Essay Example on Gender & Family Life: Exploring Masculinity and Racial Practices

Introduction

This paper discusses how beliefs about gender shaped the way Americans' experienced family life. Gender explains the differences between males and females in terms of marriage and domestic roles. Gender includes the analysis of masculinity and the perception of society to it. Gender affected racial practices, marriage life, and sexuality. Marriage life denied women opportunities and certain privileges that men enjoyed. Women were humble and submissive as compared to men who assumed superiority in marriage life. Racial practices that affected gender include the taxation on African women while other women were exempted from taxes. The introduction of tobacco planting forced African women slaves to work on duties that belonged to men. This, in turn, affected the handling of American households.

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Gender effect on marriage life

In this context, men are assuming superiority in society. Those women are supposed to be humble and submissive. In the domestic circle, women are perceived to be kind, affectionate, and tender-hearted, while men are cruel and cold-hearted. Men are associated with time-wasting and devoting the resources which ought to be used to take care of the family in the gaming table. Masculinity is associated with arrogance, haughtiness, temper, and assuming. According to beliefs, women should have what the world calls formal education like dancing, music, and embroidery.

The concept of masculinity is disgraceful as it has generally introduced the habits of seeing all superiority should be associated with the males. Through domestic relations, society tries to eliminate the useful sphere of a woman (The Female Advocate, 1801). Young women taught to observe external graces and dress fashionably with the belief that women should pay more attention to the outward ornaments rather than their intellectual levels to be noticed by the opposite sex. A highly intelligent woman is avoided. The equality of intelligence between the African races is aided by art and cultivation as it respects both genders. There is a distinction of information among the African race .the cause of discrimination between sexes attributed to early differences in education and differentiation of future temporal prospects.

The relationship between males and females should be that of rationality. It should focus on the same cause instead of a master-servant relationship. When choosing a companion of life, a man decides from a class of ignorant and uneducated women to retain his superiority. The authoress addresses the concern of illiterate women and whether they are capable of managing domestic concerns. A man should choose a companion who can direct a child and carry out duties as a better mother and wife. A case of a seven-year-old transgender child provoked an outcry as both parents fought to prove the gender identity of their child. This led to them having joint custody of the child. Experts say that the best way to treat transgender children is to affirm their choices and give them the space to explore their identity. Dr. Michelle Forcier stated that it wasn't necessary to undergo any medical procedures (Zraick, 2019). There is a need for careful steps to be taken when treating gender diverse and transgender youths.

Effects of gender on racial practices

The task of assessing the status of African slaves in Virginia helps understand the nature of gender in association with racial practices. There have been problems trying to understand the view of race being a biological fact rather than an ongoing historical construction and that racial differences led to uneven developments in the history of racism. Enslaved Africans appeared to have been victims of intense and prolonged terms of slavery as compared to English servants. The freedom of Africans depended upon the goodwill of masters and the support that neighbors offered them. Enslaved Africans raised cattle, wolves, and escorted strangers to their destination. Slave status marked Africans as outsiders' (Morabia, 2019). The investment of Europeans in slavery complicated the individual African efforts to gain freedom through legal enforcement.

The tax levied on the African women and slaves, in general, indicated unfavorable treatment on the slaves. In Virginia, the emphasis on household was sometimes at odds with the difficulties of life. Demands for staple crop determined settlement patterns and consumer decisions. The taxation of African women formed the core of understanding the concept of womanhood, which increasingly became race-specific (Morabia, 2019). The reproductive lives of English servant women and African slaves have become a subject of study. The state of Virginia regulated the reproductive lives of English servant women through discouraging marriage and giving birth to children during service. The strategy control over marriage allowed the European settler populations to be within the confines of legally constituted families. Black women found a few jobs outside laundry and domestic services. Black women were subject to racial harassment and wage discrimination. Rebecca, in her letters to her home in Maryland, described how teachers who acted as moral crusaders in a society rooted with racism were verbally and physically abused. White people demanded respect from blacks. Racism affected Addie's Christian life as she refused to tolerate the segregation in churches where the whites maintained different seats with the dark.

Effects of gender on sexuality

Addie brown and Rebecca wrote letters to each other, and they are evidence of a relationship that endured nine years of separation. Intimate relationships between women are, however, an area that has remained unexplored. The letters of Rebecca and Addie prompt the readers to the sexuality of women friendships.it is believed that close bonds between women could often lead to passionate and erotic relationships. The romantic relationship between Addie and Rebecca was recognized and supported by relatives and friends, but not without some negativity. Rebecca's family thought that the letters should be written from man to woman and not between two women (Brown, 2012). Addie and Rebecca borrowed money from each other and continuously wrote letters informing each other of their health and general well being. The community was aware of the communication and commitment to each other. This signifies that the Hartford community accepted them for who they were.

The two lovers also always called each other sisters and expected support from each other. The Americans of Africans heritage created fictive kin to supplement the biological ties, as demonstrated by Rebecca and Addie in their letters. Their kin tried to assist them in negotiating their relationships with men as they thought that their friendship should not interfere with male-female courtship. Addie's marriage to Mr. Tines does not change the way she feels about Rebecca. She stated that her love for Mr tines was sincere but not as passionate. After her marriage, she became careful about how she approached the union, which she applied more practicality (Hansen, 2012). The relationship between the two lovers affected Addie's view of marriage, and it takes her time to agree to marry Mr. Tines. The two lovers had an enduring bond despite the differences in age education, class, and family. This mutual friendship and relationship helped weaken the effects of racial and gender oppression. The African American community accepted the women's connection and took them as individuals and couples. White women, both working class and middle class, single and married, professed their love for each other through physical expressions.

Conclusion

In today's world, race, gender, and sexuality still affect family life. Gender roles were predominantly used in the past to describe the masculinity of men and the inferiority of women. Females were limited to taking care of children as they were considered ignorant. There had been a significant shift in gender roles in the families of today. The new family trends and patterns influence the changing gender roles where women's roles include provision for a family and male purposes changing to those of taking care of children. Masculinity is associated with superiority, which is an attribute of men.

In Virginia, Addie and Rebecca, who were lovers and friends, were accepted and treated with equality by society. Love relationships among young women were recognized. There has been acceptance of homosexuality in America where marriages are approved, although there are still public divisions about the issue. Racism in Virginia involved the blacks being oppressed and discriminated against by the whites. There have been struggles to bring equality among blacks and whites. Although significant changes have been made, there are concerns that America hasn't made enough progress towards racial justice with the belief that black people will never have equal rights as whites.

References

Brown, K. M. (2012). Good wives, nasty wenches, and anxious patriarchs: Gender, race, and power in colonial Virginia. The University of North Carolina Press.s

Hansen, K. (2012). Major problems in the history of Americas sexuality (pp. 158-182). Blackwell publishers.

Morabia, A. (2019). Slavery, Work, and Racism in America: A Review of Four Books.

The Female Advocate. (1801) (pp. 10-110). County of Middlesex.

Zraick, K. (2019). Texas Father Says 7-Year-Old Isn't Transgender, Igniting a Politicized Outcry. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/us/texas-transgenderchild.html?searchResultPosition=106%20the%20category%20on%20for%20this%20paper%20is%20gender