This essay will further emphasize on the differentiation between sex and gender and how society plays a crucial role in the gender development. Sex refers to physical variations that existing between a male and a female; firstly their reproductive system and also characteristics like the height of the person of the muscularity. A person’s sex is a biological difference that a person may or may not always correspond with their gender. As Medilexcon’s dictionary defines sex as The biological characteristics that differ a male from a female as stated by study an individual’s gonadal, morphological differences (internally and externally), genetic coding and the hormonal differences. And gender according to Medilexcon is defined as the classification to which an individual is categorized by others or by himself, on the foundation of sex.
Whereas, Devor focuses mainly on the idea that gender behavior is portrayed mainly among two different categories: masculinity and femininity, the expectation that society has put upon male and female disregarding any biological traits. Furthermore, both could agree with the idea that society has an effect on how an individual should act based on their gender. Yet, additionally Devor would most likely disagree with Blum regarding the assumption that a biological factor is involved in this following case, but I reside on Blum’s case. Although society is indeed one of the major contributions as to how one should act, as Devor states, biology is somewhat like a foundation that leads to how one should behave as they grow and acknowledge their gender difference as well, residing on Blum’s argument. Aaron Devor’s argument reflects completely on the concept that society is the major development of how each gender should act placing them in two categories that configures which is which.
These projections suggest a socially constructed definition of sex and gender, and therefore, can lead to more discussion on how gender and sex are a cycle of social construction and biological determinism. This cycle discussion can continue by looking at Oyewumi's work, when she talks about how society and biology affect each other. If we see that biology does not play a role in defining gender universally, then there has to be other factors that define what it is. These two authors come together in their critiques of the biological binary by acknowledging its presence, but also adding more ways to look at sex and gender.
Men and women communicate very different from each other. Evolutionary and cultural roles are the main influences on why men and women speak differently. Lots of people tend to use the words “sex” and “gender” interchangeably. However, according to Gender in Sociolinguistics and Anthropology. “I use the term “sex” only when I was speaking of biological differences between males and females and use “gender” whenever I was referring to the social, cultural, psychological constructs that are imposed upon these biological differences.
Gender, sex, gender roles, masculine, and feminine; these are all things that can be shaped by society. Your gender roles can change, but not your sex; that is given at birth. If gender is shaped a certain way, then that changes us to fit those societal norms of gender roles, masculinity and femininity, patriarchy, and how to maintain this gender order. Sex is based on the biological features of a human to say if they are male or female. While gender is more affected by the social and cultural expectations to say whether you are male or female.
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?
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SEX AND GENDER 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.
Gender role socialization often reinforces gender inequality because men and women are expected to fulfill their specific “gender roles”. We live in a society where there are only two perceived genders. Gender is implicated in homophobia more generally and in “fag discourse” specifically. In this paper I will talk about the connections between gender and sexuality. The article “What it Means to be Gendered Me” by Betsy Lucal examines how gender is structured and socialized in the US.
Whereas lesser versions believe behavior is defined by biological factors to some extent, but social conventions also have some effect on gendered behavior. Additional theories believe that gender identity is an unconscious act by the human mind though varies social interaction with members of the same-sex. In this paper I will illustrate how these theories relate to gender determination in society and culture today. First I chose to look at the social learning theory (Andersen 2011) and how it affects the gender determination process. The strategy is to convince children of the opposite sex that they are very dif...
The dynamic push and pull between the effects of biology and culture on the much confused and debated reality of sex versus gender is at the heart of the ‘gender of power’ model. According to Power and Watts, sex has mostly been defined as the biological fact of male or femaleness, while gender, generally speaking, is a culturally defined package of traits rooted in the fact of bio-sex. According to Ortner, who pioneered the debate, female is taken to be indicative of the natural, mundane sphere marked by home, hearth and child rearing; male is conflated with the imposition of culture and ritual, and thus order, power, and prestige. This model of gender as fundamentally defined by bio-sex, the ultimate expression of which is universal male hegemony, has been much critiqued but never adequately discarded. The opposite theory, espoused by Butler, is completely non-anthropological in origin.