In today’s society, maintain gender order is something that seems to come naturally to all, even though some people may not be aware that is does. This order is how we put people in their place and maintain order in society. We are products of our social culture which shapes our gendered order or the way we associate characteristics to our gender. Not by biological orientations but from “exigencies of the social order” can we fully process the social construction of gender. We uphold our gendered order and others help us to do so. Carmen helps to establish and uphold the gendered order in the movie Real Women Have Curves by her objection to Ana’s leaving home. Because this is such a good example of gendered order, the choice of making it
When Ana’s sister tries to discuss with her manager the wages that are earned by the women for making dresses, she is quickly shot down. This is an example of a rebellious act in which she was not upholding the gendered order however it was still upheld by political power, her manager. Another face of rebellion is Ana’s high school teacher who tries to convince her parents that it would be best if they allowed Ana to attend college. He is not upholding this gendered order that we see in Carmen’s family, he is a face of rebellion and therefore is also shot down numerous times. In this case the political power that is upholding the gendered order is that which abides by it, unlike in the case with Ana’s sister. Why is it that the gendered order is not only upheld by Carmen’s family but also by the manager whom does not uphold that gendered order herself yet is forcing someone else to. (Note that she is of a different culture, race, and ethnicity.) By doing so however, the manager represents the images and ideas that the traditional Anglo-American holds about what Mexican Americans gendered order should be. Why do the Anglo-American cultural institutions seem to be less concerned with upholding this order? According to Lorber this is due to the “need for reliable division of work of food production and the social