Becoming Gendered Essay

Davies argues that the sex role socialization theory does not adequately explain how we understand and become man and woman (p282). She concedes that the social structure with which man is entrenched; influence the conception of gender but the individual is as much a part of that process as the social environment. Davies says that man is an agent in his/her gendered identity, we choose to be masculine or feminine in the context of our social realities and that it is not tied to biology. In the movie Sabrina (1995), after being sent to Paris and transformed into a sophisticated woman of the world, David became enamored with her. David responded to her charms when she became feminine and did not notice her when she was boyish and ugly. Sabrina was masculine because she did not have a female figure to emulate, but within the same environment she was able to recognize the attraction she felt for the opposite sex and although it was depicted as a coming of age realization, socialization does not fully demonstrate the shift in gender roles (Rakow, 1986; 12). Davies was correct when she said that the individual is an active and engaged participant in becoming gendered (p284), Sabrina may have become feminine in her ways, but she was independent, headstrong and speaks her mind, all of which are masculine traits which she had imbibed while she was growing up. Davies (p289) suggested that we become gendered because it is what society expects, Sabrina has to be feminine because she was female and the world responds to that reality based on their conception of what is feminine and masculine. References Pollack, S. (Director). (1995, December 15). Sabrina, Constellation Entertainment. Davies, B. (2001). Becoming male or female. In S. Jackson & S. Scott (Eds.), Gender (pp. 280-290). London: Routledge . Rakow, L. (1986) â€Å"Rethinking Gender Research in Communication,† Journal of Communication, Volume 36, No. 4, pp.11-26.