Our ideas about what it means to be a woman or a man - that is, our gender constructs - are given meaning and importance in our day-to-day reality. Gender identities permeate so much of our experience that it is easy to forget that they are just ideas - ideas created to categorize human beings. Nevertheless, the categories of masculine and feminine are often treated as if they were eternal truths. But they are not. They have no objective reality. Because gender is a concept, it is a product of our mind - and has no absolute existence that is separate from the mind that conceives of it. Gender categories are not inherently real in and of themselves.
~17 Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje
Yes, to the point. I totally agree. Personally I'm into language and linguistics and the idea of continuity in these disciplines appeals to me.
OdpowiedzUsuńIn language teaching, the concept of grammar has always been defined as a set of discrete elements, which hindered rather than helped learners grasp the idea of language and eventually didn’t help them master it. Remember learning grammar by studying all the tenses there are in English? That’s nonsense! Language is one whole and as such should be studied.
As for gender, it is a more personal and subjective thing because you cannot leave your body and give it to somebody else. In language teaching, you can impart your knowledge to somebody else – you “just” give your ideas and knowledge to them, but, I agree, you have to bear in mind the differences between your body and the body of your impartee.
But I agree that gender is just a concept, a concept of our mind – but how can I reconcile the seeming biological differences between genders? But if you (I mean I) don’t see the difference, why bother?
Nice quote and article.
Smitten by Language (and by other things)