings the former can express must precede any attempt to define Gender Studies Although one cannot say it is a strange word its meaning s is less evident than one may think at first In fact it has undergone consider able change since its first use or entrance into common vocabulary Knowing such peculiarities will help us better delineate the scope and object of Gender Studies If we trace back its etymology we will find out that amongst its earliest mean ings were that of kind type or sort Its Latin counterpart genus based on which the Middle English equivalent was created meant birth family nation For a significant amount of time the term had been employed in its grammati cal sense ie to refer to linguistic categories such as masculine feminine and neuter Such a usage according to Aristotle was probably introduced by Protagoras in the 5th century BC Henry Watson Fowler 18581933 an English lexicographer most known for his Dictionary of Modern English Usage 1926 and The Concise Oxford Dictionary 1911 provides the following definition gender is a grammatical term only To talk of personsof the masculine or feminine gender meaning of the male or female sex is either a jocularity permissible or not according to context or a blunder 1926 221 This is not however the only meaning the term in point can assume In fact it is not even the most frequent sense in which it has been used in recent years especially in academic circles Therein it has meant more than just an alterna tive word for sex even though one should not say it has no connection with the latter It is usually said that the distinction between gender and sex had been introduced by a sexologist named John Money in 1955 in An Examination of Some Basic Sexual Concepts The Evidence of Human Hermaphroditism For him the concept of gender should not be confined to the masculinefeminine dichotomy It had more to do with social roles mannerisms behavior identity and ultimately a manmade category that is a social construct This sense of the term however would not become popular until the 1970s when it was incorporated into feminist theory Nowadays it is used in academia in various fields not excepting literature 27 Introduction to Gender Studies Aula 2 John Money 19212006 also coined the expression gender role which consisted of the actions or responses that may reveal ones status as a boy man girl or woman in a given society Gender roles might refer to activities clothing speech patterns occupations and alike that are assigned by society to individuals according to their sexes Until recently household chores for example were solely classified as feminine work Therefore society expects them to perform such tasks Although some change has been seen on various fronts gender divisions can still be widely felt If you look into the world of sports you will notice that for a long time it was organized according to ones gender Ballet even to this day is still seen as a feminine sport Soccer in turn as a masculine one to the extent that if a woman decides to do it her very gender might be called into question Another interesting example of a masculine sport can be found in Formula 1 How often do you see female drivers on TV It does not stop there In addition to what happens in the world of sport the job market has for a long time been structured according to ones gender Oc cupations such as scientists engineers doctors were and to a significant extent still are maledominated Conversely jobs such as that of a secretary adminis trative assistant nurse elementary or middle school teacher cashier caregiver housekeeping cleaner and alike are normally associated with women This list of maledominated occupations and its counterpart is much longer than one may think at first Try and do some research on the gendered divisions of labor on a global scale and you will be surprised What you must bear in mind however is that such divisions are not consid ered natural but as social constructs and therefore susceptible to change This assumption is advocated for by feminists as well as those in the field of Gender Studies about which we start to talk henceforth John William Money 8 July 1921 7 July 2006 was a psychologist sexologist and author special izing in research into sexual identity and biology of gender Source httpsenwikipediaorgwiki JohnMoney 28 Literatura de Língua Inglesa V gender studIes a hIstorIcal overvIew Having made a few remarks on the possible meanings that the term gender can assume you are now ready to be introduced to Gender Stud ies As an academic field of inquiry Gender Studies is relatively young In fact the academic study of gender can be traced back to the 1960s and it should be understood in its connection with a new wave in feminism which played an important role in its development as a new analytical category At the time second wave feminism was speaking up against all sorts of gender inequalities In academia disciplines started be criticized for con tributing to the marginalization of women by producing knowledge that did not take gender into consideration Until the 1970s gender had not been a concern for social sciences the arts or the humanities Sociology for example would study mostly male individuals and address issues from a strictly male perspective Only after some struggles the term started to be incorporated into such fields Pilcher and Whelehan 2004 9 Such a questioning of malecentered approaches also reached the English Literature Here the issue was the need to redefine a masculine European white canon which clearly excluded women and was not inter ested in the historical circumstances that kept them marginalized in literary circles There was an effort to bring to light the malecentered ideology upon which the English literature and by extension the Western literary canon had been founded This move would trigger a wave of renovation of the literary canon through which some attention would be given not without resistance to once marginalized and forgotten female writers A book which embodies such an effort is the one by American literary critic and feminist Elaine Showalter 1941 entitled A Literature of Their Own published in 1977 She is one of the founders of feminist literary criticism in the United States and the main proponent of what came to be known as gynocriticism This consisted of a literary project that intended to construct a female framework for the analysis of womens literature According to her such an intellectual undertaking includes three major aspects i the examination of female writers and their place in literary history by means of which one should notice the way women had been pushed to its mar gins or even left out of it ii the analysis of how female characters were treated in books written both by male and female writers iii and most importantly the discovery and exploration of a canon of literature written by women This latter aspect as you can see is totally in tune with the at tempt to renovate the Western and English literary canon by securing a longdenied place for women Feminist literary criticism gained so much momentum that literary crit ics did not confine themselves to literature but started to address what lied beyond literary boundaries per se This was the case with American activist Kate Millett In her 1971 book Sexual Politics considered by many to be an 29 Introduction to Gender Studies Aula 2 important theoretical touchstone for second wave feminism Millett starts out her analysis in literary criticism but continues all the way to put forth a critique of Freuds and Marxs works This would later become a common practice in feminist literary criticism You must have noticed by now that the field of literary criticism produced important female intellectuals who wished to question all the knowledge including farreaching theoretical paradigms such as Marxism built under a patriarchal mindset This notable contribution is related to a fact of some relevance in the development of gender studies Such a fact is that the humanities concentrated a significant number of women which made of it a fruitful garden of feminist critics in the 1960s and 1970s It was around this time that womens studies to which Gender Studies is to some extent tributary started to develop and the humanities were its natural habitat Despite being notably interdisciplinary womens studies initially resided in disciplines such as English history and sociology Pilcher and Whelehan 2004 10 Womens studies programs became more and more common On the one hand they fostered various critiques that ended up transforming many fields On the other many people saw them as specialized areas of academic concern Gender Studies as it is seen by many amplified the field of womens studies In most cases what was once called womens studies are nowadays referred to as gender studies The latter came to be seen as more inclusive since the former label tended to place some emphasis solely on women Also with the advent of postmodernist and poststructuralist approaches the very idea of woman as a unitary category started to be called into question causing many scholars to avoid the term Gender has presented itself as a possible substitute for it However even though Gender Studies has gained currency in our day it has also been targeted with criticism Much of it has come out of womens studies circles within which some think that the rise of gender studies can take the form of making women per se invisible in the study of masculinity or malefemale relations de Groot and Maynard 1993 6 In other words those who are critical of such a shift in terminology say that it removes the emphasis placed on women since the new label gender studies can also accommodate men and masculinity studies In this respect it is seen by many as a dilution and a depoliticisation of the field or an attempt to tame it if you will Despite the controversy around its label throughout its development Gender Studies has been characterized as being multi and interdisciplinary This is probably one of its defining features and partly explains why such an area of inquiry has made so great an impact on so many different fields In fact it has changed the knowledgeproduction process itself since it called into question the very foundations upon which Western intellectuality had 30 Literatura de Língua Inglesa V been erected Nowadays it still remains a central perspective for the study of gender and is widely embraced by students in academia Now that we have said a few word about the historical circumstances under which Gender Studies came into being here goes a simple definition for it in case you have not been able to quite get it It is an academic field which is primarily concerned with the study of the manner in which the norms and patterns of behavior associated with masculinity and femininity are fixed and maintained and how they impact women and men alike Let us now turn to some of its basic concepts some of which we have already mentioned in the introduction to this class sex and gender As already suggested before sex and gender are not interchangeable within Gender Studies It is important to understand such difference so one can realize the role played by culture in defining what a man or a woman is To put it simply the term sex refers to the biological and physiologi cal characteristics that define men and women In other words there are anatomical features male and female reproductive systems are the most mentioned that are able to determine whether an individual is male or female Such features are considered by many to be somewhat objective and verifiable Gender on the other hand is a term usually employed to refer to socially constructed roles behaviors activities and attributes that are commonly associated with being male or female Therefore it is a product of social cultural and psychoanalytical factors Unlike sex which is usually seen as a fact of nature gender is a social construct and due to its very composition can be changed One can say that gender is closely linked to how a given society confers meaning upon biological difference maleness and femaleness The shaping of an individual so that she conforms to a certain gender she is supposed to belong starts at a very early age Let us think of babies for example If they are male the color of their rooms or clothes must be appropriate to their gender It is hard to imagine parents painting their baby room pink after being told they will have a boy This would be unlikely because in our society colors are still seen from a gendered perspective which means to say that there are colors considered masculine such as blue and feminine like pink Such genderbased categorization extends itself to encompass almost all aspects of life Thus there are boy and girl games toys such as cars and dolls behaviors occupations and the list goes on In terms of behavior for example being too emotive is considered to be a feminine behavioral pattern You have probably heard the maxim real men dont cry at least once in your life Such statements emerge from a highly gendered culture which still takes women as the weaker sex In order 31 Introduction to Gender Studies Aula 2 to help you better understand the differences between these terms have a look at the table below gender stereotypes This is another frequently used expression with which you must be familiarized Gender stereotypes pervade our life They have been natural ized in such a way that one has a hard time trying to recognize them It is not uncommon to see people inadvertently reinforcing them both by their actions and discourse That is why knowing what they are and learning how to spot them is of great relevance if one wishes to dispel them What are they then The answer to this question is rather simple and it could be phrased as follows gender stereotypes are simplistic generalizations as to gender attributes differences or characteristics Such stereotypes are almost invariably inaccurate yet they portray themselves as faithful depictions of a given gender In addition to being inaccurate they can also be described as essentializing since they show a set of characteristics as the defining traces of a group or gender Many of these stereotypes have been around for centuries and can be easily found in literature philosophy religious works including the bible and the Quran painting sculpture and alike In literature for example one could mention numerous instances in which gender stereotypes were in play In love poetry representing women as delicate defenseless creatures always in need of male protection and that should be treated tenderly given their weaker nature had been a common practice for a long time Portraying them as angelic or saintlike was not rare too Conversely explicitly negative stereotypes are not hard to find in human literary productions literary taken in its broadest sense It should be enough to mention a book that has impacted Western mental ity and culture in a unprecedented fashion the bible which for many is a poetic masterpiece In the tale of the Fall of man Eve is the one to SEX GENDER A natural fact A social construct It is biological It denotes to visible differences in genita lia and related differences in procreative function It is a sociocultural construct and it refers to masculine and feminine qualities behaviour patterns related roles and responsibility etc A universal term It is variable it changes under the influence of time geographical and sociocultural settings Nature History 32 Literatura de Língua Inglesa V blame since she let herself be seduced by the serpent and eventually caused Adam to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil Such a story will become the genesis of many negative stereotypes about women that will irradiate their prejudices to religion and culture A woman Eve motivated the first mans fall Adam and so has been thought throughout much of Western history that women are potential evils or bringers of destruction Another stereotype which can emerge from the tale of the fall of man is that women are gullible ie inclined to be persuaded by words since that is the means used by the serpent to talk Eve into eating from the prohibited tree Another skill long associated with women is that of seduction by the use of which they can make men do whatever they please Such stereotypes will flood into later literary productions and are still around to this day Every now and then they emerge if not in books in advertisement cin ema theater or personal interactions There are many another stereotypes one can mention but instead of talking about all of them we will provide you with a list of some personality traits that are usually organized from a gendered perspective These traits are the raw material for the formation of gender stereotypes about both men and women masculine traits feminine traits Rational Sensitiveemotional Assertive Passive Independent Dependent Aggressive Submissive StrongHeaded Caring Tough Gentletender Strong Weaksoft patrIarchy If you ever had the opportunity to read a piece of writing or hear a lecture that addressed gender issues you have probably heard that word at least once But do you know what it means We could say patriarchy is part of the language commonly used within the field of Gender Studies In its literal sense it translates as the rule of the father Historically it came to refer to social systems dominated by men only It resembles power rela tions within a traditional family in which the father rules over the others In such a society men occupy the positions of power They are allowed to do all sorts of jobs and almost invariably hold leading positions Women on the other hand are usually confined to the domestic sphere They are supposed to bear and take care of children do household chores and make 33 Introduction to Gender Studies Aula 2 sure to keep themselves away from mens businesses In a society that is founded upon patriarchy men are considered superior to women by which reason they should be leaders In fact this leadership at times comes at a price violence and harassment In order to keep women in check males more often than not resort to violence which may be either symbolic or physical or a combination of both Such aggression may come as deprivation of rights considered by many to be basic Prohibiting women from occupying leading positions in a company would be a common example Or as it happens in some Arabic countries not allowing them to drive or attending soccer stadiums In most cases religion is put to the service of patriarchy providing a moral justifica tion for a number of restraints that are imposed upon the female population It is important to note that considerable changes have been taking place in various fronts but patriarchy still maintains its grip on social relations Only difference is that such an ideology has been able to adapt itself so it becomes more resilient to the attacks that have been undertaken against it However one cannot deny the important achievements attained by the efforts of many women in recent decades These efforts have been able to secure a place for them in once extremely maledominated areas It is incredible to note how new perspectives have emerged in fields that had long been ruled by men such as history which used to be told from a male point of view literature which marginalized female writers and psychoanalysis whose first theorizations those undertaken by Freud were framed within a male perspective according to some feminists which explains why women are described therein as lacking something the male sexual organ As follows is a famous poem in the English language that was clearly written from a males point of view to hIs mIstress goIng to Bed 1633 Come Madam come all rest my powers defy Until I labour I in labour lie The foe ofttimes having the foe in sight Is tired with standing though they never fight Off with that girdle like heavens zone glistering But a far fairer world encompassing Unpin that spangled breastplate which you wear That th eyes of busy fools may be stopped there Unlace yourself for that harmonious chime Tells me from you that now tis your bed time Off with that happy busk which I envy That still can be and still can stand so nigh Your gown going off such beauteous state reveals As when from flowery meads th hills shadow steals Off with that wiry coronet and show The hairy diadem which on you doth grow Now off with those shoes and then safely tread In this loves hallowed temple this soft bed In such white robes heavens angels used to be Received by men thou angel bringst with thee A heaven like Mahomets paradise and though Ill spirits 34 Literatura de Língua Inglesa V walk in white we easily know By this these angels from an evil sprite Those set our hairs but these our flesh upright License my roving hands and let them go Before behind between above below O my America my new found land My kingdom safeliest when with one man manned My mine of precious stones my empery How blessed am I in this discovering thee To enter in these bonds is to be free Then where my hand is set my seal shall be Full nakedness all joys are due to thee As souls unbodied bodies unclothed must be To taste whole joys Gems which you women use Are like Atlantas balls cast in mens views That when a fools eye lighteth on a gem His earthly soul may covet theirs not them Like pictures or like books gay coverings made For laymen are all women thus arrayed Themselves are mystic books which only we Whom their imputed grace will dignify Must see revealed Then since I may know As liberally as to a midwife show Thyself cast all yea this white linen hence Here is no penance much less innocence To teach thee I am naked first why then What needst thou have more covering than a man Try to think of the following questions 1 How are women represented in the poem From which perspective is the speaker writing Do you agree with the suggestion that the poem was written from a male point of view What evidence can you produce femInInIty and masculInIty We could not end this class without saying a few words about these other two terms that are frequently used in gender studies To a certain extent they are closely linked to another one that we have discussed already namely gender roles Femininity refers to a set of characteristics behaviors or roles associated with the condition of being a woman Thus womanhood is constructed socially through such manifestations One is not born but rather becomes a woman that is how Simone de Beauvoir described what being a woman meant A female must learn how to behave like a woman and this can only be achieved by her being feminine ie playing the roles assigned to them by society Attributes that are usually described as feminine are sensitive institutive shyness emotional and alike Masculinity in turn also refers to a set of characteristics behaviors and attributes that are classified by society as being linked to the condition of being a man Male individuals therefore must conform to such norms if they want to be seen as men Those who deviate are often referred to as being effeminate that is to say womanlike or having characteristics untypical of men Some of the attributes associated with men are rough ness rationality strength sense of leadership and alike 35 Introduction to Gender Studies Aula 2 conclusIon As we hope it has become clear our society has for a long time been rule by the dictates of the patriarchy However such a situation had become so natural that it went unnoticed for a long while Gender Studies though young if compared to other areas has come to mean an organized effort whose aim is to study and eventually call into question gender inequalities that have long been the norm No doubt important changes have been achieved by many of its advocates and scholars However much more still needs to be done since the questioning of patriarchal ideology has also caused it to reformulate itself resumo In this class you will be introduced to gender studies a brief account of its emergence and the basic concepts used within this field Firstly an important distinction will be made between sex and gender and the possible meanings the latter can assume Afterwards you will read a concise account of the historical circumstances out of which gender studies came into being While at it we will point out some of its characteristics one of which would be its multiinterdisciplinary nature Then we will turn to frequently used terms with which everyone should be familiarized before attempting to enter further afield Such terms are as follows sexgender gender stereotypes patriarchy and femininitymasculinity atIvIdades Write a short summary at most two pages of the main points of the class Try and focus on the definition of gender studies and the main concepts commonly used in the field Use 12point font size Times New Roman and 15 line spacing actIvIty comment This activity aims at building a textsynthesis of the main points addressed in this lesson One can only do it satisfactorily if one clearly understood what has been exposed therein This will help students consolidate what they learned about gender studies and its main concepts 36 Literatura de Língua Inglesa V próxIma aula Next class we will discuss the life and work of Judith Butler references Fowlers Modern English Usage 1926 p 211 Aristotle 2004 1st pub Modern Library NY 1954 Rhetoric Translated by Roberts William Rhys Mineola NY Dover ISBN 9780486437934 OCLC 55616891 Beauvoir Simone de 1949 The Second Sex New York Manchester University Press DE GROOT J AND MAYNARD M Eds 1993 Womens Studies in the 1990s DoingThings Differently Basingstoke Macmillan Pilcher J Whelehan I 2004 50 key concepts in gender studies Lon don Sage Resumo sobre Estudos de Gênero Os Estudos de Gênero são uma área de pesquisa que busca entender como as ideias de masculinidade e feminilidade são construídas na sociedade e como essas construções afetam as pessoas Diferente do conceito de sexo que está relacionado às características biológicas o gênero é visto como um conjunto de normas e comportamentos definidos culturalmente É como se fosse uma maneira de a sociedade organizar os papéis que atribui a homens e mulheres O termo gênero tem uma longa história No começo ele era usado apenas no sentido gramatical para classificar palavras como masculinas femininas ou neutras Mais tarde John Money um sexólogo trouxe uma nova perspectiva definindo o gênero como algo ligado aos papéis sociais e comportamentos atribuídos às pessoas indo além das características físicas Essa visão foi ganhando força nos anos 1970 especialmente com a influência das teorias feministas Uma das principais ideias abordadas é a diferença entre sexo e gênero Enquanto o sexo é algo biológico como os órgãos reprodutivos e outras características físicas o gênero é construído socialmente Isso significa que a maneira como as pessoas esperam que homens e mulheres se comportem varia de acordo com a cultura e o tempo Por exemplo certas profissões ou atividades costumavam ser vistas como de homem ou de mulher mas essa separação tem mudado com o tempo Os papéis de gênero outro conceito importante são essas expectativas que a sociedade cria Desde cedo crianças são ensinadas a agir de maneiras diferentes dependendo do gênero Por exemplo é comum associar meninas à cor rosa e meninos ao azul Esses papéis também se refletem nas atividades como brincadeiras e esportes Infelizmente essas expectativas podem limitar as pessoas impondo comportamentos que nem sempre refletem quem elas realmente são Estereótipos de gênero também aparecem com frequência nas discussões Eles são generalizações sobre como homens e mulheres deveriam ser Por exemplo dizer que os homens são racionais e fortes enquanto as mulheres são emotivas e frágeis é um estereótipo Embora pareçam inofensivos esses estereótipos podem perpetuar desigualdades e restringir as oportunidades das pessoas Um conceito central nesse campo é o de patriarcado Essa palavra se refere a uma estrutura social onde os homens têm mais poder e as mulheres são colocadas em posições subordinadas Isso pode ser visto em muitas áreas como no mercado de trabalho onde certas profissões são dominadas por homens Embora tenham ocorrido avanços o patriarcado ainda se adapta e continua presente na sociedade A história dos Estudos de Gênero está ligada ao movimento feminista especialmente durante a segunda onda nos anos 1960 e 1970 Naquela época as feministas começaram a questionar a forma como as mulheres eram excluídas ou marginalizadas em várias áreas como literatura história e ciências sociais Isso levou a mudanças significativas como a inclusão de escritoras no estudo da literatura algo antes ignorado Um exemplo importante foi o trabalho de Elaine Showalter que propôs uma análise voltada para a produção literária feminina Ela mostrou como as mulheres foram deixadas de fora do cânone literário e como seus textos mereciam ser reconhecidos e analisados Essa iniciativa abriu caminho para outras pesquisas que destacam a contribuição das mulheres em várias áreas Os Estudos de Gênero também discutem como o patriarcado influencia as representações culturais Por exemplo em muitos textos religiosos e literários as mulheres são frequentemente retratadas como frágeis ou sedutoras reforçando ideias negativas sobre elas Essas representações acabam moldando a forma como a sociedade vê as mulheres e perpetuando desigualdades Os conceitos de feminilidade e masculinidade ajudam a entender como as expectativas sociais são construídas A feminilidade é associada a características como sensibilidade e cuidado enquanto a masculinidade é ligada à força e liderança Simone de Beauvoir resumiu bem essa ideia ao dizer que não se nasce mulher tornase mulher mostrando que esses papéis são aprendidos não naturais Os Estudos de Gênero têm um impacto muito grande por serem interdisciplinares Eles influenciam áreas como literatura história sociologia e até psicanálise ajudando a repensar questões que antes eram vistas apenas sob uma perspectiva masculina Mesmo enfrentando críticas essa área continua essencial para promover mudanças e combater desigualdades Os Estudos de Gênero nos ajudam a questionar ideias que antes eram consideradas normais como a separação rígida entre o que é de homem e de mulher Eles mostram que muitas dessas diferenças não são naturais mas sociais e por isso podem ser transformadas Assim esse campo de estudo se torna uma ferramenta poderosa para construir uma sociedade mais justa e igualitária Resumo sobre Estudos de Gênero Os Estudos de Gênero são uma área de pesquisa que busca entender como as ideias de masculinidade e feminilidade são construídas na sociedade e como essas construções afetam as pessoas Diferente do conceito de sexo que está relacionado às características biológicas o gênero é visto como um conjunto de normas e comportamentos definidos culturalmente É como se fosse uma maneira de a sociedade organizar os papéis que atribui a homens e mulheres O termo gênero tem uma longa história No começo ele era usado apenas no sentido gramatical para classificar palavras como masculinas femininas ou neutras Mais tarde John Money um sexólogo trouxe uma nova perspectiva definindo o gênero como algo ligado aos papéis sociais e comportamentos atribuídos às pessoas indo além das características físicas Essa visão foi ganhando força nos anos 1970 especialmente com a influência das teorias feministas Uma das principais ideias abordadas é a diferença entre sexo e gênero Enquanto o sexo é algo biológico como os órgãos reprodutivos e outras características físicas o gênero é construído socialmente Isso significa que a maneira como as pessoas esperam que homens e mulheres se comportem varia de acordo com a cultura e o tempo Por exemplo certas profissões ou atividades costumavam ser vistas como de homem ou de mulher mas essa separação tem mudado com o tempo Os papéis de gênero outro conceito importante são essas expectativas que a sociedade cria Desde cedo crianças são ensinadas a agir de maneiras diferentes dependendo do gênero Por exemplo é comum associar meninas à cor rosa e meninos ao azul Esses papéis também se refletem nas atividades como brincadeiras e esportes Infelizmente essas expectativas podem limitar as pessoas impondo comportamentos que nem sempre refletem quem elas realmente são Estereótipos de gênero também aparecem com frequência nas discussões Eles são generalizações sobre como homens e mulheres deveriam ser Por exemplo dizer que os homens são racionais e fortes enquanto as mulheres são emotivas e frágeis é um estereótipo Embora pareçam inofensivos esses estereótipos podem perpetuar desigualdades e restringir as oportunidades das pessoas Um conceito central nesse campo é o de patriarcado Essa palavra se refere a uma estrutura social onde os homens têm mais poder e as mulheres são colocadas em posições subordinadas Isso pode ser visto em muitas áreas como no mercado de trabalho onde certas profissões são dominadas por homens Embora tenham ocorrido avanços o patriarcado ainda se adapta e continua presente na sociedade A história dos Estudos de Gênero está ligada ao movimento feminista especialmente durante a segunda onda nos anos 1960 e 1970 Naquela época as feministas começaram a questionar a forma como as mulheres eram excluídas ou marginalizadas em várias áreas como literatura história e ciências sociais Isso levou a mudanças significativas como a inclusão de escritoras no estudo da literatura algo antes ignorado Um exemplo importante foi o trabalho de Elaine Showalter que propôs uma análise voltada para a produção literária feminina Ela mostrou como as mulheres foram deixadas de fora do cânone literário e como seus textos mereciam ser reconhecidos e analisados Essa iniciativa abriu caminho para outras pesquisas que destacam a contribuição das mulheres em várias áreas Os Estudos de Gênero também discutem como o patriarcado influencia as representações culturais Por exemplo em muitos textos religiosos e literários as mulheres são frequentemente retratadas como frágeis ou sedutoras reforçando ideias negativas sobre elas Essas representações acabam moldando a forma como a sociedade vê as mulheres e perpetuando desigualdades Os conceitos de feminilidade e masculinidade ajudam a entender como as expectativas sociais são construídas A feminilidade é associada a características como sensibilidade e cuidado enquanto a masculinidade é ligada à força e liderança Simone de Beauvoir resumiu bem essa ideia ao dizer que não se nasce mulher tornase mulher mostrando que esses papéis são aprendidos não naturais Os Estudos de Gênero têm um impacto muito grande por serem interdisciplinares Eles influenciam áreas como literatura história sociologia e até psicanálise ajudando a repensar questões que antes eram vistas apenas sob uma perspectiva masculina Mesmo enfrentando críticas essa área continua essencial para promover mudanças e combater desigualdades Os Estudos de Gênero nos ajudam a questionar ideias que antes eram consideradas normais como a separação rígida entre o que é de homem e de mulher Eles mostram que muitas dessas diferenças não são naturais mas sociais e por isso podem ser transformadas Assim esse campo de estudo se torna uma ferramenta poderosa para construir uma sociedade mais justa e igualitária