The Differences Between Gender And Gender Development

Johnson, “Like sex, gender is a multidimensional construct that refers to the different roles, responsibilities, limitations, and experiences provided to individuals. Gender builds on biological sex to give meaning to sex differences, categorizing individuals with labels such as woman, man, transsexual, and third gendered”. There is a range of genders, such as transsexual, transgender, and transvestite. According to Susan Scutti, “Transsexuals are people who transition from one sex to another. A person born as a male can become recognizably female through the use of hormones and/or surgical procedures; and a person born as a female can become recognizably male.

Sex is defined by the physical body and is characterized by the initial biological structure from birth. The characteristics of each male or female body maybe different but the make ups are the same. Gender on the other hand according to Wood is unstable; it is a category or a means by which we understand the body. The cultures ideologies and discourses surrounding us make sense of the body and determine our gender in multiple ways. It gives us a social, political, symbolic, and economic understanding of our bodies and how they are similar and dissimilar from other bodies.

Society and peers will also help to reinforce her gender as she begins to spend more time outside of her immediate family. In this way, gender is a process, whereas sex is simply a static characteristic based on one’s physical appearance. The more dynamic process of gendering, however, defines “man” and “woman,” teaches one to see and internalize what is expected from one’s gender, and to act according to those expectations (Lorber 2006). When one’s biological sex and one’s internal gender are the same (a female with a vagina or a male with a penis), one is cissexual, or non-transgender. However, when one is born with the inappropriate sexual equipment, one is transgender, or one who feels one gender but has the sex organs of the other.

The creation of gender expectations by society creates a restricting definition of gender roles and sexuality that vary from culture to culture. Society created the role of gender and created an emphasis on the differences between the two genders. Alma Gottlieb states: “biological inevitability of the sex organs comes to stand for a perceived inevitability of social roles, expectations, and meanings” (Gottlieb, 167). Sex is the scientific acknowledgment that men and women are biologically different; gender stems from society’s formation of roles assigned to each sex and the emphasis of the differences between the two sexes. The creation of meanings centers on the expectations of the roles each sex should fill; society creates cultural norms that perpetuate these creations.

These socialized gender types make it hard for people who don’... ... middle of paper ... ...“male” and label those that deviate from the social norm as homosexual. Fag Discourse is less about sexuality and more about maintaining gender inequality and the boundaries of masculinity. Gender is implicated in Fag Discourse in the way that the hetero-normative nature dictates what makes and what doesn’t make a faggot. Attributed gender roles tell one how to behave appropriately. Gender roles and sexuality are always being constructed and reconstructed.

Gender Dysphoria in children, adolescents and adults I. What is Gender Dysphoria? It is important to understand the difference between gender and sex. The English language defines “sex” by using the anatomy that an individual is born with. In other words, the reproductive organs that makes someone female or male.

Gender describes the male and female characteristics that a society puts forth. Gender emerges from the combination of our bodies, cultures and individual experiences. (Fuentes p.182). Media, parents, peers, and siblings, whether conscious or unconscious, help in the shaping of our gender. Though biological differences influence gender, many other factors have a greater influence on the person’s acquiring of gender.

A person’s perspective is often influenced by their surroundings as well as values with which they were raised, both of which are never identical between two people. Race, class, and sexuality are the underlying factors that influence perspectives and values, thus differentiating the understanding and portrayal of gender identity from one person to another. When asked to associate characteristics with the female or male sex, many equate reproduction and child-rearing with females because they are the ones that are biologically capable of carrying and giving birth to a child. Howe... ... middle of paper ... ... begin to impose their values upon society, socially constructed concepts, such as gender identity, have normative and deviant standards. While these standards exist within the society, the concept of a norm varies from person to person as their perceptions and beliefs differ from one another.

In other words, it means that sex is what we are born with; either a male or a female and is difficult to change, whereas gender is the character given to us by the society. Indeed, nowadays, it is not a surprise to see man behaving in a feminine way or a woman acting like a man. Some people do not feel comfortable in their actual skin to the extent that they want to do sex change operation. Gender inequality Gender is an important aspect of our social life; it comprises of power relations, the division of labour, symbolic forms and emotional relations (Connel, 2000). Wharton (2005:21) views gender as a ‘system of social practices’ which gives rise to gender distinctions and maintains it.

We live in a sexually repressive society, but in order to break out of these binds, people must define their sexuality on their own terms, and not be manipulated and dominated by cultural "norms" of beauty, desirability and behavior. Gender role is a social construction of a particular cultural group's expectation of another person's behaviors, attitudes, values and beliefs based on their perceived biological sex. Biological factors have strong impacts on occupations that are judged by a society to be appropriate for men and for women. The probl... ... middle of paper ... ... L.A. (1998). The allocation of household labor in gay, lesbian, and heterosexual married couples.