Gender Identity In The United States

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,

In the past gender and sex use to be considered synonymous in context. Gender was often just a compassionate, moderate, more socially acceptable way of evading the word sex. However, there is a good motive for them to be

The John/Joan case impacts our understanding of gender identity development because Joan was born a male and was raised as a female but still had the male characteristics of a boy. John was raised as girl but had the brain of a

In chapter seven, of Social Inequality Forms, Causes, and Consequences, gender identity and sexual orientation are discussed. The chapter discusses transgender;

“One’s sense of gender resides in the brain” (“Gender Identity Disorder”), and this sense of gender is often there before you are born. Dr. Eric Vilain, a professor at the University of California, “identifies fifty-four genes that play a role in the expression of sex in a fetus before hormones are even released” (Windfeild 71&73). One of the biggest mental health issues that are out there is gender identity disorder which “may be as old as humanity (“Gender identity Disorder”). This disorder cause a person, normally a kid, to have a feeling of being the opposite sex . Another reason people need to be aware of people who have gender identity disorder is because if they feel as if they are not safe they may turn to a thing like suicide. “Suicide attempts and substance abuse are common” (“GID”) in people with Gender Identity Disorder. This is so because they often grow up feeling out of place or rejected by family and friends. To help with the mental health of these people with GID people should learn more about

Kailey (2005) started off Just Add Hormones by introducing the terms sex and gender as individual and different words in definition. He also spoke about how transgendered people take much longer to transition than what people frequently assume. Most people assume that one surgery can make a male a female, or a female a male. The book overall discusses the stereotypes transgender people have, and how those stereotype dehumanize regular people. The book shows accurate differences between being female and being male. It allows readers to fully understand Kailey’s (2005) experiences in every aspect of life in both a male and female lense. The book is going to be helpful because it compares and contrasts life as a male to life as a female. This perspective is going to support all three of the themes: gender socialization in the workplace, gender roles in relationships and gender socialization in family, because it contains Kailey’s perspective in

A cultural population that is possibly the most marginalized and misrepresented in health care, is the transgender and gender-nonconforming community (TGNC). Sex and gender are two different concepts. A person’s sex refers to their biological status as either male or female, or the assigned sex at birth (Bradford, 2016). Gender describes the characteristics that a society or culture claims as masculine/male or feminine/woman (Nobelius, 2004). Gender identity is the feeling a person has of being male or female or a combination of both. It is how the person see’s themself. TGNC people connect with a different gender than their birth gender (Dickey, Budge, Katz-Wise & Garza, 2016), in other words, their gender identities do not match with the sex or the gender role expected by society.

Chapter eleven focuses on sexual disorders and gender identity disorders. For this discussion I wanted to talk about gender identity disorder. For ordinary individuals they can describe themselves or identify themselves as either males or females since we are a child. But, there are some individuals who do not experienced this type of clarity. For some individuals it is a sense that their identity is different from the gender category which they were born with or that it is something that lies outside of the usual male versus female categories. These individuals are known as transgender experiences. It is something that we are seeing more and more of in society today. Many of these transgender individuals come to terms with themselves and they find

However, many people whose “appearance or behavior is gender nonconforming will identify as a transgender person” (APA Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns Office). There are many different types of transgender as well. People who identify as other than transgender usually self-identify as genderqueer, genderfluid, “androgynous, multigendered, gender nonconforming, third gender, and two-spirit” (APA Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns Office). The meanings of these labels vary from individual to individual. Gender identity is a very personal subject, shaped by and individual’s experiences and values. Gender variance can be seen on a spectrum, varying between cross-dressing individuals who are comfortable with their biological sex, to individuals who experience extreme dysphoria when dealing with the conflict between their gender and sex. There is not yet a determined cause for the reason people identify as transgender. Scientists have reasoned that “genetic influences and prenatal hormone levels, early experiences, and experiences later in adolescence or adulthood” likely contribute, but are not the sole causes (APA Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns Office). Lack of research into the psychology of gender variance is likely due to the social stigma attached to people whose identities fall outside the socially accepted gender

The psychology of gender fluidity is a fundamental and contemporary subject. It is one which requires an in-depth analysis as it is an identity which is often misunderstood. Members of genderqueer community continuously experience stigmatization and discrimination due to societal norms. The societal norms are undeniably shaped from living in a gendered culture into which non-binary people do not easily fit in. Gender variance is commonly recognized as an absurdity and labelled as an unnatural behaviour. The experience of those who do not conform to a specific gender or those who do not identify as the sex they were assigned to at birth is one which is typically surrounded by difficulties with inner sense of belonging in addition to the discrimination, harassment, and denial of basic human rights. Subsequently, this strict way of thinking, too, often bring individuals with differing gender expressions into contact with mental health professionals. Therefore, this contact ultimately suggests a correlation between gender non-conformity and mental illness

Despite on how the country has developed over the years with technological advances and cultural acceptance, lack of acceptance in gender identity is a problem many Americans face. As defined by Oxford Dictionary, Gender is “The state of being male or female” (2016). Although gender is usually separated into being either a man or a woman, it is important to state that gender is socially constructed and can differ between different societies. Gender is used as a mechanism to differentiate a person’s masculinity or femininity using their biological features (Babatunde & Durowaiye, 2015). Sadly, those who do not conform to their designated gender are not typically accepted into society and are out-casted by many, including the individual’s

In general terms, I have never given gender identity much thought prior to this reading. Yes, I saw headlines about various people undergoing surgery to change their gender, but I did not consider all of the implications, and how it affects many people, other than the person who is receiving the surgery. Gender dysphoria affects social, medical, and even cultural perspectives, Yarhouse points out, when a child begins to show behaviors similar to the opposite sex, it places a lot of responsibility on the parents to how they should handle the situation. This leads off into how companies treat their employees who identify as transgender, and at various other places such as schools at all levels of education (Yarhouse, p. 15). As well as to how

I never really put much thought into the difference between gender and sex. I, like most people, would have assumed that they were the same thing. After reading Multiple Choice: Gender, Orientation, and Sexual identity by Heather Corina, it made me think about my perception of these two words. I also now believe that they are in fact different. This article put sex and gender in a different perspective to me. Gender is characteristic of a person that they choose to identify as. This may or may not be different then their actual sex, which is the anatomical characteristic of people that we were born with (Corina, 2007). The broader aspect of this article challenged my way of thinking rather than just one small aspect of it.

#1 - Sex, gender, and sexual identity are often perceived as the same thing or at least directly intertwined. However, although there are often correlations, all three terms are distinct in terms from a sociologist. To begin, the term sex refers to the physical biological difference between male-bodied and female-bodied. Often, the most recognized difference among males and females are sexual reproduction organs. There are other elements like hair growth, breast tissue, and body weight. Gender, however, isn’t as concrete to bodily differences. Specifically, gender looks at how we associate masculinity traits with male bodies and femininity traits with female bodies. Sexual identity looks at to whom someone is sexually or romantically attracted to.

As institutions of higher education are becoming more educated on the issues gender queer and transgender students face, they are attempting to provide these students with necessary resources. Colleges and universities are now beginning to develop a better understanding of gender and are taking a greater interest in the identities of their students. Gender identity reflects how someone identifies internally, for example a man or woman, however gender identities do not always align with the sex a person is assigned at birth (male, female, or intersex). People whose gender identity do not align with their assigned birth sex are