Living beyond social expectations

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ailbhemalone/19-examples-of-everyday-sexism?sub=2225143_1169763

       I found this photo while browsing through the popular site Buzzfeed.com, under the article "19 Examples of Everyday Sexism".  As I scrolled through the article and read each of the nineteen quotes, this quote in particular made me feel not only disturbed, but passionate in my already solid beliefs on sexism.  I think it goes without saying that sometimes words do more damage than any physical harm an individual can do to another.  Not only does this quote imply that women are considered "odd" or "strange" if they enjoy learning about and are proficient at using technology, but it also implies that this women was not correctly created as a human being seeing as she "should have been born a man."  What gives a human being the right to question another individuals place on this Earth as the sex they were born as?

      This directly relates to our class discussion on Wednesday regarding gender roles and the way society defines a man and a woman.  Society would say that women are supposed to be homemakers and take care of their children while men go out into the workforce and earn a living.  Women are not "supposed" to like technology because that is has not been labeled as a feminine characteristic.  Lorber said it best in the article "Social Construction of Gender" when she stated, "Gender signs and signals are so ubiquitous that we usually fail to note them- unless they are missing or ambiguous. Then we are uncomfortable until we have successfully placed the other person in a gender status; otherwise, we feel socially dislocated"(Lorber, page 2).  Whomever was speaking to this woman was doing just that, making themselves feel more comfortable by implying that she is odd for liking technology instead of simply accepting the fact that women can like technology as well as men.  Hopefully one of these days society will start to embrace the fact that we are only on Earth for a short period of time so no one should be scrutinized for what they find joy in doing.