Social Identity And Positionality

Gender is the state of being male or female. Male are thought to be adventurous, aggressive, strong whereas females are to be affectionate, attractive, shy and sexy. While I highly identify with my feminine gender characteristics, at times l possess masculine characteristics like confidence, ambition, and sometimes aggression.

The identity a person holds is one of the most important aspects of their lives. Identity is what distinguishes people from others, although it leaves a negative stereotype upon people. In the short story Identities by W.D Valgardson, a middle-aged wealthy man finds himself lost in a rough neighborhood while attempting to look for something new. The author employs many elements in the story, some of the more important ones being stereotype and foreshadow.

Recently in America racial tension has increased because events that’s have been occurring across the country. Across the United States (U.S.) black men have been killed by law enforcement and this has sparked protest in its aftermath. The media has started to give more time to these problems so more Americans have learned about them. This has started a conversation on different social issues that include the dominant culture, social privilege in the U.S. As a young black man this has affected me directly. Whether it is the worries that my mother has for me everyday or the awkwardness I feel when talking about social issues in the with my mainly white professors and classmates. Issues of race in the U.S. threatens to oppress minorities by having a culture that has never given the same privilege that whites receive. According to Brainard (2009)," white privilege refers to the unquestioned or invisible preference that white people receive regarding their treatment by others; these may be but are not limited to words, behaviors, and/or actions, policies and practices and or nonverbal communication"(p.10).

Identity speaks of who we are as individuals but it also comes from two different groups: social and cultural. These groups are connected to power, values and ideology. Social identities are related to how we interact with people and how we present ourselves. Meanwhile cultural identities relate to society in whole such as religion, values, etc. In this paper I will talk about the dominant and subordinate identities. These identities are one of the biggest challenges people in our society face in their lives. They not only affect ones social life but also their daily interactions. I will also discuss two examples that support this statement, one of them being from the reading of “The complexity of identity” by Daniel Tatum.

Society has clearly defined boundaries between what is considered to be male or female. The development of an individual’s gender role is formed by interactions with those in close proximity. Society constantly tells us how we should look, act and live based on gender, as well as the influence of family, friends and the media have a tremendous impact on how these roles are formed and the expected behavior of each gender role.

As a person goes through life he or she may wonder “Who am I?” and “What is my purpose?” The objective of this paper is to allow me to reflect and critically analyze who I am as a person. In this paper, I will discuss my social location and identity, my life experiences and my privileges and disadvantages.

I was raised in a home with no gender roles. Both of my parents cooked meals, did laundry, did their farm chores, and cleaned the house. They both thought that everyone needed to pull their own weight despite their gender. That’s the reason why I would be out on the farm, until the day I left for college, stacking bales of hay, herding cattle, and driving the tractor. That is why I believe in gender equality. My father never thought that my ability to do work was hindered by my gender. In fact, he thought the exact opposite. So, that’s why, during the summer before fifth grade, I didn’t know how to respond when a boy told me, “Girls can’t play football.” My ten year old brain could not wrap itself around the words coming out of his mouth.

The concept of identity has been a notion of significant interest not just to sociologists and psychologists, but also to individuals found in a social context of perpetually trying to define themselves.

From the moment of my birth, I was declared a girl and my parents immediately attempted to raise me to be every aspect of my gender, from behavior to beliefs. In sociology, this is known as gender role socialization, which is the process of socializing boys and girls to conform to their assigned genders’ attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, values, and norms. My parents taught me how think and behave like a girl through the way the way they dressed me, how they did my hair, and the toys they allowed me to play with. However, having been raised with a brother, I also picked up on some of his supposed gender roles. I am exactly who I am due to the way I was socialized by my parents and others around me.

“Yes officer, I actually DO know how fast I was going, And when you write the description of the violation, make sure you scrawl the acronym D.W.I.”

The film, Growing Up Trans, was a great medium for me to better understand and reflect on gender socialization, gender identities, and countless variations within the transgender communities. Each child and his/her stories give the audience an insight to both the personal troubles of living as transgenders and the systemic errors of the society that intensifies these troubles.

Unlike ‘sex’, which typically refers to the biological and physiological differences, gender is a sociological concept that describes the social and cultural constructions that is associated with one’s sex (Giddens & Sutton, 2013, p. 623-667). The constructed (or invented) characteristics that defines gender is an ongoing process that varies between societies and culture and it can change over time. For example, features that are overly masculine in one culture can be seen as feminine in another; however, the relation between the two should not be seen as static. Gender socialization is thought to be a major explanation for gender differences, where children adhere to traditional gender roles from different agencies of socialization. Gender

There are biological differences between the two sexes; being the difference in chromosomes (genetics), physique, the brain and genitals. In the human female there are “two “X” chromosomes on their 23rd pair of chromosomes” while males possess “an “XY” on their 23rd pair.” (Kowalczyk; 2015). Although there are these differences, we cannot use these differences to make conclusions and provide stereotyped models about gender. Gender role identity is influenced by environmental and societal factors which forms part of a person’s conclusion about their personal gender identity. The largest portion of the decision to decide a person’s gender role identity is from outside factors; mostly because of social norms, being popular, or what is expected

When parents first find out the gender of their baby, they automatically start to characterize the objects they buy based on that gender. They start to decorate the nursery in certain colors and a common theme they believe matches the sex of the baby. The most common representation for girls is pink and for boys is blue. Even a non-blue and a non-pink theme, such as a jungle, can still reflect the gender identity of the child based on the undertones of femininity or masculinity. This common theme of adults assuming what they believe is appropriate for a girl or boy will continue throughout the child’s life and will affect his or her views on acceptable gender roles and gender behavior.

Gender roles— or social roles encompassing behaviors and attitudes that a society considers acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for people based upon their actual or perceived sex or sexuality— are undeniably prevalent across cultures (being defined as a sum of attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes one group of people from another). The process of socialization is the process by which people gain knowledge of group characteristics as well as the knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, norms, and actions thought appropriate for each member; involvement in gender socialization particularly deems it requisite for people to acquire a concept of the “gender map,” which stands as the cumulation of paths societies have deemed fitting