Sexual And Gender Identity

Sex and gender seems to be the primary focus in trying to determine the identity of transgender. Before any form of cohesion can take place to discuss transgender, the biological aspect must first be noted. Origin identification for each individual is biologically identified as male or female, and at times intersex. "Our gender includes a complex mix of beliefs, behaviors, and characteristics. How do you act, talk, and behave like a woman or man? Are you feminine or masculine, both, or neither? These are questions that help us get to the core of our gender and gender identity ("Gender and Gender Identity at a Glance," 2014)". According to society, an individual's sex identity is normally assigned at birth, thus, as a transgender, one will identify him/her self as an expression, i.e., masculine, feminine, male or female, opposite of his/her biological identity. " Some people, for example, may have been born with a penis,

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

What would you think if you knew that throughout your whole life, an untrue assumption had been made about you? How would you feel about total strangers believing that the assumption was reality, the media advertising products and marketing movies to you based on this assumption, and even your family supporting it? If the assumption was about a personal issue, this would be hurtful, confusing, and maybe even psychologically damaging. This hypothetical situation comes alive when examining the problem of heteronormativity: defined as believing that everyone is heterosexual, thus ignoring the LGBT population. To someone who is heterosexual, it might not seem like a big deal for straightness to be the “norm.” However, the more than 8 million LGBT people in America are affected by heteronormativity everywhere they turn. It is true that civil rights for LGBT people have progressed enormously. As of January 2, 2015, 35 states have legalized same-sex marriage, 18 states have workplace discrimination laws that cover both sexual orientation and gender identity, and the majority of public schools must have bullying policies that protect LGBT students. Despite how far we have come, there is still a lot of work to do in the area of acceptance. The only way homophobia will be diminished on a large scale is through education. This education can be spurred by eradicating heteronormative standards in the media, in the sales market, and most importantly in institutional settings, namely,

But, The ABC’s of LGBT+ goes beyond being a simple start-up book by an internet personality. In fact, the book is a collaboration of over forty LGBT+ bloggers and prominent voices, the Gender Spectrum, Everyone is Gay, TSER and The Gender Book (Mardell, 2016:288-305) who regularly fact-checked and edited all the information in the book for complete precision in definitions and depiction since Mardell herself does not have personal experience with each identity. Its overall topics include, but are not limited to, spectrums, gender, sexual and romantic identities, as well as, a glossary of terms discussed throughout the book. She begins with spectrums, what she calls a tool to understanding identity (Mardell, 2016: 494), as her first chapter in order to lay a foundation of understanding how identities exist and are interpreted, especially by making a point that everyone’s spectrum is different and that all the topics in her book are fluid, diverse and have no one definition (Mardell, 2016: 521).

The different themes in the readings and video are understanding, and supporting children’s gender and sexual identity. Understanding consists of being knowledgeable about the LGBT community and empathic to the individual’s journey. There are many different terms to be familiar with and one should be knowledgeable about the different terms. It is also important to be empathic and supportive to the individual’s journey, and understand that no journey is alike. Horning the individual name and using preferred pronouns is also of importance and implies that you are accepting to the individual and his or her journey. An individual should never make assumptions so asking the individual questions for clarity misunderstandings is important.

The development of our gender identity is influenced by both the biological nature of a person and society, but the biology is the foundation of our gender identity. In the following paragraphs I will be discussing the interaction between hormones and behavior, and how these interactions affect the determination of gender identity, the roles of biological factors nature and environmental influences, nurture on sexual differentiation and gender identity and which has the greater influence on gender identity: nature or nurture.

Three labels, gender, sex, and sexuality. What’s the difference? How does it make you, you? Sex is the biological determination of whether you are a male or female. Gender is who you choose to be as you grow up. Lastly, sexuality is your interest and attraction. From the moment you are brought into the world, you are given a sex, labeled with a gender, and assumed a sexuality. Society feels the need to stay remained, and unchanged; it has its own definition of normal. To society, normal amounts to what the average crowd is like. So when you are born, you are usually arrogated with all these labels that are considered the norm. But when you find who you really are, and it is not what one would view as “normal,” society views you as weird, and

Today I will be weighing in on the essentialism vs constructioni^^^sm debate on sexual orientation. Before I proceed further I must define sexual orientation which in turn needs me to define sex and gender.

Sexual Identity is what a person is attracted to sexually and emotionally. People tend to categorize others depending on their choice of sex. A recent study on the article, “Lesbian Identity Performances in the Workplace, Social Class, and Psychological Health” by Elizabeth McDermott (2006), has shown that people rather not identify their sexual identity so they can be welcomed into their workplace. But, it should not matter about a person’s sexuality because it would not make them less of a man or woman to perform their job. Elizabeth McDermott is a Senior Lecturer at Lancaster University; whose research is categorized with mental health inequality in relations to age, sexuality, gender, and social class. Another study was conducted on an article with teenagers; “…. It’s a big deal stresses and strains of managing sexual identity(s) on Facebook” by Rubin and McClelland (2015); some feel as if their family and friends would not accept them if they mentioned their sexuality on social media or announce it to anyone. Jennifer Rubin work at the University of Michigan Women’s Studies and her research explore how social class shape people’s sexuality and gender. While, Sara McClelland works at the University of Michigan Psychology and her research focus on adolescent sexual development and sexual health. Both articles describe the slander that the LGBTQ community deals with when revealing themselves.

While the terms “gender” and “sex” are often used interchangeably, the two words have significantly different definitions. One could argue that sex refers to biological essentialism and the idea that we are who we are because of our genetic material. On the other hand, gender is associated with the social constructionist theory, which argues that the way we are is dependent on our race, class, and sexuality. Because each person is different in their race, class, and sexuality, their gender becomes socially constructed. To argue that gender is not socially constructed would be to say that all people, for example, that are biologically female have the same goals. However, this cannot be true because within the sphere of being female, that

Seeing the riots and protests on the news can help people to put life in perspective, and with there being more and more issues with genders today it makes people wonder why. With there being so many genders that people identify with in this, the 21st century, it can get to be confusing and difficult for some people to follow and understand this ‘why’ behind people’s choices. Changes have been made within communities all around the country; eventually, other groups join into the changes. Some example of these being businesses, colleges, and other organisations. Though there are many people who aren’t involved with any sort of issue having to do with a person’s gender identity, those who are impacted by these decisions go through many different situations. A parent’s decisions while raising their child(ren) have a great impact on what the child identifies themselves as later on in life and the way that they express themselves in public. There being an increased amount of tension around the matter will more than likely continue growing as the publicity on the issue continues.

As the only child of Asian immigrants, I grew up in a rather sheltered and lonely environment. I wasn’t very proactive and so my social circle was limited to my parents, a few cousins that I hung out with every week, and my friends who I would essentially only talk to during school due to my withdrawn personality. Because I was too shy to ask anyone anything, the internet became my best friend for answering my questions, even ones I didn’t know I had. It also played a big role in helping me learn about and keep up with pop culture, reinforcing what I knew about society’s expectations of me while exposing me to new ways of thinking. The combination of these factors has influenced how I perceive sex, my gender identity, and sexuality which has changed throughout the course of my life.

My entire life I grew up learning girls wore pink, dresses, loved sparkles, painted their nails, loved to shop, played with babies, played dress up, dreamed of their wedding day, loved the Disney Princess movies, and that boys had cooties. I never knew anything different and honestly I never put much thought into how different I had grown up because the only boy in my house was my dad and he obviously wasn’t playing with boy or girl toys, so I just thought that’s how it was, girls did girl things and boys did boy things. Plain and simple, that’s how I thought everyone grew up until I started working at a daycare. I started realizing that boys were starting to put pretty pink princess dresses on and I thought it was odd, I remember going to my mom and asking what we should do about that and she said it was completely normal and that there was nothing to say or do that that is just how kids play and that it was natural. It’s not that my parents made me only play with girl things either, that’s just all we had. My older sister and I would play day and night with our Littlest Pet Shops, Webkinz, or American Girl Dolls, I think that’s just all we knew that’s all we got for our birthdays and Christmas presents and that’s all we ever asked for. I think growing up with strictly girl toys has made me into an extreme girly girl, I love to get my nails done honestly probably a problem, my entire wedding is already planned for and I don’t even have a

Sexual identity is social and cultural. Society defines the different sexual categories and teaches us what characteristics these individuals and groups should display. The public labels these people and their behaviors as normal or abnormal—right or wrong. Through the years, heterosexuality, or an attraction to the opposite sex, has been viewed as right and normal according to society. It is evident that social institutions regulate and effect the sexuality that the population exhibition; for example, it is common for families to set gender norms, exhibiting a portrait of the standard of a man, woman, and child. Religions have rules about many aspects of sexuality, for example, the idea that homosexuality and sex outside of marriage is wrong; as well as the media and medical community influences sexuality (Seidman, Fischer, and Meeks, 2006). For example, it is still a common cultural belief that a women’s virginity must be protected for love and be cherished—which can contribute to the new trend of selling your virginity for thousands to millions of dollars: a woman’s virginity is sacred and pure, therefore fetishized. This belief can lead to women believe they are devalued as they accept more sexual partners. In fact, that is very commonly taught in sexual education around the United States; sexual active girls being compared to a chewed piece of gum or a loose, dirty shoe. Men, however, are on the opposite end of the same scale. They wish to lose their virginity as soon

The world does not work like a digital clock where a discrete set of numbers is presented and one must accept what is shown. The world is more similar to an analog clock, where all possibilities are present and one can only assume one is correct based on approximation but is never entirely sure of said approximation. For someone who lives in such a world, I have had to learn to embrace the contradictions both society and myself impose upon my different identities as well as my position in respect to them. I am an Hispanic immigrant, born and raised in El Salvador who moved to the United States way too late in his life to consider it his home but early enough to embrace the good aspects of its culture. I am also a gay cis-gendered male who is beginning to explore his role as a member of the gay community. Lastly, both my embodiment and my attitudes are not that of a “masculine guy” (I am not particularly muscular, my jawline is rather soft and I am one of the unlucky few who is never able to grow decent facial hair). All of those elements of my identity affect me as they all shape my life and experience in different ways. It is the adaptability needed to be an immigrant, the survival instinct and mentality that come from being gay, and the defiance of traditional narratives of masculinity through my refusal to change my personality and embodiment to conform to it that have shaped me into the individual I am today. Those aspects of my identities have shaped the way I move