Proposal

I would like to be looking at the othered community of people typically categorized as "elderly." Obviously, to do this I will need to establish criteria for what places somebody in this category - therefore I am hoping some research will lead to me to a specific age grouping to pinpoint.
I believe that there are a lot of stereotypes that have become social norms and expectations regarding people considered to be elderly - often, I feel as if these are generalizations, and as individuals, these generalizations may not even apply. It's socially accepted to treat people who appear to be older as if they were almost back to infancy - speaking incredibly loudly and slowly seems to be done frequently without such speaking accommodations being requested, and as if they are not capable of performing tasks. I feel like many of the stereotypes that exist are so ingrained into our society that we don't even consider whether or not they are truthful.
I wanted to research this based on my own experiences and perceptions, and in hopes that I could shed some light on what is fact and what is fiction. I don't think research would be hard to accumulate, and I was hoping to locate some people to interview - we will see if my paper goes in a direction that interview dialogue would be supplemental, rather than distracting.

First, it is important to reference Hanfler in regards to the definition of social construction before beginning this blog post regarding the social constructions of gender (or anything, really). On page 13 of the text, Hanfler speaks of constructionist theories as "...constructed and interpreted meanings that are subject to change" (13). Taking this into consideration regarding social construction of gender (let's go with that one for now, for the sake of an argument's simplicity) means that we, as a social, are the ones responsible for the constructs set forth regarding gender, such as the current binary that exists and is being advocated against by many activist groups. Additionally, the action being taken to incite change away from this constructed norm of the gender binary is for a reason, and that is because we are capable of orchestrating social change. To me, this is a process that takes place over time, and can be quite slow and painful - often unearthing "new" social constructs that inevitably become problematic, and seems to bog down the process more. Look at the waves of feminism - it seems as if women have had the right to vote for hundreds of years to many people - but the truth is that a group of people had to make intentional moves to fight for change, and to change the ways in which society was constructed in regards to the observance of their gender.

Oftentimes, it can seem as if the social construction of anything makes a ton of sense. I know countless people (my mother included) that would just argue that boys should wear blue. Lorber mentions this in the text - we dress babies from the very moment they are in the "Real world" in a way that allows others to most easily identify their gender. This is considered normal - we don't think twice about this as a society. But dress a male infant in pink? That's so rash! This is a social construct NOW - it seems natural to people because it's a constructed norm. Much like women not being able to vote, or hold jobs, or own property - these were all accepted things during a certain period of time that was changed because it had the potential to change, if only people advocated and educated those around them as to why it needed changing. The normalities are only normal because we say so, and have been told so - which always makes me overthink what I will be telling my children, and what other people will be telling my children... Social constructs can be unintentionally reinforced in so many different ways, how can I ever even parent?! AND, the ways in which I parent will most likely be reinforced by social constructs, as well... It seems like constructs are inescapable, everywhere, and entirely consuming. And they are.

The Young text aligns very much with my need to grapple with social construction and make sense of the ways in which I, as well as society, interacts with it. Young states "Used to be a time when a black person could get hanged from the nearest tree just cuz they be black... And [prejudice] do happen...when folks dont get no jobs or get fired or whatever cuz they talk and write Asian or black or with an Applachian accent or sound like whatever aint status quo" (Young 110), which is very much intertwined with the idea of "progression" regarding social construction... We can work towards making changes, but it is difficult to ever fully progress away from the issues. Social constructs are highly embedded in our society - so much so that they are reinforcing teaching and learning without anyone realizing that they are teaching prejudice, or taking part in aspects of privilege that can oppress another person or group of people.