The Cultural Differences Of Gender And Social Factors And Gender Identity

Of the numerous cultural identities that I have developed, one of the most immediate cultural identities was my gender identity as a female. While certain external cultural notions were prescribed to me the moment I was born, the most influential

The external environment often shapes culture. Some of the traits that the authors describe as "masculine" or

Gender has been traditionally defined as male or female with the allocation of stereotypes and set gender roles assigned to men and women. However, in contemporary society the definition of gender has been altered, forming a societal divide between the concepts of gender and sex with the removal of gender roles. Gender is currently defined by a person’s form of self-identification and sex is based scientifically on biological factors. Culture is an intangible collection of a wide variety of societal customs including language and traditions. An assemblage of both concepts develop an individual’s personal expression of identity.

Gender is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as the state of being male or female. However after taking Psychology of Gender I would have to say I strongly disagree with this. I believe gender is a socio-cultural construct of female and male identity that shapes how individuals live and interpret the world around them. The older I get the more faults I find in my culture and the gender ideology behind it. Growing up Hispanic in the United States has made a huge impact in my life today, and while I believe it has benefitted me personally, research however seems to prove the opposite. Research today proves that even though these beliefs prove to be changing, the influence Hispanic culture has can negatively affect the way both men and women view their own gender roles and identity. Although research supports the idea of reinforcing negative stereotypes related to cultural gender roles. I also believe that these ideas are changing and will continue to evolve in the future.

The concept of the masculinity of real men and femininity of real women has been questioned from one age to the next/ from one culture to another. Upon interviewing three people I have been able to identify cultural patterns. When one looks at society from a broad viewpoint we see a divergence among cultures because of the cultural bias’s implanted from an early age. Additionally, movements by men and women have been fortified because of the reactions to the rationales projected by different cultures. Throughout society the concept of real men and women has been inundated by differentiating cultures allowing for a mixing of belief systems however, someone’s principal belief comes from their family heritage.

West and Zimmerman’s theory of “Doing Gender” defines sex and gender as two separate entities within this binary society. Sex refers to the biological characteristics that are typically attributed to males and females. Gender is the status of the individual performing the activities that are commonly associated with masculinity and femininity. These traits are rigid in dictating the individual’s consistent performance of them. A gendered individual must execute the appropriate acts that are linked to masculinity or femininity respectively. It is a learned behavior that is taught at an early age through observation of society. Therefore, it is society that decides whether an action is attributed to masculinity or femininity. Gender is a socially constructed idea of thought that people unconsciously follow. The acts that constitute a particular gender can change based on the views of society within a generation. Certain activities and forms of appearance have shifted between males and females. As society evolves throughout history, the interactions between individuals and their gendered actions have changed. West and Zimmerman state, “When we view gender as an accomplishment, an achieved property of situated conduct, our attention shifts from matters internal to the individual and focuses on interactional and, ultimately, institutional arenas” (West and Zimmerman, 1987, page 126). Thus the performance of gender has developed passed the individual and is engrained within the

In Trumpet, Jackie Kay engages with the distinctions and confusions between biological sex and constructed gender through the use of multiple narrators. Each character has their own views and confusions of gender and sex and their feelings towards this particular situation involving Joss Moody. There are characters whom believe that gender and biological sex are the same and others whom believe that there is more fluidity involving the relationship between the two, and believe that gender is constructed and not under a biological category. Biological sex is defined by our anatomy as female, male or intersex and it includes our internal and external sex organs, chromosomes and hormones. Whereas gender is the socially constructed roles, behaviours,

Transgender can be defined as a person whose self-identity does not conform precisely to conventional notions of the male or female gender. This self-identity problem can usually be accompanied by numerous forms of treatment to change ones’ physical appearance, and make it more consistent with their identified gender identity. In many cases, the individual can identify with the gender of the opposite sex to the point one believes that he or she is a member of that gender group trapped in the wrong body. This is also called Gender Dysphoria or formerly known as Gender Identity Disorder. The person with gender dysphoria or GD at times does not know that he or she have an actual disorder but more of a general discomfort with his or her biological sex. This also creates complications in their everyday life, when they are unable to interpret their feelings or rationalize problems they experience in a social setting (Gender Dysphoria, 2014).

The second structure is the fact that our culture is principally male-identified. This male-identification connects largely with the idea that aspects of our society and personal attributes that are highly valued are associated with men. By contrast, devalued attributes and social activities are characteristically associated with women. The final structure, likewise, revolves around the idea that society is male-centered. It has been long embedded in our culture that the center of attention naturally focuses on men, and that women simply occupy the sidelines.

There are attitudes and expectations made upon on these roles, and therefore it effects the behavior of the individual naturally. In the article by Schilt and Westbrook, it is emphasized that people who live their lives in a social gender, that is not the gender that they were assigned at birth, are disrupting the cultural expectations of gender identity. Two case studies were performed to see how gender normals react to mismatch gender identity and biological sex. West and Zimmerman explain how gender is performed in communications and interactions, and behaviors of people are evaluated based on socially accepted conceptions of gender. They identified and distinguished between sex and gender. Sex was agreed to be broken down as male or female. Thus it is based

The concept of gender has a strong social impact on me. When I was born, I was immediately assigned to a biological sex as a female with two X chromosomes. I was then socially classified as a girl in the society with feminine gender roles. Gender is defined as a social principle which attribute to the roles and expectations of males and females through the years of different societies (Phillips, 2005). Gender can be considered as behavioural, cultural and psychological traits

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.

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.

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.

Before we learned this chapter, I didn 't know that sex and gender are different to each other, all I know is that gender and sex have the same meaning which referred to male and female. Recently, I just learned the difference between sex and gender, which is sex is like our biological difference which what makes people male and female, while gender is what the society reinforces a person to be based on their expectations and behaviors of being a male and female. In this essay, I will explain how this gender role affects us then and now especially our parents, the society, and media.