Gender Identity And Social Identity

​Gender identity has changed its definition over time. The psychological definition as stated from the social learning theory is that gender identity is the sense of being male or female. Seems simple but we now know in todays world the definition has broadened. Gender identity is now defined as one 's personal experience of one 's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with assigned sex at birth, or can differ from it completely. All societies have a set of gender categories that can serve as the basis of the formation of a person 's social identity in relation to other members of society. From the past when we had many strong women’s rights activist who fought so what your gender was did not

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.

A significant point in Bems’ (1993) chapter in Lens of Gender on gender identity was the concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy when it comes to the treatment and development of young boys and girls in society. The first point discussed is how the ‘maternal instinct’ is not so biological as much it is women being confined to the private sphere, in turn having the most interaction with children. This point stood out as I was reading because I have known from a young age I did not want children. Many told me that my opinion would change when I grew older, and when you have your own child being a mother comes naturally. As I reflected I was reminded of the point later made by Bem (1993) that “adults in the child’s community

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 is considered an axis of social order. Its categorisation into masculinity and femininity is social constructed and maintained in everyday life (Clark and Page, 2005; Mackie, 1994). Gender identity is our innermost understanding of our self as ‘male’ or ‘female’. Most people develop a gender identity that matched their biological sex (their body). Gender identity can be affected by, and is different from one society to another, depending on the way the members of society evaluate the role of females and males. Our gender identity can be influenced from the ethnicity of the group, their cultural background, and family values. Gender like social class and race can be used to socially categorize people and even lead to prejudice and discrimination. From day –to-day, continuous production of gender has been called ‘doing gender’ (West and Zimmermann, 1987), meaning that gender is “made” by us in everyday lives in our interactions with others.

In a recent South Park episode, titles “The Cissy”, in order for his own personal gain to use the girls’ bathroom and later to receive his own bathroom, Cartman dons a pink bow on his head to become “Erica.” Meanwhile, Randy Marsh (as known as Lorde to most and Stan’s dad) must battle with his gender identity and that of his music as women at his work are uncomfortable with sharing a bathroom with him, therefore he must receive his own against his wishes. While both Cartman’s and Randy Marsh’s struggles with their gender identity revolve around the use of a bathroom, through the juxtaposition of the actions of shooting a school and becoming transgender, the symbolism of the “executive bathroom,” and the final scene of Stan singing in the bathroom designated for “Cissys’” reveal society’s inability to comprehend gender- identity struggles, thus exposing the uselessness of gender- labeling.

National identity is the transmission of each generation’s legacy to the next and the enabling of the nation citizen to take pride and identification of the country (Stephan, 2009). A nation positive unique identity breeds patriotism which consequently

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.

Normalcy is an ever-changing concept in a variety of ways, and gender identity is among the primary areas in which the concept of “natural” or “normal” has been adapting very rapidly over the past century. First-wave feminists thought that woman and man were inherent (“normal”) categories, and that the two sexes (which were natural) had different characteristics. De Beauvoir, in turn, argues that women are made and remade through society’s continuous investment of cultural significance onto the bodies in which they are born, and sexed through direct differentiation from men. Judith Butler joined the gender debate when the second-wave sex and gender distinction reigned and was thought to parallel the distinction between nature and culture. Butler supports this second wave conception of gender, and she provides further support for it through her reading of Freud. Her analysis offers new support for the second wave’s conception of gender as a social construct, as well as new suggestions about how the process of social construction could take place.

Sociologists have long recognized that gender, unlike biological sex, is rooted in social beliefs and varies considerably across cultures. Proponents of structural-functional theory understand that gender is a state of being that is socially constructed and point to earlier societies that organized social roles based on the division of labor which allowed society to function at an optimal level. The development of gender identity is grounded in social norms, comprising accepted behaviors and rules that allow an individual to conform to a particular group. On a day to day basis, individuals display gender as “a performance, a stylized repetition of acts” (Lucal, p114) through culturally based mannerisms, appearance and behavior, all of

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.

The next segment will focus on the similarities and differences between participants (A) and (B), through analyzing social factors. Some similitude among both participants is that they are both males, and also the way in which culture help to shape their gender identities. In the particular case of (A), his culture’s belief systems and practices reinforced his understanding on gender and what it meant to be a male within his culture and significant others. (A) formation of gender identity was acquired through his personal social experience in which he was expected to be a “macho”, therefore, fulfill his culture’s rules on gender expectations by practicing self-expression, behaving and embracing the “macho” characterization of a male. As Jodi O'Brien states, that concepts such as gender, are handed down to us through social intercourse with other members of our culture (88). Similarly, to (A), participant (B) did also develop his understanding of gender identity under the influence of cultural rules, belief systems and practices. (B) follow his cultural beliefs on the expectation of a male character and embraced his gender identity based on what his culture valued the most, in this case, achieving financial success and demonstrating sophisticated personality traits.

Is gender binary universal or socially constructed? That is going to be the big question we ask ourselves today. Many people may have a different point of view and say it's this or that but today I will break it down how I see it in my eyes and will go in depth to support my idea. I will define three special words today which will be gender, gender binary and social construction. While going into depth with the article “Night to His Day”: The Social Construction of Gender” Lorber 1994. This consists of informing us that gender binary could be universal or social construction. Lorber believes that gender binary is universal for the individual and a social construction to society. I'll go more into depth with that concept in paragraph three. Also going into depth and in detail about the meaning of gender to society and the individual. Lastly, explain that gender binary could be universal or a social construction. Let's begin with the first concept of gender and gender binary.

As evident from the generalized patterns found in differences in behaviour and outlook observed between the sexes, it may be tempting, as has been done in the past, to conclude that gender is an unavoidable aspect of human existence as determined purely from one 's genes. Indeed, human physiology is subject to sexual dimorphism; statistically significant differences in brain size and rate of maturation of specific substructures in the brain exist between males and females (Giedd, Castellanos, Rajapakese, Vaituzis, & Rapoport, 1997), yet these physical differences fail to explain how individuals form their concept of their own gender, and why they tend to conform to their perceived gender roles as defined by the society in which they live, when these roles are ever-changing. Thus, it is important to differentiate between the physical and nonphysical traits, and how the labels of femininity and masculinity should not confuse the two aspects. As defined by Unger (1979), “sex” would be used to refer to the biological differences in males and females, while “gender” describes socioculturally determined, nonphysiological traits which are arbitrarily designated as being appropriate for either females or males. With more recent awareness and interest in matters of gender nonconformity and individual gender identity, new research now explains how these concepts of gender are shaped by social influences (Perry