Sex & Gender Identity

894 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Defining gender identity and the roles of nature and nurture in gender identity

While our natural sex is selected for us soon after our conception, however, our gender identity is not. Our psychological characteristics, the role we decided to take in society, and even our behaviors shape our gender identity. Whether your true gender identity is learned from those closest to you as a child, or if you decide to change you physical sex to match your gender identity at a point in your life, the expectations of society still play a huge role in shaping how parts of your life are lived. From the moment sperm and egg meet, many processes begin to happen. Each of these processes are the start of forming all of the parts that make up a human being. Most people wonder if their new baby will have the eyes of the mother or the father, be tall like Grandpa or short like Aunt Kim. Be an excellent athlete like Uncle Tom or have the ability to be a rocket scientist like Grandma Sue. New parents also spend a lot of time thinking about if they will be having a boy or a girl. Twenty-two pairs of autosomes is how many it takes to form a whole homo sapien. In addition, one pair of sex chromosomes is needed. These will either be in the form of two X chromosomes to form a female or an X and a Y chromosome to form a male. This pair of sex chromosomes is responsible for much more than just the external sex organs. They control hormones, the full internal reproductive structures, and the sex discernment within the brain. Occasionally, an “error” so to speak occurs during the meeting of the autosomes and chromosomes. When this happens, many deformities can occur within the developing fetus, one such outcome is ambiguous biological sex, or, intersexed. This essentially means a person that has either external sex organs of both a m... ... middle of paper ... ...ust from males. I feel that this is a result of the gender stereotype that men are leaders and woman are not. I am currently working towards a business degree which I plan to use to transfer to law school. I would love to be a judge one day. My own Grandfather told me the judges stand (or any other official position) is no place for a woman. My Mother and Grandmother where pretty upset with me for going to college because they feel that it takes away from my family. I think the biggest shock to the people in my life is that I work outside of the home while my husband works from home. I do not enjoy being in the home all day long, however, my husband doesn’t mind it. He decided to work in a home office so he can be with our children. I am grateful for him for doing this. I’m glad to have someone that understands my needs and doesn’t force me to follow cultural norms.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of The Article 'Learning To Be Gendered'

    708 Words  | 2 Pages

    In today’s society, it can be argued that the choice of being male or female is up to others more than you. A child’s appearance, beliefs and emotions are controlled until they have completely understood what they were “born to be.” In the article Learning to Be Gendered, Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell- Ginet speaks out on how we are influenced to differentiate ourselves through gender. It starts with our parents, creating our appearances, names and behaviors and distinguishing them into a male or female thing. Eventually, we grow to continue this action on our own by watching our peers. From personal experience, a child cannot freely choose the gender that suits them best unless our society approves.

    Read More

  • Wicked, by Gregory Maguire

    1168 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sex is the biological composition of either a male or female. For example, females have XX chromosomes in their DNA; their reproduction system consists of an egg and a vagina, and they also have functional breasts. Males, on the other hand, have XY chromosomes in their DNA; their reproductive system consists of sperm, testes, and a penis. Gender is the array of characteristics that distinguish a male from female and according to their attributes. However, there are some people whose sexual organs are imperfect, according to the roles of gender and sex, an example are hermaphrodites, because they have both a male and female’s sexual organs. Hermaphrodites tend to stay in the middle, grayish area between a male and a female. Society uses binaries to classify a male as men, with masculine traits, and a female as women who have feminine traits. Masculine traits are the roughness, muscles, broad shoulders, and deep voice men, or women, can possess. On the other hand, feminine traits include the long hair, soft skin, angelic glow and soft voice that either a women or men can own.

    Read More

  • The Gendered Brain and Its Influence on Roles

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is a fact that our society faces many issues regarding gender identification today. I believe many of these issues come from the differences in a female brain and a male brain and the standards our society has set for each. The hormones that run through our bodies help shape the gender that we identify with and our society tells us what is “normal or acceptable” for each gender. When the brain and hormones do not match the sex we are assigned at birth chaos arises. No matter how hard our environment tries to enforce the physical gender that our body represents, our mind can reject it, even if we are consciously trying to accept the assigned sex.

    Read More

  • Gender Identity And Identity

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    People tend to be less conscious of how they daily use their bodies to express gender and how their bodies generate their identities. Dieting, makeup, nail polishing, wearing high-heels and body movements are one of the examples of the body self-disciplines, which the female unconsciously performs as a part of their gender identity every day. Foucault wrote that identity is a form of subjugation and exercising the power upon individual or society. As a part of identity, gender identity can be considered as a limitation of personal freedom, which prevents individual from moving outside fixed gender boundaries. The society establishes gender boundaries on different social levels according to existing norms and values prescribed to masculinity and femininity. Disciplining as “a political anatomy of detail” is one of the hidden mechanisms of power, which society uses to form ‘docile

    Read More

  • Sex and Gender

    2188 Words  | 5 Pages

    Sex and Gender Arianna Stassinopoulos wrote in the 1973 book The Female Woman: "It would be futile to attempt to fit women into a masculine pattern of attitudes, skills and abilities and disastrous to force them to suppress their specifically female characteristics and abilities by keeping up the pretense that there are no differences between the sexes" (Microsoft Bookshelf). In her statement, we see a cultural feminist response to the dominant liberal feminism of the 1970s. Liberal feminism de-emphasized gender differences, claiming that women were the equals of men and that this would be obvious if only they were offered the same opportunities as men with no special privileges necessary. On the other hand, cultural feminists such as Stassinopoulos claimed that women's unique perspective and talents must be valued, intentionally emphasizing the differences between men and women. A third type of feminism, post-modernism, is represented in Sexing the Body by Anne Fausto-Sterling.

    Read More

  • Gender Differences In Gender Identity

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    Language is a key component of the expression and construction of both group and individual identity. Differences in gender identity has resulted in the parallel development of genderlects and gender roles within society. Gender stereotypes and societal pressures of conformity heavily influences linguistic behaviour of different genders; leading to the generalisation where ‘women like silent men. They think they’re listening’ (Michael Achard). The further division between language choices between genders is stylised by the variation in their perceived functions for language. However, depending on the contexts of the linguistic exchange, other sociolinguistic factors (eg. Age, occupation, ethnicity etc…) may have a more profound effect on language variation. Without a doubt, gender is a prominent influence in the variation of linguistic choice, but under certain conditions gender will not be the largest influence.

    Read More

  • Masculine Homosexual Analysis

    621 Words  | 2 Pages

    You determine a human’s sex with the XY Sex-Determination System. All humans, most mammals, and a smattering of plants, insects, and reptiles become classified by the set of chromosomes that they’re born with. Females are homogametic (having the same sex chromosomes, XX), while males are heterogametic (have different chromosomes, XY). There are conditions where it is possible to have a different chromosome lineup than the typical two stated here. The most common is being intersex, happening 1 in 2000 births. If you’re intersex, then you were born with heterogametic chromosomes, but they both never became fully developed, meaning you could lose some of the typical male or female secondary sexual characteristics, i.e. pubic hair, enlarged Adam’s

    Read More

  • Sexual Identity And Sexual Identity

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    Not everyone may realize that sexual behavior and sexual identity are two distinguishable ideas, though they are closely related. Sexual behavior is, as it sounds, the way one acts out sexually. Sexual identity is how one interprets themselves in regards to sex, gender, and sexual orientation. Sexual identity has more so to do with performativity, than physical sexual acts. This paper aims to identify the ways in which sexual behavior becomes known as sexual identity and how the queer theoretical insights of Marinucci and Mottier lead to the understanding of this development.

    Read More

  • Gender Identity: A Child's Identity

    1898 Words  | 4 Pages

    As a child grows and conforms to the world around them they go through various stages, one of the most important and detrimental stages in childhood development is gender identity. The development of the meaning of a child’s sex and gender can form the whole future of that child’s identity as a person. This decision whether accidental or genetic can effect that child’s life style views and social interactions for the rest of their lives. Ranging from making friends in school all the way to intimate relationships later on in life, gender identity can become an important aspect to ones future endeavors.

    Read More

  • Gender and Sexuality

    1230 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gender has been around throughout history; however, within recent years, gender has separated itself from the traditional view of sex, e.i., male or female, and has become centered on ones masculinity or femininity. Of course gender is more than just ones masculinity or femininity, gender has become a way for one to describe, he or she, in a way in which they are different from everyone else. Gender has turned into a sense of identity, a way for one to feel different and fulfilled among all of those around them. Of course gender’s sense of freedom would seem outside of structure and only affected by one’s own agency, however, structure is a key component in establishing gender. We can look into both ethnic Mexican’s culture practices regarding sexuality, children songs and games, and see that cultural traditions still heavily influence gender, creating what is masculine and what is feminine and what is the role of each gender, as well as challenging the notions that gender is solely based on agency.

    Read More

  • Social Construction of Gender

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    first way gender is defined is by the family in which a child is raised. Second is the society in which a child interacts; makes friends and enemies. The third is our school system and our board of education. And the last but not least is our own self conscious. Each of the above four ways have a unique way of molding and helping an individual define his/her gender.

    Read More

  • Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation

    3600 Words  | 8 Pages

    In today’s day in age, different sexualities and gender identities are quickly becoming more accepted in mainstream society. Despite this change, there are many people who believe that having a different sexual orientation or gender identity is a choice that is frowned upon. In order to refute this belief, research and biology of the brain is necessary. Researching the brain on the basis of sexuality is a fairly new topic of discussion because it is somewhat difficult and confusing. This paper will explore the different identities of gender, sex and sexual orientation and the main biological reasons behind these. There is also some validity of different sexual orientations and identities through the evidence of sexual disorders like Klinefelter’s and Turner’s Syndrome and gender dysphoria.

    Read More

  • Gender and Sexuality

    2683 Words  | 6 Pages

    Gender and sexuality can be comprehended through social science. Social science is “the study of human society and of individual relationships in and to society” (free dictionary, 2009). The study of social science deals with different aspects of society such as politics, economics, and the social aspects of society. Gender identity is closely interlinked with social science as it is based on an identity of an individual in the society. Sexuality is “the condition of being characterized and distinguished by sex” (free dictionary, 2009). There are different gender identities such as male, female, gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual that exists all around the world. There is inequality in gender identities and dominance of a male regardless of which sexuality they fall under. The males are superior over the females and gays superior over the lesbians, however it different depending on the place and circumstances. This paper will look at the gender roles and stereotypes, social policy, and homosexuality from a modern and a traditional society perspective. The three different areas will be compared by the two different societies to understand how much changes has occurred and whether or not anything has really changed. In general a traditional society is more conservative where as a modern society is fundamentally liberal. This is to say that a traditional society lists certain roles depending on the gender and there are stereotypes that are connected with the genders. One must obey the one that is dominant and make decisions. On the other hand, a modern society is lenient, It accepts the individual’s identity and sexuality. There is no inequality and everyone in the society is to be seen as individuals not a part of a family unit...

    Read More

  • Sex and Gender

    1769 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sex and gender are terms that are mixed up from day to day and seen as similarities rather than differences. Sex is what distinguishes people from being either male or female. It is the natural or biological variation between males and females (Browne, 1998). Some of these variations are genital, body hair, and internal and external organs. It is the make-up of chromosomes, men have one X and one Y chromosome and women have two X chromosomes, which are responsible for primary characteristics (Fulcher and Scott, 2003).

    Read More

  • Gender And Gender Determination

    1105 Words  | 3 Pages

    Most of today’s theorists and scientists have a different perception of determining whether or not gender can be based on biological factors, or evolutionary factors. Gender determination involving humans can be identified by evaluating male and female chromosomes. Theorist of Penn State (2005) contains that chromosomes is a combination of instructions used to produce organism. As previously stated, the male chromosomes consist of X and Y. These two chromosomes are responsible for creating male gender and their ability to produce sperm. The female egg consists of double XX chromosome. Based on this theory, the X chromosomes carry a more dominant instruction manual than the Y chromosome.

    Read More

More about Sex & Gender Identity

Open Document