Judith Lorber in her article, “Night to his Day: The Social Construction of Gender” tries to explain the true meaning of ‘gender’, what does the word ‘gender’ is, according to society and to us, as individuals. Throughout the article, the author gave different examples of these gender norms are prevalent in our day to day lives. She talks about how the society acts when they see people reversing their so called ‘gender’ roles, how this segregation on the basis of biological sex is imposed on a child since his/her/their birth. Gender and sex are very different terms, sex determines the genitalia and reproductive organs of the person whereas gender is what the person wants to be, whether a male in a female’s body or vice versa.
The article talks about transsexuals (biological males or females who have sex-change operations) and transvestites (who don’t have sex change operation but live as the opposite sex). This means that those biological gender boundaries are breach-able. The article explains how society creates these difference between the genders. Furthermore, the article discusses gender as process (social differences), stratification (men are ranked above women) and structure. The author ends the article with the mention of the concept of gender inequality.
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