Gender Reflection Paper

The determination of gender identity is much deeper than whether a person is born a male or a female. The exact identifier that separates gender identity is currently unknown but researchers believe that genetics, hormones, reproductive organs, biological, and environmental factors all play a role in distinguishing a person’s gender identity. A person’s physical gender and their sense of gender are formed at two different times in two different parts of the body. A person’s gender is whether they are born male or female, but the way they identify themselves may be the opposite, which is not uncommon and has occurred since the beginning of time. In culture males are known to be the stronger, more aggressive sex, while females are the

Chalabaev, A., Sarrazin, P., Fontayne, P., Boiché, J., & Clément-Guillotin, C. (2013). The influence of sex stereotypes and gender roles on participation and performance in sport and exercise: Review and future directions. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 14(2), 136-144.

2. I chose this test because I was interested in seeing what I thought about male/female roles.

Prior to reading the article Doing Gender, I have never paid attention to the concept of doing gender. I found it interesting how these roles go so unnoticed because they are so enforced in our society. We never stop to think or questions if an individual’s actions are masculine or feminine. For example, some of us are just so use to having our mothers cook and our dad’s do all the heavy lifting but we never stop to think why is it like this or what does this represent.

Sports, as a whole, are a male dominated activity. The American society expects every “real” man to be interested and/or involved in sports. In contrast, there is less pressure for females participate in sports let alone physically enduring activities. These roles reflect the traditional gender roles imposed on our society that men are strong and dominant, while females are submissive to men. However, deviation also occurs in athletics as males and females begin to challenge these norms. By analyzing the two photos below, the players and the environment portray traditional and deconstructed gender norms.

The choice to engage in athletics is influenced by many different factors. It is well accepted that parents, siblings, peers, teachers, and coaches all play a role in influencing the start, continuation, and discontinuation during adolescent (Fredricks & Eccles, 2004). The influences of these individuals can range from simple encouraging and continued participation by taking children to sporting events to teaching values and norms associated with sport participation and physical activity (Fredricks & Eccles, 2004). Mothers and fathers are also the ones that generally seek out opportunities, provide equipment and financial support. Researchers consistently identify parents as the initiating sport socialization agents for children (Brustad & Partridge, 2001). As children continue their participation in sports, parents serve as models for observational learning, provide experiences, encourage participation in a variety of ways, and help to interpret experiences for their children

Contemporary sport and physical culture have a lot of trends circulating within the lifestyles associated within them. Winning and losing, exciting and boring, and masculine and feminine. Popular media emphasizes exciting, winning, and masculine sports in our culture with little mention of losing, boring, and feminine sports. These trends are cultured into children from a young age and has been passed down in each generation. Young boys grow up to be tough and hard headed because “masculinity builds strength”, whereas girls grow up to be soft and poise with small attention that “femininity builds weakness (Roth & Basow 2004, p. 247.)

The research question purposed regarding if there are gender differences in engagement into the activity. Prior to the observation, I suspected that females would be more engaged in the television show and would show more outward signs of emotion. My group observed one couple watching television for half an hour. We developed a coding scheme in which we used to code behaviors during the observation. Our coding scheme separating the boyfriends from the girlfriends and was also divided into the following categories: talking relevant and irrelevant, texting, changing the show, getting up for yourself or your partner, interruptions by a phone call, pet or roommate, expression of emotion verbally, kissing, cuddling, holding hands and miscellaneous.

Gender Matters is a collection of various essays on feminist linguistic texts analysis, by Sara Mills. Mills develops methods of analyzing literary and non-literary texts, in addition to conversational analysis based on a feminist approach. The author draws on data from her collection of essays gathered over the last two decades on feminism during the 1990s. The essays focus on gender issues, the representation of gender in reading, writing, and in public speaking. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of feminists’ analysis of sexism in literature and the relation between gender and politeness. The article is informative for my research paper, as my

Sports are of the utmost importance to a child’s development. They can help a child understand camaraderie develop a sense of competitiveness and provide an outlet for success to kids who need it. People typically want their kids to be involved in sports for these reasons and similarly kids often wish to be a part of them too. However kids have been forcefully thrown into these sports in recent times, whether it be by some desire to fit in or by a parent influence they get involved earlier and earlier and also much more seriously and intensely at a young age. Kids should wait until they are young adults to be involved in specialization of sports. Waiting till later years will allow kids to avoid prominent risks that early specialization presents

They think that if a child is both physically and mentally ready to play sports in a more competitive field, they will do fine and actually improve in contrast to quitting. “If they do choose to be active in more competitive sports and move on to an age and skill level at which competition is more appropriate, readiness to compete is influenced by mental and emotional development in addition to chemical maturation and motor improvement. If a good foundation of support has been laid, the house of self-esteem is sturdy and not easily huffed, puffed, and blown by windy big bad wolf pressures or shaken by stormy win-loss results. It is with this positive foundation that we see young athletes thrive on perfecting skill levels and competing because they really enjoy the recreational activities or sports in which they are participating.”(Pressure to perform). This quote states that if the child is prepared to take on the harsher (more competitive) types of sports, he/she can play them if interested. “Adolescents who are struggling for identity among their siblings or classmates may find a unique area of improvement and accomplishment in an activity such as a certain sport, musical instrument, or artistic performance, which causes their self-confidence to blossom.” Looking for one’s identity plays a major role in participating in sports. Sports may improve the child’s self esteem if he/she enjoys it. I agree that sports can have their benefits for a child with the right conditions when it comes to

This study reveals much about the attitudes that persist in society today regarding sport and gender. Early on, sport was created to serve men, evolving as a celebration of maleness, valuing strength, power, and competition. It idealized, promoted, and rewarded successful, elite athletes, established “the dream” as a professional career in sports, and viewed mass participation in sport as a tool to weed out the weak (Hill, 1993). In contrast, women’s sports originated to “address the expressed need for healthful exercise” (Huckaby, 1994). Unlike the competitive warrior mode

     For many years society has embraced the idea that the difference between men and women were biologically determined. Thou through traditions, media, and peers we act accordingly to how others view us. Each individual has pressure placed upon them based on their gender. Our sex is determined by genetics while our gender is programmed by social customs. Some theories interpret that a women is tender and a loving mother while on the other hand men are aggressive hunters and are the dominant one of the family. People who support this theory seems to believe that men and women are happier when fulfilling the roles nature determined for them. Women are to be nurturing and men are to be providers by

The textbook identifies four approaches to gender development: biological, interpersonal, cultural, and critical. Define each theory. Then answer the following question: which of the theoretical approaches to gender do you find the most valid? Be sure to include at least two examples from your own experience as well as two scholarly sources to back up your claim.

Throughout today’s society, there are multiple views and opinions on whether or not there are more than two genders or if gender is even just a social construct. Each person has their own individual preference on how they express their gender. Therefore, we can no longer assume what someone identifies as just by looking at them. Over the years I have learned more about gender expression and gender identity as I gained friends who were homosexual as well as transgender. I feel as if I was introduced to all of these ways of life at a young age, therefore I can, in some ways, teach those who are uneducated and do not know what to think. I have personally never really thought about the different gender identities I could label myself as but as of right now I identify as a cisgender female