Gender Identity, A Biological Construction

Society has drilled an image into our minds as people of how the role of each gender should be played out. There are two recognized types of genders, a male and a female. Most people come to think that gender is just male or female. Yet it has become more complex then that. Today it is not just that if you have male parts, you are a man, the opposite goes for women. According to the authors Aaron Devor and Deborah Blum. Gender is much more complex then just male and female, it is more socially composed. We are taught to be male and female trough things like media, our parents, and role model figures. These

Gender is defined as being male or female as defined by roles, social status, and attitude. The perception of oneself and what characterizes gender identity. Included in gender identity is hormone and behavior interaction, along with the examination of psychological, biological, and environmental influences on sexual separation.

The concept of gender is not as cut and dry as you might think. The term gender is often used incorrectly as a synonym for our biological sex. Gender is more of a predetermined set of ideas and characteristics used in identifying socially acceptable behaviors and appearances for the sexes. It is not determined by the biological sex of the person. From an early age we begin to develop ideas of what it means to be male or female by observing others. Gender falls on a spectrum from masculine to feminine with many combinations in between. Gender expression and gender identity are also not the same thing. Gender expression is not related directly to how a person perceives their gender,

Gender is a complex socially constructed idea. Often people interchangeably use gender to refer to someone’s sex. This is not the case. Sex is the biological characteristics that makes someone a male, female or intersex. Gender however is made up of expression, identity, and sexual orientation. Gender identity is how one views themselves such as a woman, man or transgender. Gender identity does not correspond to the sex of that person. Gender expression is how one expresses their gender identity. This could be through a masculine , feminine or androgynous expression. In Western societies, although there has been a push for change in our gender system, the gender system as been a binary system. This binary system only believes that there are

The formation of gender identity is not completely understood as it is much more complex than just getting a sperm and egg cell to join; an XX or an XY genotype is only the first part in gender identity. There are many biological, psychological and sociological factors involved. The biological includes chromosomes, gonads, prenatal hormones, internal accessory organs, external genital appearance. The psychological includes assigned gender role and gender identity. The sociological could come from family, mass media and society (Kenyon, PhD, 2006). Sammons (2007) states that biological psychology

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

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.

Gender is socio-psychological characterizing of being male or female. Gender identity is the sense of being identified as one of these genders, and it is usually established before three years of age. Gender role describes the expectations of the society as how a male or female should behave according to their sex. Biology is the natural factor for differential gender development, and biologically a person with 46 XY chromosomes in their cells and gonads of testes would be a male, and a person with 46 XX chromosomes in their cells and gonads of ovaries would be a female. Also, hormones such as testosterone and estrogen, and evolution offer some insight in to the psychological differences in the genders (Santrock, 2009). However, there

This is not the case for everyone, which is a large issue in the world today. Gender identity is someone’s perception of the sex of another person. This is heavily discussed in our society today where gender binary and the population of the transgender community grows every day. People are born male and female and conform to the way they want to be whether it be masculine or feminine. (Wood, pg. 172-173).

The relationship between biological sex and cultural construction of gender is that one leads to another. Biological sex is the sex determined from one’s chromosomes, males being XY and females being XX. While biologically this is correct, there are cases in which physically one is born male or female, but mentally, they feel as if they should be the opposite. That is where biological sex and cultural construction of gender intermingle. Looking at the cultural construction of gender, one can identify a male in comparison to a female, but when looking at the bigger picture, the cultural construction of gender is more of a social construct that only applies only in a social world. The relationship between biological sex and cultural contraction of

There are numerous theories regarding the development of one’s gender identity. Gender identity refers how one identifies as either male, female or transgender.

These two instances, the guinea pig and sex reassignment studies, lend credence to the idea that biology influences our sexual orientation. To bolster these findings Bailey et al. (2000) cite researchers who have explored regions of the brain that are sexually dimorphic (areas that are notably different in men and women). Bailey et al. (2000) cites that in 1976 Dorner identified two brain regions in rats that he implicated in sexual behavior for rats. In males he credited the medial pre-optic anterior hypothalamus (mPOA) and in female rats the area he believed to be responsible for normal sexual behavior was the ventromedial nucleus (Bailey et al., 2000). This led to others exploring the areas of the hypothalamus thought to contribute to sexual functioning. Ultimately it was found that several areas in and around the mPOA appear to be sexually dimorphic. Bailey et al. (2000) mention that upon comparisons of what is expected when looking at these areas in gay men there is a difference in size. An area near/in the mPOA called INAH-3 is found to be smaller and contain fewer cells in women compared to men. Gay men showed size and levels higher than women but less than men. Also findings have shown that the anterior commissure (AC) that connects the right and left hemispheres is significantly

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.

This paper will discuss issues dealing with the roles of biological factors, (nature), and environmental influences, (nurture), on sexual differentiation and gender identity. The author, Troy Stutsman, will evaluate and give a determination as to which has the greater influence on gender identity: nature or nurture. Also discussed will be the current arguments about sexual identity and how evidence from biopsychology which may help to resolve the argument.

Gender is not based on physical attributes. Sex is the word that should be used when speaking about biological characteristics. So, based on the definition of gender by LeVay, gender identity is one’s personal attitude towards being more male or female.