Reflection About Gender Identity

After completing my observations, I noticed that there is a lot to be learned about someone by just examining their personal belongings. By how they treat their personal objects often reflect what their actual life is like. Think about how you treat your personal items. It may be with lots of care or you may use an item for its intended purpose and not care if it breaks during the process. This says a lot about the person. So, by examining someone’s car, which is a highly valuable item to a person, it is as if we get a small glimpse into their life style.

A significant point in Bems’ (1993) chapter in Lens of Gender on gender identity was the concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy when it comes to the treatment and development of young boys and girls in society. The first point discussed is how the ‘maternal instinct’ is not so biological as much it is women being confined to the private sphere, in turn having the most interaction with children. This point stood out as I was reading because I have known from a young age I did not want children. Many told me that my opinion would change when I grew older, and when you have your own child being a mother comes naturally. As I reflected I was reminded of the point later made by Bem (1993) that “adults in the child’s community

Now, I will be looking at how identity relates to gender at the personal level. The article speak of Identity on a personal level mostly, it is when they are looking at how ideas are impacting people, on an intimate way and looking at the motivation of peoples actions. For example, Somers analysis on the new political identity (pg. 219); New political identities are positions and political activities that are more self-centered. They are motivated by people who have

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.

In the 21st century, social formalities in America have been increasingly questioned especially the construct of gender and gender identity. Millennials are pioneering to change gender stigmas and the traditional beliefs of the role of man and woman. This upsurge in breaking gender roles has allowed for a new wave of identity where people aren't satisfied with being boiled down to one textbook definition of masculine or feminine. Across social media platforms such as Instagram where individuals can post pictures of their everyday life, we see men and women preforming non-traditional acts. Women post pictures of them bench pressing at the gym and men are posting pictures of their sweaters they've knitted. Among those advocating against

Gender identity, gender expression, and biological sex all correlate. Although gender identity and gender expression go hand-in-hand, there are a vast variety of differences between the two. According to genderspectrum.org, “Gender on the other hand is far more complicated. It is the complex interrelationship between an individual’s sex (gender biology), one’s internal sense of self as male, female, both or neither (gender identity) as well as one’s outward presentations and behaviors (gender expression) related to that perception, including their gender role.” (Understanding Gender) Gender identity is also easily confused with biological sex. “Biological gender (sex) includes physical attributes such as external genitalia, sex chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, and internal reproductive structures.” (Understanding Gender) Biological sex refers to what’s physically on the outside of your body, and gender is more of a mental ordeal or what a person identifies with, while gender expression is

There are numerous theories regarding the development of one’s gender identity. Gender identity refers how one identifies as either male, female or transgender.

Identity, it’s the way we identify into a specific group. What occurs when this is the identity of a specific gender group like female lesbians lack identity within their culture and are torn between traditional values and contemporary changes? Chicana American writer Gloria Anzaldua describes in depth her struggle. “The History of Sexuality” by Michel Foucault, “Sexual Transformations” by Gayle Rubin, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution” Judith Butler, “Female Masculinity” Judith Halbertstam. In order for a lack of sexual orientation to occur to the point where fleeing is the only choice and hiding within your own skin, means that there has to be a strong lack of acceptance within one’s identity within the culture. ‘A separatist strand of Lesbian Studies was theorized by Monique Wittig ("The Straight Mind," 1980) and Luce Irigaray (in her This Sex Which Is Not One (1977; English translation, 1985)).’

Set with the task of interviewing three people about their life experiences and perceptions in hopes of gleaming a bit of insight into gender identity, I had several people say to me that gender was not an issue in their life, and I should just find someone else. Most people never think about their gender or how they express it, or they think that gender and sex are the synonyms ( American Psychiatric Association, 2013). That is, until confronted with a significantly different culturally expressed gender role, or unless your gender identity is not accepted as normal. Therefore the three individuals I ended up choosing Hector, Amy and Leta, are somewhat diverse but also similar in many ways in which one should be able to appreciate but the

Gender appears to be a fundamental category taken place in our identity and has emphasized to us at an early age. Going to Wal-Mart and Target we discovered that tons of our preferences are made for us before we are even born. As an infant, it seems that boys prefer blue and girls prefer pink. Because of our gender ideology and socialization, it is easy to differentiate which clothes/toys are for boys and which are for the girls.

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,

Starting off this essay by a question, what is gender identity? Well thank you for asking, the term means one’s personal experience of one’s own gender. Although others additionally refer to the sexual orientation, sexual identity categories gay, lesbian and bisexual. But the final and most formal diagnosis is gender dysphoria which means experience significant dysphoria (discontent) with the sex they were assigned at birth and the gender roles associated with sex.

Society has a tremendous effect on the way people see themselves as well as the way they see others. When it comes to sex and gender, these two words are used interchangeably, even though they are different. Sex is what a person is biologically born with, whereas Gender is how a person is seen in society, their roles, and their accepted behavior. Gender identity is a person’s inner sense of being male or female and a display of that. Jayme Poisson writes an article, “Parents Keep Child’s Gender Secret,” on two parents that decided to raise their newborn child genderless. The couple also allows their other children to display whichever gender they choose, not conforming with “how they’re expected to look and act based on their sex,” (Poisson 366). Kwame Anthony Appiah describes the idea of being able to respect the traditions of others without having to agree with or understand them in “Making Conversation”. Women and men are, not surprisingly, treated very differently in society. In “Human Dignity” Francis Fukuyama writes about equality and the essence that humans possess. Society creates a stigma for men who act feminine and women who act masculine, creating a negative impact on ones gender identity, specifically on the description of gender roles, and how certain products are marketed.

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.

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