Biological Sex, Gender, And Gender Roles

Gender coding is not a natural or biological characteristic. People are born with different physical and biological characteristics, but make sense of their gender roles through cultural influences. “Stereotypes are amazingly powerful, and we may not realize the degree to which our thoughts, beliefs, and actions are shaped by them” (Silverman, Rader, 2010). Boys and girls are labeled as masculine or feminine, which is considered the “norm” for society. Children are not born masculine or feminine, they learn these roles from parents, peers, media, and even religion. Concepts of gender identity are sometimes placed on children even before their birth, such as with the selection of paint colors for the nursery.” Children begin to form concepts of gender beginning around the age of 2, and most children know if they are a boy or girl by age of 3” (Martin & Ruble, 2004). From an early age, children are encouraged to identify with gender coding. Gender is formed at birth, but self-identification as being male or female is imbedded into their minds by parents and society. A child learns to understand their gender role and their identity by what is taught and expressed to them by others. Yet as a child grows, gender coding can cause cultural confusion, and insecurity issues throughout the course of their life.

In many shops, there seems to be an obvious separation between boys and girls items, for example, the birthday cards, books, clothes, and toys. This is shown in a variety of ways the boy's items are mainly the color blue and the books have pictures of either action figures, superheroes or tools. Whereas the girl's items are mainly the color pink. The books show pictures of fairies, princess, and Bratz. The cards also have the theme of the color pink for girls and blue for boys. The girl's cards have a lot of sparkles and pretty pictures whereas the boy's cards are covered in camo kind of illustrations and also have action figures on the covers. The children's clothes are separated into sections where there are labels for the boy's clothes and labels for the girl's clothes. The girl's clothing is all pretty and pink, it is covered in sparkles. Whereas boys clothing has camo patterns, blue colors, and pictures of action figures.

In present day all around the world, society has certain expectations for the actions and behaviors of males and females. There are many factors in our everyday lives that contribute to the gender norms that society has set. This essay will discuss how situations in life can play a part in how people treat other people based on their gender. It is believed that males are the leaders of our world, but in present day woman can do as much as men can do. From The Journal of Marriage and Family, Hu states, “Differentiated gender roles in adulthood are rooted in one’s gender role socialization. In order to understand the persistence of gender inequalities in the domestic sphere, we need to examine the gendered patterns of children’s housework time.”(2015, P.1). Gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females that they must be taught. These roles define how females and males are viewed in society, their household, and workplace. In The Journal of Sports behavior by Hardin, he states, “Although gender role differences from biological and “Natural” exists in popular consciousness, research has long demonstrated that instead, many are long time socially constructed… Individuals understand their gender because they are given names and treated in particular ways, such as dress in pink for girls and blue for boys, that reflect social construction of gender. Bandura's social cognitive theory is key in understanding the factors in socialization”(2009, P.3). Bandura's theory of of social cognition is that behavior, environmental events, and cognitive factors are the main keys that shape attitudes and actions of an individual. Although, gender roles play a very big part in our society, specific genders are treated differently while dealing with peer influence, media influence, as well as employment.

Environmentally, a child’s experiences impact gender identity. Depending on family values or morals, a child could be confused by their gender. When a baby is born, there is much control on colors (if boy or girl) and ideas of the parents on how they would want to raise their daughter or son. For an example, a father would treat his son in a rough or unemotional way, while a girl would be protected and nurtured. Known as traditional roles, a boy doesn’t cry or play with dolls, but he can roll

When someone is pregnant, people will usually ask for the sex of the unborn child thus proving that people are socially categorized from the beginning of life and is something that is continued throughout life. One is expected to behave the way their assigned gender is supposed to behave. Gender socialization is when people are expected to act a certain way based on their “gender”. Through the following agents: family, schools, peers, and media, gender socialization is emphasized and made very real in the world today.

After the birth of newly born babies, a specific gender is engraved on them based on their sexual dimorphism – male babies are assigned as boys and female babies are assigned as girls, and another category generally involves intersex babies. According to the scholars gender does not have natural existence but instead it is just a concept that is constructed by cultural and

Babies are commonly viewed as the most innocent lifeforms in the world. Not only does their cuteness touch the lives of everyone they come in contact with, but their inability to carry judgments makes them someone most of us admire. Unfortunately, while the baby may not be able to express their likes and dislikes, their parents have already introduced the baby to the idea of favoritism, even before it makes its way out of the womb. New technology has allowed parents to select the sex of their baby. As a result, the idea behind childbirth being a miracle, as well as a magical process, is now lost. By allowing parents to select the sex of their children, society is enabling people to value one gender over another and neglect the true intentions

               Even before one is born, the sex that is seen on ultrasounds or at birth are already allowing people to be victims of stereotypes and the need to fit into society's “gender roles and norms”. We may not believe that this is true and may try to deny it, but it is in fact very clear to see, whether we choose to believe so or not. For example, at baby shower: If you ever attended one you’ve probably noticed that the baby shower colors and themes are either Pink or Blue. Pink typically represents a Girl and Blue, a boy. Now typically these colors at the showers don’t really mean anything but as that baby is born, the color will literally play a role in everything that they do and everything they receive in life.

     Biology too plays a major role in the differences between male and female. Genetically, there are differing chromosomes. XY for male and XX for female. These chromosome differences account for the physical differences that men and women have. In dealing with body composition, males are more likely to be taller and more muscular. Males also have testosterone, the male sex hormone. It is said that males with high levels are more confrontational and smile less. Women that have low levels of estrogen, the female sex hormone, are said to be more disagreeable and confrontational. Maybe because men have such a huge advantage over women by being physically larger, they are supposed to be more aggressive and women having less physical strength are supposed to be the nurturers.

The relationship between biological sex and cultural construction of gender is that one leads to another. Biological sex is the sex determined from one’s chromosomes, males being XY and females being XX. While biologically this is correct, there are cases in which physically one is born male or female, but mentally, they feel as if they should be the opposite. That is where biological sex and cultural construction of gender intermingle. Looking at the cultural construction of gender, one can identify a male in comparison to a female, but when looking at the bigger picture, the cultural construction of gender is more of a social construct that only applies only in a social world. The relationship between biological sex and cultural contraction of

Let me give you a scenario; It’s 3:00am. Rushing down the halls of a hospital you are on your way to support a person who is doing one of the most beautiful and complex things in life. Giving birth. You are the doctor in the room. Cutting the umbilical cord you hand the mother her child. She smiles up at you with tear rimmed eyes and you wrap the child up in a blanket and hold out to her a beautiful baby _____. Boy or girl? It doesn’t really matter which you say so long as you say one or the other, right? Within a few moments after birth and a quick scan between the legs of the child will enable you to develop a gender label for the child that they will carry for the rest of their life relevant to their sex.

For example, females usually inherit an X chromosome form both parents. Social skills which are a typical female characteristics can be found in he x chromosome. From these findings it can be said that women are more comfortable in social settings. I can think of my husband in social settings where he does not know anyone he is less likely than me to introduce himself. I have no problem introducing myself and striking up a conversation with a stranger. Hormones also have an effect on gender determination. Men and women go through maturity as a result of hormones. Estrogen in women and Testosterone influence skills and tendencies associated with gender. Sex effects how the brain develops. According to our textbook, the force of biology is evident in cases where doctors try to change a child’s biological sex” (47). Doctors mistakenly amputated David’s penis to correct phimosis, a condition in which the foreskin of the penis interferes with urination. The child’s name was changed to Brenda and she did not take to being a girl. Later in life Brenda changed her name back into David and began living a life as a male eventually getting married and raising stepchildren. I believe that biological theory is accurate match for one’s gender.

Biologically, there are some differences between males and females. Boys do tend to be a bit more aggressive, while girls are usually more verbal. Males also have better spatial skills, which research seems to contribute to their higher testosterone levels, as women with higher testosterone also seem to have greater spatial reasoning skills. (Kimura 50).

There are many physical, cognitive, personality, and behavioral differences between genders. Physically men and women have different primary and secondary sex characteristics. The primary sex characteristics are the organs of the reproductive system where women have ovaries and men

According to WHO.com, the biological differences in male and female is determined by the chromosomes and phenotypes of a human beings. As we are all created with an equal amount of 46 chromosomes, therefore our biological standpoint makes us equal yet with different physical appearances