Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Essay example

To me gender is what you want to be seen as and sex is the body parts you are born with. Today there are even surveys including a “no comment” option along with male and female. Many factors contribute to gender identity, such as what sex you are attracted to, what sex you feel you belong alongside, or even how much testosterone our body produces. As soon as I came into this world, I was given a pink blanket. From then on I was expected to buy all the sparkly spirals and pink pencils. I am expected to love wearing skirts and dresses to school. I am expected to cross my legs and scorn people that tell inappropriate jokes. To the world is was out of the ordinary that I would pick the blue spirals and green pencils, wear jeans and a tshirt every single day, and to be the one telling those awful jokes my brother taught

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

Traditionally speaking, most people view sex and gender as interchangeable, synonymous, and biological. As more studies and research are done, more professionals are realizing the vital difference between the two terms. Sex, according to sociologist Doctor Zuleyka Zevallos, is the “biological traits that societies use to assign people into the category of either male or female, whether it be through a focus on chromosomes, genitalia, or some other physical ascription”. She goes on to say that the definition of gender is “the cultural meanings attached to men and women’s roles; and how individuals understand their identities including, but not limited to, being a man, woman, transgender, intersex, gender queer, and other gender identities” (Zeyallos, 2014). We see sex as something we are assigned at birth due to the body parts we are born with, and we see gender as the way one identifies with their assigned sex. In the majority of cases, assigned sex and gender identity line up, but less often it does not. In these cases, we see individuals who are transgender, gender queer, gender fluid, and more. More people are coming forward about these different ways they are experiencing gender, so many people assume these ways of experiencing gender are new.

America, a country that preaches equality for all and may be considered the land of opportunity, has had a bad history of oppressing groups that differs from the norm: white, heterosexual, and male. While legislation has been passed to rectify past oppression of racial, gender and sexual orientation groups, America remains a patriarchal society whose institutions are structurally designed to favor white, cisgender, heterosexual males. The film Higher Learning, brings to light this issue of institutional racism, while perpetuating in majority of the male characters what the ideal man represents and how that is related to racial issues and sexual orientation in the film. Issues of homosexuality is not only brought up in opposition of masculinity, but also femininity. Thus, American society has an attitude or belief that endorses hyper masculinity in males, but this is not viewed as a positive attribution in African Americans, nor is homosexuality considered a normative behavior.

As a nation, the United States often views itself as a champion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights. While we are far ahead of many countries, quite a few of which still criminalize same-sex relationships, we aren’t the queer utopia we like to see ourselves as. Even today, there are many states within the US that do not have laws explicitly prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace or during the hiring process. According to the Human Rights Campaign’s website, there are currently sixteen states that have no statewide employment laws protecting the rights of queer and/or trans individuals in the workplace. An even larger number of states have no laws protecting LGBTQ from housing discrimination. Since same-sex marriage was legalized in June 2015, many people feel as though the fight for equal rights is over. However, what people tend to forget about, are the dozens of macro and microaggressions queer people still face in many cities, towns, and states throughout the country. Not only are LGBT people in the United States still subject to discrimination in educational institutions and in hiring practices, but these discriminatory acts are highly regionalized.

The authors suggest that gender identity transitions through various stages much like cognitive development. As children age from toddler toward more maturity into adolescence they move from less gender awareness towards a complete awareness of differences in sexual make up. Typically many of us have been socialized to participate in groups, dress and play with toys that are gender specific. Some examples that explain this is the way in which we bring babies home from the hospital. Girls are dressed in pink and boys are dressed in blue. This continues

Gender identity can be defined as someone's personal conception of themselves as either male or female. One's gender role that attributes to their gender identity is defined by their actions and personality traits. The concept of identifying one's gender, however, is a cultural constructed idea. The traditional ways of assigning someone's gender as either male or female conflict with many of the thoughts of the modern society. To describe how gender identity in Western Culture has changed amid institutions such as family and media you most look at the influences of society, the modern family, and the aspects of self

Gender identity is basically the concept that gender is not easily divided into two classic genders as is the popular belief. Gender identity is how someone feels inside. Someone’s gender identity can align with the sex they are assigned, it can align with the sex they were not assigned and it can ever align with no recorded identity before.

Everyone knows celebrities Ellen DeGeneres, Neil Patrick Harris, Jane Lynch or Queen Latifah. They are funny are they not? Most people love watching movies and programs that they are in; however, not many people know they are all homosexual. Yet why do labels only go to non celebrities? Why are non celebrities treated any differently than famous homosexuals? They are all the same and deserve the same respect as those who are not homosexual. We are all equal regardless of our sexual orientation. People should not be labeled as homosexual or heterosexual because it is a personal issue and should not be used to judge an individual’s character, morals, or integrity.

What is it like to be a man or a woman? Men are tough, competitive, and never cry; while women are soft, emotional, and depending. The definition to this question varies immensely depending on who you may ask, but most of the time you will get at least one of these stereotypical answers. Everyone usually understands the basic gender roles and what is expected of them. Gender Identity is which one of these roles you identify yourself as, regardless of your sex. This Gender identity is questioned by many as to how it is developed, with people having different opinions on its formation with such being whether it being genetic or a learned characteristic that is formed throughout your early years in life. I believe that this identity is formed

Many parents voice a fear about their child learning about gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation. They think that hearing, seeing, or learning these things will influence their child. According to research, however, no matter how often children are exposed to these topics they still will make their own decisions later on in life on the matter. Often parents are upset when they hear their children are learning about these terms because they do not know the dictionaries definitions for these words are. According to webster; gender is the state of being male or female, the word typically used to reference social and cultural differences rather than biological ones. Gender identity is a person’s perception of having a particular gender that may not correspond with the sex they were given at birth. Sexual orientation is a person’s sexual identity in relation to the gender to which they are attracted. Many times a person’s sexual orientation can be labeled as heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. Diversity is an important lesson to teach children especially at a young age. To understand how to best teach diversity about gender in a classroom background information, teaching strategies, and student’s understanding of diversity is important.

Merriam-Webster provides two definitions for the meaning of gender. The first is simply that gender is a synonym for sex. The second, however, states that gender is “the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex (Merriam-Webster).” This is the definition for gender used in this paper, while sex is defined separately, as the biological differences between males and females.

There are distinct differences between Sex and Gender. Sex is divided up into two divisions, male or female, based upon their reproductive system. Gender is the notion set by society on what social behaviours are acceptable for males and females, for example the expectation that females are more caring or nurturing than men. Gender can be further divided into two subcategorise: identity and stereotype. Gender identity is the concept that your sex and gender do not have to be the same but can different, i.e. a male at birth can identify as a female. These notions of acceptable behaviour set by society create gender stereotypes for both male and female, which can cause a person to reject their gender identity if they do not conform these gender stereotypes.