The Foundations of Prejudice

Human beings are not born with prejudice- when they’re born they are unaware of immense division among people and the world, they’re unaware of races and religions and any kind of discrimination, and as they start growing up they learn to hate as they learn to recognize alphabets. In accordance to the approaches of observational learning to prejudice and discrimination, the behavior of the surroundings such as parents, friends are what shape a child’s feelings towards a certain group of people. Being in the context, we can now talk about societal class division- upper class, middle class and lower class divisional approach. In Bangladesh, the societal divisional approach is a matter of complexity and practiced regularly, e.g. the higher class people who are financially strong has more power over those who belongs to lower class group. And as a child is born in a higher class family, his upbringing is shaped in such a way as to empower the lower class people with the same form of pride and prejudice. The media is also a reflection of the practice of stereotyping not only for the kids rather also for the adults. Nowadays, the media portrays in such a way that when we first hear of a Russian- we form a picture of  him as a mafia-mobster, when we hear of Jew- we form an impression of him as a greedy banker, etc. there are many examples which would portray the immense level of stereotyping brought by the media. In other ways when prejudice and discrimination is explained, the focus remains on how being in a certain group reflects a particular person’s self-respect. Membership in a certain group is viewed as a basis of pride and self-esteem as per the approach of the social identity theory. As led by the suggestion of the theory, people are more centered with ethnicity understanding the world from their own point of view and arbitrating people in terms of their group membership. E.g. slogans for women are used, “there’s a women at the beginning of all great things.”(Alphonse De Lamartine)- Such slogans always portray the fact that no matter which group we belong, our group always provides us with high self-esteem. On the other hand, as such slogans motivates us for belonging to the group we belong the same way it gives us the feeling that all other outer groups are inferior to our own or inner group- and that’s where the practice of prejudice and discrimination occurs again i.e. we consider the positive sides of our group and the same way devalue the outer group. The societal identity approach or the observational learning approach- none of them explains the ‘stereotyping’ fully. According to the argument led by few psychologists, stereotyping even occurs when there is a supposed competition for scarce societal resources, such as jobs, housing, etc. Hereby, when competition remains for such societal resources members of majority of the groups may unjustly believe that minority members are hampering their effort to accomplish their objectives, and such opinions may lead to prejudice. Furthermore, additional descriptions for prejudice views human cognitive boundaries leading us to classify people on the grounds of outer physical features like ethnicity, sex or race. Hence, such categorizing implementation may result in discrimination and prejudice once again. Social neuroscience is the most recent approach for understanding prejudice and discrimination in terms of neural basis. It ascertains the way we identify our group understanding, interpersonal relationship, and emotions in terms of neuro-scientific foundations.

Measuring Prejudice and Discrimination: The Implicit Personality Test

In Washington office, a 34 year women was being sat down to take a psychic test. The decorations of her office viewed her taste for civil-rights and she was also a senior activist at a national gay rights organization and she was a lesbian herself fighting against discrimination. What the test asked her to do was differentiate among a couple of black and white faces, and when she identified a black face she was supposed to click a key on the left key and when seen a black face a right key was to be clicked. Positive words required a left click, and negative words required a right click. The simple test brought a result such that the lady hit the right key if she saw a white face or a positive word and left key when she saw a black face or a left key. Then, she was required to sort out the black faces with the positive words and the white face with negative words- she did the task correctly, yet took longer time to sort the task out. The activist was quite alarmed with the outcome of the test which was such that she supportive or biased with her own race of white faces over black faces. As ascertained by the Implicit Association Test (IAT), the researchers say that it is certainly possible that people can be prejudiced even when they don’t realize it. People often hide it from others and even at times don’t know within themselves that they are prejudiced, however they originally differ among people according to races, religion and sexual orientations. The IAT has performed as a really good and accurate measure for identifying people’s prejudice as direct questioning results in wrong interpretations as people when asked directly hide their true answers, and even at times they don’t know what they actually feel. The IAT has a belief that people’s automatic reaction generates more appropriate signals of what they actually convey in their mind. Acquiring an unspoken unsupportiveness does not imply in any way that people always reacts with highly conveyed discrimination. Yet, it does imply that our culture with which we are raised up have some level of influence on our behavior.

Reducing the Consequence of Prejudice and Discrimination

For diminishing the effects of prejudice and discrimination, psychologists came up with few effective strategies:

·         Increasing the communication among the stereotyping target and its holder:

In 1954, the USA Supreme Court ruled that black and white students will start learning together in the same school. This communicational strategy was meant for reducing discrimination and prejudice among different races. And the research was quite effective which showed that increasing communication can reduce negative stereotyping.

·         Making values and norms against prejudice more conspicuous:

At times reminding people of only about being fair is enough for making them avoid being prejudiced and discriminate among people.

·         Providing information about the target of stereotyping:

Education is probably a very effective way of changing or reducing stereotyping or discriminatory attitude i.e. to teach people to consider the positive sides of the stereotyping target.

As a conclusion, I would like to include that prejudice and discrimination is a regular practice in each part of Bangladesh and in our everyday lives, gender discrimination, racial discrimination, prejudiced religious views, etc. are the commonly known aspects of prejudice and discrimination. For changing such attitudes or for limiting them, we should make people more aware and educate them to let them know of the positive sides of the stereotyping target, increasing communication among the stereotype holder and making people understand the fair means of life.

Gender Evolution : Changeable Identification System

SiS offers an alternative amusing aspect (Preference and Posturing) for the identification of changeable diversity. For example, how does a bisexual woman analyze addition aural the branch of amusing correctness? How does a man analyze that the woman he wants to buy a alcohol for is absolutely not a woman? What about the man absorbed in affair a transgendered woman? Through a arrangement of blush identifiers on bracelets, cards, rings, earrings and pins an alone can carefully let others apperceive what their animal preferences are.

“The appellation “sex” to call gender is no best able for absolutely anecdotic the assortment of the changeable alternative possibilities that abide today,” explains Paige. “A arrangement is bare that would abode the blemish of the accepted bifold arrangement and the appellation “sex” to call gender.”

In September 2009, Ms. Paige developed the Animal Identification Arrangement (SiS) which provides a added authentic gender identification for all individuals alignment from male, female, inter-sexed and post-op SRS individuals.

SiS uses colors to analyze three values; Male, Changeable and a spectrum of possibilities in amid authentic as “Other” and 5 key identifiers (categories) as shown:

SIS_Pr003_SCC-IDcard-V6b

The colors, blush apery Changeable and dejected for Macho were attenuated to actualize amethyst for Other. The logo is a mobius, which in itself represents infinity. There is aswell an aspect that the three genders are affiliated in an embrace.

I believe that each sport can be placed into one of three categories. There are the sports in which every person is dressed the same, looks the same and acts completely as a part of a team, and almost never as an individual; individuality seems to be lost in these sports. American football fits this mold well. The next level are those sports in which much importance is placed on personal performance, but there is still little actual personal expression. This category includes tennis.  The last category includes the sports that allow their players to show their personalities in the uniform, costume or performance, and that also place emphasis on personal skill. Figure skating is the best example of this kind of sport.

There are almost no team sports that allow for any personal expression, whether it is gender identity-related or not. Team sports like football in America demand that you hand over your personality and individuality in exchange for the group personality. Sports like tennis are only slightly better because they show men and women almost as equals (uniform-wise and in the rules for games played by each sex), and allow each individual to demonstrate their personal skills. Figure skating is the only sport that we were able to think of that allows its participants to show off their personalities through costumes, music choices, and through skillful dance performances on the ice. In addition, skaters of both sexes are basically held to the same standards in competitions, so any different skill abilities between the sexes is ignored.  Any sport that has rules and regulations that place an emphasis on separating male and female or require players to all dress one particular way is effectively hindering the expression of gender identity.

Every person cannot be classified using the old binary system of male or female anymore. Our society is allowing our differences to not only emerge, but be accepted or judged in today’s world. My interviewee and I feel that the people who do not fit the male-female mold are fairly accepted in everyday life, but there has not been a place established for them on the sports field. The only place someone can express their gender identity, style or skill level is in the figure skating rink. All other team sports, and even those like tennis that place more emphasis on personal performance, are not able to easily accept someone who is not purely male or female, or someone who wishes to express their personal identity.

PRO:

Here are a few reasons why Affirmative action is justified.

1: Affirmative action provides equal opportunities for people with disabilities that otherwise would not be able to succeed on their own. These days, our society is more aware of those around us that have disabilities. However, this does not stop them from being discriminated against. According to the US department of Labor, 2/3 of all people with disabilities in the United States are unemployed, the largest unemployment rate of all demographic groups. Many companies have even expressed not wanting to hire employees with disabilities due to the extra costs of accommodating their needs. Without affirmative action, it would be virtually impossible for a disabled person to get a job and earn a living. Furthermore, it is often difficult for people with severe mental disabilities to achieve a quality education. Colleges often strive to choose the best students who are high achievers and show leadership and service in the community. Unfortunately, people with learning disabilities often struggle in school and find certain concepts difficult to grasp. It goes without saying that these students would be normally overlooked. However, affirmative action ensures that these students have the same chances as everyone else to succeed. Let’s be honest, a lot of occupations require a college education these days. You even need to get a major in Sanitation Engineering if you want to be a trash collector. Affirmative action gives people with disabilities opportunities that they would never have otherwise. Thomas Jefferson wrote these infamous words in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. It was with these words that our forefathers formed our great nation upon. Yet people with disabilities are denied these unalienable rights. They are discriminated against, are hard-pressed to make a living upon which they can support themselves, and are seldom happy with the way they are treated by these prejudiced groups. It is our duty as the United States of America to make sure that everyone is ensured these unalienable rights.

2: Affirmative action ensures that women have an equal opportunity to learn and prosper. According to the NOW organization, approximately 95-97% of all high level corporate jobs are held by white men. And this is with Affirmative action. Imagine how low figures would be without affirmative action. Despite civil rights laws, women still face discrimination. According to the US census bureau only 25% of all doctors and lawyers are women, less than 1% of auto-mechanics are women, and only 8.4% of engineers are women. For every dollar earned by men, women as a whole only earn 63 cents. Affirmative action levels the playing field so that women have a chance to succeed.

3: Affirmative action is needed to make up for past racial injustices. Most of us have at least learned something about the American Civil Rights Movement. The prejudice that other races faced at the hands of our nation is unspeakable. During World War II, the United States forced people of Japanese origin to quickly sell all their property and report to internment camps. These camps were almost exactly like concentration camps (minus the mass extermination part). Many Japanese people lost their lives from being overworked and all the Japanese people within the camps had virtually no rights. And what about African Americans? Our country treated them as a dispensable labor force for centuries until the practice was finally outlawed, and even then, they still didn’t have equal freedom. Affirmative action is our nation’s way of giving these people a leg up in a world that oppressed them for so long.

CON:

Here are some reasons as to why Affirmative Action doesn’t work.

1: The concept of affirmative action does not promote equal opportunity. The original purpose of affirmative action was to promote diversity and racial equality in industry and education. However, this cannot be achieved with the current method of execution. Affirmative action involves preferring other races and minorities and races over white, Caucasians. This is simply a form of reverse discrimination. What affirmative action is trying to do is replace malignant racism with benign racism. The only problem is benign racism does not exist. Racism is an ugly matter no matter which way you look at it. Not to mention illegal. According to the 1964 civil rights act, no one shall be denied employment or education opportunities on account of race, sex, or nationality. However, this is exactly what affirmative action does. By choosing minorities over Caucasians, it is essentially denying those opportunities on account of race, and thus is illegal, unjust, and unreasonable.

2: Affirmative action does not cover all minorities and thus it does not promote equal opportunities. According to the US department of Justice, affirmative action pertains to Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, Asians, African Americans, and Hispanic individuals. However, two important groups aren’t included in this definition: Indians, and Arabs. Because affirmative action does not cover all minorities, it does not achieve its original purpose of promoting diversity. All affirmative action does is give special rights and privileges to certain minorities while ostracizing the rest and putting them at a disadvantage. Furthermore, due to the high rate of success of many Asians, they are no longer considered covered by affirmative action and are refused many education and employment opportunities. According to Asian-nation demographics and issues.org, recent data has shown that when California residents voted to end affirmative action, the number of Asians enrolled in California universities increased, demonstrating that affirmative action had actually kept many students from qualifying for admission to colleges. It is the stereotype that all Asians are successful that had alienated their equal opportunities, showing that America still has not learned its lesson. Even with affirmative action we are still discriminating against people.

So what do you think? Is Affirmative Action just or unjust? Only you can decide!

A woman Lauren Odes from Manhattan (US) has filed a lawsuit against her former employers, who has sacked her for being ‘too hot’ at work.

Lauren Odes and her lawyer, celebrity attorney Gloria Allred has alleged that her bosses meted out discriminatory, profoundly humiliating and unlawful treatment to her.

“When my supervisor asked me to tape down my breasts I asked my supervisor, are you kidding?”

At a news conference on Monday, Lauren Odes and her attorney Gloria Allred, held up some of the outfits in question, all of which Odes felt were appropriate, considering she was “working in a business that is not a synagogue but is instead selling thongs with hearts placed in the female genital area and boy shorts for women that say ‘hot’ in the buttocks area,” Odes argues.

The complaint currently filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission with the allegations of gender and religious discrimination.

The voluptuous blond Lauren Odes was hired on April 24th to coordinate shipments of sample to customers and maintained that her supervisors repeatedly complained about her physical appearance and attire, even though she insists there was no dress code, as co-workers wore tank tops, and were casually dressed.

Odes claims that when she wore a short sleeve purple dress on day two of her job she was allegedly told by her conservative Orthodox Jewish employers at Native Intimates to tape down her breasts to make them smaller and on the fifth day, she wore a knee-length black dress with a shawl over it hoping to please her bosses, instead she was asked to wear a red bathrobe to cover an outfit.

“I felt ridiculous and extremely embarrassed, others in the office were laughing and asking why I was wearing it and I told them what I was told,” Odes said.

Odes took off the robe and went to buy yet another outfit that she thought would be appropriate, but instead got a phone call saying that she was fired, she feels because of the size of her breast and shape of her body.

She eventually agreed to wear a long sweater at work, but while she was shopping for the cover-up item, she received notice that she was fired.

This isn’t Allred’s first “too sexy” dismissal case. In 2010, she defended Debrahlee Lorenzana, an ex-Citibank employee who claimed her attractiveness played into her dismissal, not her work performance. Citibank denied the claim. Lorenzana’s case, settled out of court, is now closed.

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Men and women are born with the same cognitive. Only course, parents often differentiate. Thought this was  developed since the late 80s, and often become the basis of a question. What exactly differentiates men and women.

The majority of psychologists believe that the brain perbedan shown by men and women are innate. “We often mebedakan men and women, but they turned out to be biologically different,” says Diane Halpern, a psychology professor at Claremont McKenna College, who has studied gender differences in cognitive impairment over the past 25 years.

Across age groups, cultures, and countries, men tend to have special skills are better than women. As an example, men are able to rotate an object in their minds so that they could imagine the whole object, whether they saw or what they imagine.

These differences have been documented in infants as young as 3 months. Men are also known to skilled in determining the angular orientation and navigation.

Whereas, women tend to have larger memory with verbal fluency. “They are better at remembering things,” said Halpern. 

However, as quoted by LiveScience, differences in skills owned by men and women do not make a difference in the level of intelligence.

“There is no gender is smarter.”

In a study conducted in the United States reported that men tend to do better in mathematics, while women often excel in reading and writing.

Women also tend to be better in all subjects taught in schools. Whereas, men tend to excel in areas outside of their school curriculum. When men and women are given equal access to education, on average, women will tend to do better in reading than in men, and men tend to be better lam tasks that demand creativity.

And again the question arises if there is no gender smarter, why 90 percent of CEOs are male and 90 percent of women just a secretary.

According to Halpern, most women are looking for a job with flexible hours and not longer than men on the grounds that they have the time to take care of household needs.

This is why, mostly career women tend to be shorter compared to men who have the responsibility to provide for family.

Many areas of talented women who lost their jobs. And it turns out, men also can be an excellent caregiver.

Gender Analytical
In feminist literary criticism, which can not be ruled out is the soul of his analysis, namely gender analysis. There are five concepts of gender analysis is used as the basis for analysis. First, gender differences are differences of social attributes, characteristics, behavior, appearance, dress, expectations, roles, and so that is formulated for individuals under the terms of the birth. Second, the gender gap is the difference in terms of political rights, voting, and being between men and women. Third, genderzation is stirring in an attempt to put the concept of gender at the center of attention and self-identity and the views from and towards others. Fourth, gender identity is the idea that sex should be owned and shown by the figures in question. This gives rise to differences in behavior according to biological characteristics. Fifth, gender role is the role of female or male roles are applied in practice.
Soenarjati-Djajanegara put important things are worth studying the feminist approach. First, identify the female characters and then find their position in society. This part is trying to uncover the destiny of women leaders and find out the behavior and character of the picture of a female character who is given the author directly. Second, examine the other figures, especially figures of men who have a relationship with a female character was observed. Finally, observe the attitude of the author, especially the tone or atmosphere of the story is presented in the novel. It is closely related to the use of language by the author who wrote the story.
In conjunction with other literary criticism, feminist literary criticism did not find a single methodology or conceptual model, but rather a pluralistic in theory and practice, with the freedom of the methodology and approach used in the execution of his criticism. Thus, feminist literary criticism needs help from other disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, history, ethnology, and so forth.

Social Interaction
When we talk about literature and gender, it can not be separated is the social interaction in it. Social interaction can be interpreted as the result of a human relations affect the process of influence that produces a fixed relationship and ultimately enable the formation of social structures. The results of the interaction is determined by the value and meaning and interpretation given by the parties involved in the interaction. Social interaction is divided into three, namely the interaction between the individual and the individual, the interaction between individuals and groups, the interaction between the groups with the group. The process of interaction according to Gillin and Gillin is divided into an associative interaction process and the process of dissociative interaction. Associative interaction process consists of four specific forms of cooperation, namely, accommodation, assimilation, and acculturation.
1) Cooperation
Cooperation is a joint effort between individuals, individuals or groups of people to achieve one or more shared goals.
2) Accommodation
Diperguanakan accommodation in two meanings, namely to refer to a state and a process. As a state, means the accommodation of the reality of a balance in the interaction between individuals and human groups with respect to social norms and social values ​​prevailing in society. As a process, accommodation refers to the human efforts to defuse the conflict, namely the efforts to achieve stability.
3) Assimilation
Assimilation is a process to develop the same attitudes, which although sometimes emotional. Assimilation aimed at achieving unity or at least achieve an integration of the organization so that the two groups are assimilated will eliminate the differences between them.
4) Acculturation
Acculturation is the process of mixing or union between two or more cultures, so as to create a new form of culture that unites the two sides are acculturated.

While the process of the dissociative interaction consists of three forms of competition, contravension, and conflict.
1) Competition
Competition is a social process when individuals or groups of people are competing for-profit through the areas of life which at one time became the center of public attention by way of public interest or to sharpen existing prejudices, without using threats or violence .
2) Contravention
Contravention is a form of social processes that lie between competition and conflict and characterized by symptoms of uncertainty about a person or a plan and the hidden feelings of dislike, hatred or doubts about one’s personality.
3) Conflict
Conflict is a social process when individuals or groups of people trying to meet their needs as well as threats or violence.
Interaction of the characters in the novel can be interpreted as a process of interpersonal communication that occurs in both figures, between individuals and groups, and between groups.
Opposition gender affects the pattern of relationships between men and women. In relation to women, men as superordinat often put women as inferior. In the end, women not only led to inferior behavior in relation to men, but also shape the image that encourages self inferior to subordinate positions. Oppression and subordination in the form of belittling the existence of women is a manifestation of gender bias. Any form of interaction that occurs, will give birth to the view that the purpose will be revealed character interaction. When the view was expressed, it will be revealed the role of female characters in these interactions, such as the role of a mediator (an intermediary) between the figures of men and work.
Breman explains the word ‘mediator’ is closely related to the word ‘broker’ and ‘mediator’. Brokers function in the context of public relations between the patron or the patron who has been likened, by the customer. Not everyone in a position to act as an intermediary of mediator or broker. People who helped in the establishment of a connection or nexus would not necessarily be considered as a mediator. The term mediator is only for people who have different interests with third parties, who consciously and actively participate in the mediation process.

We do all hope for gender equalities and the gap between males and females is not as big as it used to be but there are still some issues of sexism around; men on average earning more than women, men having less paternal rights and so forth. 

Whenever we hear of families who wish to bring their child up without allowing people to know about their gender it creates a huge debate. Is this a good thing or is it a bad thing?

It could have negative effects on the child. Bullying and stereotyping are huge in society and so bringing a child up to be so different is almost asking for it to stand out and be looked at. The child may be able to ‘choose’ what clothes to wear and therefore what gender he/she wants to follow but isn’t this a huge decision? Aren’t children usually guided by parents to help them make informed choices? How can a toddler know what it wants? 

We hear of cases of people being born with two sets of genitals and the decision is made one way or the other to make them either male or female and as they grow up it is sometimes apparent that the wrong gender was chosen, the teenager simply cannot ‘act’ like the gender they have been made into and so it can have huge negative, psychological implications. This suggests that the role gender has upon us is more than just adhering to rules and traditions but actually deeper within us so trying to have a child be ‘gender free’ is not possible.

In a way it sounds quite appealing, allowing a child to just express themselves in whatever way possible but why should we try to not treat a boy or a girl differently? Boys and girls will be treated differently because, let’s face it, they ARE different. Embracing differences can be a very good thing, hiding a gender from the rest of society could be suggesting there is something to be embarrassed or ashamed about when really we all have our differences which make us unique. 

In a sample of discourse from five fraternity brothers, Cameron and Kulick revealed that the men were displaying femininity through discourse. The fraternity brothers were gossiping. Gossip is a genre of talk about the characteristics and actions of an absent individual, and is typically affiliated more with women than men in America. This therefore indirectly indexes femininity because this type of discourse is associated more with females. The fraternity brothers also were discussing the appearance and clothing of another individual, which indexes femininity because women typically are more concerned with these topics than men. Gossip is a way for the speakers to strengthen bonds. Telling secrets to others and discussing opinions of people are ways that speakers, especially American speakers, can create or maintain bonds; it is a way for people to become closer by sharing their opinions of moral dilemmas.

The most obvious aspect of gender that is indexed in the recorded discourse is femininity. The femininity of the three female participants is displayed throughout the conversation because they are partaking in gossip. In lines 1 and 2, Chloe is talking about the appearance of the unidentified girl in her class that was covered in hickeys, and in line 4, Jen is talking about the appearance of a boy named Luke. On lines 47 through 54, Jen tells the group a story about her friend Caroline being noisy in the bedroom. Although the story seemed to only serve as a source of comic relief, it actually indicated Jen’s femininity because she was gossiping about Carline’s actions. The group tells stories about the appearance  and actions of a few different people throughout the conversation, and this is indicative of the femininity of the speakers.

It is also important to highlight the fact that the speakers in this sample of discourse are not only discussing the appearance, but the character of the people mentioned. Although Cameron and Kulick do not make this point, I believe that the discussion of the good and bad aspects of a person’s character is indicative of femininity as well. In my experience, women are more concerned with how others act than men. In lines 13 through 16, the participants are analyzing the character of Luke, who has apparently cheated on every girlfriend that he has ever had. The group agrees that Luke had made poor decisions.

In the same analysis of the fraternity brother’s discourse by Cameron and Kulick, they found that the speakers have collaborative speech. The group agrees on most everything that they discuss, and also build talk off of one another’s talk. This indexes femininity, and is an aspect seen in this sample of discourse as well. Jen, Chloe, Fiona and even Thomas agree on everything in the conversation and no one in particular attempts to take over the conversation. The individuals contribute story after story to continue the discourse. These aspects are all indicative of femininity.

There are many instances in this sample of discourse where all four participants display femininity through speech. However, there are a few places where the male participant, Thomas, and the female participants as well, show their masculinity. Gossip is associated more with the performance of femininity, and discourse about sex seems to be associated more with the performance of masculinity than femininity. The female participants may not be purposely displaying masculine qualities, but many aspects of ‘women’s language’ that, according to Lakoff, is normally used by females, seems to be lacking in this situation. Perhaps this is because women’s language is usually used to show the lack of confidence and power of the speaker; in this situation, the participants are engaging in a conversation with people that they are very comfortable with. The speakers may not need to display any lack of power because no one needs to be given the position of power in a group of equal friends.

In this situation, the lack of women’s language was replaced with sexual discussion and display of masculinity. Fiona mentioned in line 31 that her boyfriend Thomas accidentally elbowed her in the eye. In line 33, Thomas showed his masculinity by sexualizing the story. In lines 34 through 40, the participants discussed the apartment that Jen, Fiona and Thomas will have together, and Jen talked about how she did not want to hear Fiona and Thomas in the bedroom together. In lines 73 through 79, Jen and Chloe discretely discussed their sexual experiences in an ex-dentist’s office. Many lexical items in particular are indicative of sexual discourse, including “hickeys” (line 2), “feisty” (line 33), “doin’ her thang” (lines 47-48), and “did it” (line 76). The entire sample of discussion is filled with different kinds of sexual discourse, and it indirectly indexes the masculinity of the participants, much like the gossip qualities of the discussion index the femininity.

Language is more than a way for humans to communicate; language is the way that people produce identities for themselves and for others. By analyzing discourse, we can find many different aspects of gender and sexuality. This sample of talk contains specific examples of the performance of femininity and masculinity.  The femininity of the participants is shown throughout because the discussion is considered gossip. Gossip is considered an indicator of femininity in most English-speaking cultures. The masculinity of the speakers is also shown because of the lack of women’s language and presence of sexual discourse. 

However, there are some other aspects to gender and migration which might also be usefully considered. First is the issue of socially conservative communities, which take a censorious attitude to women working outside the house at all and certainly frowns upon women leaving the family home for work elsewhere. Those women in developing countries that accept inward investment in factories for intensive manufacturing and who are recruited to work in those factories face, therefore, an ambivalent response from family members who on the one hand are happy to receive the salaries remitted by the women but on the other hand blame them for a negative impact on family stability and security.

The women themselves, of course, face similarly divided loyalties and emotions in terms of their ability to respond to the need for more money and the other need to live with their family members. When the women are forbidden from travelling, they can be left behind and required to fulfill many tasks at home and cannot always rely on remittances arriving as promised. Despite promises made to migrant workers, the salaries do not always arrive as expected and, of course, workers may have to pay off brokers’ fees that can amount to as much as two to three years’ worth of salary. In addition, workers can face unexpected expenses (e.g. ill health or workplace accident) or they might even decide to spend their money on entertainment or leisure activities (gambling is an occupational hazard).

When women travel for work internationally, they often do so in industries in which they become isolated in the workplace. For example, they may be offered employment in domestic service or else in various aspects of the entertainment industry. In these cases, the women often work alone and cannot obtain support and solidarity from their colleagues. This also makes them more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation in the workplace. Men who travel to join a large-scale infrastructure construction project or similar kinds of work have the advantage of working and living together and this enables them to have more chance of bargaining for better terms and conditions of work.