https://othersociologist.com/sociology-of-gender/
Symbolic interactions has a lot to do with how we view the world around us. One thing that can be affected by the meaning we assign things, people or language is gender. Gender is a huge part of society, and our understanding of it has changed a lot. Especially with modern views of gender now. Throughout history and until not that long ago gender and sex pretty much meant the same thing. If you were born a male then your gender was male, the same thing with being female. In the article linked above she Dr. Zevallos speaks about the sociology of gender. Gender is just a social construct and is actually very fluid. How gender is viewed is heavily influenced by society, social norms, and attitudes towards what different sexes should do. This includes gender norms that are taught through culture, media and even parent teachings.
Symbolic Interactionism is how we interact with others based off of language, gestures and that how we view and interpret the world and ourselves is by communication. According to a study mentioned, “Blumer started with the premise that humans act toward people or things on the basis of the meanings they assign people or things.” (54). This relates to the topic because gender is assigned to people or things and that related to how they act towards the person or even object. We see prime examples of what we think of as masculine in superhero’s. Additionally, Griffin also uses an example that is influenced by gender roles, “Since the story contains no reference to the doctors gender, and the majority of surgeons in America are men, we’ll likely assume that the surgeon in the story is male.” (55). This is despite the fact that his colleague’s wife is a doctor and his daughter-in-law is a physician as well. Further more, Griffin goes onto explain that, “The generalized other is an organized set of information that the individual carries in her or his head about what the general expectation and attitudes of the social group are.” (59). We already have preconceived notions of what gender is. To be a woman is feminine or sometimes people think of women as being motherly or as caretakers. This is the same of men being thought of as masculine.
Looking at gender norms is an excellent way to understand symbolic interactions. All of these are taught by how we communicate and our surroundings. We act a certain way towards people based off of meanings we assign to people or things. Based off of cultural norms we are taught we see someone that is biologically a female or looks “feminine” we think they are a woman and assign meanings to that. Like feminine, motherly, or a care taker. When we see someone who is a male we assign things like masculine. When people are outside of gender norms people can automatically assume things about sexuality or think it is weird. This is unless of course, this is something that is normal to them. Concerning the story of the surgeon, we think of males because it is a traditionally male dominated field. I will even admit when I first read the story I thought that the surgeon was male, despite knowing that there are female surgeons. In addition, these are all generalized views and information that is passed down from families, culture and the media we view. These can all changes how we interpret the world around us and the words we use to communicate can effect it as well.