Social constructions of gender - Essay Example

To some extent I think the major issue bringing about all these arguments is the fact that there is no proper definition of the term gender that each of the opposing groups can use as the base for their arguments in order to come up with the middle ground in the alignment of the contentious issues underlying the whole matter. Depending on the line of argument that has been taken by any of the opposing sides, the gender matter can be defined in two distinct lines of thought which of course tend to oppose each other bringing about the two antagonistic sides in the whole argument over the subject matter.

On one side, some people define gender based on their biological origins and structure thereby categorizing them as either male or female, though another category of gender has recently come into play and is rapidly claiming recognition as far as the classification of gender is concerned. This third gender is the transgender which is mainly common in America and is a fusion of the two biological definitions. A proper classification of the third gender as far as its biological orientation is concerned has not yet been devised, but it still cut across the two main ones (Dube, 2001).

On the other hand the term gender has been defined on the social basis depending on the roles carried out by the two biologically defined gender categories. It is good to note here that the social definition fuses both the biological orientation of the two gender lines with the social roles assigned to each biological gender in the society.