Brettell and Sargent open their book Gender in Cross Cultural Perspectives with a question: What is the role of biology in human behaviour (Brettell and Sargent, 2009, 1). Ward and Edelstein approach this question using cross-species analysis. They compare chimpanzee biology and behaviour to humans. There are four reasons that Ward uses comparisons to chimpanzees. First, because chimpanzees represent our closest genetic relative and second, the social activities and behaviours may be reflective of
What decides what your gender is? Some argue that it is a biologically based thing that a person truly has no choice in. With the study of hormones and how they differ in men and women, this has been a decently proven theory. Although, this is not the only form of belief that is held about gender and what makes a person at in accordance to their gender. There are people, like Judith Butler, who believe that a gender is a performative act. This means that some hold the belief that you are not actually
When I first read The Wasp Factory some 20 years ago, I was struck by this satire of the social and scientific construction of gender: the hero, a woman, who believes herself to be a man, acts out an hyper-male identity centered on the soldier-hero, over-the-top violence (Banks, 1984). This confronted for the first time my belief that gender was anchored in biological sex and immutable. Having embarked on a psychotherapy course, I started exploring my difficulties maintaining boundaries in the therapy
nurture on gender roles and behaviors, is argued well by both Deborah Blum and Aaron Devor, both of whom believe that society plays a large role in determining gender. I, however, have a tendency to agree with Blum that biology and society both share responsibility for these behaviors. The real question is not whether gender expression is a result of nature or nurture, but how much of a role each of these plays. Both Devor and Blum can agree that society plays a large role in establishing gender identity
Gender Differences and the Brain Brandon Moore LTCY 199 November 21, 2013 As we all know the brain is one of the most amazing mysteries in the world; there is a lot to be discovered. This topic hits home for me because most of my life I have always wanted to know how is the brain any different between men and women. From the very beginning of life boys and girls are already different. The common topic of discussion is which gender’s brain matures faster. People often hear that girls mature much
truth and declare love. In Twelfth Night the main characters of Violas gender identity reveal a nature of sexual identity. Violas constructing identity, manipulation and power will be used to fool several characters. As a result, both Olivia and Orsino will be seduced by a visual perception of Cesario who in reality is Viola through the ability of crossdressing. Even though this situation can cause many problems the author uses gender identity to imply that distinctions between male/female are not as
Biological tendencies informed and built the basis of social and cultural norms. Thus biology must be the more important influence on gender roles in society. Using the lense of the short story “A Jury of Her Peers” we can show how the biological tendencies of strength,instinct to nurture, and cumulatively dominance form the basis of gender roles. The male sex hormone testosterone builds muscle mass and increases aggression. While variation and outliers exist, these tendencies cause men to be more
probably harass her. Society would tell her that she is going against her gender role. Society is teaching females the rules of social behavior and if you deviate from it there are consequences. All these
sexuality and gender is socially constructed. Is it really possible to have a non gender society? In order to understand the how gender and sexuality are associated with a person identity, we need to define the term sex and gender. Sex is biological ,it the physical sex organs one is born with. Gender, on the other hand, is more associated with society and parental influence. Gender is an identity that people identified with. Because their no boundary to how people can take a turn on gender identity.
Return to Biology” in class we came to see how these two articles could bring up such controversy. As they question our perspective on human nature as we have always known it to be, from “The Five Sexes, Revisited” stating “absolute dimorphism disintegrates even at the level of basic biology” (176), to “The Return of Biology” saying “Society mandates the control of intersexual bodies because they blur and bridge the great divide” (184). We see many different aspects on how human biology or culture
Are gender roles influenced by nature, nurture, or both? Nature is seen as having traits and habits that are either inherited or result from biological factors. Nurture, on the other hand, is known as the behavior one learns from the environment. This has been a controversial topic for many years. Some would argue that, from a young age, children are obtaining traits that are going to last their entire lifetime. In addition, they believe this is a result of particular influences from a young
In biosocial terms, gender is not the same as sex. Most people believe gender and sex are kindred, but they’re not. There is a difference between gender and sex. Sex is how society classifies a person’s genetic and biological anatomy. 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
are usually very identified with the particular gender that we happen to be a member of.” This quote by Andrew Cohen explains partially how gender identity develops, through the conditioning of our environments. The most influential factor of gender development, however, is still a very controversial issue. An analysis of the gender identification process reveals two main arguments in what factor most greatly contributes to gender development: biology differences (nature) or the environment (nurture)
Gender Identity Gender identity is an extremely relevant topic today. Many people have their own ideas on what is right and what is wrong for each gender to act, and these people are very vocal and opinionated about their ideas. One recent controversial story about gender identity was when a couple refused to tell anybody whether their child named Storm was a boy or a girl. Their oldest child, Jazz, who was originally born male, “always gravitated to dresses, the colour pink and opted for long hair
be determined by the expectations the society have of its gender. Our anatomy determines how we act socially, which profession we will probably take, on which institutions we could use, which people we should marry. We are raised with the thought, that a certain anatomy comes along with a particular identity. But should our anatomy determine our fate? In western culture we are familiar with the idea of being either male or female — two gender identities at opposite ends of a binary concept. Anthropology
Gender stereotypes have existed since the beginning of modern man. We've all heard them before; male dominance and female weakness, a controlled male and a flustered female, aggression and passion, and many others that all basically boil down to the same thing. Emily Martin, in her essay entitled The Egg and the Sperm, takes this problem of gender stereotype to a new and much more serious level. As an anthropologist, Martin is concerned with the socio-cultural impacts on many different aspects
country to country. The second limitation is the sex role theory depoliticizes gender making gender a set of individual attributes and not an aspect of social structure (Kimmel 117). Lastly, the sex role theory separates two spheres as if sex role differentiation (Kimmel 118). 2. Explain the concept of “doing gender”. Then explain how it differs from another perspective discussed (psychology, biology). The concept of “doing gender” is not
understandings of sex and gender create a binary concept mainly in the Western culture by having two strictly fixed options of male or female. This binary notion of gender and sex was put to the test by both Anne Fausto-Sterling and Oyeronke Oyewumi. Sterling argues that rather than just two separate ends, biological gender occurs across a continuum of possibilities. This spectrum of anatomical deviation by itself should be enough to disregard the simplistic notion of only two genders. Oyewumi acknowledges
time we can see how biology created specific roles for both genders and how that has shaped their place and status in society. However, we live in a rapidly changing world that is now looking at gender as much more complex then just male or female. We now look at groups like the LGBTQIA who acknowledge that gender is not as simple as male or female. Gender roles set by modern society are being broken and people are wondering: what does gender mean, and what determines it? Gender is different from
kinship that are worthy of research and contemplation. However, one of the main concepts that have significantly evolved in several cultures since the beginning of anthropology is that of gender and gender roles. Since the recognition of anthropology as a social science in the 1800’s, there has been a focus on gender roles, with a lack of focus towards the importance of women in kinship structures. Moreover, as the discipline was completely made up of males, there was a bias towards the powerful role