Sex and Gender
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Sex and gender
I) Summary the video
Some people wonder whether gender is genetically based or they just learn 2 be feminine or masculine. It is very important to know what gender we are since birth because each of us has very perceptions of what each sex is like, how they should be treated, and even what value they have for society. Therefore, sex is the most basic way in which we categorize people throughout their lives.
There are differences between two genders at birth which are biologically congenital, universal, and essentially reproductive. As we know, males and females are different in sexual organs, genes and hormones. While daughters are described as beautiful, delicate, and weak, sons seem strong, coordinated and alert despite no differences between them in weight, health and strength.
What makes sex categorization significant goes beyond the biological characteristics. Gender is different cultural definitions of masculinity and femininity, different expectations and experiences, and psychological and social meanings attached to the categories of male and female. We define women or men by their sexual organs, the way they behave, how they look and dress, what they are supposed to do in order to be acceptable and appropriate and what roles they are allowed to do. Gender roles, as basic as femininity and masculinity, are two sets of traits and behaviors to distinguish men and women and based on socially-prescribed expectations about ideal sexual types. However, it is said that men can be feminine and women can be masculine some or all of the time. In the past, many people used to observe sex difference in behavior through biological and social forces but actually it is a complex interweaving of both. The sex difference seems to be linked to sex hormones.
However, the amount and form of social play is shaped by cultural learning experiences. The behaviors of boys and girls, like others, stimulate different parts of the brain which are different for males and females due to actions of sex hormones during their life. Early in life, the sex hormones cause differences in the brain which is a hormonal event. These differences in brain make differences in behaviors, in types of experiences that young boys and girls have which make adults behave differently.
Another difference between males and females is their physical health. Contrary to that men are believed to be stronger than women, males are more vulnerable to disease, physical disorders, death. Besides, masculine gender role combined with the physiological difference can be the risks for mens health. Some sex difference has developed over time and it is perhaps strongly influenced by learned gender roles. Gender differences are learned as part of the socialization process, which prepares the young to take their place in society when they are adults.
The learning takes place from the day they were born and children grow up in a social-cultural environment that is full of messages about gender. The differences in the way boys and girls are dressed, the toys they get to play with, the chores they are given to do, and their behaviors are reflected from TV, movies they watch and the books they read. Children observe these gender patterns and are obviously affected by them. These social experiences create different psychological environment for young children.
Moreover, children also develop in different kinds of contexts. A girl is more structured, supervised, circumscribed, focused in the house and needs protecting in experiences. The embedding of the girls in the family network from a very early age insulates them from experience. On the other hand, boys are presently socialized in this culture, have more opportunities to discover, and actively understand the world in which they live.
It creates both positive and negative consequences to these kinds of sex differences. Men can be free to leave home and family for work, to explore and challenge the status quo but the strong possibility of forming identity is tied to success in business or career, not to feelings of personal satisfaction or sense of belonging to community and tight-knit family. In the positive effect, women can be more able to express their feelings freely ask and give help and friendship and have more time and effort to build a social-support network. However, there are artificial limits imposed on what women are expected to achieve in many areas like technology, sciences, etc. That women focus on ones moods seems to make them easily depressed.
Social experiences from childhood onward create different psychological environment for males and females. That they respond passively to these experiences is definitely untrue. The children are actively involved in shaping their own understanding of gender. Boys and girls use gender as basic category to understand the world around them by beginning to see tendencies for children to approach others of their own sex more often. There is something compatible about the play styles of the 2 sexes less than same sex pairs because of a great deal of social pressure that is brought about the kids themselves. Moreover, children seem to segregate more strongly when they are in situations where they are making the choices of themselves rather than in situations adults have set up for them.
Moreover, boys and girls use language differently. Boys can be more demanding in their styles and use language for showoff. Meanwhile, girls influence each other by suggestions, hints, and etc. They use language for social cohesion with a group and wait to give another person a chance to speak. The way to change childrens stereotypes is to