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Ted Talk By Lara Americo

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After watching "The Illusion of Gender" Ted Talk by Lara Americo, I was both compelled and intrigued by what the actual definition and meaning of gender is, versus what society tends to paint it as. The main purpose of the video is Lara explaining why she's always felt like a woman since her youth, despite both being born a male and receiving a lack of value from her father for her femininity. But despite the home environment around Lara during her childhood, she claims her femininity was something inescapable, as she saw it as a genuine expression she legitimately felt was an aspect of her own identity. An identity she knew did not correlate with her biological sex, since Lara's gender was the opposite of her assigned male status at birth. …show more content…

To summarize the words of Baur and Crooks in the class textbook, stereotypes form when expectations and beliefs regarding any specific group become generalized, based on any thoughts and ideas made entirely by us as humans (Baur and Crooks 128). To illustrate, men possess independent and assertive roles, which are judgments we've made about men that became stereotypes, because of society's wide social acceptance of these stereotypes. Not to mention, Lara's discussion reinforced a fact I already knew prior to viewing the video, which is the difference between sex and gender. Referring back to the textbook, sex (or biological sex) accounts for the physical, biological characteristics we're given at birth, with specific terminology consisting of male, female, or intersex. On the other hand, gender consists of the identity we subjectively feel about ourselves and how we chose to express such an identity, with identities ranging from man, woman, or a transgender person (Baur and Crooks 107). So for Lara, her transgender identity was constructed through a social lens and not a physical lens, because while she was born a male, her social expression is through femininity in a identity going against her biological birth status. In other words, gender is also a social construct and differs from

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283 Words | 2 Pages

In this week’s Ted Talk, Alison Gopnik focused on the thought process of babies. In the past, people believed that babies could not perceive another individual’s thoughts, however with the passage of time these believes have changed. To help us understand what babies could be thinking and if they acknowledge other people’s thoughts, Gopnik explained how she and one of her students tested this idea by using broccoli and crackers. The student gave 15 and 18 month-old babies two bowls, one with broccoli and the other one with crackers, and the babies showed more preference for the one with the crackers. The student, on the other hand, tasted the food from both bowls in front of the babies and acted as if she loved the broccoli and dislike the

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529 Words | 3 Pages

During the turn of the century the Jim Crow era, between the years 1895- 1950 there were two prominent black leaders that arose in order to accomplish one goal equal rights for African Americans. Although these two leaders shared different ideas and strategies for dealing with the Jim Crow era. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois dedicated their lives to gain equal rights for African Americans. Booker T. Washington was one of the most influential African Americans of the 19th century.

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1212 Words | 5 Pages

Activists never acknowledge those contradictions. Instead, they opportunistically rely on whichever claim is useful at any given moment” (Anderson, 34). He is not only creating this writing because he disagrees with the opposition's opinions but because they don't recognize and address their own contradictions making their beliefs confusing. The definition of gender the author would most likely agree with is that gender should directly correlate to sex that was determined before and during birth essentially only male and

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769 Words | 4 Pages

Many teachers are known for being good educators as it affects a child's life. In Dr. Montessori and Colin Powell's Ted Talk about how kids should be educated or should be treated as both express ideas about how children should be treated. While both disagree and agree both Powell’s and Montessori hope for the best for the child's education.

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1113 Words | 5 Pages

Srichand disputes that gender roles are quickly assumed at the moment of birth. As soon as the gender is announced expectations and generalizations come in to where the stereotyping takes place. Although, this doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing to stereotype for us as humans. It is quite normal based on many sources that stereotyping is normal and part of brain to organize things. “The use of stereotypes is a major way in which we simplify our social world; since they reduce the amount of processing…we have to do when we meet a new person” (McLeod, 2008).

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969 Words | 4 Pages

Synthesis #1 Our concepts of gender are constructed by our biological characteristics and societal factors. In many societies, these concepts of gender, and the differences in men and women are rooted in tradition. The moment a child is born a kind of social construction begins. A child whether girl or boy will most likely be shown some behaviors on how they should behave according to their biological characteristics. Throughout history, we have seen the same stereotypes placed on gender, men should be strong and brave.

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682 Words | 3 Pages

In the TED Talk done by Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, she discusses some of the differences in the brain of an adolescent compared to an adult. In adolescence, the first thing that Blakemore observes is that the prefrontal cortex, which tells a person which behaviors to inhibit, is not fully developed in adolescence. Along with that, the adolescent brain is still learning which brain connections to keep and which ones to get get rid of in order to make new ones depending on the environment around them. The limbic system is the part of the brain which helps a person to feel a sense of accomplishment and rewarded because of certain behavior. While in adolescence, the limbic system is more reactive to feelings of risk.

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1308 Words | 6 Pages

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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1045 Words | 5 Pages

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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651 Words | 3 Pages

Ted Talk: The thing that Ruth Chang is trying to say in her Ted Talk is that there are a lot of difficult decisions that we have to make in life. They may seem hard, but that is just because we are thinking about them the wrong way. There are no best alternatives to these choices. So instead of trying to find reasons to make one decision over another, we should make reasons for ourself. Making reasons for ourself is natural, and it has shaped each person to be the way they are.

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1387 Words | 6 Pages

According to sexologists John Money and Anke Ehrhardt, sex and gender are separate categories. “Sex, they argued, refers to physical attributes and is anatomically and physiologically determined. Gender they saw as a psychological transformation - the internal conviction that one is either male or female (gender identity) and the behavioral expressions of that conviction” (Sterling 4). Although there are biological differences between the two sexes, but gender roles are socially constructed. They determine how males and females should think, speak, dress, behave and interact with society.

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1361 Words | 6 Pages

Gender roles, also known as gender stereotypes, are social and cultural norms on how females and males should conduct themselves within a society. Every culture has certain roles both genders are expected to follow. An example of this in traditional American culture is a man becoming a doctor while a female becomes a nurse or men being the hard workers and women being stay at home mothers. Gender development researchers, similar to other developmental researchers, focus on questions of change over time in gender related subjects (Ruble and Martin 1988). Research suggest that children are socialized to understand gender stereotypes at an early age.

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2448 Words | 10 Pages

What we today see as genders is the norms that follow when born as a girl or as a boy. What is being connected to male norms of masculinity is strength, aggression and dominance, while woman more often than not follow norms such as passivity, nurturing and subordination. We have come to realise in recent years that your gender and your sex is not the same thing. The fact that there is not only two genders but a lot more is also something that has been discovered. Transgender is those who is born as one gender, but identifies as another.

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1139 Words | 5 Pages

Sex and gender are the two terms used for identification of masculinity and femininity among humans in our daily life. Sex is the biological term that determines the biological and “anatomical” differences between male and female species. It also clarifies the primary and secondary sex characteristics a person should have in order to be male or female. However, gender is a socially and culturally constructed term that delineates the distinction between men and women and their roles in the society. Gender is also used to organize relationships between man and women in social life.

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1093 Words | 5 Pages

The question about whether or not an individual’s identity is innate or acquired, has always been a debatable issue. Some people argue that gender identity is a result of the social context they live in, while others believe a person is born into it. Gender identity is a “person 's subjective sense of themselves as masculine or feminine and is exhibited by the degree to which they act upon their gender roles” (Whalen & Maurer-Starks, 2008). However, based on the current society people live in, it is more likely that an individual’s identity, such as their sexuality, education, and social status are acquired as a result of the social context they live in.

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