Gender and Culture
Gender is a characteristic of differentiation, which helps us group humankind and other animals in specific groups. There are only two types of gender that are male and female gender. Having in mind that culture is the norms and values of an individual way of life. I will show the values of either gender and compare the conventional practices. Give the similarities thereafter, and show the stereotypes that may have been used to guide the practices of the gender in question; I will also discuss the responsibilities of each gender. Moreover, I will give my perspective on the validity of the stereotypes to the culture gender relationship. This paper will base majorly in showing the relationship between culture and gender, as this entails its key objective.
The scandal episode depicts clearly the relationship between culture and gender. It talks about Olivia Pope, and the society that surrounds him not forgetting her relationship towards this society. It also continues to speak about the head of state in a country and focuses the relation in between while basing their emphasis on the constituent members and the relationship that exists amongst them. The main aim of this episode TV show is to explain political and religious cultures relating to the genders of a given society (Litosseliti, 2014, p.30).
However, despite the uniformity in the practices of these two cultures. There comes a lot of debate hence bringing up various contradictions between the two genders. These contradictions depict the controversies about the show and real life practices. The two key roles in society are leadership or the political functions and the religious service. Just like the real society, there is a figure that is imaged with each of this. The presidency is associated with the leadership function (Davison & Frank, 2006, p. 7). While the pope is associated with the religious service. The central question of the episode is the role played by the pope towards religion, the role of the masculine and feminine gender in the religion, the similarities between these roles, the differences if any. And the controversies which arise after that. According to the episode, the pope tries to cultivate moral functions in the society. He discourages evil human malpractices such as kidnapping and provokes such vices. In the case of his function, this has clearly been depicted in the fact that the pope tries to his level best to get a kidnapped girl back. From the hands of kidnappers, he ensures that the girl is treated and even goes to the extent of getting her employed in his kin.
This portrays the need of care and love to one another which is extended to the gender society through acts of services given to the girl (MacIntyre, 2002, p.5). In addition to this, the Pope gets very many cases regarding life issues conflicts such as homosexuality, adulterous marriages, and corruption when a leader of the state requests for sex with a young little girl in order to offer a job to her. People are also convicted of murder and may define their death.
Whenever the associates of the pope sit down to find a terminating solution to the offenses of the society, a track of events or even a worse hack happens. It is discouraging for one to play the role in such a situation. It brings us to the argument of masculinity and femininity. The masculinity tries to abuse power and ignore the rule of the females. It goes to an extent of abusing the rights of the women and feminine gender despite the fact that it is the one in power. This raises the questions of, If not the female who else can lead? Is power meant for a certain gender or all people? What strategy can be adopted to bring down the mysteries facing the society? Each challenge in the society has a viable solution and therefore it has to be sought by all means (Lyons, 2009, p. 11).
The episode out shows the role of a woman in the political arena. However, her quest to rise to power lies in the hands of scrupulous individual gentlemen governed by the fact that women can never rule. This is a stereotype and a vague opinion to base our argument over leadership. When a girl is seen to possess the leadership skills, she is better killed. The vices of jealous drag the society behind, and it cannot adopt any simple change. However, the traits shown by men are out if disrespect ignorance and pride of their masculinity over women. The acts of killing baby girl leaders do not drill well. It contradicts the religious role. Leadership is not a question of gender. It is a question of one’s ability. However, according to the episode and practices of the society, it is not the case. Useless Stereotypes are what guide the community. The scandal episode explains how the mother of controversies regarding gender roles arose to the current society.
Discussions similar to gender roles are as discussed below. Both the male and females have a role to play in the society. However these roles are not the same in the modern world. Moreover, both genders have equal capacity and ability to run the organization in a favorable manner. But this is not usually the case. The reason a particular gender is overlooked over the other keeps in a lot of debate over the issue. This worsens a potential would be society. Some of the commonly experienced controversies have led to the rise of various topics which are now emerging in the modern world (Bourdieu, 2001, p. 22). This is to include, gender equality in leadership, based on the fact that a lady can lead just equally as a man can do. This brings down the stereotype of women cannot make good leaders as raised out by the president in the scandal episode. The emerging issue of gays, which has become somber. Although men cannot propagate, they tend to abuse the sexual role played by women regarding generation, and this has led to an immoral norm. The difficulty and simple house chores are done by house wife’s especially on the African continent is on its way to being forgotten soon. Nowadays, most of the masculine gender overdo women in these tasks like in cooking. It has become usual nowadays that anyone can do these simple chores, and the stereotypes are slowly been thrown out.
It is unlike the past norm and stereotypes on the fact that wealthy families are a disgrace to the society, even today the poor and the rich are equally the same. They all want to overlook the others. Therefore based on my observations and knowledge have acquired from scandal episode, both genders have roles to play in the society. Although these parts are equal, the norms and belief of the people tend to segregate them in favor of one gender in the society, and this brings about controversies which are not good for the community. While trying to identify the roles of both genders the society may tend to overlook one gender over the other hence the issue of masculinity and feminist.
Regarding the scandal episode show, various mysteries in the culture have been associated with one gender. The socio-cultural roles such as those of leadership are associated with men. This discourages the women from indulging themselves in leadership roles and denies the society from potential leaders. The norms that arise due to women been weak to men regarding power and physical health leads to abuse of women and the arising issues such as kidnapping and abuse are unaccepted and have no achievement. Other matters such as those observed over violation over marriages and other illegal vices subjected to women are ought example of masculinities. On the other hand, women are suppressed in some issues they also oppress the men especially during parenting where females are naturally gifted in upbringing the young ones.
I, therefore, base my argument on the fact that culture widely relates to gender roles and norms in the society. To position the organization in the best bias free, a lot of harmonization has to be done to balance the roles played by this genders in the society. This will also see solving the issue of subjecting a particular sex and reduce the problem of extra masculinity and feminity which is paramount for any community.
Various characters have been used to explain the theme of gender. Olivia Pope is a woman who can handle complicated issues. She is a character presented with two different characters. She is an active feminist, whose characters surpasses the ones for men.
Olivia Pope is shown as a typical woman, representing the natural character and traits of fellow women. These characteristics come clear through her dressing code, physical appearance, as well as her talking. Olivia Pope is also shown as a character that contradicts the standard representation of women. The character she portrays can be said to be revolutionary in nature (Puet, 2015 para 6). Olivia Pope is a strong woman who goes beyond the normal societal expect a woman to handle complicated issues in her firm, the Olivia Pope & Associates.
Olivia is a woman, glued to her past. Although she had left her initial employment to run her firm, she finds it very hard to forget or even exit the relationship she had even having with the president.
Abigail "Abby" Whelan, is represented as a hard working lady. She out-stands in her works and represents the modern woman. Abigail Whelan is active who stands for justice. She has been able to play a significant role in the life of Olivia. She tries to give her advice. Abigail is a weak lady, who has been able to pass through oppression in the hands of her husband, Charles.
Quinn Perkins is a woman who has two sides. She is a staunch lady who stands for her rights. She is a woman who has the potential to act by her inner feelings. In the Tv show, Quinn Perkins threatens his boyfriend for cheating on her. The other side of her occurs when she is shown frightened after the death of her boyfriend and six other people.
There has been a lot of femininity and masculinity in the Tv series, Scandal. The feminism is evident in various aspects. Various characters have been used to represent the theme of feminism (Maxwell, 2013 para 3). Olivia Pope is a lady who is hardworking, who is focused and ready to take up challenges. She is a role model to other women such as Quinn Perkins and Abigail "Abby" Whelan. Although as a strong woman, she is shown as a weak woman, who cannot let her past go and let go of the relationship she had with the president. Olivia is a lady that stands for the rights of her own, as well as the rights of the other women. He has been able to defend and even provide the best attorney for the divorce that was facing her friend Abigail "Abby" Whelan.
The theme of feminism is evident, where Abigail "Abby" Whelan, is abused by her husband Charles. Although she is a lady who supports the family set up, she faces a lot of challenges in the hands of her husband, Charles. The beatings she gets shows that women are weak, and that the men feel superior and that they can even harm them. The theme of masculinity is evident through various characters in the show.
Cyrus Rutherford Beene represents a hardworking man. He is a focused person who always wants things flowing well with the president. Cyrus is, however, shown as a guy who wants to use his masculinity and energy to suppress and even silence people, which is evident when Cyrus approaches the president to ask for permission to silence Amanda Tanner. He goes ahead tore an assassin, Charlie (the B613 agent), to kill Amanda so as to cover up the president's pregnancy.
Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III (Fitz), who acts as the president, is shown on various occasions using his masculinity to do things. Although he has a wife, Mellie, he appears as a man who is in love with Olivia Pope. Fitz is, however, shown as a caring man, because he takes care of his wife, Mellie.
There have been various occasions in which stereotyping is evident in the show. Olivia Pope is stereotyped as the Mammy, the Jezebel, and the Sapphire. She is a woman whose character is represented by the three characters
Olivia Pope is shown as a mammy because her company, Pope, and Associates, only cares for a particular class of people, especially the wealthy, the White people and the influential individuals in the society. She offers her services to the rich and the white people, just the same way the mammies did to the white mans’ children.
Olivia Pope is also shown as a villain where she is a “Snake in the Garden”. She handles the case of Hollis Doyle, a vibrant White, who is a campaigner for a Texas energy company. Although she doesn’t like the client, she works for her, hence the saying “even the devil loves his kids” (King, 2015 p. 3).
Black women are stereotyped as unattractive and not marriage kind, and they are termed as just objects of desire in the televisions. Olivia Pope is stereotyped as Jezebel because she is shown attracting the president in various occasions. Olivia Pope is also seduced by a top officer in the government, Captain Jake Ballard. Hence, she has stereotyped the Jezebel of the time
There are various occasions in which the intersection and homogenous masculinity has been shown. Olivia Pope shows a society in which the black African- American people are presented as healthy people. Various characters show the two characters.
The upbringing and the social orientation of a man plays a significant role in his life as a mature person. Various factors influence the nature of a man in his maturity stage. Some of the factors playing an important role include the ability as a man, race, social class, sexual orientation as well as the gender (Colorado State University2016 para 4).
Various characters have been shown depicting the intersection and homogenous masculinity. The president is using his homogenous masculinity to rule over his marriage. He is using his power and position to get what he wants.
Cyrus Rutherford Beene has been able to use his masculinity to influence the events around him. He has been able to utilize all the available opportunities to get what he wants. He is presented as a gay, and a person who has a good understanding of the other people around him.
Scandal is a compelling TV show that carries various themes that try to explain various events in the society. The show has also been able to discuss various issues that affect the community. Various problems that pertain the societal organization and development have also been discussed. The show has also demonstrated that the society can stay together, with people of different ideologies.
References
Bourdieu, P. (2001). European Review. Television, 245-256.
Colorado State University, “Men and Masculinities”, Web 7th April 2016 (http://www.wgac.colostate.edu/men-and-masculinities)
Davison, K., & Frank, B. (2006). Masculinities and femininities and secondary schooling: The case for a gender analysis in the postmodern condition. Gender and education, 152-165.
King, Kendall. “Do African-American Female Stereotypes Still Exist in Television? A Descriptive Character Analysis of Olivia Pope”. Cinema & Television Arts, Elon University. Vol. 6, No. 2 • Fall 2015 (http://www.elon.edu/docs/e-web/academics/communications/research/vol6no2/05_Kendall_King.pdf)
Litosseliti, L. (2014). Gender and language theory and practice. Routledge.
Lyons, A. C. (2009). Masculinities, femininities, behaviour and health. Social and personality p sychology compass, 394-412.
MacIntyre, L. 2002. Scandal of the Century:? The fifth estate. Toronto, Canada: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. H. Cashore.
Maxwell, Brandon. “Olivia Pope and the Scandal of Representation.” The Feminist Wire, Web 7th April 2016 (http://www.thefeministwire.com/2013/02/olivia-pope-and-the-scandal- of-representation/)
Part,Sophie. “Does “Scandal” Challenge the Dominance of the ‘malestream’ in World Politics?” E-International Relations Studies (http://www.e-ir.info/2015/10/02/does-scandal-challenge-the-dominance-of-the-male-stream-in-world-politics/) Reference list
