Native American Binary System

At a very young age we are introduced to a gender identity based upon the sex we were born with. Girls are associated with the color pink, dolls, nurturing tendencies, and inclined to be more emotional. While boys are associated with the color blue, the nature of masculinity, sports, and said to be more outspoken. However, gender and sex are two different things. Sex is the biological differences between female and male, while gender is social construct attached with social roles

From a young age, society classifies us in order to keep our civilization organized and to avoid chaos. However, ambiguity can be necessary at times to question the systematic norms. Gender is a system that categorizes males and females based on their physical appearance, tone of voice, and personality. However, these strict gender roles created by society exclude those who defy classification, such as individuals who are non-gender binary or gender fluid.

Before one begins to learn about the largely foreign landscape that is gender, it helps to know the definitions of what exactly you are learning. The biggest one, perhaps, is the difference between gender and sex. While many (if not most) believe they are the same, the fact of the matter is it 's difficult to find two more distinctly separate things. Sex is a clinical term referring to one 's reproductive organs and genitalia, while gender is used to label the identity of an individual. The gender binary is a similarly integral term: the concept of man and woman as the only two genders, a concept that very deeply hurts those who

Gender is an identity based solely on how an individual is evaluated by society. Individuals adopt social expectations for gender norms and behave accordingly. Gender is similar to race and social class in which you can socially classify a person. Also like race and social class, gender can also to lead to discrimination and prejudice. Based on social construction the view on gender looks far past classifications and categories. Society scrutinizes the nodes of several characteristics and observe the thin lines between essentialism. Sex is more of an ascribed status. Its social roles and expectations are based on genetic and biological behavior. Social construction strives to find that thin line between the male and female which are so often acknowledged as essential. Describing one’s gender is never relatively stable. An individual is always deviating or coinciding with the socially conventional form of stereotypes based upon gender. These performances normalize the essentialism of gender categories. As

Gender is the state of being male or female typically used with reference to social and culture differences rather than biological ones. In psychology, gender is defined as a set of characteristics or traits that are associated with a certain biological sex (male/female). According to the definitions related to sexual orientation and gender diversity in APA guidelines, “Gender refers to the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates with a person’s biological sex. Behavior that is compatible with culture expectations is referred to as gender-normative; behaviors that are view as incompatible with these expectations constitute gender non-conformity. In our psychology book gender are of masculine or feminine. While looking from outside we know only male or female. But people have different characteristics that know their gender is masculine or feminine.

Gender is set of characteristics that may be used to differentiate between female and male through the use of one’s gender or through gender identity therefore.

We have all been characterized as either a boy or a girl. But is it because of our anatomy? Or is our society and cultures the ones who build our identity? Well for starters, society has its own image for what is considered as masculine or feminine. This is where gender roles come in; it becomes a limit of your true identity, growing stereotypes that you are supposed to fit into. It all begins from the day you are born. In the hospital, scientifically your sex is determined, meaning you are biologically divided based on your body parts. From that first day society takes its part in giving a pink blanket distinguishing that you are a girl or a blue one for boys. So what does it mean to be a boy or a girl? In our modern days, gender signifies what associates us with what people think, feel and expect of us. It is becoming a problem for humans to decipher their true selves with society always giving them principles to follow. They are constantly being nurtured into these genders, and on that note, if you decide to be different from what is

Gender and sex are two words frequently misunderstood and mistaken for each other. To simplify, sex is considered the biological aspects of male/female (the reproductive system, genetics, and outward physical characteristics). Gender, on the other hand, comprises the psychological and social aspects of identifying to a sex (social roles, the way one thinks, and gender identity). These biological and psychological factors ultimately play a role in the way an individual thinks and acts as a person. Gradually, society has acknowledged and added mutability between gender and sex; individuals' social identity determines how they act and think, and anyone behaving differently may be regarded as abnormal.

Gender is more than what the word seems to be, it has a variety of meaning such as, the role of a female or a male in society which refers to gender role. Masculine, feminine, transgender, cross-dresser, and drag are types of genders in society. Many different cultures seek the word “gender” differently, it all depends on your identity. Identity defines who you are as a person, a male or female. But some individuals can be introduced to the world as one gender but can grow into a different identity such as transgender or transvestite.

People often believe they can replace “sex” with “gender” and it would mean the same thing. Although gender is often associated with sex, they are two different things. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, gender is “the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones)” (“Gender”). Sex is defined as “either of the two main categories (male and female) into which humans and most other living things are divided on the basis of their reproductive functions” (“Sex”). With that said, sex refers to the biological state while gender refers more to a state of being or a way of expressing one’s self. Because people often interchange these two, society creates a locked stereotype for males to be masculine and females to be feminine. This mindset can create problems for both the sexes who may not wish to conform to the gender or gender

Gender expression, essentially, is how a person chooses to express their gender. For example, a person could identify as a male (their gender identity) and choose to dress in a way that society views as “feminine” (their gender expression). Gender also differs from sex, which is the biological makeup that a person holds. Individuals who are

Gender is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as the state of being male or female as expressed by social or cultural distinctions and differences, rather than biological ones. Gender dictates how many people live out their lives. But It’s important to ask ourselves why this idea of “gender” has so much control over people. Although some may argue that gender is solely determined by the sex of a person, gender is a social construct made up by old traditions and enforced gender roles based on the sex.

A gender identity is a person self identifies with a gender as being a male or female. Children learn about the characteristics and socialized parts of gender. Children understand that males and females have different body, shapes, but share characteristics. Parents raise their son or daughter in the gender assigned. If they have a boy or girl, they will buy them boy or girl clothes and toys. Parent's choosing the clothes they wear and the toys they play with they are shaping their own gender identity. Children develop their gender identity through imitating and observing the behaviors of adults. They are rewarding for imitating the behaviors of adults of the same gender and punished for imitating the behaviors of a different gender. For example,

We have to identify our sex when filling out a bank application, requesting a driver's license, obtaining a marriage license, applying for school, etc. On some questionnaires the answer should be irrelevant. There is a difference between "sex" and “gender” however, these two words have been used interchangeably and continue to be used that way. In layman's term for biological sex, the male has a penis, and one Y chromosome and one X chromosome. Females have a vagina and two XX chromosomes. Being a male, does not make you masculine, and being a female does not make a person feminine. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines "gender" as such "gender refers to socially constructed characteristics of women and men - such as norms, roles, and relationships of and between groups of women and men. It varies from society to society and can be

What is gender identity? Unlike the sex of a person, gender cannot be easily defined or located on the body nor does another person designate it. People can be classified by sex because a physician easily identifies it when they are born. You are either male or female or, on rare occasions, there are anomalies where both sex organs are present; but in most cases you are either male or female. Life gets more complicated than that, however, when a person begins to develop a gender identity which is defined as “a person’s innate, deeply felt psychological identification as a man, woman, or some other gender, which may or may not correspond to the sex assigned to them at birth” (www.hrc.org 2014). So, as opposed to a person’s sex, when it comes to gender, every person has to come to their own conclusion as to who they are. It is not automatic that a male will identify as male or that a female will identify as female; gender identification falls on the individual. Each individual defines gender identity, but how does an individual define his or her gender? Hausman (2000) writes, “While many scholars might think of gender as a social construction, many of those still adhere to a belief in gender as an ontology, a mode of being that is itself not questioned” (117). Among scholars, there is a divide between what gender actually is. Is it simply a construction of society, or does it originate inside an individual? A person will identify as a certain gender based on their inner