Gender and Identity - Essay Example

Gender Identity Introduction "Gender identity" is widely used to describe the gender with which a person identifies him or herself. In other words, gender identity relates to the perception of oneself whether one perceives oneself to be a man, a woman, or describes oneself in some less conventional way. However, the same can also be used to refer to the gender that other people attribute to the individual on the basis of what they know from gender role indications. Generally, gender identity is deemed as a vital element which is constructed by various social areas and factors. It has been observed that gender identity critics' focal point is reflecting the others who are the contributors; whereas, to understand gender identity, it is imperative to look at all the social and biological aspects. Moreover, gender identity may be influenced by a number of social structures, including the person's ethnic group, employment status, religion or irreligion, and family etc. Research on masculinity and femininity has a long, complex, and controversial history. This may be due in part to the questions addressed. Often researchers ask questions whether masculinity and femininity really exist, and if it does, how are they best defined and measured The argument carried forward in this paper is the question of what molds and determines a person's degree of masculinity and femininity, whether biological factors or social factors Because the roles of men and women have been the subject of passionate debate in recent years, it's no wonder that research on masculinity and femininity has become embroiled in the debate. If masculinity and femininity are real traits, perhaps even genetically determined to a significant extent, then gender would seem to be partly inflicted into our personalities. On the other hand, if masculinity and femininity are social constructions, learned patterns of behavior that are culturally and historically variable, then existing gender roles may be compliant and subject to liberating alternatives. Related Literature The formation of a gender identity is an intricate process that begins with conception, but later on it involves critical growth processes during development and even learning experiences after birth. There are points of differentiation all along the way, but language and tradition in most societies insist that every individual be categorized as either a man or a woman. When diversity is subjectively reduced to absolute beliefs, conflicts are sure to result. (Wikipedia, 2006) Once children develop a stable gender identity and stable gender categories for others (All people come in two varieties, either male or female), they begin to identify with and prefer others of their own gender (e.g., "I am a girl; I like other girls, and girls are good"). Although young children are aware of gender as a social category, they do not think about gender as adults do. For instance, toddlers do not always realize that gender is defined most fundamentally by genital differences. Instead, they may define gender by its surface features, such as clothing, hair length, and kinds of play. By age 6 or 7, most children realize that sex and gender are constant (i.e., you can't readily change them) and linked to male and female genital differences. According to Kohlberg's theory, children older than age 7 nonetheless continue to develop their gender concepts. For example, they learn gender stereotypes (e.g., "Women are nicer and gentler than men," "Men are more violent than women"), and they learn that some cultural symbols (e.g., butterflies and flowers) are more associated with girls, whereas others (e.g., worms and frogs) are more associated with boys. (Kohlberg, 1966) A question arises at this point, should research on gender differences promote inequality between the genders Not necessarily. Even if there are actual differences between men and women, this does not need to imply that one gender is better than the other. Psychologist Diane Halpern notes that although no one would deny that female genitals differ from male genitals, it is silly to ask whether women's genitals are "superior" to men's or vice versa. Differences are differences. How they are viewed is a matter of value (Halpern, 1997) Theories of gender generally focus on four different levels of explanation: (a) group-level factors, (b) past biological and social-environmental factors, (c) current biological and social-environmental factors, and (d) traits residing within the individual. The group level of analysis considers you as a member of a group-either a biological group (e.g., people with XX chromosomes) or a cultural group (e.g., Latinas, members of the middle class, Southern Baptists, the social categories of "female" and "male"). Group-level processes include biological and cultural evolution, which respectively shape the characteristics of biological groups and cultural groups. In some instances, the gender identity of a person makes him a man, but his genitals are female, he may experience a deep unhappiness caused by his experience of himself as a man and his lack of male genitals. Some research suggests that gender identity is set in early childhood and after that remains static. These studies approximate the age at which gender identity is formed at around 2-3. Such research may be intricate if it made no analogous effort to discover when normal people became aware of their own gender identities and choice of gender roles. Argument in Favor of Biological Factors Biology plays a role in many behavioral phenomena related to gender. Animal research shows that early sex hormones lead to differences in the nervous systems of males and females, which in turn influence the behaviors of males and females. (Wallen, 1996) Data from humans with hormonal abnormalities and evidence from "natural experiments" suggest that early hormonal events in people are related to later gender-linked behaviors. And studies show that normal variations in sex hormones are related to a number of socially significant human behaviors, many of which are gender-linked. Still, none of these studies directly confronts the question: Do biological factors cause human gender differences There are four kinds of relevant evidence (a) The age at which gender differences emerge, (b) The consistency of gender differences across cultures and over historical time, (c) The consistency of gender differences across species, and (d) The relation of physiological factors (such as sex hormones and brain structures) to behaviors that show gender differences (e.g., aggression, visual-spatial ability). (Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974) Why are these four kinds of evidence relevant Let's consider each in turn. The earlier a gender difference occurs in life, the less likely it is to be learned, and the more plausible it is that biology plays a role in producing the difference. The most clear-cut case would be if a gender difference appears immediately after birth. Some human gender differences do in fact appear at a very early age. For example, male infants are somewhat more irritable and active than female infants are. (Phillips, King, & DuBois, 1978) Unfortunately, newborn infants don't show many of the behaviors that gender researchers are most interested in studying, behaviors such as aggression, visual-spatial performance, and mating practices. If a gender difference does not occur until late in development, then the likelihood increases that social learning and cultural factors play a role. For example, boys begin to exceed girls in math performance in their teenage years, and this gender difference may reflect adolescent girls' acquired views about which behaviors are seen as "feminine" and which are not. (Eccles & Jacobs, 1986) The consistency of gender differences across cultures constitutes a second kind of evidence about the contribution of biology to gender differences. The more consistent a gender difference is across cultures, the more likely it is influenced by biological factors. Conversely, the more a gender difference varies across cultures, the more likely it is culturally caused. If a gender difference occurs consistently, despite all the variations in learning and socialization practices that occur across cultures, then a biological "signal" is probably showing through all the cultural "noise." If men are more physically aggressive than women in virtually all cultures, for example, there is probably a biological predisposition toward higher aggressiveness in men, which shows itself regardless of cultural learning. On the other hand, if gender differences come in all degrees and in all directions across cultures (men sometimes show the behavior more than women, men and women show the behavior equally, and women sometimes show the behavior more than men), then it would seem that there is no innate predisposition underlying the cultural variations. If men are more likely to be doctors in some countries but the reverse is true in other countries, then becoming a doctor would seem to be culturally, not biologically, determined. Many gender differences in human mate preferences show substantial cross-cultural consistency, and this suggests that biological factors are at work. Argument in Favor of Social Factors Social learning theory proposes that rewards and punishments mold gender-related behaviors. Parents do in fact encourage sex-typed toy play and activities in their children. (Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974) At the same time, parents seem to treat their sons and daughters similarly in many other ways. It's worth noting that even though parents do not necessarily treat sons and daughters differently, boys simply spend more time with men than girls do, and similarly, girls spend more time with women than boys do. This alone causes boys and girls to have different learning experiences with adults. Research continues on how parents treat boys and girls differently, and it is possible that studies have yet to identify important differences in the rearing of sons and daughters. Some studies show that parents physically punish boys more than girls. Does differential parental punishment of boys and girls produce differences in boys' and girls' behaviors, or do boys' and girls' behaviors evoke different treatment from parents In the case of punishment, there is evidence that boys are more mischievous and rambunctious than girls are; they "get into things" more and test limits more than girls do, and as a result, parents may on average need to control boys (e.g., discipline and sometimes physically punish them) more than girls. Peer Influence Children's play activities, especially boys' activities, may be molded more by peers than by adults, and perhaps this explains why interventions by parents and teachers don't have much effect. Most interesting of all was the finding that boys responded to pressures from other boys; however, they largely ignored girls and teachers. According to social learning theory, children don't learn to behave as boys and girls simply by responding to rewards and punishments. Children also model (i.e., observe and imitate) others. What is the evidence that children in fact model gender-related behaviors The most obvious models for children are their same-sex parents. Surprisingly, research has not consistently shown that young boys prefer to imitate their fathers over their mothers or that young girls prefer to imitate their mothers over their fathers, or do children strongly prefer to spend more time with their same-sex parent. (Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974) Children's personalities tend to resemble the personality of their most dominant or attractive parent, not necessarily that of their same-sex parent. This finding is consistent with other research indicating that children are most likely to imitate people who they perceive to be powerful, warm, and of high status. (Bandura, 1977) Conclusion Many kinds of evidence suggest that biology contributes to human sex differences and to individual differences in masculinity and femininity. Animal experiments show that prenatal hormones create differences in the nervous systems and behaviors of males and females. Natural experiments and accidents, when genetic males are castrated and reared as females, suggest that prenatal exposures often produces male gender identities and male-typical behaviors, even in individuals reared as females. Several kinds of evidence suggest that biological factors contribute to individual differences in masculinity and femininity. Research on both prenatal and adult sex hormones, shows that hormone levels are related to individual differences in masculinity and femininity. Behavior genetic studies show that individual differences in masculinity and femininity are heritable. A growing body of evidence suggests that biological factors contribute, sometimes strongly, to many of the phenomena described by the term gender. Social learning theories propose that children learn to behave as boys and girls as a result of rewards, punishments, and imitation. Sex-typed play is one of the earliest differences to emerge in girls' and boys' behaviors. Research shows that parents encourage sex-typed play in children that fathers encourage sex-typed play more strongly than mothers, and that parents encourage sex-typed play more in boys than in girls. In addition, parents may restrict girls more than boys, encourage more independence in boys than in girls, encourage different emotions in boys and girls, and assign different tasks to boys and girls. All these factors lead boys and girls to behave differently. Gender results from a complex cascade of biological and social-environmental factors. Biological factors include genes and hormones. Social-environmental factors include the influences of family, peers, teachers, and media, and the effects of social roles and institutions. Because various causal factors constantly interact with one another, it is often difficult to partition the causes of gender precisely into two categories labeled "biological factors" and "social factors." Thus we can state conclusively that both factors affect gender identity in a different way. Still the degree to which they shape gender identity within a person is more or less the same. Works Cited Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Eccles, J. S., & Jacobs, J. E. (1986). Social forces shape math attitudes and performance. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 11, 367-389. Gender identity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Accessed on April 6, 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_identity Halpern, D. F. (1997). Sex differences in intelligence: Implications for education. American Psychologist, 52, 1091-1102. Kohlberg, L. (1966). A cognitive-developmental analysis of children's sex role concepts and attitudes. In E. E. Maccoby (Ed.), The development of sex differences (pp. 82-173). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Maccoby, E. E., & Jacklin, C. N. (1974). The psychology of sex differences. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Phillips, S., King, S., & DuBois, L. (1978). Spontaneous activities of female versus male newborns. Child Development, 49, 590-597. Wallen, K. (1996). Nature needs nurture: The interaction of hormonal and social influences on the development of behavioral sex differences in rhesus monkeys. Hormones and Behavior, 30, 364-378. Read More