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Gender identity concept paper
Gender identity
Gender and individual identity
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“My potential is more than can be expressed within the bounds of my gender.” Identity. Identity is the qualities, beliefs, and etc., which make a particular person or group of people different from others. Gender identity is characterized as how one sees themselves, regards to being male or female. My emphasis is gender identity history, theories of gender identity, gender identity factors, and gender identity misconceptions.
You may ask, where did the term “gender identity” even come from? Three psychoanalysts, Sigmund Freud, Robert Stoller and John Money were credited with introducing the term. In the early years between the 1950s and 1970s, the terms sex and gender were considered to identical or closely related concepts. Distinguishing
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A very general and basic misconception is the difference between gender and sex. Gender and sex don’t refer to the same thing. Gender is sociological which refers to qualities of masculinity and femininity. Gender qualities may vary over time and culture. Sex is biological, which refers a chromosomal determination of male or female. Sex qualities are constant over time and culture. Another misconception is that children are too young to know about their gender identity, which is incorrect. Psychologists say that gender identity is formed by the age of 2 or 3. Another misconception of gender identity is stereotyping. Males and female are expected to behave, feel and appear in a particular way therefore causing one to assimilate to the social norms. Another misconception is that sexual orientation and gender identity are the same. Sexual orientation refers to an individuals’ physical/emotional attraction to an individual of the same or opposite gender. Gender identity is the innate psychological identification of an individual that may or may not correspond to sex assignment. One more misconception is that one’s gender identity will always remain the same is false. One’s personal view of their gender identity can change over time. Although, gender identity may be similar to other concepts but it’s overall your own personal
Is Gender the same thing as Sex? This topic is complicated because many people confuse these two as the same thing but they are very two different things. There are several Cultural Myths about Gender and Sex. Gary Colombo, who wrote: “Thinking Critically, Challenging Cultural Myths” who explains that a cultural myth is a shared set of customs, values, ideas, and beliefs, as well as a common language. In “Sisterhood is Complicated” by Ruth Padawer who is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine, focusing on gender and social issues in “Sisterhood is Complicated” she shows many of the Stereotypes about Gender and Sex and how they are unmistakably just cultural myths. It also has how there are positives being trans at an all women
For instance, sociologists would argue that characteristics of the male gender in a given society include independence, and dominance whereas females express more passive behavior. Gender identity, on the other hand is an individual’s sense of their gender or in other words, their sense as to whether they are feminine or masculine. Therefore, transgender is a term related to “people whose gender identity is different from the gender commonly socially assigned to them on the basis of their biological sex” (Morrow & Messinger, 2006, p. 7).“Biological theories assume that gender should be consistent with biological sex and there are only two genders and two sexes” which does not correspond to transgender people. Furthermore, transgender is also used as a general term to include people such as transsexuals and cross-dressers
Sex and gender have commonly been thought to be interchangeable words that mean the same thing, but this could not be further from the truth. The reason that they are different words is that they do not define nor represent the same thing. Where sex deals with the biological aspect of individuals, like chromosomes, hormones, and sex organs, gender deals with the behavioral characteristics of a person and how they are perceived culturally. (Giraudo 2017) Sex is inherent while gender is learned from society, culture, and social interactions. Gender identity is how a person thinks of themselves, and gender expression is how they choose to represent themselves through clothes, behavior, and interactions. The commonly held belief that society would
While sex refers the biological characteristics that make up a person, their gender is determined by the behaviors and attitudes considered “proper” by society according to their sex.
When discussing the meaning of gender identity, each and every person has a different view and perception. Most times, these views are instilled upon them throughout their childhood whether they are fully aware of it or not. As a result, some children feel forced to conform to the stereotypical gender roles and identities defined by society. For me, however, that was never a problem.
Identity is simply said to be a person’s own sense of their self, their personal sense of who they are or the image they give out to the rest of the society. Gender, sex and sexuality play a big role in our identity today because it also determines who we really are, not only to ourselves but also to the society. In society today, gender is when a lady acts so feminine or when a man acts manly while sex is either a man or a woman and sexuality is one is attracted to their opposite sex. People mostly judge on how a person looks like and then decide their sex.
Gender identity has always been a controversial topic in our society. While some people think of gender as either being a male or a female from the time of birth, some believe that gender does not necessarily have to be similar to the one that was assigned at the time of birth. Gender is an important phenomenon which needs to be taught to people in our society as it creates problem for those who identify themselves as homosexual, bisexual or transgender. This is because of the people still holding the traditional viewpoint of gender being either a man or a woman, and thus, not accepting the transgender or bisexual people, and further, forcing them to adhere to these societal norms. This concept of gender could be explained to people in an effective
Gender dysphoria was not really identified as disorder until the early 1960’s when the first Gender Identity clinic was established by Dr. Robert Stoller (Reicherzer, 2008). Stoller maintained a theory of core gender identity challenges that resembled an altered version of Freud and that was the libido is primarily masculine. Freud had the opinion that both girls and boys, starting at birth, associated themselves little boys and were only altered based on environmental influences (Peterson, 2014). Stoller’s inverse opinion against Freud was a precursor to studies of gender and sexual disorders all over. Stoller identified three main components that construct the core gender identity, being able to distinctively develop a sense of being male or female by the second year of life: establishing biological...
first way gender is defined is by the family in which a child is raised. Second is the society in which a child interacts; makes friends and enemies. The third is our school system and our board of education. And the last but not least is our own self conscious. Each of the above four ways have a unique way of molding and helping an individual define his/her gender.
The terms sex, gender and sexuality relate with one another, however, sociologists had to distinguish these terms because it has it’s own individual meaning. Sex is the biological identity of a person when they are first born, like being a male or female. Gender is the socially learned behaviors and expectations associated with men and women like being masculine or feminine. Gender can differentiate like being a man, woman, transgender, intersex, etcetera. Sexuality refers to desire, sexual preference, and sexual identity and behavior (1). Sexuality can differentiate as well like being homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, etcetera. Like all social identities, gender is socially constructed. In the Social Construction of Gender, this theory shows
Gender identity has been a delicate issue when it comes to determining if a person's gender is set at birth or develops and changes as a person ages. A person’s gender is not as simple as being classified as either male or female. There’s a considerable amount of external factors that can influence someone’s identity. Although society has a major role in gender identity, sex assignment at birth is not final; furthermore, a person's gender can be influenced by psychological, physiological differences and undergoing changes to the human body. A common misconception many people believe is that gender and gender are the same or go hand in hand with one another.
While the terms “gender” and “sex” are often used interchangeably, the two words have significantly different definitions. One could argue that sex refers to biological essentialism and the idea that we are who we are because of our genetic material. On the other hand, gender is associated with the social constructionist theory, which argues that the way we are is dependent on our race, class, and sexuality. Because each person is different in their race, class, and sexuality, their gender becomes socially constructed. To argue that gender is not socially constructed would be to say that all people, for example, that are biologically female have the same goals. However, this cannot be true because within the sphere of being female, that individual person varies from the next in their race, class, and/or sexuality, each of which affect their goals and perspectives differently from their sister, friend, and neighbor. One’s gender identity refers to his or her perception of self as a male or female, as well as being masculine or feminine. Because masculinity and femininity are fluid, rather than static, they are dependent on the perspective of the beholder. A person’s perspective is often influenced by their surroundings as well as values with which they were raised, both of which are never identical between two people. Race, class, and sexuality are the underlying factors that influence perspectives and values, thus differentiating the understanding and portrayal of gender identity from one person to another.
Identities are an important part of the human experience. One of the many identities that creates a person is gender. Society, being the entity establishing social norms and social roles, plays a part in effecting the individual’s gender, and how they choose to express themself. The underlying or overlying identities also have the same effect. Gender is not only an identity, it is a lifestyle inside and out. Gender, like race, class, and sexuality; is not limited to the binary scale, and that is normal, natural, and human. The concept of gender is man-made, but it forces one’s hand to analyze the thought processes behind an individual's perception on gender through self, through society, or through the dichotomy and/or correspondence of the
In order to discuss the biology of gender identity and sexual orientation, it is necessary to first examine the differences between multiple definitions that are often mistakenly interchanged: sex, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Sexual orientation is defined by LeVay (2011) as “the trait that predisposes us to experience sexual attraction to people of the same sex as ourselves, to persons of the other sex, or to both sexes” (p. 1). The typical categories of sexual orientation are homosexual, heterosexual and bisexual. Vrangalova and Savin-Williams (2012) found that most people identify as heterosexual, but there are also groups of people that identify as mostly heterosexual and mostly gay within the three traditional categories (p. 89). This is to say that there are not three concrete groups, but sexual orientation is a continuum and one can even fluctuate on it over time. LeVay (2011) also defines gender as “the ...
Gender and sex are typically used by most people interchangeably, they are generally thought to be the same. If you are a male that is your sex as well as your gender, even though that is what most people believe it is not the case. It is understandable though for people to believe these two things are the same, if you were to look up the definitions in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary this is what you would find for gender: “the state of being male or female” and this is what you would find for sex: “the state of being male or female” and “physical activity in which people touch each other 's bodies, kiss each other, etc. : physical activity that is related to and often includes sexual intercourse”. It is now very clear why people would believe