WGST 1808 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Metanarrative, Wgst, Deconstruction

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Women's and Gender Studies
• Course: WGST 1808
• Professor: Aalya Ahmad

Document Summary

Gould"s (and baby storm"s) story demonstrates how difficult it is to raise a child outside of gendered expectations. Social structures that reinforce gender roles: society"s reactions & expectations, family pressures, peer group pressures, consumerism: clothing (color, buttoning left/right) hair styles, toys, games, languages & discourse (e. g. science) Culture imposes rigid gender expectations through an unofficial instruction manual . Society polices, monitors, and reinforces conformity to gender identities. If one transgresses one"s assigned gender identity, one will be sanctioned, possibly even attacked w/ violence. Cultural expectations are very difficult to transform but they are not static. The post in postmodernism marks a shift in thinking from universals to differences. It challenges the view of a single truth or reality and destabilizes the metanarratives of modernity, rationality, progress, and science. Universal truths need to be questioned and the underlying implications and power of such truth claims need to be exposed.