Myths In Human Civilization :: essays research papers

Myths In Human Civilization Throughout the history of human civilization, myths have been an integral part of human society. Myths have no cultural boundaries as they can be found in all cultural societies. The word myth can be referred to the classical Greek and Roman mythology or a contemporary myth. Regardless of the type of myth, they are stories used to give meaning to a phenomenon or symbolic manner to the natural cycles that surround humankind. Myths are used to explain and understand our existence in our world whether it is something that we can tangibly see or not. The saga of a myth is past down from one generation to the next. For the purpose of this assignment, I will be analyzing three articles that deal with a myth. With each of these articles, I will attempt to explain how the author uses the term within the context of the article. Finally, I will be concluding the analysis of the articles with reference to class notes on what we have learned to date. The first article is "Phyllis Burke: Exploding Myths of Male and Female." which is a book review. The author of the book, Phyllis Burke, writes of Gender Identity Disorder or GIS that effects both male and female children. A child labeled with GIS occurs when the child is not confirming to appropriate gender behaviour. For example, if a boy wants to play with dolls and dress up as the opposite sex. Burke reveals that at a young age all children in the gender socialization process are encouraged to play with gender appropriate toys and roles. If the child does not conform to these roles laid out by our gender conscious society, they are forbidden and discouraged to continue with their behaviour. Burke continues to write that GIS children may find themselves in play therapy or even in psychiatric hospitals. In analyzing the way in which myth is used in this article, it is found in the way our society has created gender roles for children, teenagers and even adults. There is no biological evidence that girls can not play rough with other girls and boys. It is the gender appropriate behaviour that has stereotyped our thinking that this activity is not appropriate. Most would rather see girls playing with dolls and boys being the ones who play rough. Burke analyzed GIS cases from the 1930s through to the early 1990s and found no biological evidence to support GIS. The behaviour that is deemed inappropriate is suppressed not by the child themselves but by others around them.