This chapter of gender stories allows us to see and explore different gender identities. We are born in a society that puts gender into categories. We are either categorized as male, female, gay, straight, masculine, or feminine. There are three different concepts regarding gender. The first is gender as equivalent to sex, meaning that who you are based on the anatomy and physiology of your body, in other words, you are born a girl and stay that way without physically or mentally changing that or doubting that. Now gender as separate from sex, here sex is what you are physically born with either testicle and a penis or a vagina, uterus, and ovaries and your gender are what you become over time after interacting with people. I believe this is very important because nobody really knows what they will become or who they really until they truly find themselves and interact with others. Some people even explore in a certain way in order to really know either their identity or sexual preferences. The third concept refers to gender as the assignment of meaning to bodies. This refers to more social and cultural labeling. You can be a male and have any gender or be a woman and have any gender. ” Sex is what you are born with and gender is what you become through interacting” is something I strongly agree and by changing your gender it doesn’t change the personality you have and I believe that that’s what people fail to realize. Religiously speaking intimacy only happens between a woman and a man and same goes with marriage but not everyone agrees with this in fact they believe gay and lesbian people should have the same rights and this is a debate that has been around for a while.
I personally believe that people are entitled to become who they want to be and who they are more comfortable being. From personal experience, I have noticed that if a woman sometimes gets the task of a man done they are automatically are called out to be too masculine, this is where binary theory comes in which basically puts people into categories forcing them into those standards and if the opposite as to what you should be doing or acting then you are automatically classified as the opposite category. Another example is if a girl is not girly enough then someone might automatically label them as being lesbian.
Hi Ligia – Thanks for your thoughts. You rightly point out that there are different thoughts about sexuality and who should be all0wed to express and who shouldn’t. I wanted to note that, unfortunately, it isn’t just some people’s interpretation of religion that bars same-sex marriage. It is also the law in many places. And even when same-sex couples can live their lives together, there are many legal and cultural barriers.