Akena Duerod Duerod 1

Mr. Beadle

English 114A

15 February 2017

Progression I Essay

Different cultures have look of what goes under the categories male and female

differently. Society places males and females into certain categories. Some may think that

women are supposed to stay home and tend to the house chores and men go to work and

make all of the money for his family. Now a days, you are either male or female, and a

person is assigned a gender at birth but that is not true. The definition of gender is the

social or cultural state of being male or female and it really does not expand past that, but

an individual can identify as no gender or so forth. In Night to His Day by Judith

Lorber, she basically explains two very important points about gender, basically it starts

with how children find their gender identity, and how some parents dress their child as

their assigned gender without giving the child to find themselves and basic male and

female gender roles and how there are different norms for different religions and cultures.

Aaron Devors article Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meanings of Gender

also shares the same views on gender as the previous article by Judith Lorber, they both

talk about flexibility in gender roles. For example African girls get their labia lips sealed

together to guarantee marriage and Jewish male babies get circumcised to be closer to

god. A persons gender is not based on what they come out as gender is everywhere ,

gender does not have to be conformed to ones beliefs .,Gender is not taught people are

what they choose to be .

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Gender is based on what people feel inside and what best pertains to them as a

child and as an adult. Some parents around six months of pregnancy know what gender

their child is going to be. The parents also know the name of their child and they know

what colors are associated with their gendered child. For example girls go with pink and

boys with blue. From the start parents dress their child to certain gender beliefs For

human beings there is no essential femaleness or maleness, femininity or masculinity,

womanhood or manhood, but once gender is ascribed, the social order constructs and

holds individuals to strongly gendered norms and expectations. (Judith Lober, 25).

Once a person is labeled as male or female society holds them to their gender. If a person

tries to become the opposite gender or something that doesnt uphold to the gender norms

they are seen as different to people who dont know or dont understand. Children and

adults shouldnt have to fight to be what they want to be because society doesnt except it

or because it isnt normal.

Some people dont like the gender that they were assigned and as a result hey

might change their gender or they might become transgender, which is a transition from

one gender to another. In some cases society doesnt except the concept of a male

becoming a female or vice versa People believed to be unable to change genders

without sex change surgery, and those who do change se are considered to be both

disturbed and exceedingly rare(Aaron Devor, 36). In todays society a male is a male and

a female is female and there is nothing in between. When a female or a male get gender

reassignment surgery thats when a female can become a male and a male can become a

female in everyones eyes. People still call males, him and he when in reality the

person wants to be addressed as her and she and so forth. Society has its own way of
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putting things into perspective, if it does not make sense then society will not except new

ideas or new things that come into play. Devor shines light on the topic that the

individuals that do not get a sex change are viewed differently, than the individuals that

do get the sex change. People shouldnt be afraid of how society views them.

Whether some one wants to be different or not it shouldnt be a problem in anyones

eyes. A child should play with whatever toy they want to play with without the parents

forcing the child to be in a category they do not want to be in. A grown man or women

should not be judged on how they dress or how they present themselves because at the

end of the day we are all humans. People should not be forced to hide who they are or

what they want to become because people cant except change or something different than

the norm. Individuals should do what fits them and what makes them happy and radiant.
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