Gender Distinction Between Sex And Gender

Gender derives its formative meaning from culture and societal values, it is not a universal entity as there are various cultures, societal values, beliefs, and preferred ways of organizing collective life across the globe and even within a single culture the meaning of gender varies over time. Chapters three and four of Gendered Lives by Julia T. Wood helps to insightfully look at those views, and rhetorical movements (women and men’s movements) that have overtime influenced, defined and given various meanings to gender (masculinity and femininity).

Through my experiences with people of many backgrounds, as well as my education, I have learned to separate the idea of sex and gender. I still maintain certain traditional views regarding gender, however I’ve come to the realization that the social constructs of men and women are not, and should not, be as rigid. In my opinion, I have acknowledged that there are differences between ‘men’ and ‘women’, however these differences should be used to uplift one another, rather than to tear the other gender apart. For example, a family unit in which the man decides to take on the responsibilities of the

Gender has been described as masculine or feminine characteristics that encompass gender identity sex as well as social roles (Nobelius 2004). According to sexologist John Money, there is a difference between gender as a role and the biologically of differences in sex (Udry 1994). Within scholarly disciplines, cultures and contexts, gender frequently has its own mean, contextual frame of reference and the manner in which it is used to describe a variety of issues and characteristics. The sociocultural codes, conventions and the suggested and literal rules that accompany the notion of gender are vast and diverse. There has been and continues to be much scholarly debate regarding the idea of gender and how it has been viewed historically; as well as changes in the grammatical use of the

West and Zimmerman’s theory of “Doing Gender” defines sex and gender as two separate entities within this binary society. Sex refers to the biological characteristics that are typically attributed to males and females. Gender is the status of the individual performing the activities that are commonly associated with masculinity and femininity. These traits are rigid in dictating the individual’s consistent performance of them. A gendered individual must execute the appropriate acts that are linked to masculinity or femininity respectively. It is a learned behavior that is taught at an early age through observation of society. Therefore, it is society that decides whether an action is attributed to masculinity or femininity. Gender is a socially constructed idea of thought that people unconsciously follow. The acts that constitute a particular gender can change based on the views of society within a generation. Certain activities and forms of appearance have shifted between males and females. As society evolves throughout history, the interactions between individuals and their gendered actions have changed. West and Zimmerman state, “When we view gender as an accomplishment, an achieved property of situated conduct, our attention shifts from matters internal to the individual and focuses on interactional and, ultimately, institutional arenas” (West and Zimmerman, 1987, page 126). Thus the performance of gender has developed passed the individual and is engrained within the

In the article, “Doing Gender,” West and Zimmerman (1987) argues the concept of gender as a social activity or interaction, as opposed to an intrinsic individual value. These activities and interactions are socially constructed norms of male and female, masculinity and femininity. To further explain gender, the authors define 3 important concepts: sex, sex category, and gender. Sex refers to biological factors (e.g., hormones, genitalia), sex category refers to visual markers (e.g., dress, hairstyle), and gender is the interactive piece. The authors state that doing gender is always certain and ongoing as it is embedded in everyday life (e.g., the way we dress, walk, sit, and communicate) and it is the individual who holds sole responsibility

In this paper, I will discuss Wasserstrom’s arguments relating to the unimportance of gender and how differentiating people based on their gender promotes the harmful ideology of sex roles. I will then present Schlafly’s arguments which regard the differences between men and women as justifiable due to the fact that these differences are not only natural, but also practical and obligatory, and show that they are inferior to Wasserstrom’s arguments. I will argue this by elaborating on Wassertrom’s argument of how there is no such thing as “natural” while providing reasons for why this is so.

“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

In this assignment I will be discussing the expect of nature vs nurture debate and will be defining what gender and sex is and applying that to nature vs nurture debate.

Sex and gender were constantly contested and formulated by several theorists in ranging disciplines obtaining an interest of sex and gender distinctions. Several people commonly group sex and gender as comparable aspects, in stating that women are human females whereas men are human males. (first reader) However this perspective has been challenged and contested by feminist theorist in formulating and endorsing a clear concise distinction between the two concepts. Analytically sex depicts human females and males depending on biological features such as sex organs, chromosomes, hormones and other physical

Although still problematic, gender roles constructed by society and cultures have progressed throughout the years, not as much as hoped but in small ways. The social and cultural construction of gender in definition means the construction of gender roles created by others that determine their behaviors and develop standards based on their sex. In the article Social Construction of Gender by Lorber the author demonstrates the social and cultural construction of gender stating, “Yet in Western societies, we see two discrete sexes and two distinguishable genders because our society is built on two classes of people, ‘women’ and ‘men’. Once the gender category is given the attributes of the person are also gendered….”(Lorber, 11). In the poem

“Social construction theory, in contrast, argues that gender roles, behaviours, and differences are not the natural consequence of minor biological differences, but are instead the result of historical, economic, and cultural forces which have pushed women into social and economic roles and men into others. It sees biology as providing the raw materials, and sees social institutions, culture, history and individual agency as what shape those raw materials into human beings who also happen to be gendered as men, women, and other genders” ( Klement 3). In this day and age gender and sexuality are very sensitive topics. Gender differences and inequalities has been a thing that has been engraved in our minds since the dawn of time.

In this paper I will be examining two different psychological positions on gender identity. These positions are; binary gender identity and diverse gender identity. After I have explained both positions I will analyze the two and put forth my argument that diverse gender identity captures a more accurate depiction of gender. This psychologically charged debate over gender identity and its presence in society has taken the form of intuitions over social necessity. In where one side is arguing that traditional binary gender norms are no longer relevant in today’s world, and that binary gender norms are damaging to the cultivation of a happy and healthy society. While the other side argues that traditional binary gender norms

To begin with, it is essential to identify the difference between ‘sex’ and ‘gender’. ‘Sex’ is biologically classified according to the presentation of an individual’s genitalia. In most societies such as the Western society, there are only two sexes that are recognized (Lorber, 1993, p. 569). Males are said to have XY chromosome (testes and a penis) whereas women are said to have XX chromosome (vagina and ovaries) (Fausto-Sterling, 1993, pp. 40-41). However the concept of labelling genitalia as ‘male’ or ‘female’ is problematic. This is because it completely disregards the individuals who are intersex. Anne Fausto- Sterling went on to suggest the five sex system in order to have the individuals who are intersex recognised in society. This stated that in addition to males and females, herms (people born with both testes and ovary), merms (people born with testes and

The audience was in an uproar as they had guessed the wrong gender of a woman, Danielle, on a recently aired episode of Maury: MAN or WOMAN. Danielle held many features that the audience characterized as a woman: the long, curly red hair, the “coke bottle” body, the model walk, the perfectly formed busty boobs and the flawless skin; however, Danielle, biologically, was a male. This uproar was prompted by the defilement of societal expectations that an individual’s biological sex should determine a fixed gendered behavior. In essence, Danielle was to be a Dan with expected man behavior and male genitalia. This, however, is a common misconception

In this paper, I will talk about the differences of sex and gender from the aspect of transgenderism. To begin with we will provide a brief background on the sex and gender. Whenever a human born, they always have a natural sex with them. Sex, a more biologic and physiological meaning, which means two main categories, male or female, into which organisms are placed on this basis. On the other hand, gender is a social meaning pertaining to masculinity and femininity. (Urdy, 1994) It is including that biological sex, sex-based social structures or gender identity. (Haig, 2004) When we born in this world we cannot get rid of the influence of our context. As a result, sex and gender may be different for one person. Thus, some people, who have a difference sex from his or her gender, may struggle with themselves and all the world. The transgenderism suggests us about the differences of sex and gender from several parts and I will only discuss parts of them because of the limitation of words and time. For example, they have different meanings and also refer to different area. The most important is that they have different influence on how people identity themselves. Although sex and gender is different, they are many sociologists assume that we should consider sex and gender are the same. In next several sections I will elaborate the definition of sex and gender and their