INTRO TO GENDER
Gender
A person’s sex, as determined by his or her biology, does not
always correspond with their gender; therefore, the terms
“sex” and “gender” are not interchangeable. “Gender” is a
term that refers to social or cultural distinctions associated
with being male, female, or intersex. Typically, babies born
with male sex characteristics (sex) are assigned as boys
(gender); babies born with female sex characteristics
(sex) are assigned as girls (gender). Because our society
operates in a binary system when it comes to gender (in
other words, seeing gender as only having two options),
many children who are born intersex are forcibly assigned
as either a boy or a girl and even surgically “corrected” to fit
a particular gender. Scholars generally regard gender as
a social construct—meaning that it does not exist naturally,
but is instead a concept that is created by cultural and
societal norms.
Gender identity is a person’s sense of self as a member of a
particular gender. Individuals who identify with a role that
corresponds to the sex assigned to them at birth (for
example, they were born with male sex characteristics, were
assigned as a boy, and identify today as a boy or man) are
cisgender. Those who identify with a role that
is different from their biological sex (for example, they were
born with male sex characteristics, were assigned as a boy,
but identify today as a girl, woman, or some other gender
altogether) are often referred to as transgender.
AN INTRODUCTION TO GENDER We are surrounded by gender lore
from the time we are very small. It is ever-present in conversation, humor, and
conflict, and it is called upon to explain everything from driving styles to food
preferences. Gender is embedded so thoroughly in our institutions, our actions,
our beliefs, and our desires, that it appears to us to be completely natural. The
world swarms with ideas about gender – and these ideas are so commonplace
that we take it for granted that they are true, accepting common adage as
scientific fact. As scholars and researchers, though, it is our job to look beyond
what appears to be common sense to find not simply what truth might be
behind it, but how it came to be common sense. It is precisely because gender
seems natural, and beliefs about gender seem to be obvious truths, that we
need to step back and examine gender from a new perspective. Doing this
requires that we suspend what we are used to and what feels comfortable, and
question some of our most fundamental beliefs. This is not easy, for gender is so
central to our understanding of ourselves and of the world that it is difficult to
pull back and examine it from new perspectives.1 But it is precisely the fact that
gender seems self-evident that makes the study of gender interesting. It brings
the challenge to uncover the process of construction that creates what we have
so long thought of as natural and inexorable – to study gender not as given, but
as an accomplishment; not simply as cause, but as effect; and not just as
individual, but as social. The results of failure to recognize this challenge are
manifest not only in the popular media, but in academic work on language and
gender as well. As a result, some gender scholarship does as much to reify and
support existing beliefs as to promote more reflective and informed thinking
about gender.
