Gender And Gender Identity

Sex, gender- gender roles and gender identity, are words that one might assume to mean the same but in reality they don’t. It is an incorrect assumption and everyone should understand the difference. They each have their own distinct meaning, for a reason and purpose. The definitions are concrete and make sense once a person hears and applies them.

​​Gender is defined as whatever behaviors and attitudes a group considers proper for its males and females. Unlike sex, gender is something that we learn from the day we are born. “Young children begin to acquire gender role stereotypes at about the same time they develop gender identity and by the age of 3 or 4 most children” (Amanda Youmans). Peers, community, media, religion and our upbringing all play a role in the understanding of our culture and what is considered acceptable for males and females. When the sex of a child is revealed, they are automatically placed into a gender specific role with certain expectations. There are things in this world such as colors, toys, media depiction and taught behaviors that play into these gender roles.

The determination of my gender identity was preset by my parents giving me the chromosomes XY, gave me an anatomic appearance of a female. Also being reared in a hetero environment had an influence in becoming a female as well. So the relation to the masculinity-femininity continuum is that I posses both traits feminine and masculine. In some situations I tend to carry myself as a caring and soft-spoken female, is typical for feminine behavior. On the other hand I express more masculine attributes like aggressiveness and self-reliance, which is typical for masculine behavior. Both add in the development in determining and sustaining my gender identity. The biological perspective by the way was inherited from my parents and aided in the development of the characteristics in becoming a woman, gender role of nurturing and caring individual, and maternal tendencies in taking care of my child. Then the psychological perspective according to my mother to which she insists that I was a normal girl with particular behaviors toward feminine toys and clothes. As a final point, the social environment offers an insight into the typical social role of an American woman, which was predetermined at birth by my social surroundings (Rathus, Nevid &

The word identity has become the most discussed idea in our society. It is described mostly, to be a word that stands for who we are. Therefore, because of who we are, identity has come to be a word that we use to claim and understand people’s actions in our society. So in this paper I will be analysing how social practices surrounding identity relates to gender in social, personal levels, through the work of three authors; by Ian Hacking on “kind making”, Margaret Somers on “Narrative construction of identity” and finally, Frederick Cooper and Rogers Brubaker on “beyond identity” . However, I will tilt more toward Frederick Cooper and Rogers Bruakers article on identity. This is because I feel that their article contributes better to my

I grew up surrounded by strong women who fulfilled both male and female gender roles. I attended an all-female high school where girls took on the positions traditionally reserved for boys. All my friends were girls and I did not have male friends until I reached college. For most of my childhood I took on neither masculine or feminine gender norms. I was not a traditional tomboy or girly girl, over all I identified as a nerd more than anything else. I looked up to both men and women, but not because of their gender performances. I never questioned my gender or even thought much about it and so; I fell within a strange limbo of identifying as a female but not participating in female gender roles. It was not until later in life where I encountered terms such as non-binary, androgynous, and gender non-conforming. After talking to people who identified with these terms, and learning more about what they mean; it made me question where I fall on the gender spectrum. Many of my mannerisms are traditionally masculine yet I fulfill mostly female gender roles. Today I still identify as female and occasionally chose to actively participate in my gender

Transgender can be defined as a person whose self-identity does not conform precisely to conventional notions of the male or female gender. This self-identity problem can usually be accompanied by numerous forms of treatment to change ones’ physical appearance, and make it more consistent with their identified gender identity. In many cases, the individual can identify with the gender of the opposite sex to the point one believes that he or she is a member of that gender group trapped in the wrong body. This is also called Gender Dysphoria or formerly known as Gender Identity Disorder. The person with gender dysphoria or GD at times does not know that he or she have an actual disorder but more of a general discomfort with his or her biological sex. This also creates complications in their everyday life, when they are unable to interpret their feelings or rationalize problems they experience in a social setting (Gender Dysphoria, 2014).

Gender identity is an extremely personal part of who we are, and how we perceive and express ourselves in the world. It is a separate issue entirely from sex or sexual orientation. There are dozens of dynamic and evolving terms related to how people identify. “Although Children are taught that their genes decree whether they will grow into men or women, people are not born socially or culturally female or male. Like race and ethnicity, gender can be thought of as socially constructed” (Marsiglia & Kulis, 2015, p. 196). I identify as female because I was taught as a child that I am female because of the genital parts I was born with. I also feel like I am a female. I do have my beliefs on what being a female or male entails.

Because the gender identity matches my biological gender, it is widely acceptable to for me to express my gender in this way. I can freely

Why should gender determine how to live your life? Throughout my whole existence, I’ve been told to act and dress like a “girl” by most of my family. I never understood why it was such a huge deal, until I was much older. Gender expectations are still around today and they still continue to be affect the way men and women are treated. A man that acts within his own gender role is praised, but a woman is forced to stay in a certain limit within her role. Men and women shouldn 't let their gender define themselves and it should not pressure them to live up to a certain standard created by society.

Gender roles and gender identity are topics that are prevalent in today’s society, and cause many debates in classrooms and in everyday life. There are varied opinions on the subject. Most people have very strong beliefs on how children develop their gender roles and identity and can backup those beliefs with personal experiences behind their reasoning

Set with the task of interviewing three people about their life experiences and perceptions in hopes of gleaming a bit of insight into gender identity, I had several people say to me that gender was not an issue in their life, and I should just find someone else. Most people never think about their gender or how they express it, or they think that gender and sex are the synonyms ( American Psychiatric Association, 2013). That is, until confronted with a significantly different culturally expressed gender role, or unless your gender identity is not accepted as normal. Therefore the three individuals I ended up choosing Hector, Amy and Leta, are somewhat diverse but also similar in many ways in which one should be able to appreciate but the

We have all been characterized as either a boy or a girl. But is it because of our anatomy? Or is our society and cultures the ones who build our identity? Well for starters, society has its own image for what is considered as masculine or feminine. This is where gender roles come in; it becomes a limit of your true identity, growing stereotypes that you are supposed to fit into. It all begins from the day you are born. In the hospital, scientifically your sex is determined, meaning you are biologically divided based on your body parts. From that first day society takes its part in giving a pink blanket distinguishing that you are a girl or a blue one for boys. So what does it mean to be a boy or a girl? In our modern days, gender signifies what associates us with what people think, feel and expect of us. It is becoming a problem for humans to decipher their true selves with society always giving them principles to follow. They are constantly being nurtured into these genders, and on that note, if you decide to be different from what is

Gender identity is ultimately constructed by the vision of society plus the choice of an individual. Social expectations are heavily regulated even before one is born. From there it depends if one wants to follow the path chosen before birth or create a new one. Although society takes part in classifying gender that does not mean that one must agree with how one chooses to identify as.

Gender is based on the learned attitude and behavior that describes you as a woman or a man (Benokraitis, 2017). There is characteristic that describes you to be a male or female. Some characteristics that can tell you that you are a male are muscles, facial hair, and Adams apple (Benokraitis, 2017). Some characteristic women have long hair, pierced ears and fine jewelry. Gender identity is how people describes their

Gendered identity seemed to be well defined during the 1950s and this appeared to be reflected in fashion. These clearly defined roles and images however have not, historically, been consistent. At the beginning of the 20th century women’s style and fashion started to change intensely, this changing has helped women to fight for their independence of their style in fashion. Clothing moved to be more practical, a huge change from the narrowed and restricted frills and corsets of the 19th century. Fashion in the 1900s started to see a decline of the train on women’s dresses but soon enough hems began to develop (above the ankle). In the 1910s style began to concentrated more on the female shape, and just after one year later the world saw the beauty of slender silhouette. However, women were still required to keep the