Gender Ideologies

Gender The Construct and Concept 

We've grown up in a society that limits us to expectations based on our bodies. No, this is not true for just women. It is inclusive to both sexes. These ideologies that have formed over the course of history have been placed on us before we are born. Our sex determines our name, our favorite color, hobbies, and expectations the world has of us when we grow older. Gender is so pressed onto us we don't even question it, because it's an embedded norm in our culture and society. What we as a society fail to understand, is that gender is completely made up and in no way defines a person fully. The concept of masculinity and femininity are adjectives that were defined by man. Meaning they are made up perceptions of males and females that fall under an extreme opposite spectrum. If gender falls onto a spectrum, and has historically been looked at as two extremes it does not seem unreasonable to question it, and argue that gender is in fact fluid and merely just an identity.  

The world around us is not black and white. It is in fact mostly gray. Gender also falls into this gray area. Our understanding of gender is masked by the theory that gender falls into two categories. These would be the Binary Genders, man he/him and woman her/she. Is there anything wrong with these two identities? Of course not. The binary genders however, are often superior to any other identity by simply being accepted in society. Of course the binaries being accepted comes within reason of the two extremes. If you identify as a man you are expected to extrude stereotypical masculinity behavior, whereas if you identify as a woman you expected the same with femininity.

So what exists beyond the binaries?  The Non-Binary genders. This would include but are not limited to; Transgender, Agender (without gender), Gender Neutral, Gender Fluid, Bigender, Genderqueer, etc. Gender cannot be limited to the binaries because the binaries do not include the gray area of gender. Sure people can get by without embodying the extremes of masculinity and femininity, but because they still identify as Cisgender it makes it okay to not fit into the extremes.

Society & Gender

Gender is a social construct that has been formed throughout history. The argument can be made that gender itself is not real but an idea or even a concept that we as a society have come to perform in our everyday lives. I know it sounds ridiculous but there are some things we need to take into consideration to fully understand the restraints gender creates and how it impacts our culture and society. Women's Rights is a perfect example of gender historically creating a divide between humanity. These gender ideologies that we have become accustomed to were created by patriarchal ideas and have then and now been carried through our modern society. Looking back we find these weird unwritten rules or laws that both men and women had to follow in order to fit in. Some examples could include, hair length, clothing such as skirts and dresses (being dominantly worn by women only), as well as the concept of chivalry where men are expected to open doors and pay for meals, etc. these types of examples can be categorized as gender norms & gender roles. Think about the 50's, the perfect era that displays extreme expectations of gender. 

These gender roles would include the basic format of a family in this era; the hetero parents and two children typically of opposing sex (but we cannot really control what genitalia babies are born with). The father takes on the role of masculinity where he brings in all the income with a steady job providing for his family. He can do manual labor and loves sports, and never is seen as emotional. He is strong and educated because his value lies in how much he can provide. The mother is the homemaker, providing cleaning and cooking to the home while taking care of their children. She does the unpaid labor of the home, and puts her energy into her hair, nails and clothing because how she looks determines her value. The children play opposing roles, where the male child is active, into sports, mud, bugs, and bikes. The female child is into dolls, playing mommy, having a tea party and most likely helping her mother around the house. 

These are roles performed by all parties because they are expected by society. These roles then turned into gender norms, whereas the expectation is so implemented into society it doesn't feel like an expectation anymore- it's normal.

However, this is not normal. These roles are performances that were constructed by what people believed they had to be in order to satisfy the order of society around them. Look at our modern society for example, there are so many different kinds of families that do not fall into these ideologies. There are homosexual parents, there are single parents, there are women who solely provide for their family financially, there are stay at home dads, there are female children who play sports, there are male children that play with dolls, there are poly-amours families, there are people who are simply roommates, there are families that have friends living with them, etc.. These roles over time have changed because they are unrealistic and unnatural to the average person, and even if you find yourself personally feeling comfortable in these roles it should not mean that everyone around you has to be pressured to do so as well. 

We have to understand that gender can be something we do, not necessarily who we are. That gender is more so an identity rather than a genetic structure.

Gender is such an embedded construct in society it is even predetermined before we are born which then effects our very early childhood. I remember taking and English course my senior year of College for my BA, and while on the topic of gender we discussed something that doctors used to do to new born babies. I wanna say this happened in the 1950's or earlier, (I'm not quite sure of the time frame) but doctors delivering babies would treat female babies differently than male babies. Female babies were handled with care, as if they were somehow more delicate than males. Male babies would be handled with less care for example a doctor holding the male baby by his ankle swinging him around carelessly. They would have never done something like that to a female new born. Babies are completely defenseless in every way, the concept of gender is so powerful that it allows people to have the mentality to look at new born babies and treat them differently as if their sex has any affect on them being a baby. You can also think about color. Females are linked to pink whereas males are linked to blue. For what reason? No seriously what's the purpose of genderizing color? Once again these expectations are being placed onto young children not even giving them a chance to decide what they like but instead be told what they're supposed to like. As the only girl of four kids growing up, my entire life was pink. Pink walls, pink clothes, pink shoes, pink bows, pink dolls, pink everything. I think I was 20 years of age when I sat down and thought about it, that this color has deeply made an impact on my life, my expression, and above all my identity. I don't even really like it that much. Actually I like teal blue, black & silver. None of which are even close to the color pink. Does that make me masculine? Does that make me rebellious to being a girl? No because it's just a color. It's just my preference of what I like and in no way has any relationship to my personal gender identity. Just in the same way that there is no issue with young males playing dress up, painting their nails, playing with dolls, or young females playing with trucks, cops and robbers, or legos even. These kind of standards we place on young individuals puts a pressure on them because we are not letting children decide what they like for themselves but giving them a choice of two options. What if they like both? 

Sex & Gender

Now often when discussing gender there is the biological aspect that causes misunderstanding and even controversy. People believe their are two genders because there are two sexes, and because these sexes are different then these genders must be different as well.

The sexes of course biologically are different. The structure of the human body various between males and females. There are body mass, muscle, body fat, size, shape, hormonal and the obvious genitalia differences. However, with these differences males and females fundamentally share so much in common. Look at the chromosomes the only major difference is the XX and the XY chromosome. To make the claim that males and females are different from one another in EVERY way is extreme, but the argument can also be made that everyone is unique in their own way anyway. We also cannot forget the impact of nature vs nurture, because the environment one grows up in impacts them in a significant way as well. 

What I'm trying to explain for example is that females cannot inherently be more emotional than males because all humans are emotional. Though it is thought that males are less emotional than females they still carry emotions they just do not display them because they are encouraged not to. We cannot simply divide the sexes based on emotions, strength, or intelligence because people are individually different and can train, exercise, learn at their own pace. Males are not smarter than females indefinitely because there are females out there who have studied to obtain the credentials to be and expect in various fields. Everyone has various upbringings and goes through different obstacles in life to obtain the kind of person they want to be, we cannot marginalize the sexes into these limited categories because logically it makes no sense. 

Gender is not linked to sex. Gender is merely a constructed expression of self that has been conformed into societal expectations and bounded to the sexes. Regardless of what sex you are born with, gender ideologies are just ideologies and do not need to limit us further. 

Gender Identity 

So what do we do with this weird social construct? It's so embedded into our culture and society it seems nearly impossible to rid of it completely- however that is not the case. Time progresses as as a society we can progress as well. The most important thing we can do as a community is to understand those around us and realize that gender should not be a strict rule that dictates our life or those around us. Are identities are our own. To be limited to the two binary's of gender is very toxic because we limit these terms to the extremes on a spectrum. Now if one identifies with an extreme on the spectrum of gender there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It is wrong however to hold everyone to that extreme standard because it is unrealistic for everyone and prevents people to fully pursue happiness within themselves. As well as perpetuates stereotypes and ideologies that are not necessary in our society and culture anymore. By that I mean, holding onto these two opposite gender identities does not further society or make tomorrow a brighter day. All it achieves is marginalizes two identities which ultimately limits people in a negative way. 

Transgender Rights 

People tend to get up in arms when it comes to trans rights, as if trans individuals as asking the general public to go out of their way for trans individuals which is not true. Looking back at any movement in history that correlates with the rights of a group of people we can see that trans rights are valid and should be considered into the progression of our society. Trans rights fall into the definition of human rights, like women's suffrage and civil rights. The list of rights that the trans community do not have access to goes on for a long stretch, and if you would like to educate yourself on the rights they do not have please visit: https://transequality.org/issues.
In the LGBT community there are a few ways to be apart of the organization, obviously you can identify within the LGBT community or you can be an ally. Being an ally means to respect all kinds of people within the community as well as fighting for the rights of those who face injustice. As long as we live in a society that confides people to these ideologies we are not living freely. And as long as trans rights are nonexistent we are not living in a world of equally or the right to pursue happiness. Gender neutral bathrooms are not going to damage society or create an epidemic of some sort. It'll make using public restrooms more efficient. I mean porta-potties are gender neutral aren't they? So are the bathrooms in our homes right? Trans rights is not an attack on non-trans people and in no way threatens our society.

Something that came up a while back on my Facebook page that really bothered me was something a colleague of mine posted in regards to trans rights. This individual thought that trans people who go through surgery are trying to "fix something they cannot fix" and therefore is not legitimate and something this particular individual is against. This person also posted an article of a trans person who regretted transitioning and then they furthered their argument explaining that being trans is simply body dis-morphia and should be cured (to sum it up). I feel as though it is not our duty as individuals in a society, culture or community to dictate what people choose to do with their bodies. An example they then gave was that if one was to go to the doctor's office and remove their arm because they felt like it wasn't necessary anymore that they would be turned away. They didn't understand why this wouldn't be the case with trans people and gender reassignment surgery. Though I understand the rhetoric behind this idea I do believe it is not cohesive with trans lives. First of all removing a major body part like an could result in death because of loss of blood, but if done properly might work. However, this example is completely unrealistic and in no way correlates with why trans people transition. I think it is also important to understand that trans people choose their transitioning. Some people decide to go under the knife and some do not. Some people take hormones and some do not. There is no right way to be trans, and there is no wrong way to be trans. That is sort of the beauty in being transgender. Everyone's identity is entirely their own and should be respected as such. In regards to "fixing something that cannot be fix" I think that is a bold assumption to make about trans individuals. I guess I would be curious as to how the world view cosmetic surgeries that people choose to go through. People get nose jobs, boob jobs, implants to make it look like they have muscles, eye lid surgery, etc. the list never ends. I think that those surgeries are done for different reasons than a reassignment surgery, however they are surgeries that alter peoples bodies in order to make them feel confident in their own skin and no one against trans people seems to have that against other people who get cosmetic surgeries.

I think the bottom line is that whether someone is trans or not it is not our place to tell them what they should and should not do with their body (or anyone for that matter). And to hold everyone to this standard that actually creates more discrimination than equality doesn't seem like a progressive mind set. I think for those out there who don't accept the various types of genders you are allowing yourself to be consumed in this world that defines you instead of you being free to express yourself. And the judgement you place on those around you shows more about your character than it does about theirs. Policing gender is a waste of time, money, and effort. Let gender be fluid. Let the future change.

Gender stereotypes do not need to define us. They do not have to restrain us from expressing ourselves fully and living our best lives. It is not anyone's place on this Earth to decide what is valid and what is not valid in regards gender identity. We need to progress towards an inclusive understanding of the fluidity of gender and separating biology from identity. We need to be accepting of those around us and make the effort to understand instead of judge. And above all we need to treat others with kindness, respect, and the equality we all deserve.

Please educate yourself on issues you do not understand.
Please open up your mind to other perspectives.
Please understand that society will always be changing, and in regards to a variety of gender identity that is not a bad thing.

Please Note: this Blog Post is all from my own understanding and research- as someone who does not identify as trans please know that the understanding the trans experience will not be ideal coming from my perspective alone. The purpose of this post is to help people see other perceptions and points of view in regards to gender identity as a whole. Trans rights are human rights. All images displayed were found through Google Images.