WHAT IS FEMININITY AND MASCULINITY?
FEMININITY – qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of women or girls.
MASCULINITY – qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of men or boys.
WHAT IS BINARY OPPOSITION?
The themes of ‘FEMININITY and MASCULINITY’ are a binary opposite – a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning.
Ferdinand de Saussure, the binary opposition is the “means by which the units of language have value or meaning; each unit is defined against what it is not”.
Binary opposition originated with Ferdinand de Saussure structuralist theory in Linguistics. According to De Saussure, binary opposition is the system by which, in language and thought, two theoretical opposites are strictly defined and set off against one another.
EXAMPLES OF BINARY OPPOSITES:
HOW CAN IDENTITY BE INFLUENCED?
ENVIRONMENT/UPBRINGING – This can affect your identity due to how you have been raised, and what values you have been brought up with. It is difficult to change your views after a period of time with how someone else had build these into you.
CULTURAL IDENTITY – Cultural identity can mean a various of things; nationality, ethnicity, race, gender, and religion. Their are many wars that have been created due to different beliefs and stereotypes people have been taught to know. Stereotypes include that; black people are ‘dangerous’ and more likely to cause trouble, after George Floyds death many people unionised and created the BLM movement to contradict this stereotype.
LOSS OF IDENTITY – People that may have lost a part of themselves, or changes who they are: eg. transgender, different pronouns, mental illness, or going through a trauma , may have a different view on identity. This could vary from people that have experienced themselves, people who know people that have experienced something, or people that feel empathetic.