tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-433440494954489625.post8443870691775771718..comments2009-12-15T09:35:32.509-08:00Comments on Existentialism @ Rhodes: Doctor Jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13189506916480012553noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-433440494954489625.post-38168786309772818382009-11-15T23:29:36.854-08:002009-11-15T23:29:36.854-08:00"Every experience is different for an individ..."Every experience is different for an individual and even when following society’s stereotype, no two experiences are alike."<br /><br />I suppose literally speaking, no two experiences are perfectly identical, but two experiences can definitely be alike. If experiences were not alike, then I don't see how we possibly could relate with or empathize with other people, and I don't see how we could meaningfully talk about things like "What is like to a woman, african-american, native american, etc." Yet, we do do these things, and often do so in ways that make perfectly good sense, which others can relate to. I mean if our experiences were not, on some important levels, alike, then how could things like The Feminine Mystique or the Invisible Man have been possible, let alone so influential?<br /><br />I think one of our biggest mistake when discussing socially constructed societal cateogies like race and gender, in addition to not recognizing that they are fluid instead of static, is thinking of them as monolithic designators (even if we do often try to use them in this way). Yes, there is definitely the category "woman" but often there are many differing conceptions of womanhood contained under that general heading. Erin, I thought your point about tomboy and butch was a really good example of this. Another one that leaps to mind--albeit one that we don't usually think of as a negative stereotype--is the image of the independent, successful superwoman (e.g. beyonce).<br /><br />Another parallel example using the category of race also helps to illustrate this point about how many social categories are not neat or particularly uniform. While I assume we would all agree that Powell is black and Eminem is white, we may still apply different labels to them by saying things like "Colin Powell acts white" or "Eminem acts black."<br /><br />Really nice summary of Beauvoir's Second Sex btw.B Blakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15896899738793941282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-433440494954489625.post-52356803580187055402009-11-15T22:24:23.004-08:002009-11-15T22:24:23.004-08:00It seems to me that when society tries to fit peop...It seems to me that when society tries to fit people into stereotypes, in this case with gender, the outliers almost get a new stereotype themselves, like "tomboy" and "butch" that we mentioned in class. Maybe society doesn't accept them as the first, more common stereotype by creating the second one, and making them mutually exclusiveErinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05397000246835312466noreply@blogger.com