Gender Is A Fundamental Part Of Personal And Amicable Identity

Gender is actually a set of rules, customs and traditions assigned to people of a particular sex. Gender is not biological but sex is. Rather, according to Lorber, it is influenced by our society and our culture. By proving this claim, Judith Lorber has put forth the example of the man and this example is efficient in distinguishing “gender” as a practice than as an innate attribute.

Children learn as early as age two what it means to be a “boy” or a “girl” (Aina & Cameron). This is described as gender identity, a person’s sense of self as male or female. Gender stereotyping emerges hand in hand with the development of gender identity in Early Childhood (Halim). Gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes and activities of males and females. When babies are born they are either put in pink or blue, as they grow up they still maintain the same “gender” colors. As young children start to socialize, they are playing with either “girl” toys or “boy” toys. When they get older they

Sociologist Dalton Conley wrote his book, You May Ask Yourself, addressing how “gender is a social construction” that is so normal for society to think how a man or woman should act towards the public. Society often categorizes roles that females and males are suppose to play in, but not only are they categorized they are also being taught what their gender role is suppose to do. The beginning of gender socialization can start with a child who is not born yet by simply having the parents purchase items that are all pink if its expected to be a girl, but if its expected to be a boy then everything they purchase will be blue. Conley states that gender roles are “sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany ones’ status as male or female” (Conley [2008] 2013:134). So even when a child is growing into their infant years, toys are made specifically for their gender. By examining how social construction places gender in categories it becomes apparent that males and females get differentiated a lot which emphasizes inequality between them.

Gender is an age-graded event that affected my childhood. Being able to identify as a woman and learning society’s expectations for women was critical for my development. At the age three, I discovered that society does not have the same expectations for males and females. Therefore, I had to learn how to act like a “lady”.

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

The article “Learning to be Gendered” co-written by Sally McConnel-Ginet and Penelope Eckert accurately sums up the process of becoming a boy or a girl starting before birth. Children learn to be a boy or a girl from both their family and peers then put their learnings to practice as they become older. Everyday interactions are predetermined by our own gender and our own interpretation of another’s gender. Sex is a physical and mental aspect of one’s character. If asked to place gender in a category of nature vs. nurture, Sally and Penelope provide sufficient evidence that gender is strictly nurture.

We are taught Gender by our family members from a very young age. For example, girls receive pink gifts and boys receive blue gifts. Shaw & Lee said, “Gender is embedded in culture and the various forms of knowledge associated with a given community.” (Shaw&Lee, p.116.) For example, in one community it might be acceptable for a girl to play football, and in another community the members believe, girl

The readings and film for this week provide us an insight of the true meaning of gender. Based on the readings, the concept of gender is totally made by the society. As discussed in Wikipedia, it means that the society created gender roles for each male and female category. These gender roles are essential because the society suggested them as the appropriate behaviors that one specific gender must adhere. The lecture notes also state that gender is categorized in a set of behaviors, which is known as the normal behaviors for each specific gender. In addition, there is really no such thing as a real woman or a real man because these two gender categories are unstable and unpredictable, and must be continuously repeated for them to be intact

People all over the world with different cultures, religions and beliefs teach us that they are two different genders, which are male and female. This fact is the foundation of social structure; some people are discriminated because they do not fit in any of the categories in society’s structure. On that note, social construction of gender, is how the “stereotypes” or the expectations of what each gender has to do, or is expected to do, shapes a child as they grow. For instance, the pink and the blue, how the girl areas in stores are full if pinkish delicate stuff and the boy are full of blue and cars and dinosaurs. In other words, people feel the need to separate these two genders in such drastic ways that if a mother decides to dress her baby boy in pink, people will mistake the boy for a baby girl. Furthermore, some people that do not identify themselves as male or female, are classified as genderqueer. “We may use scientific knowledge to help us make the decision, but only our beliefs about gender—not science—can define our sex. Furthermore, our beliefs about gender affect what kinds of knowledge scientists produce about sex in the first place.” (Ann

When a child is born the first question asked is whether the newborn is a girl or a boy. The biological sex of a child has a vital impact throughout the course of the it’s life. Gender identity formation is the process of which children translate social and biological facts about their gender into their attitudes, behavior, and individual understanding. This two-step process includes gender identity development (male or female), and gender roles (attitudes, behaviors, interest, and personality traits). Girls and boys typically behave different from each other because they are punished and rewarded different for their behaviors. This form of differentiation conditions the children. Moreover, a child’s behavior becomes sex typed because

Gender is a social production. The origin of gender derives from the necessity for labels or classification. From birth gender roles are assigned to girls and boys. Before a child is born the baby is either dressed in baby blue or bubble gum pink, for many years this has been the norm. Not only are living beings gendered, but so are inanimate concepts such as color. From the moment boys can hold an object they are taught to play with race cars while girls are told that dolls and playing playhouse is what is ideal play. These assigned roles begin at an early age and continue to affect the individual development of a person. However, all of these ideas are constructed by individuals. In fact, “like all social identities, gender identities are dialectical: they involve at least two sets of actors

The prevalence of the gender binary in American society causes this societal mistreatment of people who do not conform to all societal expectation of their anatomical sex. In order to combat this stereotypical and discriminatory thinking and way of acting, we must rethink our ideas of gender. One’s gender, whether it matches one’s sex or not, should not be seen as a fundamental, concrete aspect of a person, but rather one of many characteristics that adds to a person’s individuality.

Gender is set so thoroughly in our actions, beliefs, and desires, so that to us it appears to be completely natural (Eckert and McConnell, year/pg. unknown). A major part of gender identity is understanding the difference between sex and gender. Sociology shows and explains the major differences between sex and gender (Tischler, 2011, p. 247). While sex refers to the physical and biological differences between men and women, gender refers to the attributes of masculinity and femininity that are based on biological distinctions (Tischler, 2011, p. 247).

The epidemic of gender inequality is sweeping the nation. Everyone is trying to become what society wants them to be, instead of living for themselves. Many seem to confuse a person’s sex, with their gender. Sex is defined by the biological appearance’s that distinguishes us as male and female. A persons’ gender is how they are viewed by society and how men and women differ. from the first ultrasound to the first breath you take society has already planned out the gender roles that you should follow, like a to do list. If you are male you are automatically destined to play sports and if you are female, you are destined to be a housewife, and raise children. In Random

Contrary to popular belief, gender and sex are completely different entities. Many people live their lives believing the gender and sex are tied to each other. This belief has brought specific gender roles into fruition. In western societies like that of the United States, this diversion can be examined in the nurseries of hospitals. Upon birth, babies do not necessarily have facial feature that define their but female babies are swaddled in pink blankets and males in blue. While many individuals believe that girls naturally and innately like pink and boys naturally and innately like blue this is far from the truth. The assignment of colors, gender roles and expectations are social constructs that have been created by societies that have nothing to do with a person’s biological sex.