Do People Control A Person's Identity?

1128 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Sexuality as a social construction

In discussion of whether people control their identities most of us will readily agree that your identity’s moreso formed rather than chosen. This argument usually ends on the question of whether or not the person has outside influences that can force a persona or choose a different path. Where as some have become convinced that identity’s chosen in whatever environment and the person surrounded by while others maintain that Identity solely created by outside influence. I personally believe both sides create a person’s identity.
As most people know, family, friends, and peers contribute for who we become as people shaping our personalities and character; however those peers a bigger participator in self identification. One of those influencers …show more content…

Boy, girl, man, woman those titles play a big role in our development“[...] children are introduced to certain roles that are typically linked to their biological sex. The term “gender role” refers to society’s concept of how men and women are expected to act and behave. Gender roles are based on norms, or standards, created by society.”(Lumen) This conforming begins so early for some they don’t even get a chance to figure out what will define them. They’re forced by societal influences to fill those gender roles say they must do. I’ve felt this shoving into a box. Constantly hearing as a young child that since i’m a girl I should be wearing a dress with pretty pink shoes, instead of sneakers and jeans. Or saying like “wouldn’t you rather want to play with the girl toys.” Eventually as I got older the comments slowed but it still made me have a feeling of uncomfort when I go outside the box society has made for me, since i’ve been made accustomed to stay in it. These gender roles even follow us into adulthood and affect how our society runs. “not typically based on any inherent or natural gender differences, but on gender stereotypes, or oversimplified notions about the attitudes, traits, and behavior patterns of males and females. Gender stereotypes form the basis of sexism, or the prejudiced beliefs that value males over females.” Society sets the standard women become docile homemakers , and only there for needs of their husbands. For men those roles make them believe they deserve this or better than that as their traditional roles convey. Anyone who is reliably judged superior to anything his companions by these arrangements of socially acknowledged parameters may tend to consider him/herself as better than others, while others may have a tendency to feel inferior such as

Show More
Related

  • The Role Of Identity In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

    623 Words  | 2 Pages

    At birth, every person is given a name, a birth certificate and a social security number. However, labels and documents do not identify who one is or who he will be. Family, environment, and circumstances shape an individual. At any one point in time, an individual may have one identity but at another given point, they may have another. What causes one’s identity to change? At birth, identity begins to form, shaping an individual; and while personal choice slightly influences a person’s identity, environmental factors weigh most heavily in molding a person’s permanent identity.

    Read More

  • Gender Codes In America Essay

    912 Words  | 2 Pages

    In contrast, men have been seen as more dominate than women because of their masculine abilities and other traits and most importantly their profound responsibility of being the provider and head of the household. Americans constantly uses theses two distinct stereotypes that in many cases present many biases regarding gender codes in America. Things have changed over time the women are no longer just house wives taking care of the house and children waiting for their husband to come home from his nine to five occupations. Andrea L. Miller explains in her article “The Separate Spheres Model of Gendered Inequality” that, “A common theme in the study of gender is the idea that men and women belong in distinct spheres of society, with men being particularly fit for the workplace and women being particularly fit for the domestic domain” (Miller 2). Miller gives two very specific examples on how gender is viewed in American

    Read More

  • What Are Gender Roles In Butler's Dawn?

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gender roles are often used in our own society to tie people to a certain representation for what is socially acceptable. These roles perpetuate gender inequalities because they often make the female end of the spectrum worth less than the male. One example is equating masculinity with strength and femininity with weakness. Because of this sayings such as “You run like a girl” become negative. Gender roles create a system where people are set to a different standard based off gender alone. In trying to follow what is socially acceptable based on gender people are forced into roles. There is a lower percentage of women in science than men because girls are taught at a young age that being smart isn’t feminine. These roles harm boys too, teaching them that they have to be hyper-masculine to be considered

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes In Pleasantville Betty Parker

    1001 Words  | 3 Pages

    The human species is qualified as a man and women. Categorically, gender roles relative to the identifying role are characterized as being either masculine or feminine. In the article “Becoming Members Of Society: Learning The Social Meanings Of Gender by Aaron H. Devor, says that “children begin to settle into a gender identity between the age of eighteen months and two years (Devor 387). The intricate workings of the masculine and feminine gender roles are very multifaceted and at the same time, very delicate. They are intertwined into our personalities and give us our gender identities (Devor 390). Our society is maintained by social norms that as individuals, we are consciously unaware of but knowingly understand they are necessary to get along out in the public eye which is our “generalized other” and in our inner circle of family and friends which is our “significant others” (Devor 390). Our learned behaviors signify whether our gender

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in Society

    379 Words  | 1 Pages

    Society places ideas concerning proper behaviors regarding gender roles. Over the years, I noticed that society's rules and expectations for men and women are very different. Men have standards and specific career goals that we must live up to according to how others judge.

    Read More

  • Why Do Gender-Role Stereotypes In The 21st Century?

    846 Words  | 2 Pages

    Furthermore, Society sees gender in a particular way. Females stays home to clean the house, cooks for the family, and takes care of the kids. Taking care of the kids is a major role. Helping them with the homework, basically making them grow up properly. In contrast, the male goes to work. Making the money to support the family. Puts the food on the table. Provides the money for the family to live. Society states that the male pays all of the bills. When time to retire the male has to have enough money to support the

    Read More

  • Persisting Gender Roles: A Barrier to Progress

    1525 Words  | 4 Pages

    Caregiving and homemaking are the primary roles given to women by society. And as Brigid Schulte stated in her article “Women aren’t the only ones trapped by gender roles”, “As long as women are expected to do the bulk of the caregiving and housework, and work cultures respect and reward people who don’t, women will remain at the disadvantage”. This quote simplicity sums up the effect traditional gender roles on the potentials of women. As long as these societal expectations are set in place, men will be the ones consistently given the rewards because their position in society is seemingly “superior” to women. According to an article from Forbes magazine entitled “The 5 Most Damaging Myths That Keep Women From Advancing and Thriving In Our World Today”, the second most damaging myth is the thought “that gender equality is just a workplace issue”(Caprino). Though this is a major issue surrounding traditional roles, the behavioral and physical expectations of men and women cannot be overlooked. “Social roles are the part people play as members of a social group. With each social role you adopt, your behavior changes to fit the expectations both you and others have of that role”(McLeod). Women are expected by society to be dependent, passive, emotional, and nurturing and look graceful and petite. Opponents to the aforementioned statements would suggest that

    Read More

  • Sociological Imagination

    750 Words  | 2 Pages

    Children learn gender roles based on parental socialization, meaning what is talked about by society and what is culturally accepted. They learn based on what they watch or what they hear and see from their family, friends, and school. The children learn that women are nurturing and expressive while men are strong and independent. Women are seen as the primary caregiver of their children, whether they are work or not. Studies have shown that the wives who earn 100% of their family’s income spend more time with their children than the husbands who earn 100% of the income (Raley, Bianchi, and Wang 2012:1448). Looking at gender and sex at a sociological imagination standpoint, it would be clear that the way society influenced this data. Women have been the primary caregivers for almost all of America’s history, so it’s not likely to change anytime soon. America is slowing heading towards change with is seen with the stalled revolution, women are seen with different viewpoints than their mothers and grandmothers, but men still have more similarities with their fathers and

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes In When I Was A Boy By Dar Williams

    2530 Words  | 6 Pages

    Why it is like that? Children don’t have social roles, they are just being who they are. And the most awful part is that they must lost the very important part of their individuality. It happens during the process of growing up, when they are being forced and compelled to adopt social norms. It might go smooth or becomes a struggle, but it’s inevitable. Our essence is uncomplete, it’s stocked up with numerous gender stereotypes and gender scripts. But if we strip off all the build-up of these stereotypes, we left to be miserable and lonely human being. Dar Williams song is a nice illustration hoe society slowly but surely imposed its gender rules in our lives. We receive feedbacks and instructions from literally everything. But we not just the receivers. We are active learners and teachers in gender school. We ourselves constantly give feedback and instructions to others. Thus, gender becomes interactive process. It emphasise West and Zimmerman, when they speak about gender accountability, “If sex category is omnirelevant (or even approaches being so), then a person engaged in virtually any activity may be held accountable for performance of that activity as a woman or a man” (West, Zimmerman “Doing Gender”, 1987, p. 136). It seems that every our move becomes gender accountable, and all of us are sharing this duty to maintain each other gender. To the certain extend, it becomes obligation for every individual to keep gender binary active, and we all doing so by

    Read More

  • Identity And Identity: The Influence Of Identity

    1554 Words  | 4 Pages

    When thinking about Identity, it might be easy to just say that is “who we are”, or it’s just me. An identity is much more than that though. I like to think of it as a living puzzle. There are hundreds or thousands of pieces that come together to form the complete identity, or the complete “you”. I say living because an identity grows throughout the years and even changes depending on the situation. There is a multitude of influences that goes into forming a person’s identity some of which a person chooses and others they don’t. Family members and guardians are a primary source of learning when a child is young. As a person grows, the sphere of influence broadens to include mentors, media, and school. This identity is then a lens through which

    Read More

  • Shaping Identity

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    In today's world, society creates an impact on human life. More of an impact can be seen among family and peers. They can be found at home, work, and school. At home with family, identity can be created on the difference of having one parent, divorced or separated parents, no parents, abusive parents, or even negligent parents. For example, children who grow up without a father or mother figure tend to become more independent at an early stage. Another example is where certain experiences within the family such as constantly witnessing parents argue can cause one's identity to be confined and distant. But, some people shape their identity similar to their parents. Such as a son became a soldier in the army because his father was in the army. Siblings, if any, are also an influence on the social identity of a person. They either become your friend, mentor, or you...

    Read More

  • My Personal Identity

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    A person’s identity is shaped by many different aspects. Family, culture, friends, personal interests and surrounding environments are all factors that tend to help shape a person’s identity. Some factors may have more of an influence than others and some may not have any influence at all. As a person grows up in a family, they are influenced by many aspects of their life. Family and culture may influence a person’s sense of responsibilities, ethics and morals, tastes in music, humor and sports, and many other aspects of life. Friends and surrounding environments may influence a person’s taste in clothing, music, speech, and social activities. Personal interests are what truly set individuals apart. An individual is not a puppet on the string of their puppet-master, nor a chess piece on their master’s game board, individuals choose their own paths in life. They accomplish, or strive to accomplish, goals that they have set for themselves throughout their lifetime. Individuals are different from any other individual in the world because they live their own life rather than following a crowd of puppets. A person’s identity is defined by what shaped it in the first place, why they chose to be who they are, and what makes them different from everybody else in the world. I feel that I have developed most of my identity from my own dreams, fantasies, friends, and idols.

    Read More

  • Factors That Influence Identity Essay

    720 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the factors that influences identity is the culture a human being was raised in. There are many different types of cultures on Earth, and each culture has its own set of norms. These set of norms puts pressure of the human being to act in a certain way. This, as a result, influences

    Read More

  • Gender Similarities And Differences

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    Men have assumed a more aggressive and dominant role “Many traditional gender-based stereotypes are widely accepted in our society. Someof the prevailing notions about men maintain that they are aggressive” (Crooks and Bauer, 2014: p 134), whereas, woman are supposed to nature and run the household “Women are frequently viewed as nonassertive, illogical, emotional, subordinate, warm, and nurturing (Crooks and Buaer, 2014: p 134). However, in today’s society gender equality has become a more common practice where both sexes take on masculine and feminine roles to in every day life “Research suggests that women are less entrenched than men in rigid gender-role stereotypes and are more inclined to embrace positions of equality with men (Ben-David & Schneider, 2005)” as cited in (Crooks and Bauer, 2014: p 135). Due to ability to work from home, woman have accepted a modern role of holding a career as well as raising a family and men are seen working and helping out with regular house hold chores. People are beginning to conform to are less traditional view, but in my personal experience woman still hold a more traditional role and men are still the primary providers for a family. Women tend to be stay at home moms and only work part time jobs, while men establish a career and focus primarily on their work. In smaller communities this seems to be more of a

    Read More

  • Gender and Society

    2171 Words  | 5 Pages

    The differences between women and men are not solely biological. Our society’s culture has established a set of unwritten cultural laws of how each gender should act, or in other words society has ascribed a stereotype. Men’s gender identity has been one of masculinity, and masculinity is defined as referring to a man or things described as manly. What does manly mean though? Is a male manly if he is “Mr. Fix-it”, or the jock, or if he sits on the couch on Sunday watching football? This latter statement is a stereotype of men, that has been around for decades, and is current as well, but starting with the 1960’s a man’s role started to change, despite the stereotype not changing to accommodate it. For the past 40 years one can see how men have taken on roles stereotypically ascribed to women, such roles including being the “stay-at-home mom”, which we can find an excellent example of in the 1980’s film “Mr.

    Read More

More about Do People Control A Person's Identity?

Open Document