General Opening Statement Regarding Gender Identity - Essay Example

Gender identity Introduction General opening statement regarding gender identity Gender identity is a personal conception of one as either male or female. In most cases it is self-identified from a combination of various factors. These are inherent and environmental or extrinsic factors. For instance, if one considers oneself female and comfortably refers to her personal gender in feminine terms, the gender identity is female. On the other hand, if one exhibits natural feminine features in dress and mannerisms her gender role is female. Becoming member of society: Learning the social meanings of gender By Aaron H. Devor. According to Devor, in all social categories gender is the most transparent. The acquisition of gender roles come early in life making it hard to relate them to lessons taught and learnt. He states that gender has nothing to do with socialization but, everything to do with nature. He further suggests that our ideas of being male or female are socially related. He clearly states that gender identity is a lifelong process. Story of my body: By Judith Ortiz Cofer. Cofer believes that the body plays a major role in different cultures and contexts. She goes on to reflect on how different societies have interpreted her appearances. To an extent the story of her life is intertwined in this story. Her story brings out interesting comments on cross cultural perception and gender. The thesis of this paper is generalized as gender identity. It tries to establish what comprises and defines gender identity. The two authors mentioned above have different perceptions about gender identity but all come to social factors. For instance, according to Devor, gender is determined by the roles one plays while on the other hand, Cofer perceives gender identity to be determined by the cultural standards. All these converge to the society which means that gender is identified by interacting with the society. Devor on Gender identity and generalized and significant others The generalized others acts as a kind of measuring or monitoring device through which people in a society judge their actions in reference to the generalized conceptions on how society members are expected to carry out their actions. In that way individuals monitor their behavior in reference to what the society considers to be right or wrong. Therefore, these people have standards that censor their behaviors which may be either approved or disapproved by the society. Hence, the tension gives rise to the definition of self (Devor, pp 6) Although all others do play a significant figure in people’s lives, and not everyone is of equal effect on self-development. Any individual is entitled to be part and parcel of the generalized others, but some people, by the sense of time volume spent in interacting with someone, or through particular interactions, would be more vital in the shaping of individuals’ values. The significant others are more influential in the creation of an individual’s self-image, goals and one’s ideals. In that way they weigh disproportionately in an individual’s generalized other. Hence, the individualistic impulses of children are outlined into a form that is socially acceptable by specific people and general pressure to adaption exerted by society members. Gender identity is therefore, a focal point in the development of self-sense (Devor, pp 6) Cofer on generalized and significant others In contrary to Devor’s opinion on generalized others and its effect on one’s gender identity, Cofer argues in a completely different way. Coffer perceives one’s identity to be influenced by various aspects the body by different communities. He argues that different communities in their cultures define gender identity differently. For instance, Coffer while she was in America skin color had a diverse opinion depending on where one was. The Italian (butcher) at the supermarket discriminated her as she was darker compared to them while on the other hand the Latinos considered her to be colored. Secondly, back at school because of her small size, Ortiz’s self-identity was frustrated by generalized others in that she wanted to identify with academics as she could not participate in physical education due to her small size. She then despite of her good academics in class transferred to another school where there was a smaller person (Gladys) compared to her (cofer, pp 538) Lastly, there is an instance where Ortiz was discriminated on the basis of looks. The generalized other who refers to the school environment she interacted with in Peterson affected the self-image. In that there was a criterion of pretty that was followed in awarding students presentation and on how teachers chose their favorites. She was only given the chance after the whites had moved to the catholic schools and on the fact that she was neatly dressed. “In the list of prettiness, the blacks and Puerto came last” (Cofer, pp 538). From the three illustrations, Cofer tries to show how different environments affect our self-image differently. The major point that can be noted from her story is that because of her color, size and looks she was looked down upon but where she found other blacks she made friends and was happy. Similarly to Devor’s perception on significant others to be a crucial factor on one’s self-image, Cofer views the significant others to be an inspiration to her self-image. Firstly, at her childhood age she enjoyed attention from her mum referring to her as beautiful. The mother also made her confident about her height. This was an input to her self-image as it injected confidence in her. Despite the discriminations on Ortiz back at home she was treated well and encouraged despite her state of being a shrink. Back in Augusta Georgia she met this significant person in her life that made her feel well. “Just by looking at her she felt well but it happened that he was a white”. Therefore, he could not make out with him as the father had a negative image about Puerto Ricans. Fortunately, there was Gary whom his father liked has he was of the same color and humbleness. Comparing Devor’s and Cofer’s perception it can be viewed that the two perceive significant others to be the vital factors in defining self-identity. On significant others they differ in that, Devor perceives generalized others as a general custodian of moral values while in reference to Cofer the generalized group do not contribute to an individual’s identity, instead it interferes with it. Conclusion Gender identity is identified by interaction of an individual with both nature and nurture. Nature in this context refers to the generalized others while nurture refers to the significant others. From this view, Devor in his argument is valid as he confirms what defines gender identity. The only challenge on Devor’s part is assumption of other factors that affect ones identity negatively. Devor in the last paragraph view formation of gender to be mainly dependent on discrimination of gender. Work Cited Aaron H. Devor. “Gender Blending; Confronting the Limits of Duality.” (1989) Read More