the less i study the less interested i become in the subject matter.
tonight i studied for a midterm and reminded myself of why i chose to study sociology. [and relationally, anthro and history]. i like reading things that make me wish i were going into academia. i don't want to do a masters. but if i were going to, i'd write a thesis on Queer theory. Queer theory relates little to homosexuality. mostly it involves a critical analysis of the socially constructed links between sex and gender.
put as susinctly as possible, gender is the socially constructed performative expression of one's biological sex.

what the fuck does that mean?
it means that gender roles [the way one acts in relation to society, portraying "masculine" or "feminine" characteristics] are not directly or 'naturally' linked to sex. they are instilled upon us by cultural ideologies, as portrayed through the 'culture industry' [media].

why does that matter?
because it systematically excludes the possibility of intertwined gender roles, and wraps the status quo of stereotype in a cloak of illusion: of "natural-ness". the very fact that Aretha Franklin can sing about feeling "like" a natural woman indicates to us that there is a correlational binary opposite: one of feeling or acting "not" like a woman. thus, prescribed gender roles are not biological rules, but historically created assumptions for what a 'man' and a 'woman' should be: how they should behave, speak, dress, work, and think. this undermines the integral possibilities for social interaction and imagination, by fitting all aspects of human activity into two restrictive categorizations.

how does my blog keep turning into a sociology essay? at least i can probably use this for my next weekly class commentary.