In the early days most pregnant women would rely on their grandmother’s silly predictions or other old wives tales to predict whether their unborn baby was a boy or a girl. However, women had no way of knowing the sex of their baby until the actual moment of birth. The idea of gender determination has always been a challenge, and to this day one still cannot fully understand the concept of gender determination. However, with the use of modern day technology and much research, experts have found ways to determine the sex of unborn fetus.
Gender definition
Although there are many ways to define the word gender, Psychology of men (nd), defines gender as a group of characteristics or features that involving a certain biological sex (male/female). Characteristics or traits can both be referred to as one being “manly” or “womanly’. Some researchers and scientist have agued that gender determination is and has always been one of the most controversial issues.
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.
Description and Performance
Caster Semenya was born with an sex disorder characterize by man...
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... the complaints and everything that Semenya had to endure and the fact that there was still no clear evidence to determine whether Semenya was either a male of female. The test was not able to establish those facts and as a result, no official action could be taken to determine the outcome. Therefore International Association of Athletic Federation (IAAF) had to reinstate Semenya and she will be allowed to continue her athletic career.
In conclusion, one has included in this paper a description of Caster Semenya, the gold medalist winner of the women 800 meter during the 2009 Olympic. One has discussed the issues surrounding Caster Semenya’s gender, and how she had to undergo gender testing to test her testosterone levels to determine if she was a male of female. In addition, one has also included the testing results and the outcome involving Semenya’s gender issue.
To begin with, gender must be examined at the basic level of science in regard to physical and biological development of humans. We all understand the physical differences between the male and female gender, but how is our sex actually determined. After conception,
While sex refers the biological characteristics that make up a person, their gender is determined by the behaviors and attitudes considered “proper” by society according to their sex.
The major achievement of Dr. Morrison is the establishment of gender equality in the sporting sector she was determined to raise the status and competition level of sporting activities in terms ...
The clusters of social definitions used to identify persons by gender are collectively known as “femininity” and “masculinity.” Masculine characteristics are used to identify persons as males, while feminine ones are used as signifiers for femaleness. People use femininity or masculinity to claim and communicate their membership in their assigned, or chosen, sex or gender. Others recognize our sex or gender more on the basis of these characteristics than on the basis of sex characteristics, which are usually largely covered by clothing in daily life.
Lopiano and Sommers agree that the amount of media coverage female athletes receive compared to male athletes indicates that female athletes are less valid. Lopiano and Sommers both point out that the media tends to highlight female athletes in action only during major events. Fortunately, for the male athletes, the tendency is different because no matter what time of the year it is, male events are always airing on the television. The media only decides to highlight events such as the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) women’s basketball Final Four, Olympics, and World Cup soccer. Since the Olympic games and World Cup occurs every four years, the Final Four also known as the semi-final round are the rare eve...
Within todays sporting community, certain aspects of sport and its practices promote and construct ideas that sport in general is a male dominated. Sports media often provides an unequal representation of genders. Women athletes are regularly perceived as mediocre in comparison to their male equivalents (Lenskyj, 1998). Achievement in sport is generally established through displays of strength, speed and endurance, men usually set the standards in these areas, consequently woman rarely reach the level set by top male athletes. Due to this, the media significantly shows bias towards male sports while we are ill-informed about the achievements in the female sporting community. On the occasion that a female athlete does make some form of an appearance in the media, images and videos used will usually portray the female in sexually objectified ways (Daniels & Wartena, 2011). This depiction of female athletes can cause males to take focus solely on the sexual assets of the athlete in preference to to their sporting abilities (Daniels & Wartena, 2011). Sexualisation of sportswoman in the media is a prevalent issue in today’s society, it can cause physical, social and mental problems among women of all ages (Lenskyj, 1998).
In this manner, it is clear that these athletes are taking strides towards equality by affecting the future of our society, youth. Though as a society we face many remaining obstacles in striving toward gender equality in sport, it is important to look at what has been accomplished, and also look to the future for what can still be done.
Betsy Lucal, "What it means to be gendered me: Life on the Boundaries of a Dichotomous Gender System."
Krane, V. (2001). We can be athletic and feminine, but do we want to? Challenging hegemonic femininity in women's sport. Quest, 53,115-133.
Gender is determined by the sex chromosomes, XX produces a female, and XY produces a male. Males are produced by the action of the SRY gene on the Y chromosome, which contains the code necessary to cause the indifferent gonads to develop as testes (1). In turn the testes secrete two kinds of hormones, the anti-Mullerian hormone and testosterone, which instruct the body to develop in a masculine fashion (1). The presence of androgens during the development of the embryo results in a male while their absence results by default in a female. Hence the dictum "Nature's impulse is to create a female" (1). The genetic sex (whether the individual is XX or XY) determines the gonadal sex (whether there are ovaries or testis), which through hormonal secretions determines the phenotypic sex. Sexual differentiation is not drive...
The word gender refers to a general classification of human beings into male and female with socially and culturally constructed characteristics, behaviors, attributes and roles preconceived and labelled as appropriate for each class. The society and culture today have placed human beings in a box which to a large extent dictates how we act in the world.
Researchers attempted to sort the newly discovered chromosomes into preceding sex determination theories and opposed the explanation of the discrete genetic characters “maleness” and “femaleness” as representations of the X and Y chromosomes. The binary of XX and XY chromosomes, being female or male, respectfully, with little inclusion of intersex traits or genetic abnormalities, is described by Richardson throughout the text. For individuals like South African Olympian Caster Semenya, who is hyperandrogenous and may have XY chromosomes (Dr. Miller, 2/15/17, UC Berkeley), notions of X and Y chromosomes as empirical factors of sex and gender are not applicable. Richardson asserts that socially informed concepts of gender fundamentally impacted scientific research, including the vernacular used in publications and the subjects considered worthy of scientific examination. Richardson rejects notions of linear scientific progress, and examines the contributions of preexisting scientific concepts inform
Sabo, Don. "Women's athletics and the elimination of men's sports." Journal of Sport & Social Issues, Feb98, Vol. 22 Issue 1, p27.
In order to grasp the concept of social construction of gender, it is essential to understand the difference between sex and gender. Biologically, there are only two reproductive genital organs that are determinants of sex: the vagina and the penis. Sex is established solely through biological structures; in other words, genitalia are the basis of sex. Once a sex category is determined, gender, a human categorization socially attached to sex, is assigned based on anatomy. Gender typically references social or cultural differen...
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 variations between males and females (Browne, 1998). Some of these variations are genitals, 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, these are responsible for primary characteristics (Fulcher and Scott, 2003). Gender on the other hand refers to the sociological differences between male and female. This is teaching males and females to behave in various ways due to socialisation (Browne, 1998). Example: masculinity and femininity. Girls are supposed to show their femininity by being non-competitive, sensitive, dependent, attractive and placid. If and when some girls don’t succeed in keeping this image they will be referred to as a tomboy. On the other hand, boys show their masculinity through aggression, physical strength...