Cultural Influences Gender Identity

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Identity is influenced by many factors, with some more obvious than others. Gender and ethnicity are the most obvious traits to recognize, which leads other factors to be overlooked, for example, culture. Culture, as defined by the Webster’s dictionary (2007), is the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depend upon man’s capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. It is also the customary beliefs, social forms and material traits of a racial, religious or social group. From the time that we are born, we hear our mother's singing, our mother’s language, and our family dynamic. From there we see what's around us and our influenced by what's going on in the culture, whether it's …show more content…

For example, culture affects how we dress. If we are raised in a culture where women's bodies are covered, when we see a woman who is not covered we may judge them. Not on purpose but because they are different and to a person, it may seem like a wrong thing to do to show your body. Culture even affect a person’s personality. One person may be from a culture where they are always doing extra, studying harder, overachieving, and stressing over every little thing. Whereas, another person may be from a culture where they are taking a slow, relaxed, go-with-the-flow outlook on life. In the long run, this makes them a more relaxed person, but sometimes not as efficient. Either way may work just as well for a person but it becomes a characteristic of the type of person they …show more content…

For example, if a person lives in America and is from a country where food is very different, they may try to find that type of food in America. Just looking into a person’s refrigerator can be so interesting, especially if their origin is different from our own. The types of food consumed by millions of people around the world vary according to region and different cultures, this diversity changed gradually with time to match our society and our available resources. One indicator of a culture's influence is how people define only a portion of the potential food available to them as edible. For example, some countries may consider grasshoppers, locusts and ants as excellent sources of protein while other countries may prefer dogs and snakes. Also, in cultures where cows are holy or pigs are nasty people generally don’t eat them their entire life due to the culture and beliefs behind it. People may not realize that the recipe they eat every day was passed down from their great great grandmother or that the food their mom made them for lunch was something that she and her siblings ate every day growing up, but the culture cravings are still present whether one notices it or

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