another social construction example

Did you know that men’s shirts button left to right and women’s garments button right to left? This is a prime example of social construction. Havelock Ellis went so far to say in Women and Men that women were physically weak, and because of that needed help dressing, so their garments are harder to button if you’re right handed.

Why is this a good example? Well,

1) There is absolutely no good reason for women’s shirts to button differently from men.

2) The reasoning behind it, though slightly unknown and undecided, is typically believed to come from men using weapons more often than women. And men being “the hunter” and “defender” is not biologically determined but a construction on its own.

3) It has been used by sexologists and other theorists of the past to justify sexist thinking.