Introduction The concept of sex and gender has been socially constructed for a very long period of time, and it was a lot stricter in the past. As author Zimmerman indicated in his reading “Doing Gender” that “Those of us who taught courses in the area in the late 1960s and early 1970s were careful to distinguish one from the other.” (Zimmerman 1987) Nowadays, we know that the society is gradually changing and people are becoming more open-minded than before.
It is time to discuss the meaning of gender, its significance, its importance, and how this could play a major part in one’s life. What is gender you might ask? Could it determine the role you play if you may play a role at all? Gender is socially learned and reinforced characteristics that include one’s biological sex and psychological characteristics. It is said that gender has nothing to do with male or female.
In the following essay, we will explore how your sex and gender affect your identity in society. Let us take a look at the word identity. According to the dictionary of psychology on alleydog.com, a persons identity is defined as their “own sense
These “assigned roles” and expectations have robbed women of the right to have a personal identity. Women have long been bound in the shackles of stereotypes strong enough to stunt their mental and emotional growth and to limit their abilities to reach their full potential.
Women identities are key targets to society. Women’s identities are socially constructed through the people they associate with and the media. People only know what they are taught and only act upon things they’ve learned. Growing up little girls one’s taught to be identical to their barbies, watch princess movies/television programs, eat the same as their mom’s, and so on.
The moment a child is born, society presents it a complex gift steering the course of its future. Gender is the most important social construct in the human life as it shapes the way we interact and navigate the world we live in. From the colours that the baby is wrapped in to the hues of wallpaper in the bedroom – a girl, is most likely to be thrown into a world of pastel pink and lavender, if you are a boy, you are most likely to be surrounded by bold red and blue hues. We are already starting to be forced into identifying with a specific gender. Dolls, plastic vacuum cleaners and Fischer Price kitchenettes are given to girls, and are taught that Barbie and Bratz dolls are gender appropriate toys; shopping, fashion and makeup is that which defines femininity.
Identity is an important part of a person’s life, no matter where it comes from. Identity distinguishes one person from another and makes us all individuals through aspects such as skin color or personal beliefs. A person’s identity can be based on many aspects of their life; whether it comes from their family history or something they were taught, or from their own personal exploration of themselves. The poem “America” by Allen Ginsburg shows how political views and opinions on current events can shape one’s identity through the feeling, or lack thereof, of patriotism for their country. In A New Generation Overthrows Gender, author Jon Brooks discusses a form of gender identity that deviates from what is considered “normal” and how traditional
“Doing Gender” by West and Zimmerman is similar to Butler’s “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution.” However, West and Zimmerman build upon the ideas that Butler puts forth. Butler focuses on gender as performance and how gender is made up by specific actions. While West and Zimmerman take the concept of performance and constitution and applies it to a new concept, the sex category and how sex categories and gender are intertwined in society. Sex categories and gender, according to West and Zimmerman, are different and interconnected.
This theme relates to the real world because gender inequality is a problem that has been faced throughout history. In many cultures in the past, women were in-charge of domestic work while men took the roles of public life. Be that as it may, both men and women took equally important roles; however, because of the longstanding gender bias in the world, the roles of men in society were glorified more than the roles of women. Today, gender inequality still exists in the world. Specifically, today’s women are faced with sexist comments and attitudes from men that put women down.
“As a female, you shouldn’t…” is a sentence that almost all girls have been lectured on, no matter it was decades ago or now. Society has always had a deep-rooted prejudice against women. Women’s clothing is severely curbed, and for the jobs available for both male and female, the ability of female applicants has ever been questioned due to their gender. For too long, women have lived by societal stereotypes, and were forced to endure the sexual discrimination. Nevertheless, the closer people get to modern times, the more universal education becomes.
While I have gained valuable experiences and knowledge from high school, college will bring numerous changes in my life. For the first time in my life, I will be living away from home, left to myself when discovering life’s next adventure. Even though this brings about a great deal of change, I am nonetheless excited to begin a new chapter in my life. In order to best prepare myself for the next four years, I have set several goals that I wish to achieve.
There is much speculation on gender identity and the gender roles that surround them society views that men should be manly and brave while girls must be scared and timid while other people view that this notion is not right. Just because people are born into these genders does not mean that they must conform to how society views them they should them be able to be who they want to without the
Gender Identity has been vastly debated for years; it is debated often because people are constantly questioning their sexuality. When questioning, people may create labels for people to help them understand their own identity. If someone is born with female body parts and calls themselves a male, someone might label them as transgender. Or if someone has male body parts and dresses as a man, people may label him as a transvestite. No matter how someone may identify, there will always be a label for that identification.
Butler states that gender identity, the inner sense and personal experience of one’s own gender, is not an innate component of humans. Gender is not an internal identity that a person is, but rather something that one does or performs. She declares that “there is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender; that identity is performatively constituted by the very ‘expressions’ that are said to be its results”. This demonstrates her argument that gender identity is produced by gender performance or expression, one’s gendered appearances and behaviors in society. Lastly, she explains that gender performance and the consequential gender identity is not decided by the individual (Butler).
The second method that females attempt to use for constructing their gender identities is related to the biological aspect of their bodies. Females start employing their bodies as a signifier for their female identities by forming their personal awareness of their gender abilities and their sexual orientations. The biological manifestations that are ascribed to body allow human beings to shape their gender identities; they become aware of their gender roles and abilities that their bodies have including their sexualities. Human body in a certain way achieves a coherent unit of human identity. The body can be used as a tool for constructing gender roles and thus gender identities.
