Who Construct Gender Identity?

‘‘Sex’ is a biological term; ‘gender’ a psychological and cultural one’ (Oakley 1972, p.158). To further expound on Oakley, ‘sex’ refers to the biological framework a person is born with while ‘gender’, an identity that we acquire as a result of social and cultural influence. Sex is naturally constant throughout an individual’s life whereas gender is a variable. Via gender socialisation, men and women constantly learn to adapt to society’s expectations associated with their biological form as society changes. This very concept clearly elucidates the dichotomy between sex and gender. Therefore, coming from such a perspective, it is true to say that we are born as human beings (males, females or intersex) who formulate socially accepted gender identities as a product of social and cultural implications (Abbott, Wallace & Tyler 2005). Conventionally, societies associate the male and female sexes with their definitions of masculinity and femininity respectively.

Individuals who fail to fit into the masculine (male) or feminine (female) roles are often misunderstood and rejected by society members who identify and abide by their given gender roles. Social institutions such as media, religion, medical, government, etc. (Logg, Lecture Notes, Fall 2015) significantly impact and are present in our everyday lives. These social institutions often times do not consider alternatives to the gender

We “do gender” every day, all the time. A person’s gender identity is something we do – it is a routine and an accomplishment that people put a lot of emphasize into. In “Night to his Day”: The Social Construction of Gender, an excerpt from Paradoxes of Gender written by Judith Lorber, she discusses how society denaturalizes gender and how people do not even notice the way they act because of how socially constructed our Western society is. She shows that society is to blame from depriving people from fulling expressing themselves in the way they see themselves by enforcing the “sameness taboo”. “The process of gendering and its outcome are legitimated by religion, law, and the society’s entire set of value.” (Lorber, 1994) Society’s values have constructed a two-way pathway of masculinity (males) and femininity (females) that have denied people from freedom of expression.

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

At birth, a newborn is brought out into a new world outside the comforts of their mother’s womb and nearly each one has their sex characteristics examined by an obstetrician. A gender identity is given to them based on their physical characteristics in which they are most often than not, expected to carry for the rest of their lives, for better or for worse. From early on in their lives, their caregivers may rear the child based on the gender identity for what is socially acceptable and expected of that gender, and initially without the opinion of the newborn who has yet to understand the complexity of how they should identify themselves.

The way my father performed his gender has shaped the performance of my gender. My dad has also talked about raising me and my brothers as men but not as a binary concept but what he felt manhood represented. That involved in many things such as playing lots of sports or learning how to fight and other activities such as fishing. Although my dad never forced me to play sports it was always a staple in my household and I would- be mocked when I stopped playing a sport out of boredom. My dad constructed my gender self to view men as a group who had to become strong, fast, aggressive, dominant, and achieving in order to fit into society. This interaction with my family has caused my gender construction with others to be a byproduct of my experiences

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 identity is ultimately constructed by the vision of society plus the choice of an individual. Social expectations are heavily regulated even before one is born. From there it depends if one wants to follow the path chosen before birth or create a new one. Although society takes part in classifying gender that does not mean that one must agree with how one chooses to identify as.

When a child is born, doctor examine their genitalia and assign the child as either male or female. The identity that they are given directly correlates with the child having either a penis or a vagina. Nevertheless, studies now find that this is not the case for all children. Many fields of study including psychology, genetics, sociology, and anthropology now state that there is more to the development of gender than the physical make up of a child. Genitalia is now being looked at

In American society, we have assigned certain characteristics, clothing, and behaviors to two, generally accepted genders, male and female. In most families, you are expected to follow the normal behavior of the gender that also aligns with you biological sex. This idea that biological sex should determine your gender expression immediately ignores and excludes people who are born into intersex identities. Furthermore, this ideal disagrees with the idea that people have the choice to define themselves and their gender outside of societal norm. This idea also limits the everyday behaviors of the average person without much coercing. To keep others from deviating from gender norms, people have setup many ways of policing others actions so that they follow along and be a part of their prescribed gender. Speaking from my experience, I believe that there are three big influences that try to keep people in a cis-gendered box. Those constricting influences are familial relationships, societal pressures, and the last are institutional incentives.

Traditionally, gender has been defined as the state of being male or female but, recently society has begun to understand that gender is not the biological sex that you were born with but how you identify and express yourself. A persons gender can be male, female, neither, both or something completely different. People tend to see gender as black or white, or a box you can tick but gender does not have to conform to what our modern society understands.

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.

Gender is much more complex than what we learn as kids (Killermann). Where you are born, culture, and society tells you what is accepted depending on your physical traits. According to the text “standards of gender arbitrary and vary from one culture to the next” and in agreement it is true. Standards are how we carry ourselves male or female although there are many gender categories we base it on two and only two choice. As explained from a video shown in lecture called ‘Understanding the Complexities of Gender: Sam Killermann’ Expression, outfit choice, voice pitch, clothing colors, cleanliness, dirtiness, etc all come together to judge you as a gender no matter where you come from you are being watched and judged. Media aids every belief from showing very young children advertisements of toys that are dollhouses and baby dolls that come with a bottle and stroller while boys are shown toy guns, footballs, tool shops, and more. Gender ID can be dangerous even more so than we think.

Someone born female can choose to identify their gender as a woman or as a man. Or they can identify as neither, or as a mix. Whatever they consider themselves to be. Gender is just how one chooses to present themselves. Gender can be influenced by a number of factors. If someone is born a female and raised as a female they may just assume they’re a female and live life as a woman with no questions asked. Others may just know that they are female and choose to live as a woman. Some may think they are male despite being raised otherwise. All that matters is that sex is biological and gender is expression.

The concept of gender identity can only be formed within society because it reflects social expectations and beliefs regarding gender roles in certain historical period. Several centuries ago women were expected to get married early and concentrate totally on housekeeping, family, and religion. Women were regarded as opposite to men, less intelligent and incapable to be in charge of themselves. They were not allowed to own property, vote on elections, and hold leading positions. Fortunately, the development of civilization and democratization of society resulted in women becoming more equal and free from many humiliating stereotypes. After a famous quote of Simona de Beauvoir “one is not born a woman, but rather becomes, a woman” feminists directed their critique to traditional women`s subordination to men which was built upon structuralists` theories and biological determinism (Beauvoir, 2011). Since then the discussions about sex as of cultural construct do not cease. It seems that it is impossible to argue with a nature which divided men and women with the help of different chromosomes: XX for female and XY for male. Scientific proof that female and male genders are conditioned and not as opposite as it seemed came with the research data from hormones study: it was revealed that both male and female contain hormones of both sexes Judith Butler, another important feminist writer, gave a new impact to feminism studies with her book “Gender Trouble: Feminism