Heteronormativity

Olde Town Augusta

Historic Magnolia Cemetery

"Godfrey Lauterbach

Sept. 22, 1827- April 5, 1891"

Historic Magnolia Cemetery

"Catherine Lauterbach

Sept. 29, 1837- Nov. 25, 1925"

"Mitchell

Hogrefe Eluid Mitchell

Aug. 21, 1909- Aug. 8, 1960

His Wife

Ruth Eleanor Jordan

Mar. 15, 1910- Jan. 7, 2002"

These are pictures of a few gravesites in the Magnolia Cemetery on 3^rd Street in Olde Town. As one can see, they are graves of spouses. I was interested in cemeteries because graves usually show families and represent heteronormativity up until the current era.

“Heteronormativity structures social life so that heterosexuality is always assumed, expected, ordinary, and privileged,” (Martin 316) so most of the society that surrounds us promotes heterosexual relationships and romance as what is normal and expected. This leaves many groups of people out of representation in society, such as different genders, different sexual orientations, different races and different classes. Heteronormativity is common in magazine advertisements: thin, rich, white, young women or men appealing to the opposite sex. It is a very skewed outlook on society. In the Magnolia Cemetery, Catherine and Godfrey are buried side by side indicating that they were very important to one another. Also, it represents that is was socially accepted and expected to be married and buried next to one’s spouse. Hogrefe and Ruth Mitchell were buried side by side and the tombstone reads, “his wife,” implying how important her role as wife was. These graves are examples of heteronormativity in our society: men and women are husband and wife and they are buried next to one another in death.  Isn't Ruth more than a wife?  Skip to "Intersectionality."     

Privilege

Olde Town Augusta

 IGA Grocery on East Boundary

Little Package store on East Boundary

Laundry Mat on East Boundary 

Big Nice House on Greene Street

Small Nice House on Ellis Street

These are pictures of the IGA grocery store, package store and laundry mat on East Boundary in Olde Town Augusta. There are also two pictures of the two diverse neighborhoods that are side by side in Olde Town Augusta. There is a “nice part of town” and a “ghetto part of town.” These parts of town represent privilege in our society.

“Because privilege is conferred by social systems, people don’t have to feel privileged in order to be privileged,” (Johnson 91) such as some of the people that live on Broad Street in Olde Town. People with privilege or without privilege do not necessarily know about their privilege or lack of privilege. However, they most likely become aware as they grow older, especially those born into a lower class. Peggy McIntosh writes, “I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege,” (McIntosh 1).

The people that live in the “ghetto part of town” have to resort to grocery shopping at IGA because perhaps they were born into a lower class and have a lack of privilege. Perhaps they have no job, no car, no money, etc., so they have to shop at the local cheap store. Perhaps they own no washer or dryer either, so they have to wash their clothes at the laundry mat on East Boundary. The people that live on Broad Street in the big nice houses probably do not have to shop at IGA or wash their clothes at the laundry mat because they have more privilege. The two houses I took pictures of are in the two different neighborhoods.  Can you tell which house is in which neighborhood? The neighborhoods are side by side yet with great differences in class and privilege. Does someone that is poor have to stay poor? Skip to “Refusing to Take the Path of Least Resistance.”

Social Construction of Gender

Olde Town Augusta

Heritage Academy

A private school on Greene Street between 3rd and 4th Streets.

This is a picture of Heritage Academy on Greene Street in Olde Town Augusta. It is a private school for young children.

Social construction of gender happens to individuals for their whole life, but mostly in their youngest years. “In early childhood, humans develop gendered personality structures and sexual orientations through their interactions with parents of the same and opposite gender. Schools, parents, peers, and the mass media guide young people into gendered work and family roles,” (Lorber 278) meaning that gender is learned. Gender is a process. People “do” gender: they are not born into gender, they are taught gender. Many people confuse sex and gender. Sex is what one is born as biologically. Gender is a way of expressing what society deems as “masculine“ or “feminine.” Gender is “so pervasive that in our society, we assume it is bred into our genes,” (Lorber 276). These young children at Heritage Academy are learning how to “do” the “appropriate” gender when the girls and boys are separated to play different games and are separated to wear different clothes. The girls wear skirts for their private school uniform and the boys wear pants. Boys play competitive sports in order to learn how to be aggressive, logical and successful. Girls play leisurely games such as “house” in order to learn how to be cooperative, nice and passive. All of these things such as pink for girls and blue for boys lead to the social construction of gender, so the girls will appropriately behave feminine and the boys will appropriately behave masculine. Not everyone can afford private school, however, so skip to “Privilege.”

East Augusta

This is the Chevron on the corner of Broad and East Boundary.  This is the start of the famous Broad Street of Augusta.  This Chevron is always very busy because it has a food mart and it is the only convenience store for a couple of miles in all directions.

Olde Town Augusta

This social location is Olde Town, Augusta which leads to Downtown, Augusta.  Here is a map of Olde Town, Augusta, created by me, Sarah Dawn Veteto.  It contains approximately nine blocks from west to east and approximately six blocks from north to south.  This location is right on the Savannah River.  The river walk is near Olde Town and the 5th Street Bridge leads right across the Savannah River into North Augusta, South Carolina.  It is a very diverse location. 

Downtown Augusta

Downtown Augusta, Georgia