“Gender” and the Importance of “the Social Construction of Gender.”

Society is complex and diverse. In such a diverse society, individuals may have different life experiences to one another. While some individuals have positive viewpoints in the society, others may differ in an negative aspect. In this socio-autobiography, I argue that the society is an nightmare as humans develop a

Gender is defined as the state of being male or female. In most instances, this state is determined based on the biology of an individual’s genitalia. Those born

Gender is the “normal” or average way male and females are supposed to act or function. Men and women have to perform a certain way to be considered average. According to Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler authors and researchers of “Keywords for American Cultural Studies” Judith Halberstam believes gender is “a bodily performance of normativity” (118). In other words, gender is a roles that men and women are expected to portray to be considered normal. For instance, being athletic is a normal gender trait for men while being nurturing is a normal trait for women. Men usually perform in sports, while women are usually helping and caring for others.

Gender is socially constructed, signifying processes and practices of conduct ("doing", "undoing" and "re-doing" gender) (West & Zimmerman, 1987; Deutsch, 2007; West & Zimmerman, 2007) based on an assigned sex category (Hird, 2000; Risman, 2004; Connell, 2010). Sex, in contrast, refers to the biological differences between men and women (chromosomes, hormones and genitalia) (Harding, 1996; Hird, 2000).

The term ‘gender’ was coined by John Money in 1955: “Gender is used to signify all those things that a person says or does to disclose himself/herself as having the status of a boy or man, girl or woman, respectively” (Coleman and Money, 1991, 13). In

Gender stereotyping is an immense deal in today’s society. In present day, they are every where. Women and men of all ages experience this categorization.

Gender identity is an important component of an individual’s sense of self. As a person matures they start to learn about their place in the wider world. According to sociology by John Scott and James Fulcher, gender socialisation refers to learned gender roles that we acquire from family, social media and school. It too teaches us of the social expectations linked with gender; the distinctions between sex and gender. Sex is based on the physical characteristics considered to distinguish between a male and a female, whereas, gender refers to the differences in how men and women in society are expected to behave and feel (sociology: James Fulcher and John Scott 2007). An example of gender socialisation would be that women should wear pink and men should wear

Gender and sex are two words frequently misunderstood and mistaken for each other. To simplify, sex is considered the biological aspects of male/female (the reproductive system, genetics, and outward physical characteristics). Gender, on the other hand, comprises the psychological and social aspects of identifying to a sex (social roles, the way one thinks, and gender identity). These biological and psychological factors ultimately play a role in the way an individual thinks and acts as a person. Gradually, society has acknowledged and added mutability between gender and sex; individuals' social identity determines how they act and think, and anyone behaving differently may be regarded as abnormal.

Iris Young defines humanist feminism’s form of oppression as “the inhibition and distortion of women’s potential to be in a society that allows the self-development of men” (Young 1984, 174). She makes note that for a humanistic feminist the form of oppression that women cannot be held to the same standard as men. The aim for humanist feminists is to have men and women stand as equals; equating the woman to the man. There is, however, another form of feminism, that embraces womanly characteristics: “Gynocentric feminism defines women’s oppression as the devaluation and repression of women’s experience by a masculinist culture” (Young 1984, 174). Rather than noting the key differences of men and women the Gynocentric feminist would much rather embrace what makes a woman a woman instead of ignoring these qualities. Instead of holding women to the same standard of men, womanly qualities are embraced and valued to the same extent that things are valued from a masculinist

People often believe they can replace “sex” with “gender” and it would mean the same thing. Although gender is often associated with sex, they are two different things. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, gender is “the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones)” (“Gender”). Sex is defined as “either of the two main categories (male and female) into which humans and most other living things are divided on the basis of their reproductive functions” (“Sex”). With that said, sex refers to the biological state while gender refers more to a state of being or a way of expressing one’s self. Because people often interchange these two, society creates a locked stereotype for males to be masculine and females to be feminine. This mindset can create problems for both the sexes who may not wish to conform to the gender or gender

Merriam-Webster provides two definitions for the meaning of gender. The first is simply that gender is a synonym for sex. The second, however, states that gender is “the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex (Merriam-Webster).” This is the definition for gender used in this paper, while sex is defined separately, as the biological differences between males and females.

The topic of gender is becoming more and more relevant in our society today. A big issue, however, that no one seems to talk about or realize are the issues of violence and discrimination, specifically towards transgender people. The violence and discrimination targeted towards transgender people and transgender people of

Many people confuse the meaning of the words gender and sex. Many believe they mean the same thing, but that is not the case. The word gender refers to the social, cultural, and behavioral characteristic of a female or

Outline and evaluate the evolutionary explanation of gender development. Gender refers to the concepts o masculine and feminine whereas sex is the biological fact of being a male or female. According to the evolutionary approach, gender differences are neither deliberate nor conscious; they exist because they enhanced or helped men and women perform particular types of roles in the past. Therefore, the role differences we observe are more a product of our biological inheritance than acquired through socialisation.

There are distinct differences between Sex and Gender. Sex is divided up into two divisions, male or female, based upon their reproductive system. Gender is the notion set by society on what social behaviours are acceptable for males and females, for example the expectation that females are more caring or nurturing than men. Gender can be further divided into two subcategorise: identity and stereotype. Gender identity is the concept that your sex and gender do not have to be the same but can different, i.e. a male at birth can identify as a female. These notions of acceptable behaviour set by society create gender stereotypes for both male and female, which can cause a person to reject their gender identity if they do not conform these gender stereotypes.