Gender And Gender Identity

​​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.

Debates about identity as environmentally or biologically constructed have been on going in several studies. The belief that identity is innate is a form of common sense understanding that is challenged by the constructionist perspective of identity. The sex/gender identity is when a person who is determined as male or female based on biological criteria is required to act according to assigned gender roles of masculinity or femininity (Carrera et al. 2012). That being said, the sex/gender identity creates limitations on the categories a persons identity can fall under. Although we have these fixed categories, gender identity is socially constructed because there are groups outside of being a man and woman. Also, there are different types of gender identities across the world and identity is created over time.

Although gender identity is an ascribed status one given at birth , society shapes that identity through socialization. In the process of learning traits and activities that are desirable and correct individuals internalize approved sex role behavior as a real part of themselves. (pg.500, Parrillo).The female, in the world of sport earns the achieved status but then through society and Social Conditioning falls into the role of being in the ascribed status.

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.

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

When it comes to gender identity, I identify myself as a masculine or a man. As a masculine I’m going to play the role of a female where I would go to a neighborhood close to where I live, wear a wedding dress, and see how people around the block reacting to my kind of behavior. Base of my moral norm, I think it would be shameful, and I expect people to feel disgusting by it because that’s how I would feel if I were the public. As we all know when it comes to the behaviors between men and women, there is a lot of thing women can do but man can’t do because if a man does it, it would look weird or shock the society. For instance, throughout the weekend I was thinking about an experiment to see what exactly a woman can do which would be normal,

There are a variety of ways people can identify themselves as. Through their clothes, the music they listen to, the major that they will choose to pursue in college, and hundreds of other choices. Each identity branches off into hundreds of categories that are unique in their own way. For clothes. people can identify themselves as punks, hipsters, preppies, and many more fashion styles. The same concept can apply to music, college majors, and even genders. In the 1950s, it was extremely typical and socially accepted that there was a male and female, but it is 2015 and times have drastically changed. Due to the concept of subcategories of different categories, I strongly believe that there can be more than two genders along with the male and

What does one think when someone brings up the topic of gender in a conversation? Some may act be disgusted, while others may offer bits of education they have learned about gender identity, or others may just stay silent. All in all, someone is bound to share their opinion on the concept of gender identity, whether it’s beneficial or educated or not. Although gender identity and gender expression differ greatly from each other, they both affect society in positive and negative ways.

What is gender? Most people feel as though gender consists only of the terms “boy“ & “girl“ , but it’s so much more than that. Gender is a very complex reality that is not just about what genetalia you have. In this paper I will explore all the subcategories and misconceptions of gender.

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

From adolescence and on, people have dreams. They develop a sense of longing for a certain career or hobby, and push to make this dream come true. Boys wanted to be firemen, and girls wanted to be ballerinas. One dangerous and heroic, while the other is graceful and poised. Have you ever heard of these roles switched? Have you heard a little boy say he wants to become a famous ballerina, or a young girl saying she wants to put out fires? The society we live in today has taught and developed many from a young age to believe in stereotypes and specific gender roles; therefore, leading us to be blinded by the fact that any sex can do anything they put their mind to: specifically women. Women who have been told they “can’t” for their whole lives.

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.

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

Gender is imprinted in a person’s identity. A person’s identity is closely connected to the social institutions he or she includes himself in. These social institutions have influence over the lives of individuals in various aspects. One social institution an individual imparts oneself in is religion. Religious institutions use scriptures as the primary basis for life such as the Holy Bible for the Catholics and the Quran for the Muslims. Of the data given, some Christians and Muslim non-heterosexuals experience social exclusion because of some spiritual texts (Yip, 2005). According to a survey by Pew Research Center 's Social & Demographic Trends done in 2013 on the religious affiliations, 48% of the LGBT Americans did not have one. The executive director of the Gay Christian Network, Justin Lee said, "[the study] reflects a lot of my own experience in the LGBT community. Many LGBT people have felt a lack of understanding and love from religious groups-Christians in particular-and, as a result, they often walk away from their childhood faith and may even become very hostile to religion.” That statement is just one of the many sentiments non-heterosexuals experience in today’s contemporary society. The following paragraphs will discuss how Christian and Muslims non-heterosexuals critique the traditional hermeneutics and the credibility of institutional interpretive authority of Judeo-Christian Scriptures and Islam’s Holy Book – the Quran. There are two approaches namely, the

One area of social interaction within a culture that is symbolically dictated by images and expectations is gender identity. Because western society recognizes a two-gendered system, there exists a dichotomy between the characteristics and objects associated with both males and females. Notably, the colour blue frequently conveys masculinity while pink is instead aesthetically feminine. Likewise, where boys traditionally play with action figures as children, girls receive dolls. Belief in these signs—even if they are oversimplified—influences the language surrounding these gender roles and subsequently, produces assumptions of acceptable behaviour and actions. For instance, since action figures usually personify the characters of superheroes or soldiers, men, similarly become seen as being tough or brave. Furthermore, these images encourage them to perpetuate those traits. Contrastingly, dolls as models of babies, illustrate a view of women as being gentle and domestic figures. As such, in communities that distinguish between more than only two gender types, this polarity in the impressions of males and females would probably vary, or not exist at all.