Gender And Gender Identity

Transgender means having a gender identity that does not correspond to the sex that is on the person’s birth certificate. A transgender woman means that she identifies as a female, but her assigned sex is male. Many people do not know that there is a difference between gender and sex. Gender is what someone inwardly feels that they are more like male or female. Some people are gender fluid, meaning that one day they might feel more like a male and one day they might feel more like a female, or they might feel like they don’t fit on the traditional gender spectrum and have a specific gender. Sex is what is what you are assigned at birth and is on your birth certificate. Most people identify with the same sex they were given at birth, which means that they are cisgender (Blythe B.2).

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 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

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 can sometimes be seen as biological characteristics humans have, when in fact it is the social characteristic ones society deems either masculine or feminine. Sex, on the other hand, is the biological differences in humans, for example, hormones and sex organs. People usually play gender roles in society, otherwise known as gender ideology. Gender ideology is when men and women have certain attitudes regarding their ‘fixed’ roles, responsibilities and rights. Throughout history men and women have been socialized to play these expected roles that have been placed on them due to their sex. In my own personal life I have encountered many instances where I have been socialized in relation to sex and gender.

Gender should not be intertwined with the term sex, which refers to the physical differences in individuals. Instead, gender is the idea of being male or female, and it is well understood by the time children reach the preschool years. Differences in gender become more pronounced as children age, and societal expectations are reinforced by parents and peers. Behavioral differences may be evident since parents may treat their child differently according to gender. A big example of this is how parents may react to a child’s first

Gender identity is the personal conception of being a man or a woman and the society creates standards and comes up with gender roles basing them on existing norms and traditions which will in turn influence gender identity. For instance, most societies associate strength and dominance to be masculine roles while caring and assisting or subordination known to be feminine roles. This clearly makes gender identity be bred within the society. One’s identity is important as it influences his or her life through events like life experiences, how one is being taken or treated, how to do one associate or socialize with others, the type of job one will have to do and also opportunities that may come up favoring a certain type of gender identity. One is also likely to face obstacles or discrimination due to his or her identity.

By outlining the social and racial inflicted prejudice which consumed British ideology, there is a clear identity crisis for the black female characters in The Final Passage, Small Island and Second-Class Citizen. The inexplicable cultural ties to the colonial country indicate an erasable diasporic history which often surfaces within the relationships and liminal spaces which the Black female characters encounter in the mother country. As a result, we can see the character of Leila in severe turmoil due to her hybrid identity and the racial discrimination inflicted upon her. Thus, racial identity is crucial in mapping, re-negotiating and constructing the female diaspora throughout the texts. The positioning of Black women in post-war Britain

Being transgender means that a person’s inner self does not coordinate with their outer self, their biological sex. Cisgender is a person who typically agrees with their physical self and biological sex (Cisgender). There are different ways that trans individuals describe themselves; these include but are not limited to transgender, transsexual, and non-binary. Non-binary means that one identifies with no specific sex and does not comply with one gender category (Hesse). Transgender women are women who are biologically born as a male but identify and/or have undergone gender reassignment surgery (Transgender FAQ).

When I first started thinking about gender roles and how they influence us, I wanted to argue for how things have gotten more equal for both sexes in our society. Women and men alike have gradually shifted into roles once believed to be the sole territory of either one sex or the other, making gender equality highly valued by most people now-a-days. We also now acknowledge the differences between gender identity and sexual identity, and the roles that transgender, bisexual, gay/lesbian, and heterosexual individuals bring to our society. However, when I started to really reflect upon the 21st century, I began to realize that many of the culturally defined ways of behaving for men and women today still seem to be from the norm of a time so long past it isn’t funny. Two current examples, in our society today women face caps on how far they can go in the workforce due to a pre-established “glass ceiling” that dominates in a still very male oriented work environment; on the flipside, many people, men and women alike, will snub their nose at the “stay-at-home dad,” because both sexes still see house work and childcare as the women place.

‘Transgender’ refers to individuals who have a deep feeling that the gender they were born with does not ‘fit’ them and whose gender is different from that traditionally assigned to their

The construction of a self-identity can be a very complex process that every individual is identity is developed through the lenses of cultural influences and how it is expected to given at birth. Through this given identity we are expected to think, speak, and behave in a certain way that fits the mold of societal norms. This paper aims to explain how gender perform gender roles according these cultural values. I intend to analyze the process in which individuals learned and internalized their respective gender identities, through their cultural background. I will be conducting a set of interviews with the intention to compare my experience as a self-identified male of Mexican descent, to the experience of another male character of Japanese heritage in order to understand how we come to self-identify as masculine in diverged cultures. In this paper, I argue that the construction of gender identities is a direct consequence of societal influential factors such as family values; values that reflect the individual’s culture. This analysis will not only utilize evidence from these identity formations, but also in explaining why and how these self-identities were constructed using both theoretical sources and empirical studies as a framework.

Gender identity is an aspect of the self that is constantly evolving. It is how you feel internally and how you choose to express your desired gender through the way you dress, the way you behave, and the way you appear to others. A majority of the population feels as if they are either a male or they are a female. Others feel like they are neither. There are a various amount of labels that can define a person who feels like they are neither male nor female such as genderqueer, gender variant, or gender fluid. One who defines as cisgender presents themselves as the gender that they were assigned at birth. How one chooses to express their gender identity is completely up to them (Sexual Orientation and Gender). At the beginning of adolescence, both boys and girls deal with “pressure to conform to culturally sanctioned gender roles” (Priess, Lindberg, Hyde, 2009). Some very important aspects of gender identity include interpersonal, family, and friend interactions, the attachment theory and self theory, cultural contexts, and gender stratification.

The roles of genes clearly play an important part in defining sex as every one of us. However, with genes comes at birth male or female in whom will generally by categorized into gender roles from the very beginning. As soon as a baby is born its already a topic of what clothes she’s going to wear, professions and everything about her will most likely be thought as either male or female ways of life. Even with our cultural changes (gay rights, transgender) you still have to relay on the fact that you always born either male or female; hormones are the key factor in determining what sex thus influencing your gender identity in our society. In this paper I wanted to answer the title question providing insights on both subjects, how genders roles are not important in our society and how they are important.