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Sexuality and gender are socially constructed
Sexuality and gender are socially constructed
Societal norms and gender stereotypes
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The relationship between sex and gender can be argued in many different lights. All of which complicated lights. Each individual beholds a sexual identity and a gender identity, with the argument of perceiving these identities however way they wish to perceive them. However, the impact of gender on our identities and on our bodies and how they play out is often taken for granted in various ways. Gender issues continue to be a hugely important topic within contemporary modern society. I intend to help the reader understand that femininities and masculinities is a social constructed concept and whether the binary categories of “male” and “female” are adequate concepts for understanding and organising contemporary social life with discussing the experiences of individuals and groups who have resisted these labels and forged new identities. The main argument to think about when looking at the relationship between sex and gender is whether it is purely biological or is more than definitely socially constructed. The distinction between sex and gender could be described as simply, sex: the biological makeup of an individual’s reproductive anatomy and gender: an individual’s lifestyle or their personal identification of their gender. Firstly looking at the argument that gender identity arises from biological processes. For some, it may be an obvious answer of women and men being chromosomally different. Women having two X chromosomes and men having an X and Y chromosome. The Y chromosome produces testosterone and other androgens. These androgens allow the male to develop testes and a penis rather than the female genitalia of ovaries and a uterus. It is argued that they all cause male and females brains to develop differently. For example... ... middle of paper ... ...sight into them both entirely. It would be an obvious assumption to assume that sex and gender have a very close relationship by just looking at the biological side. However, after conducting an independent research, it is obvious that this is not the case. Gender is a socially constructed concept. From the moment you are born and whether or not you are dressed in pink or blue is the beginning of your gender being socially constructed. However, although it may be seen that some of these construction are a problem, I believe that people can tend to fall into some of these theories without realising. Overall after looking at theories of both men and women I believe that their sex and their gender are not related. I also believe that society is now having a larger hold up the relationship between sex and gender especially now after the recent declaration in Australia.
Is Gender the same thing as Sex? This topic is complicated because many people confuse these two as the same thing but they are very two different things. There are several Cultural Myths about Gender and Sex. Gary Colombo, who wrote: “Thinking Critically, Challenging Cultural Myths” who explains that a cultural myth is a shared set of customs, values, ideas, and beliefs, as well as a common language. In “Sisterhood is Complicated” by Ruth Padawer who is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine, focusing on gender and social issues in “Sisterhood is Complicated” she shows many of the Stereotypes about Gender and Sex and how they are unmistakably just cultural myths. It also has how there are positives being trans at an all women
In the modern day society the two terms gender and sex gets often confused when carrying out informal discussion surrounding sexuality. The two terms are two different things. Sex is defined by your biology. The chromosomes you are made out of – XX for female and XY for male as well as your internal and external sex organs. Gender however is the characteristics that the society depicts as feminine or masculine. This focuses on your gender role in society; your characteristics to the way you present yourself as male or female. It short, your sex is rooted in biology whilst your gender the way you portray your masculinity of
Most of the current social work clients and workers are women. This gender is also over-represented among women, which implies that women continue to face considerable issues in the modern society despite the changes in the traditional role of men and women in the society. Social welfare policy are usually developed and implemented to confront various issues in the society including the plight of women. However, recent statistics demonstrate that social welfare policy does not always meet women’s needs effectively. This is regardless of the fact that sexism and heterosexism play a crucial role is shaping social welfare policy. Therefore, it is important to develop effective social welfare policy
Some sociologists claim that gender is a product of social constructionism, which is a learned idea shaped and created by society. It is often confused with sex, and is defined as “a socially constructed system of classification that ascribes qualities of masculinity and femininity to people” (Sheppard & Mayo JR, 2009, p. 261). This means that there are specific traits and assets given to males and females. Gender characteristics alter over time and vary between different cultures. Sex, on the other hand is biological, and refers to your internal and external anatomy that you were born with, and is not something that can be socially constructed. I think gender is socially constructed because it is a manmade concept used to make sense of and distinguish the two sexes that is shaped by culture, social structure and the media. It assigns specific culture made attributes to men and women that can be positive or negative.
Various studies have been conducted examining the role of gender representation in game design, game play and game experience, in which these studies commonly conclude that females are often excluded. Females make up forty-seven percent of gamers in the industry and although their presence is becoming more encouraged into the industries society, most games still continue to gender stereotype woman through the use of over-sexualising them reinforcing the gender imbalance in society. There are multitude of ways in which sexism in video games have seemed to mirror real-life sexism and the unrealistic, degrading portrayal of the female sex. This emergence of sexism is an ongoing issue in the gaming industry causing serious controversy over a period of years, with games or game series such Grand Theft Auto demonstrating how detrimental the problem is. Grand Theft Auto 5, abbreviated GTA 5, released in 2013 (in text) present woman in the games that have been previously released with virtually no role to the story nor are they needed in the game, they are merely ‘eye candy’ for the male players. With the females in the game either flirtatious, provocatively dressed or lovers of gang members. Much debate has raged about the degrading portrayal of woman in GTA 5 which implement sexism traits such as objectification, sexualisation, being under presented and suffering sexual violence.
The terms sex and gender seemed to be used interchangeably in daily conversation. However, the definitions of the two words are different. The term sex is in reference to a person’s biological make up, either male or female. In ordered to be considered male or female, in terms of sex, a person must have certain biological characteristics. This includes chromosomes, hormones, and reproductive organs. Even though, it gives the impression of being very cut and dry there are still variations that occur. This is what is referred to as intersex. An intersex person is neither completely male nor female, but has qualities of both. A sex is usually chosen for the intersex person when they are born. This can cause problems later on. Although, the term sex seems complicated it has solid foundations
When considering gender and sex, a layman’s idea of these terms might be very different than a sociologist’s. There is an important distinction: sex, in terms of being “male” or “female,” is purely the physical biological characteristic differences – primarily anatomical differences. (There are also rare cases of “intersexual” individuals as outlined in the Navarro article, “When Gender Isn’t a Given”.) Gender, on the other hand, is an often misconstrued concept that is commonly mistaken as synonymous with sex. A non-sociologist might surmise the following, “men act masculine and women act feminine, therefore, it must follow that gender is inherent to sex,” however, this is not necessarily the case.
The sex and gender binary is a socially-constructed classification of sex and gender into two distinct and biological forms of masculine and feminine. The binary is a restricting concept that enforces the ideology that solely two genders exist—it is a social boundary that limits people from exploring gender identity or mixing it up (Larkin, 2016). As Mann depicts it, the binary constrains us to take on one gender identity, and to follow through with the expected roles assigned to that gender. The implications are that it compels people to fit into the binary and follow the patriarchal, heteronormative traditions of society (Mann, 2012). However, the binary was not always so clear-cut, but certain concepts from scientific research such as the
Gender is such a ubiquitous notion that humans assume gender is biological. However, gender is a notion that is made up in order to organize human life. It is created and recreated giving power to the dominant gender, creating an inferior gender and producing gender roles. There are many questionable perspectives such as how two genders are learned, how humans learn their own gender and others genders, how they learn to appropriately perform their gender and how gender roles are produced. In order to understand these perspectives, we must view gender as a social institution. Society bases gender on sex and applies a sex category to people in daily life by recognizing gender markers. Sex is the foundation to which gender is created. We must understand the difference between anatomical sex and gender in order to grasp the development of gender. First, I will be assessing existing perspectives on the social construction of gender. Next, I will analyze three case studies and explain how gender construction is applied in order to provide a clearer understanding of gender construction. Lastly, I will develop my own case study by analyzing the movie Mrs. Doubtfire and apply gender construction.
Social Construction of Gender is a process, stratification system and structure. The day to day interactions emphasize gender as opposites. Take for instance, conversations, formalities of daily life, sayings, and so on. The social construction of gender is created through social interaction – through the things we do and say with other people. This means that gender it is not a fixed or inherent fact, but instead it varies across time and place.
In biosocial terms, gender is not the same as sex. Most people believe gender and sex are kindred, but they’re not. There is a difference between gender and sex. Sex is how society classifies a person’s genetic and biological anatomy. Gender is how an individual views their identity, regardless of sex. Sex is biological in nature and determines one 's biological destiny. Gender, on the other hand, helps define one 's role within society. Lorber wrote: “Individuals are born sexed but not gendered, they have to be taught to be masculine or feminine” (1994). What if children aren’t taught to be masculine or feminine? Of course, these social cues are what mainly divides men from women, and nature from nurture, but does it also divide sex from gender?
According to dictionary.com, gender is defined as “the condition of being female or male.” Gender and Sexuality conjure up images of the male and female and the roles that each sex is supposed to fulfill. Of the two forces (Biology and Environment) influencing human development, especially gender, environment is more influential. Environment is basically the surrounding conditions or forces capable of influencing a person or any entity, for example, family, culture, peers, society, etc. In view of this, let us now think about these thought provoking questions. Do you believe there will ever come a day when boys will play with dolls and girls will play with trucks and no one will notice? Suppose parents could successfully forget about the gender of their child. What would be the advantages and the disadvantages of this? These are the questions that would be examined and answered in this article.
Identities are an important part of the human experience. One of the many identities that creates a person is gender. Society, being the entity establishing social norms and social roles, plays a part in effecting the individual’s gender, and how they choose to express themself. The underlying or overlying identities also have the same effect. Gender is not only an identity, it is a lifestyle inside and out. Gender, like race, class, and sexuality; is not limited to the binary scale, and that is normal, natural, and human. The concept of gender is man-made, but it forces one’s hand to analyze the thought processes behind an individual's perception on gender through self, through society, or through the dichotomy and/or correspondence of the
There are multiple definitions of identity, more theorists have intense debates of what is the real basis of describing it. One of those is Judith Butler who belies that identity is ontological fiction and defined sex as performativity (Hekman,2000). To classify, identity starts by defining sex and gender, which are both formations of identifying a person. Additionally, Sex was acquired from birth with “biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women” (World Health Organization, 2016). For example, male and female have different reproductive organs on the emphasis that women give birth and men do not. Moreover, the impression of having different features, man or woman comes with the completion of gestures, roles and
Gender And Sexuality: Productive and Non Productive Aspects Gender carries a more social tone. It refers to socially constructed differences between the sexes and to the social relationships between women and men. These differences between the sexes are shaped over the history of social relations and change over time and across cultures. Gender identity depends on the circumstances in which women and men live and includes economic, cultural, historical, ideological, and religious factors. Gender relations also vary according to the economic and social conditions of the society and differ between social and ethnic groups. The definition of sexuality can encompass many things. This can mean the feelings we have about ourselves as sexual beings, the ways in which we choose to express these feelings with ourselves and others, and the physical capability each of us has to give and experience sexual pleasure. Sex is the total sum of physical characteristics that distinguish males and females from each other. The most distinctive difference in characteristics is that man and women have different reproductive organs. This is pretty obvious and so are other traits like facial hair, deep voices, and muscular builds. Current Scenario: If you are questioning your sexual orientation or gender identity, you probably have already figured out that society is telling you what it wants you to be. Families, religions, and different cultural and ethnic institutions communicate expectations to us, both in direct and indirect ways, about how to be. Often as children queer people get a sense that they don't fit with society's codes. It may not be completely clear to some individuals at first in what way they don't fit; instead they feel a vague sense o...