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Adam Wong
Prof. Beadle
English 115
7 December, 2016
The Importance of Self Expression through Gender Constructs
Society, both before and as we know it now, defines the term Gender as the state of
being male or female; but does that definition still mean the same thing? In modern, and a
slightly more progressive, society, the usual male and female arent alone. Due to technology
advances along with more freedom for self expression, those societal norms are joined by
other, less normal, groups. Transgenders, transsexuals, genderless, bi-gendered; just some of the
terms people have coined to express how they feel and how they express themselves both
physically and emotionally when it comes to gender. These terms are considered Social
Constructs because they are categories, or social mechanisms, constructed by people through
social practice, such as protest, belief, religion, petition and many more. Without the construction
of gender categories, the public eye will never be aware of them and will continue to still be
blind to the fact that there are more than just two main categories. In the book, Composing
Gender, the articles Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender by Judith Lorber and
Are We Facing a Genderless Future? by Barbara Kantrowitz and Pat Wingert discuss the needs
of gender recognition and how it will liberate the misunderstood and help the different gendered
people in the modern day. Society needs to have social constructs of gender to spread sensitivity
and awareness to the multi-categorized gender groups acceptation and to, in lack of a better
word, not judge a book by its cover (the book being someones gender and way of acting).

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Sensitivity among the genders is sparse in the public eye. Societys normality is two
genders, male and female; and finding out and believing in the other genders is hard for
uncultured, uneducated and insensitive humans to understand. Modern, more westernized
countries, for the most part; do not approach the gender categories humanely and in an
understanding perspective, instead judging it negatively for not being normal. In some smaller,
more community based and tribal countries, they are a lot more accepting. In regions and races
like Southern Asia and Native Indians of the U.S, they have three widely accepted genders.
According to Judith Lorber in her article Night to His Day in Composing Gender, the French
and Indian terms Berdaches and Hijras are biological males who behave, dress, work, and are
treated in the most respects as social women (22). Lorber writes this to prove that in some
societies gender is celebrated and accepted while in others, it is denied and remaining in a state
of negativity. In my high school, our LGTBQ club was the most accepting and differentiated club
on campus in comparison to the others, celebrating the freedom of sexual and gender choice, just
like how the French and Native Indians celebrated the Berdaches. I myself do not really relate
with the LGBTQ community but since joining the club and taking a class that literally taught
social constructions and sensitivity, Ive learned so much about the struggles and misconceptions
of their communities and how much they really need to be respected and understood. With
sensitivity, comes the responsibility of being able to recognize differences and to not offend other
genders and sexualities.
With all the heightened sensitivity going around, people should be more careful with how
they approach others without trying to offend them. Assuming someone is a certain gender or
sexuality can get the individual upset or offended easily. Judith Lorber states an error she made
on the bus by mistaking a baby girl wearing a Yankees hat as a little boy without considering the

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tiny earrings and flowered sneakers with laced trimmed socks she was wearing (20). If this baby
girl was older and more aware of what mightve happened, she would have been offended. I,
myself, have made this mistake before unfortunately with one of my good friends Jamie by
classifying her as a lesbian instead of a heterosexual. This misconception that Lorber made about
the baby can be related to society as a whole. People are unaware of the different genders and
identities men and women have about others, along with themselves, and often say the wrong
thing, showing they are not capable of being sensitive or accepting of someone. The majority of
her clothes would be considered rather masculine, had a typical male name, and for the most part
looked like a man, so I took it for granted that she was either male or a lesbian, basing my
opinion from the stereotypical lesbian or feminine male. To sum it up, you probably shouldnt
assume things, or like I said earlier, judge a book by its cover.
A downside of spreading sensitivity among the genders is the rapid engulfment of hate
that can emerge from non-accepting people. Since our society isnt accepting of anything too
new or abnormal, the sudden surge of gender trends would be in danger along with the people
supporting it. Hatred would become public and then personal, ending with a bulk of the social
constructions of gender being toppled to the ground in sadness and with all of its progress
destroyed, forcing the social groups to start from scratch again. In Barbra Kantrowitz and Pat
Wingerts article Are We Facing a Genderless Future? they talk about the acceptance of less
popular gender categories in Australia. Since some cultures are more accepting of certain things,
it is only natural that there are places that will fight back, in a sense, to keep the values their
culture already has as strong as possible. The transgendered/genderless Norrie May-Welby
fought to express herself by legally changing her sex/gender to genderless (Kantrowitz &
Wingert 68). The country of Australia wouldnt allow it because it wasnt considered normal and

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fought against protesters and Welby herself to keep her from changing the social norm by
replacing it with an unpopular social construction.
The two articles speak of both the ups and downs of recognizing differences and
similarities among men, women, and every gender in between. In Night to His Day, Lorber
talks about the construction of gender and how people identify in different ways; some with
personality, some with genitalia (20). This is shown in modern society when people dress a
certain way in order to appear as the gender they are while others identify with what they have
downstairs. This relates with Wingert and Kantrowitzs article, Are We Facing a Genderless
Future, because the main character of the story told, Norrie May-Welby, goes against the tide
and identifies itself as genderless, though it being a transsexual (68). Night and Genderless
prove the point that identification can come in many different forms; it just depends on the
person behind it. The social gender constructions these people use and create help make the
world go round by allowing self expression, pride and individualism or social non conformity for
a good cause, eloquently to people who never knew how to express correctly.
Overall, society needs these social constructions of gender to fully understand who we
are and who well be as a race. Our actions define each one of us, so accepting or not accepting
can make or break someones reputation, whether you being the victim or the one victimizing.
We as a single race need to take the influences of other worldly cultures and use it to expand our
knowledge upon people and their tendencies to change and be different from one another. Gender
is so important because its a way people can express themselves freely. Its a sensitive subject
we all need to be aware of and recognize in order to understand each other and ourselves
individually. With all good things, comes negativity of some kind; its only natural, but it is also
natural that we as humans advance ourselves past these humps and help our future excel in every

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way, starting with the acceptation and support for the multi-gendered communities and their
social constructs that can change the world as we see it.

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Works Cited
Lorber, Judith. Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender Composing Gender.
Edited By Rachel Groner and John F. OHara. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martins,
2014. pp. 19-34.
Kantrowitz, Barbara, and Pat Wingert. Are We Facing a Genderless Future? Composing
Gender. Edited By Rachel Groner and John F. OHara. Boston/New York: Bedford/St.
Martins, 2014. pp. 68-71.