List 8:
1. Gender Identity (p.369): This concept is important for our understanding and sensitivity to other peoples’ gender. When we say gender, we initially mean the biological characteristics that determine whether we are male or female. This is somewhat different in gender identity because it involves the thoughts and acceptance of an individual’s gender no matter what their biological gender may be. An example of this would be someone who is born with biological characteristics of a female, but identifies with a male gender.
2. Psychoanalytic Theory of Gender (p.371): This theory stems from Sigmund Freud. It states that from the ages of 3-5 a child has a sexual attraction to their opposite sex parent. Freud claims that as the child grows, they become anxious and ashamed of these feelings and subsequently adopt the mannerisms and characteristics of their same sex parent. I think that this is interesting because Freud was very adamant that even as a young child we had innate sexual desires.
3. Gender Schema Theory (p. 374): This concept develops as we develop. As we age, we see the people around us performing gender appropriate and gender inappropriate activities. Based on the culture that we grow up in, we learn which actions are appropriate and add that to our gender schema. This is interesting because it is primarily centered around the environment that we grow up in. Children are motivated to perform those gender appropriate actions in order to conform to social norms
Another stage in human growth and development is called the phallic stage. Sigmund Freud believed this stage took place from the age of three to six years old. This is the stage that children become more aware of the sexual regions of their bodies. Not only do they become more self aware but also start to notice their parents and kids around them. This helps them learn the difference in “boy” or “girl” male or female. During this stage it is not uncommon for a child to hook them self onto the parent of opposite sex and start a rivalry with the parent of the same sex (Garcia, 1995). “Individuals who show higher levels in phallic stage of psychosexual development fixation are more likely to develop sexually” (“ Sexual Compulsivity, Promiscuity and Phallic Stage of Psychosexual Development Fixation. ,” 2012, para. 3).
Gender is defined as being a male or female and determines the personalities, genetics and body functions of an individual. Nowadays people have taken something so simple and have almost changed it completely. Men now want to be women, and women want to be men. We live in a world where many people feel as if they are born into the wrong body and need to change their physical appearance to Appeal to others and feel comfortable again. Gender identity is not the same as it used to be and has been taken to a level that is almost life changing.
When contemplating the topic of gender role and its impact on identity one cannot help but realise that these gender roles have a huge part to play on a person’s identity. As gender is a combination of male and female it gives way for a number of characteristics to accompany each sex making them different from each other. This has an important position to play on identity which Kath Woodward stated in her book “Questioning Identity: Gender, Class, Nation” where she said “Without difference there would not be such thing as identity”. (Woodward, 2000, pp.51) Unfortunately, however, with these differences there are inequalities. In this essay I would like to elaborate on this further by looking at the meaning of gender and how it impacts
The most commonly preached and accepted social path for an individual is to go through elementary and secondary school, and immediately follow that with some sort of a post-secondary education. We must take the skills we have learned in grade school and apply them, as we become adults. Schools where a student can receive a degree are regarded as the highest quality by society. We are lead to believe that the college or university campus is filled with equality and equal opportunity. In reality, college reaffirms the gender frames we have understood throughout our lives thus far and strengthens that reality even after we graduate. The gendered division of labor that we see in the workplace is
Throughout today’s society, almost every aspect of someone’s day is based whether or not he or she fits into the “norm” that has been created. Specifically, masculine and feminine norms have a great impact that force people to question “am I a true man or woman?” After doing substantial research on the basis of masculine or feminine norms, it is clear that society focuses on the males being the dominant figures. If males are not fulfilling the masculine role, and females aren’t playing their role, then their gender identity becomes foggy, according to their personal judgment, as well as society’s.
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.
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.
Gender identity is the personal conception of being a man or a woman and the society creates standards and comes up with gender roles basing them on existing norms and traditions which will in turn influence gender identity. For instance, most societies associate strength and dominance to be masculine roles while caring and assisting or subordination known to be feminine roles. This clearly makes gender identity be bred within the society. One’s identity is important as it influences his or her life through events like life experiences, how one is being taken or treated, how to do one associate or socialize with others, the type of job one will have to do and also opportunities that may come up favoring a certain type of gender identity. One is also likely to face obstacles or discrimination due to his or her identity.
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.
The construction of a self-identity can be a very complex process that every individual is identity is developed through the lenses of cultural influences and how it is expected to given at birth. Through this given identity we are expected to think, speak, and behave in a certain way that fits the mold of societal norms. This paper aims to explain how gender perform gender roles according these cultural values. I intend to analyze the process in which individuals learned and internalized their respective gender identities, through their cultural background. I will be conducting a set of interviews with the intention to compare my experience as a self-identified male of Mexican descent, to the experience of another male character of Japanese heritage in order to understand how we come to self-identify as masculine in diverged cultures. In this paper, I argue that the construction of gender identities is a direct consequence of societal influential factors such as family values; values that reflect the individual’s culture. This analysis will not only utilize evidence from these identity formations, but also in explaining why and how these self-identities were constructed using both theoretical sources and empirical studies as a framework.
Children who complete these stages successfully, grow to be calm and well centered adults (Ku,
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.
Society should be more open minded with the topic of gender identity. Our society does not like rapid changes when they are publicly made; there is always a dispute or an opposition against those unexpected changes. The LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual) community is the “rapid change” that society finds difficult to deal with. Although, this community has always existed, but it has never been publicly recognized like it is today. Gender Identity is a very complicated topic to talk about because it has so many concepts that only those who find themselves as part of the LGBTQIA+ community can fully understand.
Gender is not based on physical attributes. Sex is the word that should be used when speaking about biological characteristics. So, based on the definition of gender by LeVay, gender identity is one’s personal attitude towards being more male or female.
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.