Gender Identity

Terri Oxendine

Intro to Sociology

Final Project

Saturday July 24, 2021

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Our today’s society has begun to see the changes that are being made in our gender

identities. Some of the societies are accepting those changes, while others are not recognizing the

differences. Observing our society today, there is more than the two traditional genders that our

ancestors knew, that we were accustomed to. They classified the genders as male or female, girl,

or boy, and lastly man and woman. According to Teentalk, “There are now at least 72 genders

that a person can choose to identify themselves as” www.teentalk.ca. Gender is a learned

behavior, it is not biological, meaning a child will imitate the same model of their gender as they

are exposed to most often. Gender identity is how we recognize ourselves, what we call

ourselves, or simply what we know ourselves to be. Gender identity is also influenced by our

cultures and societies as well. In the past, the gender norms were that women are supposed to act

more feminine, and males were supposed to be more masculine. They were defined and shaped

to who they were and what they did in society based on their personal appearance. Today, our

children are being taught something different, even if it goes against what they are being taught

at home. According to Jason Rafferty, MD, MPH, EdM, FAAP, in Gender Identity Development

for Children, www.healthychildren.org, “children are able to label themselves boy or girl by the

age of three. By the age of four they have a stable sense of their gender identity.” As they

continue to grow up and get older, they will get a clearer view of themselves and their gender.

Some parents are now allowing their children to label themselves; they are referring to them as

“theybies.” The parents do not reveal to the children their sex. The children are aware of their

own body parts, and how they are different from others, but they are not taught that it defines

them as a boy or a girl, www.nbcnews.com.

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Socialization on Gender Identity

During childhood, adults instruct the young children how to behave according to their

gender, in which they are by birth. This would be considered gender socialization, teaching, and

instructing children, the norms, behaviors, values, and the beliefs of the cultures in their assigned

“group, boy or girl.” Boys and girls have been treated differently since birth. They are given

different toys during their childhood, girls play with dolls and dress up, boys play with guns and

trucks. Girls dress up in pink, while the boys are dressed in blue. Girls are neat, clean, and quiet,

the boys are usually messy, loud, and unruly. They grow up being taught the differences between

the two genders. Some parents instill the differences between a daughter and son, by encouraging

the daughter to be caring, kind, obedient, and able to complete basic household cleaning duties.

On the other hand, they encourage their sons to be brave, strong, and teach them to work hard, to

be a “breadwinner” for their home. Gender socialization was also shown in the school system, in

the past the girls were encouraged to take home economics classes, while the boys were

encouraged to be enrolled in the building/mechanic classes and math courses. Today schools do

not show segregation amongst the boys and girls as much, they are all offered the same

opportunities to enroll in which classes they so desire. Today in our society girls are not allowed

to participate in sports that were once designated to only boys for example like football,

weightlifting, wrestling, and many others.

Social Change in Gender Identity

The traditional gender roles for individuals are steadily changing. Children are now

allowed to choose the identity they want to be classified as. Individuals can change their

appearance and make changes to their body parts to express their identified gender based on their

personal preference. There is now more awareness of the different ways that they can identify
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themselves other than by male or female. Women are no longer simply a “housewife,”

performing the basic household duties and simply raising their children. Roles have now

reversed, and more men are staying at home caring for the children and completing the

household duties that women once completed. Taken by surprise also is the fact that influential

celebrities are “coming out” about their gender choices. They are no longer ashamed of who they

are. More and more today, companies are showing ads and commercials about supporting “all

genders.” According to Time Magazine, “A bill has been introduced that would add a third

option to the identification documents, such as nonbinary in addition to male and female. A law

was also passed that bathrooms are to be marked “gender-neutral” or “all-gender.” Former

President Obama’s administration stated that all federally funded schools were to allow students

to use restrooms that corresponded with their gender identity,” www.time.com. In reference to

transgender gender identity, some states are attempting to ban those individuals from competing

on a sports team and in competition activities high school and college levels. As a result, there

have been some social gains over the years in reference to gender identity, public recognition of

other gender types has increased, and state level laws have been written and enforced related to

gender such as same sex marriages.

Gender Identity through Structural-Functionalism

Structural Functionalism is understanding how humans act and behave based on how a

society is classified and works on a day-to-day basis. This idea views gender as a means of

organizing society and has influenced the binary opposition of the feminine and the masculine,

female vs. male, www.themeritclub.com. There have been disagreements by functionalists

because they believe gender identity has been started since human societies began. As in the

past, a man’s job was to go outside of the home and hunt for food, while the woman handled the
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home duties such as raising children, cooking, and taking care of the man. This was the day-to-

day process that was observed as time progressed and throughout the success of history. Due to

becoming pregnant with children, women became obligated to maintain the home and take care

and nurture their children which kept them at home for a period which limited their movement. It

was common that women had to stay at home for six weeks or longer after delivering a baby. On

the other hand, during this time period, men looked for ways to bring comfort to the family, such

as they brought the necessities like food, clothing and other things to motivate the rest of the

family. So, the men had to venture outside their homes and work for it. These important factors

are what it took to make the family structure function properly, and it worked for them.

The family structure took a change when World War II broke out. This war was forced most of

the men drafted and picked to fight and defend our country in war. Therefore, leaving the women

to now step up and take on multiple roles becoming the breadwinner of the family and raising the

children. This reversal of roles led to a change in the socio-economic setup, where men worked

and provided for their families and women tended to the home and children. Women now took

on men's jobs which they now called their professions. Today we see women welders and

lawyers, which in the past those jobs were mostly performed by men. Because of this change in

the opportunity for women, they now believed everyone can do all things regardless of gender

there wasn’t any limitations. Even so, other genders began making names to professions that are

being ruled by the two well-established genders. For example, a transgender woman joined the

Miss Universe pageant in 2018 as Miss Spain and received unlimited amount of social debate

regarding gender and sexuality. This topic shows much controversial debate that regardless of

gender individuals believe they have equal rights regardless of their identity or sexuality.
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Gender Identity through Symbolic Interactionism

Symbolic interactionists feel as though boys and girls learn to behave based on how they

interact with parents, teachers, peers, and mass media. Interactionists would say that gender is

something an individual does. Society is trying to force gender roles upon individuals today

showing how women and men should think and act. Passing laws and allowing same sex

marriages, producing more gender identity movies and commercials. However, symbolic

interactionism can raise the question of how typical masculine and feminine traits are supposed

to look when given to specific genders. As humans, we can build up meaning for ourselves based

on how we portray these traits. Therefore, symbolic interactionists work to comprehend the signs

of gender identity using the information found from how humans behave. From this, society sees

that masculinity pertains to being strong, analytical, and logical in terms of cognitive and skills.

While femininity has been defined through emotions, feelings, and values. Culture has always

taken a role in how society views social identity it has been dated and even reflected upon in

Greek and Roman mythology. Most of the symbols represented displayed to women were as

follows justice, liberty loyalty, etc. But on the other hand, symbols are normally socially made

such as why the word “gay” which means cheerful has also been referenced to an individual that

is homosexual, which means they like a person of the same gender. Today the word receives

negative feedback because it is considered rude and derogatory towards individuals. With this

been said gender is now described as what can we do and expect by society verses who we are as

an individual.

Over the years, parents have taught their children from birth that they were either boy or

girl and raised them with such morals and gender identity. Girls were taught that they were

limited, that they can be successful with their marriage, at being a mother, and have a full-time
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career. While boys were taught, they had to be the breadwinner and support their family. But in

todays ever changing society children are given the authority to choose their own gender identity

preference regardless of their sex at birth. Debates and laws are still being discussed and passed

even though many are still against gender identity due to religious beliefs. Gender identity has

and will continue to have social gains in our society.

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References

Compton, J. (2018, July 20). 'Boy or girl?' Parents raising 'theybies' let kids decide.
NBCNews.com. https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/boy-or-girl-parents-raising-
theybies-let-kids-decide-n891836.

Gender Identity. Teen Talk. (n.d.). http://www.teentalk.ca/learn-about/gender-identity/.

Rafferty, J. (2018). Gender Identity Development in Children. HealthyChildren.org.

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/gradeschool/Pages/Gender-Identity-
and-Gender-Confusion-In-Children.aspx.

Steinmetz, K. (2017, March 16). Beyond 'He' or 'She': The Changing Meaning of Gender and
Sexuality. Time. http://www.time.com/magazine/US/4703292/march-27th-2017-vol-189-
no-11-u-s/.

Tardos, K. (2018, May 5). A Crash Course: Theories of Gender. The Merit Club.
https://www.themeritclub.com/new-blog-1/2017/12/7/theories-of-gender-a-crash-course.