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Submitted by ernieb532 on March 4, 2008
Category: Social Issues
Words: 2240 | Pages: 9
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“Gender is culturally defined, not strictly biologically determined. How males and females perceive and define themselves and each other, what it means to be a woman or a man, what roles are seen as appropriate for men and women-- these and many other dimensions are femaleness and maleness are learned during socialization rather than fixed at birth” (Bailey, Garrick, Peoples, James, pg. 148). In the film Sex and Social Dance this emergence of culturally defined gender is clearly seen. Between the three cultures, American, Cook Islanders, and the people of Morocco, the construction of gender varies from loose to strict. From the way dance is thought of, to who leads, to where dancing takes place, the ideas about males and females are shown just through dance.
In the American society shown from the time when the movie was made, was based on a fairly conservative from of gender construction. The dance chosen to represent the American culture being the Ballroom dance, which is defined as a social dance, mainly practiced, in times ago, by the wealthy. A romanticized idea about this dance was created by the movies, people thought that you could go to the ballroom, and you would find your mate for life just across the room, and you would be in a world where magic could happen. In reality, this is a dance where there are clearly defined roles. From man, woman to boy, girl, all ages alike. It is the woman’s job to get our of the man’s way while on the dance floor. The man leads and takes control of the situation. From a young age, boys learn that this is the grounds on which they should behave for the rest of their lives. From finding a date, to introducing her to others, the boys are ingrained with the idea that it is culturally expected that they will be heterosexual, they will have a mate for life, and there is no variance from this. They also learn to be nimble and think straight while keeping rhythm, while the girl has the harder steps. In this view of the...
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