Race/Ethnicity or Sex/Gender as Socially Constructed Categories
Sociological ethnicity and race theories have been dictated by the social construct metaphor, which indicates that these theories are ideological groups that serve to conceal the actual social structural principles. The above notion is a problematical one as it ignores the context wherein ethnicity and race function as bases of social significance as well as working material exclusion principles (Smaje, 1997). While gender and sex are words that are frequently employed interchangeably, their meanings are, in fact, different. Sex represents a categorization on the basis of biological dissimilarities -- for instance, dissimilarities between females and males grounded in their physiology or anatomy. On the other hand, gender represents a categorization on the basis of the societal creation and preservation of cultural differences between females and males. That is, gender denotes a social concept pertaining to culture-bound conduct, rules, and roles for, and relations among and between, men and women, girls and boys (LM & DG, 2006).
Graphic showing diversity in people -- by color, race, ethnicity and gender
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Gender Identities
According to researchers, ethnic, racial, gender, class and sexual identities are personalized, flexible, and complex social constructions reflecting a person's socio-historical group and present context. But hardly any empirical studies encapsulate the abstract, richly textured ideas of identity formation, retention and transformation. There are now advanced techniques to evaluate...
Gender Identity The factors that mediate and account for gender identity and sex differentiation include those attributed to nature, such as hormones and genes, and those attributed to nurture, such as environment. Research has demonstrated that hormones and genetics play an integral role in gender identity and associated behaviors (Wilson, 1999; Hines, 2006; Hines (2008). What are these hormones and how exactly have they been determined to influence gender identity? The
GENDER IDENTITY Explain interaction hormones behavior interactions affect determination gender identity. Address paper: Include roles biological factors - nature- environmental influences-nutrue- sexual differentiation gender identity. The interaction between hormones and behavior Essentially, the difference in the brain of males and females is mostly realized in the concepts of sex and gender aspects. Most of these realizations have been made in the recent years as researchers have focused on the structure and functionalism
Even strong women are feminized in the media and in advertising. Burton Nelson notes, "In a Sears commercial, Olympic basketball players apply lipstick, paint their toenails, rock babies, lounge in bed, and pose and dance in their underwear" (Nelson Burton 442). These are all very feminine characteristics, and women feel they must be feminine not only to fit in society but also to catch a man, and that is
Gender Identities and Gender Roles One has very little choice as to what sex one is born with, but identifying with a certain gender is a different story. Although an individual can be born with a given sex, that does not guarantee the development of a specific type of gender (Lahey, 2005). Gender identity can have both biological and social influential factors, and it is this that in the end, define
Firstly, males tend to base their self-worth on what they have accomplished as individuals. This is an "independent self-concept." Females on the other hand, tend to judge themselves more in terms of an "interconnected self-concept," meaning that they assess themselves in terms of how they interact with other people. Research has also demonstrated however that in countries like the United States, which are considered to be relatively individualistic, the
Bibliography Mouffak, Faycal; Gallarda, Thierry; Baup, Nicolas; Olie, Jean-Pierre; and Krebs, Marie-Odile (2007) Gender Identity Disorders and Bipolar Disorder Associated With the Ring Y Chromosome. American Journal Psychiatry 164:1122-1123 July 2007. Online available at http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/164/7/1122#R1647CHDJECID Childhood Gender-Identity Disorder Diagnosis Under Attack (2007) National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality. NARTH. Leadership U. Online available at http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/narth/childhood.html Osborne, Duncan (2003) Voices - Identity Crisis. OUT magazine. Los Angeles, April 2003. Liberation Publications, Inc.
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