Gender Schema Theory: Gender Identity And Social Identity

When historians attempt to study cases like the one, it can be difficult to reconcile the court's decision with how the individual identified themselves. In Mary Beth Norton’s “Searchers Again Assembled” she interprets the importance of Hall’s gender roles compared to their sexual identity. The first and possibly the most important point that Norton addresses are that of proper pronoun usage. She does her best to remain respectful to Hall and the same shall be done here. So, following this example Hall will be referenced by the surname and/or the pronouns T/they.

According to sexologists John Money and Anke Ehrhardt, sex and gender are separate categories. “Sex, they argued, refers to physical attributes and is anatomically and physiologically determined. Gender they saw as a psychological transformation - the internal conviction that one is either male or female (gender identity) and the behavioral expressions of that conviction” (Sterling 4). Although there are biological differences between the two sexes, but gender roles are socially constructed. They determine how males and females should think, speak, dress, behave and interact with society.​​​ Richard Dawkins states in his book, The Selfish Gene that we are merely a product of our genes and our main purpose in life is to serve the genes, become distribution agents and ensure their continuance (Nye, Savage and Watts 273) .

Gender consists of men as well as women. In various attempts to understand gender, the concept of sex roles was introduced; and sometimes men and women were treated as simple categories. The most suitable approach is to treat gender as a system of social relations (Connell). According to Raewyn Connell “[m]asculinities are the patterns of social practice associated with the position of men in any society’s set of gender relations”. Moreover, differences in bodily forms is not a firm determining factor of gender patterns; one could rather see it as a reference point in gender practices.

Transgender refers to those who 've exempted themselves from their in-born sexuality assigned at birth and thereby transitioned across these culturally and socially constructed binary concepts such as gender and sexuality and who 've in fact, created a 'cultural-turn ' in the society along the course of seeking to determine an "identity" for themselves reaching far beyond these constructs and redefining them as separate dimensions. Although sex is known to follow gender and thus define an individual 's gender identity conventionally, as binarically as possible, transgenderism is a revolutionary term that argues the fact that gender should not necessarily correspond to sexuality whereas an individual 's gender identity is a depiction of one

There is a difference between sex and gender. Although sex and gender are used interchangeably sex is determined by the physiology of the natural body. Sex is solely the biological aspect of the human body while gender is a socially constructed matter. Thus gender is more fluid because it is constructed by interactions, experiences, environmental aspects and society imposed norms. Because of these social constructs Julie deems that human society depends on a predictable division of labor, a designated allocation of SCarce goods, assigned responsibility for children and others who cannot care for themselves, common values and their systematic transmission to new members, legitimate leadership, music, art, stories, garnes, and other symbolic

A gender role is a set of societal norms dictating what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable, appropriate or desirable for a person based on their actual or perceived sex. These are usually centered around opposing conceptions of femininity and masculinity, although there are myriad exceptions and variations. The specifics regarding these gendered expectations may vary substantially among cultures, while other characteristics may be common throughout a range of cultures. There is ongoing debate as to what extent gender roles and their variations are biologically determined, and to what extent they are socially constructed. Various groups have led efforts to change aspects of prevailing gender roles that they believe are oppressive

However, not one by itself can explain it all; instead, these theories are intertwined together. It is true that culture does play a major role in shaping gender roles. Despite most cultures having different roles for men and women, gender differences were nonexistent in early research by psychologists. Carol Gilligan believed that “factors of social status and power combine with reproductive biology to shape the experience of males and females and the relations between the sexes” (Mio, Barker, & Tumambing, 2012, p. 28). Research has shown that men and women do think and speak differently; however, does that mean they must take on different roles, such as with

The gender binary is the reduction of gender into strictly a male or female identity. However, gender is a spectrum and is not limited to two options. The binary is an “effect of a […] taxonomic gender process that perpetually re-sorts (and reinterprets) all complex gender operations […] back into comprehensible dual alignment of bodies” (Roof 3). Individuals who cannot conform to the two categories are oppressed and ostracized. Similarly, a sexual dimorphic system is the regulation of two body types, masculine and feminine, based on genital anatomy and secondary sexual characteristics; it therefore becomes a technology for heterosexual reproduction because biological bodies “must” align with the sexual binary to be acknowledged (Preciado

Gender roles are built on gender norms, or standards, which are rooted in cultural perceptions or based on societal expectations. In many societies, masculine roles are associated with strength, aggression and dominance whilst female roles are associated with subordination, nurturing and passivity. Men and women are expected to adhere to these roles. Gender is a learned behavior. From infancy, children are encouraged to adopt behaviours associated with the gender they are “assigned” at birth (based on their physical sex).

The issue of “gender” and “gender identity” has occupied significant place in literary theories and more specifically in feminist literary criticism. Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines gender as – “the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex.” Feminist critics have attempted to distinguish between “sex” and “gender”. For them sex is a biological phenomena while gender is socially constructed. There is no direct relation between gender and biological sex. “Masculinity and femininity are essentially coercive categories that straitjacket men and women” (Nayar 83).