Faith Miles

Jamie McBeth-Smith
English 1010-23
December 8, 2014
Position Synthesis: Male or Female, Does It Really Matter?

The debate on gender, same sex rights, and equality is definitely an on-going one, one
that can easily spark a conversation between people. It seems that everyone has their opinion on
it, just like with anything else. Ive heard it being discussed for as long as I can remember. Ive
had family friends, lots of people Ive met, and even my own friends that experience the issue of
the debate on gender, same sex rights, or equality personally in their own lives, that have their
lives affected by this topic in some way. They are affected by it whether they are gay, they arent
sure about who they are, they question their sexuality or gender identity, or know someone who
experiences any of these things. Most anyone that you know is affected personally by this issue,
or knows someone who is affected by it. Point being, its a huge topic of importance in the world
that we live in today. There are various viewpoints on this subject. A common one is that it is a
persons choice, whether or not they are gay, that people make this conscious decision. It is
believed that people could be straight if they really wanted to, that they basically wake up and
decide to be gay, or decide to be confused. Another common belief or opinion is that people are
just born the way that they are. Along with this, there comes the people who believe that they
were flat out born in the wrong body. Men are born feeling like women trapped in a mans body,
and vice versa. So if youre born male or female and on the inside, you know which gender you
identify with, you know who you are, then whos right is it to say what gender you are declared

to be? Or what about the people that dont identify with either gender, or those who identify with
both? All of this questioning who you are, or disagreeing with what someone else declares you to
be ties into my main question: When it comes to government, should it be required to declare
your gender?
While I acknowledge that the majority of my sources share the similar view of being
against having to declare your gender, or are against strict gender categories being required, the
way that the sources approach the issue of it and the points that they make are very different.
Basically, they come to a similar conclusion of saying that declaring gender is not that important,
but for different reasons which I will get into for each article individually. They are all based on
different trains of thought, different reasons for the opinion that they form, but four of the five
come to the same conclusion. In Strict Binary Definitions of Sex and Gender Are Problematic
and Forcing Kids to Stick to Gender Roles Can Actually Be Harmful to Their Health, both
authors Williams and Culp-Ressler look at the issue of the importance of declaring gender in
terms of looking at it in the youth, in schools. Williams tells of the issue of whether transgender
people should be allowed into same sex schools, and the question that it creates. This ties into the
original question of whether or not gender should have to be declared, because if we didnt have
to, same sex schools wouldnt even exist. Williams looks at the debate on whether or not people
who are transgender or are even in the process of sex changes should be allowed into same sex
schools, like the example that she gives of Smiths College in her piece. She urges us that the
binary system for assigning gender is inadequate and should be done away with. Williams claims
that this will help to decrease the discomfort students face, being an all-female school, but
having transgender students attend the same school as them. I think that it is very easy to feel
fearful of things that you are not familiar with or dont understand. These students go to an all-

female school; they expect it to be all females. When something different is thrown into the mix,
they dont know what to do or how to handle it. These rigid classifications of male and female
make it easy to create discomfort among people and society when someone steps outside of those
classifications.
Culp-Ressler shares her results of an observation of rigid gender roles in her pieces, and
goes as far as to claim that they are bad for the youths health. She documents a study she
conducted of 14 year olds over a three month period. In her study, Culp-Ressler found a
conformity going on in the teens. She found that they all felt held to strict standards of what was
expected of them, based on whether they were male or female. Girls did not want to perform
overly well in gym class out of the fear of appearing too masculine. Boys were fearful of not
being masculine enough, feeling anxiety over having to prove their manliness. They all
expressed feeling that same pressure, worry, and anxiety to behave in the way that society has
made them think that they should behave. This feeling of having to fit in, based on their gender
roles, led them to make poor decisions. For example, the boys got into fights to prove their
masculinity. Come to find in the end of the study, they all had similar feelings. This strict
standard of how children believe they should behave is all created and put into their heads by
society, and even by their own parents. Society tells us that women should be feminine, act a
certain way, like certain things. And society does the same for men. They should act manly,
shouldnt show too many emotions, enjoy certain things. I cant say how many times Ive heard a
parent say to their son, You cant play with that, thats a girl toy. Or vice versa with their
daughter. While they may not realize what this is doing to their child, this is the exact kind of
behavior that creates these gender role standards that youth will hold themselves to for the rest of
their lives. This piece does very well at showing how these standards in society affect our youth,

and ties into Williams piece of how students in college are too affected by them. They both
examine this topic at the viewpoint of how it is affecting youth and young adults.
Tiq Milan, senior strategist for national news at The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation, expresses a similar opinion. He shares that strict gender roles and classifications
should not be necessary in his piece, Why Should A Government Agency Tell Me Who I Am?
However, his reasoning for forming this opinion is different than the previous two I have
discussed. He reaches this viewpoint simply based on the belief that a government agency should
not be able to tell you who you are. He argues that we are told who we are based on the bodies
that we are born into, and how others view our bodies, when we should be defined by what we
know we are on the inside. He makes an excellent point when he claims that the act of having to
declare male or female leaves out those in the world who do not identify with one specific
gender, or if they identify with the opposite of what they are declared to be. Strict classifications
of male or female does not cover everyone. Gender is a spectrum of self-identification, not
some immutable truth imposed by someone else. So, Milan reaches his conclusion based on the
feeling that a person should be able to make the choice of who they are for themself. They
should not have to be told by someone else. Some people obviously are born knowing that they
are fully male or female, but to some, gender is a much more open concept with many more
possibilities. I respect and understand Milans viewpoints because it does not seem fair to me
that you should be told who you are because of a social norm or by a government facility. Just
because thats the way that it has always been, doesnt mean that its right. The definition of
gender, the possibilities, the different ways to look at it, they are endless. People can identify in
so many different ways.

While all of these sources share the similar viewpoint that defining gender so rigidly is
not necessary, or that it is even harmful, Linda McClain expresses a different opinion. In her
article, McClain expresses the opinion that a strict definition of gender is in fact necessary. Her
way of thinking to reach this conclusion is looking at the discrimination between men and
women. She claims that women still face much discrimination is our current times. She reports
that The Annual Gender Gap shows that there are 136 countries that still have gender gaps in
areas like economics, politics, education, and health. She states that having firm gender identities
is essential in researching these gaps and being able to do something about these gaps for the
better. When it comes to McClains piece, I think that these gaps and this discrimination
wouldnt even exist in the first place if there wasnt such a great importance placed on gender.
In conclusion, I think its clear that both sides of the issue can be seen. There are many
people out there that feel that gender classification is very necessary and important. However,
there are also people out there who dont think that it is necessary and think that the world and
the people in it would be better off without gender classification. After looking at both sides, I
conclude that gender classification is not necessary, and answer the original question of when it
comes to government, should it be required to declare your gender with the answer no. I think
there is so much more to a human beings identity than just whether they are male or female, and
those other things are what should be looked at. I believe that people should just be looked at for
who they are, not if they are a man or a woman.

WORKS CITED
Culp-Ressler, Tara. Forcing Kids to Stick to Gender Specific Roles Can Actually Be
Harmful to Their Health. www.thinkprogress.org. 7 Aug 2014. http://thinkprogress.org
/health/2014/08/07/3468380/gender-roles-health-risks/ . Web. 8 Dec 2014
McClain, Linda. Categorizing By Sex Is A Remedy For Discrimination. www.nytimes.com
N.p., 20 Oct 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/10/19/is-checking-thesex-box-necessary/categorizing-by-sex-is-a-remedy-for-discrimination Web. 8 Dec 2014.
Milan, Tiq. Why Should A Government Agency Tell Me Who I Am? www.nytimes.com. N.p.,
19 Oct 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/10/19/is-checking-the sexbox-necessary/why-should-a-government-agency-tell-me-who-i-am. Web. 8 Dec 2014.
Rosenblum, Darren. For Starters, Unsex the Birth Certificate. www.nytimes.com. 20 Oct
2014. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/10/19/is-checking-the-sex-boxnecessary/for-starts-unsex-the-birth-certificate. Web. 8 Dec 2014.