Gender identity. Sex characteristics and gender roles

Many people assume that the word "gender" is synonymous with the word "gender". But this opinion is wrong. Gender affiliation is a set of psychosocial and sociocultural characteristics that are usually assigned to one or another biological sex. That is, a person will be a man according to his biological sex, he may well feel and behave like a woman, and vice versa.

What does the term gender mean?

As mentioned above, this concept defines both social and cultural signs of belonging to the biological sex. Initially, a person is born with certain physiological sexual characteristics, and not with gender. The baby simply does not know the norms of society, nor the rules of behavior in it. Therefore, a person is determined by himself and brought up by the people around him already at a more conscious age.

The upbringing of gender identity will largely depend on the views on the relationship of the sexes of those people who surround the child. As a rule, all the postulates and foundations of behavior are actively inculcated by parents. For example, a boy is often told not to cry because he is a future man, just like a girl is dressed in colorful dresses for the reason that she is a representative of the female biological sex.

Formation of gender identity

By the age of 18, a person, as a rule, already has his own idea of \u200b\u200bwhich gender he considers himself to be. This happens both at an unconscious level, that is, the child himself at an early age determines the group to which he wants to belong, and at a conscious level, for example, under the influence of society. Many people remember how in childhood they were bought toys that match their gender, that is, boys received cars and soldiers, and girls received dolls and cooking sets. Such stereotypes live in any society. We need them for more comfortable communication, although in many ways they limit the personality.

The formation of gender and family affiliation is necessary. In kindergartens, special classes are held aimed at this process. With their help, the child learns about himself, and also learns to classify himself as a certain group of people. These subgroups are formed both by gender and by family. In the future, this helps the child to quickly learn the rules of behavior in society.

However, it may also be that gender is different from gender. In this case, the process of self-identification will also occur, but will require an individual approach.

How to determine gender by words?

There are various test methods to determine the sexual and gender identity of a person. They are aimed at identifying a person's self-identification, as well as at determining his gender role in society.

One of the common methods suggests answering 10 questions, with the help of which the characteristics mentioned above are revealed. The other is based on drawings and their interpretation. The validity of different tests varies quite a lot. Therefore, to say that today there is at least one method that allows 100% to determine the sexual identity of a person does not exist.

In the modern world, which keeps pace with the times and is in the race for the equality of people, expressions and dissatisfaction associated with gender often slip through. Discontent is also associated with discrimination on this basis. Let's understand these concepts and find out where the roots come from.

Innate and acquired qualities

Seems, that the concept of gender and sex are the same, there is no difference in them. However, this is not the case, the differences are still significant. Let's try to find out what a gender sign and the definition of "sex" are.

You were born a man or a woman - this is determined already at birth. The differences and divisions are obvious. This factor is biological. In this case, this situation does not change and does not depend on the will of the person.

However, medicine has stepped forward a long time. Now developments, innovations, plastic surgery have stepped to a higher level. Medicine can change gender.

In some cases, it is even impossible to accurately determine. Incidents happen when there are signs of both male and female hormones, sexual characteristics, so this complicates judgment.

According to Wikipedia, gender is associated with the biological and anatomical characteristics of the body, but gender is associated with:

society
social life
upbringing

Simply put, boys and girls are born, but men and women become in the process of life. This applies not only to education, but also in general how people are affected by life in society, culture, self-consciousness.

Time does not stand still, so the concept of "gender" is changing. When it was the 19th century, men and women were distinguished as follows: the ladies had long braids, they wore dresses. And the men were short-haired and wore trousers. However, now this is not a definition of gender.

In past centuries, the female gender could not hold high-ranking positions in politics, engage in business projects. This was considered something immoral and impossible, however, with the passage of time and progress, it became commonplace. And now you will not surprise anyone with this. However, gender is still used to judge and separate men and women.

Difference dictates mass consciousness

Many factors depend on the level of culture and development of society. Social behavior can only be imposed on individuals who are wrong-thinking and insufficiently enlightened.

For example, a man owes something and a woman owes something. The difference and separation of man and woman is connected with their duties. For example, a man should:

be the head of the family
get more money
have a whole set of characteristics - masculinity, firmness, aggressiveness
choose male professions
love sports
be a fisherman
strive to climb the corporate ladder

Exactly the same list is for the female. For example, a woman should be, as they say, "real", get married, have children, be soft and compliant and choose a profession of a female orientation. And the rest of the time, which should be a lot, to devote to the family.

Of course, in rebels, these stereotypes cause a violent and emotional reaction. After all, now everything is mixed up: many couples do not want to burden themselves with relationships, marriage, and even more so with children. And all the energy is directed to advance in a career, to work and live for pleasure.

From this kind of thinking, gender issues are born. Often, lactating women have to support the whole family, earn money for bread and food, while a man may not work, but, on the contrary, go on maternity leave. Either another option: sacrifices for the sake of a career, or men who feel like a woman in their hearts. They are into embroidery. It turns out that neither this nor the other case correspond to their gender.

All people are equal

So what happens is a gender sign - is it a stereotype? Different countries treat this problem in their own way..

For example, in Spanish society, that representative of the stronger sex who cooks well is equated to a “real macho”. But among the Slavs, this is women's work and not at all a man's business. From here problems develop, women feel such discrimination, they try to prove their equality, defend their rights and declare themselves as individuals. And leadership positions are most often assigned to the representatives of the stronger sex.

To solve this problem, some countries are implementing gender policies. This means:

the state is responsible for establishing equality between the sexes and eliminating differences
legal norms are created
an equal society without prohibitions is being created

All these actions are aimed at destroying stereotypes associated with gender.

Gender: Definition

concept "gender" means social gender. It determines how a person will behave in a certain role of a man or woman. This includes prohibitions on certain behavior.

Gender significance in society indicates what profession a person should choose according to their biological gender.

For example, there are obvious differences between Orthodox and Muslim women. From an anatomical position, they are equal, however, by gender, they will occupy a different niche in society.

So, the concept of "gender" appeared for the following reasons:

as part of the exploration of a new self-awareness
studied during the years of activization of feminist attitudes

All these concepts, one way or another, divide people by gender.

Even 60 years ago, a famous doctor of that time studied gender differences. He called this kind of differentiation gender. Then the study was triggered by the emergence of new types of people - transgender and intersex. However, then this term remained just a scientific concept.

But after, 10 years later, feminists appeared. They defended their equality and rights. They had their own charter and ideology. Supporters and participants actively manipulated the concept of gender.

Medicine is based on the same principle

, gender differences exist in medical practice. There is even a whole kind of science called Gender Medicine. This means that a certain disease will be treated differently in men and women. This applies even if the representatives are in the same age categories. This difference is due to the fact that organisms are arranged differently.

In the male and female half, the difference is not only in gender, gender, but also in physiology:

men have pronounced testosterone - this is a purely inherent hormone
in women, estrogen and progesterone

Therefore, different reactions occur to different situations, including emotional ones.

And some diseases are inherent more in men, others in women. The same difference exists in stressful situations and during the manifestation of pain. For example, if a woman complains about something, she must first be checked for hormones, because they affect the entire body as a whole.

This gender trait can also manifest itself in morale and emotional health. Suppose women feel great if they speak at least 20 thousand words a day, and only 8 thousand are enough for men.

It is no secret to anyone that the difference between both sexes and gender lies in the reaction to this or that circumstance. Women are mainly guided by feelings and emotionality, while men behave in a more restrained way and are guided mainly by logic.

Therefore, even psychologists have different approaches to people based on gender, because inside people are different.

Manifestation of gender in modern society

So, the concept of "gender" was discussed above, now let's look at specific examples in order to better understand what is at stake.

Why is it said that gender judgments are stereotypes? Probably because there are women who are such only outwardly. And there are no differences between others. However, under all the external tinsel - makeup, wig, clothes and heels, a man is hiding. The only difference is that he is biologically male, but morally feels like a woman.

Another example -. This term was actively mentioned in the 2000s. Now this concept does not surprise anyone at all. It has become the norm. There are plenty of metrosexuals: in magazines, movies, music videos, in nightclubs. Under this description, a specific example is a man who is very attentive to himself, takes care of his appearance, corresponds to fashion trends. It is possible to oppose such a person to the so-called "real man", who does not particularly bother about his appearance and has more strong-willed and firm qualities of character.

How to identify a metrosexual from the crowd:

he likes to go shopping
the whole closet is crammed with fashionable things
wears a lot of clothing accessories - a scarf, glasses, watches, bracelets, rings, badges, jewelry
does not hesitate to paint nails, hair, remove hair from hairy areas of the skin

Therefore, there is such a division, it all depends on preferences and self-perception. At the same time, a metrosexual can be both a gay and a normal man. You can't guess here.

Be that as it may, even such a trait as metrosexuality leaves a man a man. After all, this feature does not affect gender. For example, in the 18th century there was such a fashion. The men put on make-up, wore heels, wore wigs, and adorned themselves with lavish accessories.

Another example is the men of Scotland. According to their culture, they wear skirts, and the Arabs wear dresses at all. There were also references in history to the love of samurai for each other, the Greeks conveyed their unconventional sexual inclination in works of art. At the same time, men fought, participated in wars, started families and left behind offspring.

For example, the difference in gender is also in logic. Men make fun of women, and women make fun of men. All this also applies to gender stereotypes imposed by society and culture.

Is androgyny a progress in consciousness?

More and more society is interested in such a concept as "androgyny". Simply put, this is the duality of gender. It manifests itself both externally and internally. Not only spiritual practices, but also religions speak about the 2-cavity or asexuality. For example, the Bible says that angels are sexless creatures, just like our soul does not have a sexual characteristic.

In a person, androgyny manifests itself when there is:

the feeling of two sexes inside
addition of one personality to another
the existence of two persons in one body

This has been discussed since antiquity. Even in the ancient Greek writings, this phenomenon was discussed.

Now, androgyny is part of the psychological state of a person. It turns out that with androgyny a person has both male and female features. And this applies to appearance, as well. However, it all starts with the spiritual: how a person argues, how he behaves, what habits and manners he has. Sometimes boys are very similar to girls, even the voice speaks of the female gender. Anrogyny does not mean that a person has problems with orientation.

It is hard for a person to be an androgyne in the modern world. Because you have to choose who you are. Therefore, you always need to maintain a balance in your states. As practice shows, gender does not play a role here at all. And the choice may not be in his favor. All this can cause ridicule and reproaches from society. In extreme cases, condemnation and violence against this person.

Androgynes, as a rule, choose for themselves a certain style in which they are comfortable. It is not necessary to do an operation for this, you can choose clothes, hairstyle, demeanor, which is as close to the personality as possible.

For example, in America, freedom in this regard is obvious. There are over 30 types of gender identity that a person can choose from. And all this is enshrined in law.

Is there equality

In the world, in many countries, even among Muslims, where a woman is a niche below men, they also talk about gender equality. These disputes have changed many laws and expanded human rights. What does equality mean?

The idea is that people have the same opportunities in different areas of life. This applies to systems of education and science, medicine and health care, law and order. This means:

free choice of a particular job, regardless of gender
access to government activities
starting a family
parenting

Speaking of inequality, then there are a lot of problems, including violence. Because in the modern world they are already abandoning the stereotypes that existed in the past. For example, the fact that a man is an aggressive male, and a woman is an obedient and patient female. Such characteristics and "echoes of the past" allow men to have promiscuous sexual relations, and as for the female sex, on the contrary, complete submission. This creates a slave attitude.

No one says that it is necessary to fight for equality, create conflicts, however, society has already changed radically. For example, more and more women occupy positions that are inherent in men - go to the ranks of the police, rescuers, drivers, officials. On the other hand, men can be dancers, cultural figures. And there is nothing shameful here.

In addition, there are more and more situations where a woman cannot afford to be a housewife and deal exclusively with household chores. She works on a par with a man, while raising children and caring for the house. Although gender stereotypes contradict this lifestyle.

However, in the countries of Saudi Arabia, there is still a certain hierarchy in the relationship between a man and a woman. This is due to the mentality, religion and age-old traditions. For example, there the man still stands head and shoulders above the woman and can control her. This is considered the norm, accustomed to such a situation from childhood.

If we talk about the differences between men and women, there is an opinion that ladies value family values more, and men value independence and success. At present, everything is mixed up and we see that everyone has different values. And it does not depend on gender.

Another Gender Issue Is Dual Standards. It can manifest itself equally in any area or sphere of life, even in personal relationships. For example, sexual behavior.

Men tend to have a variety of sexual lives. And the more partners before the wedding, the better. Gaining experience is useful and necessary for future relationships.

As for the female sex, they must marry innocent, otherwise it is considered bad manners. In fact, they used to pay more attention to it than now. Since more and more couples live in a civil marriage, that is, according to the law, they are nobody to each other. It turns out that a man's connections are not condemned as vehemently as a woman's betrayal.

According to the double standard, a man can dominate sexual life, at his own discretion, while a woman can play the role of a driven person.

Therefore, when it comes to education, it's up to you. If you are striving for gender equality, the child needs to be shown the appropriate example of behavior and communication with each other. And don't discriminate based on gender. When it comes to professions, it is not necessary to emphasize what is strictly for men and what is purely for women. It can be shown that dad can also do household chores, cook food, and mom can work and love football, go fishing with dad. And don't encourage violence. Emphasize that it is bad when a boy offends a girl, and when a girl answers and offends after a boy, this is also offensive and wrong.

Gender equality does not change history, gender or character traits, it only helps to find one's life path, without relying on stereotypes - who can do what and who can't.

The other day, for those Americans who are dissatisfied with their gender, the Facebook Internet network offered a choice for registration.

The network was actively having fun about this. But he laughs best who laughs last. No matter how the children of the laughing ones have to forcefully try on these gender roles (it would be more correct to call them genders). Reality overtakes the most avant-garde antics like this one.

Few people realize that the UN, the European Union, PACE and a host of other influential international organizations have already adopted resolutions, declarations and other documents that not only give the green road to these 58 genders, but also oblige many countries to introduce such gender designations by law.

Cockerel or hen?

On the eve of the Facebook action, the European Parliament accepted with a bang the “Lunachek report”, named after an Austrian LGBT activist and MP from the Green Party. In fact, she proposed to give representatives of her native LGBT community special rights, giving them advantages over other homo sapiens. They receive unlimited freedom of speech, but they cannot be argued with. Even parents do not have the right to protect their children from gender propaganda.

So the modern world revolves not only around the dollar, oil or sex, but also around gender. Strictly speaking, the world itself does not rotate around this axis, it is forcibly rotated, like meat in a meat grinder. Laws requiring such a radical restructuring of society are adopted behind the scenes in the most democratic countries. This is done by the untouchable caste - international bureaucracy, concentrated in supranational structures. And then they are imposed on almost all countries.

What is the essence of gender? In the 1970s, this term began to denote one of the incarnations of sex - social. To determine the biological sex, it is enough to take off your pants. But the social gender is what is in the head, how a person feels himself, what gender he has chosen, regardless of whether he was born a boy or a girl. Initially, it was used only in medicine for the treatment and rehabilitation of people with such abnormalities.

But when radical philosophers, psychologists and anthropologists took up gender, they developed the so-called gender theory. What is its essence? Be warned, further reading is not for the faint of heart. According to gender theory, a child is not born a boy or a girl, but something indefinite, he has the makings of all genders at once, regardless of whether he really has a “cockerel” or a “hen”. And we become men and women only because we are brought up that way. The main role, of course, is played by the family - from century to century, “gender violence” (this is the official term) is reproduced in it over a person, imposing the role of a man on a boy, and the role of a woman and mother on a girl. This dictatorship of the family must be destroyed. Hence, juvenile justice, and the fight against so-called domestic violence, and radical forms of protecting the rights of the child, and other actively sponsored technologies for the destruction of the family - they all play on the side of gender theory and practice.

In the US, a book called "It's Absolutely Normal" is recommended reading for 4th graders. One of the pages talks about how it's okay to be gay or lesbian. Photo: Collage AiF

Lessons for toddlers

Gender Pedagogy encourages children to try themselves in different roles, emphasizing that unconventionality is great. It is better to start doing this in elementary school or even in kindergarten, when the child begins to realize his biological sex - the optimal age to create gender chaos in the child's head.

This is called 'gender equality' education and is practiced in many countries in northern Europe and is being imposed on countries that have recently joined the EU. In camouflaged form, it leaks out as sex education for youngsters. After such lessons, girls often begin to play war, and boys - gays, transvestites or daughter-mothers.

But after the “Lunachek report”, such education can become almost mandatory, and parents will no longer be able to protect their child from these lessons. By the way, conflicts are already arising in Germany, where parents who protect their children are even subjected to criminal penalties. Is it hard for you to believe it? All this seems like nonsense, which cannot be, because it can never be? I understand your logic, but I remind you that the relevant agreements have already been enshrined in official documents signed by hundreds of countries and are being put into practice in many regions.

How could this happen? Quiet and inconspicuous. The term "gender" first appeared in documents in 1995 in the so-called Beijing Declaration of the United Nations. And then it meant only the need to introduce equality between men and women. At that time, few people argued with this statement, and the document was accepted with enthusiasm. But it turned out that women, it seems, were simply used to quietly put all members of the LGBT community under the gender umbrella. And as you already know, they needed equality even more than women.

The number of 58 genders identified by experts for the Facebook action is conditional. There may be more of them, according to gender theory. It is possible to single them out, in fact, endlessly, inventing microscopic differences. For example, the most common ones are those for which the abbreviation LGBT is used: its letters denote homosexual genders (lesbians, gays, bisexuals) and transgenders are those who are dissatisfied with their biological sex. There are many of them: transsexuals seek to change sex surgically, transvestites simply change into clothes of the opposite sex, androgynes combine male and female traits and behavior, hermaphrodites have male and female genital organs, bigenders change sexual behavior depending on the circumstances, agenders deny any floor. The list goes on, as they did on Facebook. On the sidelines, the introduction of new genders based on incest and pedophilia is being discussed.

The book introduces the reader to modern ideas about sexual selection, its role in the formation of modern species of animals and humans. Sex and gender in human society are presented as a complex biosocial phenomenon. Differences between the male and female bodies, features of physiology and genetics, mental activity and strategies of sexual and parental behavior are considered. The book shows the specifics of male and female behavior in traditional societies, demonstrates the relationship of reproductive success with social status and economic well-being. The reasons for the stability of a number of gender stereotypes in modern society are discussed. It is told in detail about the universal and culturally specific ideals of beauty and methods of their research.

The book is intended for anthropologists, psychologists, sociologists, historians, political scientists, social workers, a wide range of readers interested in the relationship between the sexes.

Book:

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2.2. Hormonal disorders and gender

The discrepancy between the genetic and external morphological sex can also occur for other reasons. A typical case of this kind is known as the androgynous insensitivity syndrome. This anomaly is associated with insensitivity to testosterone at the cellular level. As a result, in an embryo with a normal male XY genotype and with developed testes, female external genitalia are formed. Such an individual not only outwardly looks like a woman, but also behaves like a woman. Available full-fledged testicles do not have any effect on the life and activity of the child. Before the onset of the maturation period, both the parents and the child himself do not experience the slightest discomfort. However, during the puberty, the girl does not have her period, the parents begin to sound the alarm and go to the doctor. If an experienced doctor establishes the true cause of this anomaly, then a surgical operation is performed - the testicles are removed, and in the future the girl continues to lead a normal lifestyle characteristic of her gender, without experiencing problems with gender identity. Unfortunately, such a woman is infertile. According to Money and Earhart, 80% of individuals with androgynous insensitivity syndrome are exclusively heterosexual and none have demonstrated lesbian predispositions in adulthood. Thus, despite the male XY genotype, males develop into females. They show sensitivity to the feminizing influence of estrogens secreted by the testes during puberty, whereby such men develop breasts and feminine body shapes.

An even rarer and extremely curious genetic anomaly, in line with our reasoning about the role of nature and nurture, is called 5-alpha reductase deficiency. It was this case that we had in mind above when we argued that the external morphological sex of a person in rare cases can spontaneously change to the opposite under the influence of internal hormonal activity.

The anomaly has been described for only a few families of relatives living in the Dominican Republic (18 cases) and Papua New Guinea (several cases). The mutation appears only in males and only if the individual inherits two copies of the recessive gene, which leads to disruption of normal testosterone metabolism. As a result, the fetus does not convert primary testosterone to dihydrotestosterone. Although the testicles develop, they do not descend into the scrotum, but remain inside the body. The external genital organs of such a newborn child are more reminiscent of women. It is not surprising, therefore, that parents and others see him as a girl and bring him up accordingly. True, such girls behave in an inappropriate way, from the point of view of gender stereotypes. They almost always grow up as tomboys, strive for increased physical activity, power play and competition, are rarely interested in playing with dolls and daughter-mothers and prefer to play with boys, despite the persuasion and prohibitions of upset parents.

During puberty, dihydrotestosterone loses its leading significance as a sex hormone, and testosterone takes its place. And its effect on the cells of the body in individuals with this syndrome proceeds in a completely normal way. Therefore, violent changes begin to take place in the body of the “girl”: the penis grows, the testicles move down into the formed scrotum, the hairline grows according to the male type, the voice becomes lower, the shoulders expand, the nature of fat deposition changes. It is curious that in the future the young man does not experience any problems not only with sexual, but also with gender identity. He starts a family and can have healthy children.

If we consider gender identity entirely as a product of socialization and upbringing, then it seems completely incomprehensible why, in cases of this syndrome, an individual is able to easily and painlessly change his identity to the opposite. If we turn to another version proposed by biologists, then such a phenomenon is more understandable. Sex hormones probably influence the formation of gender identity (testosterone has an irreversible effect on the fetal brain in the womb and contributes to the final choice of gender identity during puberty).

Certain morphological disorders in the severity of external sexual characteristics were recorded when a number of medications were taken by pregnant women. Laboratory experiments on rhesus monkeys have shown that at high doses in the mother's body of a substance called testosterone propionate, a pronounced masculinization of the body structure occurs in the female fetus. Female cubs are born with developed penises.

Thus, the considered examples clearly prove that appearance can be deceptive: a person may look like a man or a woman, but from the point of view of D. Mani's classification, he may not be one or the other. Of course, his gender can be quite unambiguous: male or female (more on this in one of the following chapters). In addition, in modern society, such an individual may consider himself a third gender.

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Belonging and gender psychology are on everyone's lips these days. So what is gender? much broader than the mere belonging of an individual to a particular sex. The biological sex of the subject is not subject to change throughout his life (except in cases of surgical intervention). Gender, on the other hand, is rather one that has properties to change in the course of the development of society, and is also not the same for different cultures and communities.

Definition

So what is gender? The definition of this concept is to describe the entire behavioral complex that characterizes the subject as a man or a woman. It should be noted that physiological aspects play a secondary role here. First of all, gender is a socially conditioned model of a person that determines his position in society. The concept of gender includes a set of cultural and social norms prescribed to a person by society, depending on the physiological sex. In other words, gender is what traits a person should have as a man or as a woman.

Thus, gender roles are determined by the characteristics of the society in which a person lives. It should also be noted that a biological male may not have a gender affiliation with men at all, just like a woman.

The problem of gender identity

How does the gender formation of a person in society take place, how does he assimilate gender-role characteristics, what problems arise if this does not happen? The formation or construction of the gender identity of the subject throughout life - this is the problem of gender as it goes through a number of stages in the construction of gender identity. The first is gender identity. The subject is aware of his biological belonging to a certain sex, is aware of his body. At the second stage, learning and acceptance of social roles inherent in sex in a given society takes place. And, finally, at the third stage, the completion of the personality gender structure is carried out; a person perceives himself as a part of the social structure, builds appropriate relationships between the sexes. Thus, gender is the functioning of society, with its help certain relationships are built, a system of social stereotypes is created, etc.

The concept of gender in public perception

Surely many have heard such statements as "a real man should ...", "a woman should...", etc. This is a system of social stereotypes regarding gender. In the modern world of establishing gender equality, the destruction of the institution of marriage and the family, a person is disoriented, he does not know what roles are inherent in a particular gender. There is a confusion, rejection by many people of the gender roles prescribed by the archaic society. Thus, in the modern world, gender is a rather vague concept, which, over time, must undoubtedly change to meet the demands of society.