“I find the question of whether gender differences are biologically determined or socially constructed to be deeply disturbing,” Carol Gilligan. Gilligan much like many others are astonished by the fact that gender identity is seen as a social construct that does not allow a gray area amongst a black and white scale. The black part of the scale being male and the white part being female, there is no grey area in this male vs female world. These ideas have been reinforced throughout history because boys and girls have been taught at very young ages what they can and cannot do/play with/be. This is because society has constantly told everyone that they are male or they are female but gender is too complicated to have billions of people constrained …show more content…
There is no in-between, if a boy is holding too many feminine traits he is seen as ‘gay’ or ‘queer,’ just like if a girl is holding too many masculine traits she is seen as a ‘tomboy’ or ‘heshe.’ Growing up I found that I didn’t like to be categorized as a female or a male, all I wanted to be was myself. If I wanted to cut my hair short and wear long shorts with a baseball cap, or if I wanted to wear a purple flower pattern dress with a flower in my hair, that is exactly what I did. But around the age of seven I noticed that people would call me a ‘tomboy’ when I dressed more ‘masculine’ or they would call me a ‘girly girl’ when I dressed more ‘feminine.’. No matter how hard I tried to not be placed amongst these two categories I always seemed to be in them anyway. What I did notice though was that boys would hang out with me more when I dressed like a ‘tomboy’ and girls would hang out with me more when I dressed liked a ‘girly girl’ so even my social groups depended on my chosen characteristics for that day. It was definitely frustrating for me as a child to have to deal with being placed amongst two groups, and never being allowed to just be …show more content…
There are many cases to this day where people are born with both female and male parts in which the parents have to choose whether they want them to have reassignment surgery or not. Many times the parents choose to have their kid be resigned to a female rather than a male for fear of boys being teased for having a small penis. Though this causes some problems in the future because sometimes those girls who have been changed to boys (vice versa) at birth, do not feel as though they are female rather a male (vice versa). Some end up becoming transvestites which are those who dress and act like women but are men and regard themselves as men, or women who dress as men but regard themselves as women.Aaron Devor in her article, “Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meaning of Gender,” states that cross-gender behaviors either ignored because people don’t want to admit they are there or they are deemed inappropriate behaviors. Instead of just leaving the child with both male and female parts like other areas of the world, for example ancient Greece or India where they have three genders, society demands them to constrain to only one of two options. In those areas they allow people to be who they want instead of being stuck conforming to what they are supposed to