Definition Essay : Who Defines Gender?

The difference between sex and gender is fairly simple. Sex defines if a person is biologically a male or female by their biological differences. It is something that is determined when your born and no one has any control over the situation. You are the sex you are born as.

According to the Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences of Monash University, “Gender describes the characteristics that a society or culture delineates as masculine or feminine.” (Nobelius, Ann-Marrie, med.monash.edu.au). Sex, says Ann-Maree,“ refers to biological differences; chromosomes, hormonal profiles, internal and external sex organs” (med.monash.edu.au). Sometimes people use these terms interchangeably. Sex has to do with you being biologically male or female, and gender has to do with being masculine, or feminine and is determined by society depending in the culture. The reason these terms are often mistaken is because, usually, if one is born male they are assigned a masculine role in society, and there is a difference in expectations with the masculine and feminine roles. These genders were created by society. There are cases where neither roles apply for a group of people or individuals. These ideals of gender roles being assigned are being challenged by individuals. For example a family member of mine is one of the individuals whom the

“Is it a boy or a girl?” is a question that is commonly used in a world where roughly 350,000 babies are born each day. Questions such as the one previously stated are what helps to determine what gender a child would be. “Learning to Be Gendered” by Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet focuses mainly on the factors that potentially influences gender. These factors can include names, colors, voice change and the societal norm of what a boy and girl should be. Eckert’s main argument is that being gendered isn’t something one can to gain based off of physical characteristics but rather on their own and through their interaction with society. Names and clothing are just a small part of the symbolic resources used to support a consistent ongoing

Prior to reading the article Doing Gender, I have never paid attention to the concept of doing gender. I found it interesting how these roles go so unnoticed because they are so enforced in our society. We never stop to think or questions if an individual’s actions are masculine or feminine. For example, some of us are just so use to having our mothers cook and our dad’s do all the heavy lifting but we never stop to think why is it like this or what does this represent.

Is it a boy or a girl? When we first hear about the announcement of a new life coming, our brains right away insist on “knowing the gender”. In the essay Learning to Be Gendered, Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell, discuss that gender is a form of separating people by characteristics. Not necessarily because there is a biological reasoning behind classifying someone by gender.Eckert and McConnell are definitely right, from birth we teach our children to associate with their gender and their gender only. They provided many examples of why they believe that as a society we are teaching children from birth, to be associated with their gender and their gender only. Gendering children has been produced by

What is a sex? What is gender? According to Merriam-Webster the word sex means, “either of the two major forms of individuals that occur in many species and that are distinguished respectively as female or male especially on the basis of their reproductive organs and structures” and gender means, “an inflection form showing membership in such a subclass”. Basically, an individual’s sex is determined at birth, but is interchangeable depending on the gender those individuals desire.

Gender is a cultural construct, completely unrelated to one’s sex assigned at birth. Nevertheless, in American culture one is assigned a specific gender the minute they are born. When we enter the world, the doctor immediately exclaims: “it’s a boy!” or “it’s a girl!” and the baby is

Gender as defined in Merriam-Webster as “the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex.” Gender is a culturally and socially constructed role assigned to males or females. Biological sex is “our anatomy as female, male, or intersex” (Planned Parenthood, 2016). Sex is based off of biological characteristics such as our internal and external sex organs, chromosomes, and hormones. Sex and gender are so commonly grouped together to mean the same thing but they are different. Sex refers to the biological part of the being and gender refers to the characteristics that the society or culture says is masculine or feminine. For most people it’s easier to just think of your sex only referring to your sexual organs

I never really put much thought into the difference between gender and sex. I, like most people, would have assumed that they were the same thing. After reading Multiple Choice: Gender, Orientation, and Sexual identity by Heather Corina, it made me think about my perception of these two words. I also now believe that they are in fact different. This article put sex and gender in a different perspective to me. Gender is characteristic of a person that they choose to identify as. This may or may not be different then their actual sex, which is the anatomical characteristic of people that we were born with (Corina, 2007). The broader aspect of this article challenged my way of thinking rather than just one small aspect of it.

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” – Benjamin Franklin When it comes to writing prompts, essays, or research papers I find myself continuously starting with a quote. I find myself wondering what the reader must be thinking to him or herself when they see that I start with a quote. Do they sigh with a sarcastic feeling great another quote” or do they take the words in consideration to what is to follow. During my academic years in college I have yet to find myself writing as much as my teachers through high school emphasized I would so repeatedly see. I have found myself doing most of my writing my freshman year with my prerequisite courses it being ENG 1280 which was offered at my past University. Where wrote

Sex refers to biological difference between females and males. For instance, chromosomes in females are XX and male chromosomes are XY. Females reproductive organs are ovaries and hormones are oestrogen. Males reproductive organs are testes and hormones are testosterone. Gender refers to the cultural difference which has effect on society of women and men according to their sex. An individual sex cannot change from birth but their gender could.

The textbook identifies four approaches to gender development: biological, interpersonal, cultural, and critical. Define each theory. Then answer the following question: which of the theoretical approaches to gender do you find the most valid? Be sure to include at least two examples from your own experience as well as two scholarly sources to back up your claim.

There has been great effort and huge advances made in making men and women equal yet as a society we still have a long way to

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.

You are born with sexual attributes but gender qualities are developed after birth (Tovey and Share, 2003). The variations between the two sexes are an outcome of culture and society (Giddens, 2001). The best way to prove the difference between the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ is the situation of transsexuals. These people fit biologically into one sex but feel they belong to the other. Through surgery and hormone treatment they try to change their biological sex and by doing this they also have to learn how to act like the sex they have changed to. They also have to take on new masculine/feminine roles (Browne, 2005). One in every two thousand babies is born intersex which is a baby with mixed female and male characteristics.