How Do You Explain The Concept Of Gender Role As Opposed To Sexual Identity

​​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.

The gender of a person is the masculine or feminine attributes of that individual with respect to the psychological and biological role in society. (Magar, 2009) A gender role can be defined as the way that a person lives in society with respect to its lifestyle. It can be argued that over time the major differences between men and women’s gender roles have faded. In the past traditional roles have been based in their society by their biological orientation. (Magar, 2009) Gender roles can also be described as the behavior and attitudes that are expected of men and women in a society. (Faqs.org, 2011) Although different cultures impose different expectations, many cultures have the same basic gender roles.

Sex is the biological definition of the person, which is through the classification of the genitals. Gender identity is a person’s psychological belief that they are either man or woman no matter the sexual orientation. Gender has created a grand division between men and women. Discriminating women to be weak, unreliable, and irrational. While Men are to be declared as superior. The fight to become equal evolved from the industrial period where woman was no longer needed to also be a provider alongside her partner.

In many shops, there seems to be an obvious separation between boys and girls items, for example, the birthday cards, books, clothes, and toys. This is shown in a variety of ways the boy's items are mainly the color blue and the books have pictures of either action figures, superheroes or tools. Whereas the girl's items are mainly the color pink. The books show pictures of fairies, princess, and Bratz. The cards also have the theme of the color pink for girls and blue for boys. The girl's cards have a lot of sparkles and pretty pictures whereas the boy's cards are covered in camo kind of illustrations and also have action figures on the covers. The children's clothes are separated into sections where there are labels for the boy's clothes and labels for the girl's clothes. The girl's clothing is all pretty and pink, it is covered in sparkles. Whereas boys clothing has camo patterns, blue colors, and pictures of action figures.

Hormones are also associated with sexual characteristics and function at different levels from infancy to adulthood. Puberty triggers a specific gender and one will attract to the opposite sex (normally).

Gender or sex roles are the expected patterns of behavior assumed to follow from a person's sex. Gender roles are not natural. They are formed by and vary within society, culture, geographic location, politics and time. There is a strong relationship between the social construction of gender and compulsory heterosexuality. People are programmed into certain gender roles and social categories through socialization and interaction with others.

A gender role consists of characteristics that refer to a set of social and behavioral norms that are widely considered appropriate for either males or females. Gender roles are different throughout society and cultures. One gains gender roles unconsciously, consciously, or genetically due to cultural rules (Princeton).

Prenatal and perinatal hormones organize the components of the brain and create either a male or female brain and thereby produce male or female typical behavior (5). The most sexually dimorphic region of the brain is located in the hypothalamus. The sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area (SDN-POA) is the most differentiated portion of the brain between sexes. In humans, the SDN is twice as large in young adult men than it is in women. The SDN-POA also plays an essential role in the secretion of gonadotropin, maternal behavior, and sexual behavior in many mammals and therefore implies that it is critical in human sexual behavior. There are four cell groups located in this preoptic-anterior hypothalamic area. These four groups have been termed the Interstitial Nuclei of the Anterior Hypothalamus (INAH 1-4). Research done on these cell groups shows that the INAH-3 is about three times larger in the male brain than it is in the female brain (6). The INAH-2 is twice as large in the male brain than the female brain (6). The importance of these regions in sexual differentiation (between the sexes) led scientists to believe that sexual orientation could be on a continuum in this area of neurological research (7).

Gender identity display people’s understanding of themselves according to cultural definitions of female and male. In this essay I will attempt to enhance our understanding by exploring different aspects of gender identity, gender roles & sexual identity issues. Relying mostly on my research that is conducted in the U.S.

Gender Role and Identity correspond because they both focus on what we can and cannot do or what is expected to do or not to do. Identity involves multiple concepts such as genetics, social, and psychological that will continuous changes. Gender role is the roles in our culture that characterize what we can and cannot or what’s expected based on whether we are male or female. Both relate to culture and social aspects such as Erikson’s Eight Ages of Man and Kohlberg (gender identity) cognitive development.

Gender roles are the preconceived ideas we have of how someone of a specific gender should think, act dress and speak. These exist in modern Western society, even in New Zealand where we often like to think they do not, because they are the ideals of our parents which their parents passed on to them. As most of our knowledge regarding gender is taught to us at a very young age by our parents, there is little room for change.

Gender role is a term used in the social sciences and humanities to denote a set of behavioral norms that accompany a given gendered status (also called a gender identity) in a given social group or system. (WHO, 2011) Gender roles are seen everywhere, everyday. There are many different ways to look at gender roles. Defining the terms that help you completely understand gender roles is necessary. Delving into the family aspect of gender roles gives you a better grasp on the different family structures and how they are used in daily life. We are used to the traditional gender roles in everyday America, but have you ever thought about the gender roles in different cultures? This paper will define different terms to help

Gender and sexuality can be comprehended through social science. Social science is “the study of human society and of individual relationships in and to society” (free dictionary, 2009). The study of social science deals with different aspects of society such as politics, economics, and the social aspects of society. Gender identity is closely interlinked with social science as it is based on an identity of an individual in the society. Sexuality is “the condition of being characterized and distinguished by sex” (free dictionary, 2009). There are different gender identities such as male, female, gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual that exists all around the world. There is inequality in gender identities and dominance of a male

Gender, as defined by the United Nations, includes the psychological, social, cultural, and behavioral characteristics associated with being female or male. It further defines acceptable and allowable behavior in for both men and women in a broad cultural sense (United Nations, 2016). Gender identity impacts our development and how we interact with society. Our daily life decisions are impacted by our gender role beliefs.

In today’s day in age, different sexualities and gender identities are quickly becoming more accepted in mainstream society. Despite this change, there are many people who believe that having a different sexual orientation or gender identity is a choice that is frowned upon. In order to refute this belief, research and biology of the brain is necessary. Researching the brain on the basis of sexuality is a fairly new topic of discussion because it is somewhat difficult and confusing. This paper will explore the different identities of gender, sex and sexual orientation and the main biological reasons behind these. There is also some validity of different sexual orientations and identities through the evidence of sexual disorders like