Sex, Gender, Gender Identity and Gender Roles

Watch out. This article is going to shake you.

of Christina Neofotistou

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How many sexes exist? Does sexual orientation have anything to do with the gender? How man is a man? What makes a woman woman? Christina Neophotistou gives us a lesson about the gender.

If you really want to read this article, then you should empty your mind from the ideas you have about sexuality and sexes/genders. Otherwise you are going to get shocked.

First of all; the social gender is one parameter, the biological sex is another one; another one is the sexual orientation. Another thing is man, another thing is male. Another thing is woman, another thing is female. Let's see what everything means.

What is the social gender or just gender?

The social gender is the social differences between the two sexes, in contrast with the biological differences. It's how you see yourself SOCIALLY: as a man, as a woman or with characteristics of both man and woman. Just the term GENDER is commonly used to describe the social gender.

Gender includes all the social behaviors and the social characteristics (such as attitude/poise, the way we speak, the way we think, the way we walk, the use of language, the way we dress, the haircuts etc) which are believed to be exclusive or dominant for every gender. A lot of people believe that these differences and the characteristics originate <> from the biological sex (or else sex, chromosomes). However, this is not true. These rules are formed and asserted from each society. Males and female persons BECOME wen and women, they are not born ones. What <> man or woman attitude is formed from every society. That why it is included in the term gender.

The rules of the gender are austere and a big part of the society believes that they must not be trespassed. This, however, does not mean that they are unchangeable. Depending on the society and the age, pink color can be <> color instead of <>, like in America 1920. Women may have the right to wear pantaloons, men can have the right (or be obligated) to wear make up and powdered wigs (renaissance) etc

Every person has a gender identity (the psychological sense of being male or female or something else, the psychological sense of which sex an individual thinks is). The gender identity is formed in very early age of an individual' s life.. Almost everybody, since the time we are born, try very hard and constantly to include us to the one or the other gender, with rewards and punishments, when our behavior obliques to the other gender. When we first see a child in arms, the fight thing we ask is: is it a boy or a girl. This information plays a HUGE role on how we are going to behave to it, like experiments show.

The most basic, ultimate belief of people for themselves is their gender. The gender usually agrees with the sex we were categorized when we were born. A man can have a male biological sex and be heterosexual, but the characteristics of his social behavior or expression can belong more to the female gender ( a feminine man in other words). Likewise, a woman can have a female biological sex and be heterosexual but the characteristics of her social behavior or expression can belong more to the male gender( a masculine woman in other words).

Most of us are expressed as men or women, which are the two accepted genders. The gender we were categorized at birth, based on our <>.( the typical XX or XY chromosomes). Not very long ago, the common belief was that the biological sex defined the gender and that only two sexes and two genders existed.

A lot categories of people exist , for who the separation of their (biological) sex to male or female is not so clear, like transsexual and intersexed/sexual people. This proves that more than two sexes exist. Transgender people prove that not only the gender won't necessarily follow the sex, but also that more than two genders exist.

Intersexed people are these people whom their chromosomes which define the sex (XX for female and XY for male) won't agree with their sexual organs or/and with their outer appearance. It is considered at about the 2% of the society. A woman can find out that she has male chromosomes and a man female, without even having problem with their gender. Or they can never find out. Most intersexed people are raised as men or women, because that's what their organs and their appearance orders. Although these people can <> against the gender they have been classified.

Are gender and sexual orientation connected?

The second most basic belief that people have for themselves is their sexual orientation, meaning the sex they prefer for lovers (homo-, hetero-, bi- sexual orientation).

Usually, but now always, gender identity agrees with sexual orientation. For example, a male person has gender identity male and prefers females for lovers (heterosexual). But, a male person can have a male gender identity and prefer males as lovers (homosexual)

Also, a person can have a gender identity female despite the fact that when this person was born was recognized as male. She may have or she may not have gotten in the procedure to change her body and she may prefer females as lovers. So her gender identity is female and her sexual orientation is homosexual, which means that she is a lesbian.

Trans+gender = transgender. It's simple!

Transgender behaviors are the ones that surpass the rules the stereotypical roles of the every gender. It's a very general term and includes a lot of people: feminine men, masculine women, butch and femme lesbians, straight or gay, androgyne, genderqueer, bigender, drag kings and drag queens who use the gender as political expression or as entertainment, transsexual people etc THE TERM TRANSGENDER HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SEXUAL ORIENTATION. It has to do with the confusion and the encroachment of the outer, social behavior of the gender, meaning the typical man and woman behavior.

The term transsexual is better for the sub category of these transgender people that have a permanent gender identity opposite to their biological sex. More simply, they FEEL male or female despite of their biological sex, despite of their being masculine or feminine, also despite of their sexual orientation. They may want to make some drastical changes on their bodies.

A person can have a gender identity <le>>, despite the fact that when he was born he was set and raised as a woman. He may have or may not have changed his body and want other males as lovers. So, he is a gay trans man.

When we say trans woman or trans man we always mean the final gender and not the previous. A lot of trans people won't even put the word trans in front of their sex; its simple male or female.

Some more familiar combinations are these; a) a person was born and raised as man, but she is and feels female and she likes males. So she is an heterosexual female B) a person that was born and raised as woman but he is a male and he likes females. So he is an heterosexual male.

THE TRANS IDENTITY IS NOT AN EXTREME <

>, AS IT IS BELIEVED. A trans female<males>>, and a trans male<females>>. He/she changed sex (the biological sex) so that his/her body shall be in harmony with what he/she feels that he/she is. It's something he/she did for his/her inner calmness, despite of what he/she may want in his/her bed. It's an identity that has to do with how a person feels and how he/she wants to self define better, in a sex which makes him/her feel better.

Gender Binary System

A man is not a man because he goes with women, a woman is not a woman because she goes with men. Also, a man that goes with men is not a woman and a woman that goes with men is not a man. Defining the gender identity of a person basing on the gender identity of his/her partner, it's stupid, naive and scientific unsupported. It's the the well known gender binary system, which by rule gay and lesbians don't follow.

Gays and lesbians are BOTH MEN AND WOMEN (and both males and females) that fall in love and make love in a different way from the Man-Woman system. Gays prefer the terms top/bottom/versatile and lesbians active/passive/versatile.

Why does the trans issue confuse us?

The transgender issue causes a lot of controversy in a big part of the society, because it is confused with homosexuality but also because its very deep believed that the genders <>.

This opinion is proven wrong and its philosophical base is something that is called essentialism. It's about a theory that accepts that there is a magical, bodiless essence which makes a person something that can't change. It's the theory that it is used to <> the superiority of some races against some others or that the homosexual behavior <>.

The people who embrace this theory find it hard to understand that the greatest differences between the two basic genders (besides the sexual organs) are social and not <>. The male and female persons become men and women copying the behaviors of the men and women around us. (through the reward or punishment from the others). A trans female who behaves stereotypically girly has copied the behavior of the women in her environment, the gestures and the social dynamics. The average person thinks that this girl (who <>) is a <> that copies the women. The thing is that the other girls too, the non trans ones, also copy the behavior of the women around them and pretend to be women. The same thing occurs for boys and men too. The kids pretend to be women or men, (whether they are trans or no trans) and with that way they socialize in order to become accepted women or men in the society. The masculinity or the femininity are NOT BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS, but products of social training , products of copying behaviors and social roles or stereotypes. The idea that our sexual organs make us men or women falls under the theory of the essentialism and of the magical, non logical thinking.

What all these mean?

Women are not born <>, <>, <>. Men are not born <>, <> and with <>. The feminism theory attacked at these wrong ideas, supporting that biology is not destiny. Today, we have even more proof that the biology won't define with a magical way neither our social position nor our job, and yes, neither our gender. The expression of the gender identity, how everybody feels, is a right that is gained everyday as the beliefs and the dogmas of the past fade away.