Cultural construction of gender is based on one’s social and cultural upbringing, where we have been taught to divide actions, responsibilities, and beliefs into male and female categories which in turn affects the rest of one’s life. Culture has an enormous influence on how we differentiate gender and men and women go through extremely diverse upbringings in order to learn those differences.
In many, but not all, cultures, men are idealized as beings who are masculine, strong, and aggressive but there is more to a complex human than those characteristics. In Gilmore’s research of the term, machismo, he studied that men can demonstrate the characteristics listed above while still being a whole and well-rounded citizen. In Spain, the term machismo is showed through Gilmore’s complex bundle of behavioral subclasses. First, virility displayed in a man implies sexual potency which is his sexual desire and fire which attracts people. Second, valor displayed will show his bravery and third, virtue will demonstrate his generosity, courtesy, honesty, and more. This machismo Spanish culture has an extreme influence on the cultural construction on gender. Men exemplify themselves based on these “rules” and are judged by the people of their culture who understand this context.
In contrast to Spanish culture creating a large personality for the men who practice machismo, Chinese society used the power of naming to give authority to men, and little acknowledgement to women. In Watson’s article, The Named the Nameless: Gender and Person in Chinese Society, she studies how men and women’s names are given and their influences. Giving Chinese names is a very distinct and complex process that can describe a great deal about that child and about his or her family. While each name has a meaning, traditionally men’s names allow them to achieve personhood by being more descriptive and more individualistic while women’s names were very...