"The prisms of the kaleidoscope create an array of patterned expressions and experiences of femininity and masculinity" (Spade/Valentine). As we have continued to peer through the most fascinating kaleidoscope of gender, we've gained an insight and perhaps an understanding of how and why certain social patterns exist. This insight and understanding not only helps us to understand our own behavior, but also provides for us an interesting, broader perspective of what's taking place in the world that surrounds us. I personally had no clue that the social patterns of gender were so complex and ever-changing, or that they depend on the social context, like who we"re with or where we are. It's mind-boggling that with a sociological lens through which to view these patterns, that one can take away so much as I have. From the text, to the guest speakers and films, I feel that I've become somewhat more aware of some of the concepts behind why certain things are the way that they are in the world. .
From the moment we are born, gendered patterns are present in pretty much all aspects of our lives. These patterns will determine what we"re like, what we do, how people look at us, and what is expected from us on a societal level. It all starts when we"re born we"re born naked, wet and hungry, then things get worse from there. You"re led down either the blue road, or the pink road, assuming that they even know which sex you are right away. The road that you"re led down, well, let's just say that there is very much that can be said about what will be expected of you. As you are led down one of the stereotypical gendered trails, you will encounter many of society's socially constructed ideas of what it really is to be a man or a woman.
In my eyes, women have it real bad when it comes to what society expects of them. As we saw in Jean Kilbourne's article, "The More You Subtract, the More You Add," and in her documentary "Killing Us Softly #3", women are expected to adhere to certain ideas about what it is to be female.