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Determining Gender: A Social Construct

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Did You Learn That or Did You Know That
The debate over nature versus nurture has been around for years. In the crucial debate arises a subcategory, which is if gender is an inborn trait or a social construct. First we must understand the difference between gender identity and sex. Sex has been determined since before birth, depending if you have male (xx) or female (xy) chromosomes. On the other hand, gender identity is the way a person perceives their gender regardless of their sex. Some believe our genes have given us a predisposition to our gender while others believe the social influences around us determines our gender. Do you think you were born with a gender? In our birth certificates we are labeled male or female. Nevertheless, just …show more content…

George F. Winter, the author of, Determining Gender: A Social Construct, tells us “The authors investigated almost 200 children aged between seven months and five years who were offered eight pairs of objects and asked to choose one. There was always a pink object in every pair” (Winter). The pink object had been placed into every pair because as a society it is seen as a feminine color. The study goes on to conclude that girls “had a significant preference for the color pink over the other colors. In contrast, boys increasingly avoided pink” (Winter). This highly suggest that society has a big impact on gender identity since society associates pink with females. Little girls and boys are being indoctrinated by society to believe they have to abide by social guidelines, which may have an impact on which gender they choose to identify with. Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell, who are linguistic professors, Eckert at Stanford and McConnell at Cornell, wrote in their book, Language and Gender, that “At birth, many hospitals nurseries provide pink caps for girls and blue caps for boys”( Eckert and McConnell 737). This is more evidence that since birth we are given a standard based on our sex , on what color we should identify with, but that is just the beginning of the indoctrination. Eckert and McConnell also tell us,” Parents of small children have …show more content…

Some argue that society has nothing to do with our gender and it comes pre packaged in our traits. While others argue that our traits have nothing to do with gender and gender identity is a social construct. I beg a digger because we have seen how children are so quick to behave how society has deemed for them too, but also we see the example of Halle who went against everything society has said and decided to be a boy because she was born believing she

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She backs this up with a study by Vanessa Lobue and Judy DeLoache in which children age seven months to five years were asked to choose between a pink or blue object and it wasn’t until around two and a half that girls preference for pink became obvious. Robb then includes many quotes from Megan Fulcher, associate professor of psychology at Washington and Lee University. She uses Fulcher’s idea that gender-specific toys marketing leads to hindered learn, such as in motor skills. This article fits into my research paper because it shows that stores should rid of gender-specific marketing because it harms children and it shows that business were able to do it in the

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This is because gender is so deeply ingrained in society that additional measures are necessary to control all variables that could influence X’s gender identity. The scientists carefully created an Official Instruction Manual for Baby X’s parents, which guides them to “[b]uy plenty of everything”, both girls’ and boys’ clothes and toys (2). In this way, gender is commodified for profit, with targeted marketing aiming to convince parents to purchase different toys and clothing for their children based on gender (BBC Newsround). Gould further shows how society’s perception of gender is linked with capitalist interests with the symbol of X’s and the other children’s clothing. With X’s influence, “Susie [...] suddenly refused to wear pink dresses to school any more.

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Some folks assume that girls and boys behave and like different things based on their distinctive innate nature and physical differences. While it might be true that they identify themselves based on biological traits like their gender/sex, Penelope Eckert, the author of Learning to be Gendered, argued that receiving different treatments and nurture can have influence on how girls and boys learn to identify themselves. Penelope suggest that there’s a social matter where an individual’s gender can be a heavy label on how he or she would be like, but part of the gender label is developed by parenting while growing up. Even at birth, gender roles are conditioned by their milieu. Baby girls are given flowery or pink gifts while boys are

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The key aspects surrounding this theory emphasize the genetic and hormonal factors present during the prenatal period which ultimately influence how one is socialized. Parents observe whether their child is a boy or girl and shape certain opportunities and environments to fit this biological essence- it is difficult to separate the two and one must exist for the other to occur. Despite evidence supporting the biological and social interplay, others have argued why children may adopt non-traditional gender identities despite parents socializing against

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As Edward Scissorhands is being driven from the mansion he catches every person’s eye and they are stunned by how he looks. He is scarred, pale and in a black, buckled up suit while everybody is as simple as the can be in their bright, pastel colored neighborhood. His Scissorhands caught everybody by surprise, and he was judged by everybody by being thought of as different without even talking to him. Throughout the course of the film Edward Scissorhands is introduced into the Briggs’s family, uses his Scissorhands as a creative talent to make new friends, while searching for his place in this unknown¬ society. He is still thought as an outcast no matter how much he tries.

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As John Berger (1977, p. 7) says, “Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.” The child would have been brought up and groomed over time with the constant idea that as a girl or boy, there is a certain way in which you have to behave, a certain way that is accepted and considered the norm in society. Babies in the olden days up till the 1920s were commonly dressed in pink because it was closer to red and thus deemed as a ‘fierce’ colour, whereas girls were dressed in blue as it was considered a soft colour and the colour most commonly seen worn by the Virgin Mary.

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Orenstein further highlights that gender is a social construct by historically looking at the association of the color blue and pink with gender. Initially, both boys and girls wore gender-neutral white gowns and when colors were introduced to the nursery pink was associated with males and blue was associated with females. Pink, being a pastel version of red, symbolized strength and the blue symbolized femininity due to its intimations of the Virgin Mary. The nature of the switch is unclear, but in modern day you will find most girls attracted to pink and most boys attracted to blue because their environment tells them these associations are correct. Since children are so malleable and absorb most of their information from their environment they believe that the gender roles are set in stone, any deviations from the “norm” leads to children being shamed or looked at skeptically.

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This research paper will focus on multiple different factors that can have a significant influence on the way a person’s identity develops and what it develops into. The factors that will be covered in this research paper are as follows: race, gender, name, and Need for Cognition (NFC). The following applies specifically to African Americans in studies, though most racial groups have shown to go through a similar process. Race is a factor that influences a person’s identity in 5 distinct stages.

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Unlike ‘sex’, which typically refers to the biological and physiological differences, gender is a sociological concept that describes the social and cultural constructions that is associated with one’s sex (Giddens & Sutton, 2013, p. 623-667). The constructed (or invented) characteristics that defines gender is an ongoing process that varies between societies and culture and it can change over time. For example, features that are overly masculine in one culture can be seen as feminine in another; however, the relation between the two should not be seen as static. Gender socialization is thought to be a major explanation for gender differences, where children adhere to traditional gender roles from different agencies of socialization. Gender

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Gender is it a concept or is it made apparent by our DNA when you are born or does it change as you grow older? Often gender is something that society defines at birth. According to society certain gender roles are pre established when we are born. The majority of society believes that if you are born to a specific gender you should adhere to the gender roles while other people believe that instead we may be born to a gender but it does not always decide if you are that gender. Science has proven that just because you are born a male or female does not mean that you mentally see yourself as that gender.

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Some disagree and says that a boy can dressed in pink but still grew up and be a man traits and so claim that this theory cannot be correct. While on the other hand it has to be consider, still, and neither side has been accepted or rejected.

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Nurture Nurture dominates nature in determining gender roles One of the oldest arguments is the nature vs. nurture debate in determining gender roles. However, by now it has been established that both nature and nurture plays a role in determining gender roles. The question arises which one dominates the other. It is important to know the difference between the two terms Sex and Gender first.

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Although some people believe that nature affects the gender identity, others argue that, based on the education an individual receives, it is actually nurture. For example, John Moore, a teacher at a female-only school, says, “My findings suggest that, in some senses, the single-sex school is strongly feminist” (Moore, 2005). On the other hand, many societies teach the children gender stereotypes to try and limit them from becoming against what the society feels is appropriate. Gender roles or stereotypes are “a set of qualities, behaviors, and attitudes that are considered appropriate for males and females based on their biological sex” (Whalen & Maurer-Starks, 2008). Most of the time, these stereotypes are taught and explained to the children in the early stages of learning, since as mentioned above, gender identity is most likely detected after the child is two years old.

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Every culture has different guidelines about what is suitable for males and females and family members may socialize babies in gendered ways without consciously following that path. For example, in a modern society, the colour pink is associated with girls and the colour blue with boys. Even as tiny babies, boys and girls are dressed differently according to what is considered ‘appropriate’ to the respective sexes. Even parents who strive to achieve a less ‘gendered’ parenting style unconsciously reinforce gender roles. A family structure acts as the most important agent of gender socialization for children and adolescents as it serves as the centre of a child’s life.

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When parents first find out the gender of their baby, they automatically start to characterize the objects they buy based on that gender. They start to decorate the nursery in certain colors and a common theme they believe matches the sex of the baby. The most common representation for girls is pink and for boys is blue. Even a non-blue and a non-pink theme, such as a jungle, can still reflect the gender identity of the child based on the undertones of femininity or masculinity. This common theme of adults assuming what they believe is appropriate for a girl or boy will continue throughout the child’s life and will affect his or her views on acceptable gender roles and gender behavior.

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