Gender And Social Construction

Anthropologists view gender as a cultural and social construction due to societal norms and one’s socialization. Society ultimately shapes gender which is performed by an individual. There are many different cross-cultural perceptions of gender, and the relationship it has to the symbolic and social order of things. Different cultures view gender in various ways, which is linked to social and symbolic factors within the society. Gender not only exists as male and female, as there are many cases of transgendered and asexual individuals. The Hijras of India are an institutionalized third gender role, where neither identifies as male or female. Therefore, gender does not only exist as a binary cross-culturally. Gender is constructed by cultural

Anthropologists view gender as a cultural and social construction. Society and socialization shapes the way in which people see themselves and therefore they begin to perform in the way that society has taught them. Judith Butler believes that gender is constructed from socialization which is then performed by individuals. Gender becomes an identity which is something that is learned and acted out. Gender is structured by the way in which people think. Different genders have categories and meanings attached to them such as their sexual difference, which can also be constructed through societal norms. In Henrietta Moore’s “Whatever Happened to Women and Men? Gender and other Crisis in Anthropology,” she states, “ gender and gender relations were concerned with the sexual division of labour, with the roles, tasks and social statuses of women and men in social life broadly understood” (152). This insinuates the idea that gender is constructed through the roles and duties that

In India, there is a third gender role called the Hijras. They are nor female or male; however, they contain features and aspects of both. The Hijras are normally believed to be intersexed, powerless and weak men, who have had their genitals removed. They dress like females and adopt other aspects of female behaviour. This perception of gender holds a strong relationship to the symbolic and social order of things. There are many religious meanings of the Hijras’ role. It is believed that since Hijras were born intersex, they were unable to reproduce and have children of their own. Therefore, they would go through the emasculation operation which would enable them to provide blessings of fertility on others. In the journal article entitled “The Hijras of India: Cultural and Individual Dimensions of the Institutionalized Third Gender Role” by Serena Nanda, it states “The link between the Hindu theme of creative asceticism and the role and power of the Hijras, is explicitly articulated in the myths connecting them to their major point of religious identification- their worship of Bahuchara Mata, and her requirement that they undergo emasculation” (39). Bahuchara holds a connection to the Hijras due to their values and practices that are maintained. The Hirjas’ carry out a ritual in which they sit in front of a photo of Behuchara and chants her name during