Category: Discussion 2

I would use the Genderbread Person Version 4 to explain gender to another person. I chose this one because of how simplistic it is in my opinion. I think if I were to explain this to a 5 year old using this diagram they would easily get it. Same goes for anyone who isn’t willingly ignorant. The visual was very helpful. Identity being connected to the brain expresses what a person thinks they are. Expression connected to the whole person shows how they present themselves to the public. Attraction to the heart clearly demonstrates who that person chooses to sexually connect with or be in love with. And lastly sex which is pretty straight forward shows what a person is biologically born with. All these charts are very well detailed and helpful. However, the genderbread person chart is visual and someone who sees it can easily plug in their own things to help identify themselves and others. 

My race, nationality, and education are groups from my own diagram that influences me as a person and how I view the world. Being a black woman is one of the biggest things that defines me. I strive for the best because of this. As a black woman I try to work as hard as possible in order to get what little reward society has to offer us. My biggest value as a black woman is equality and inclusion. I wish to be treated equally as my peers. I also want to be included in the conversation and have better representation in society. 

I was born in Jamaica therefore I am an immigrant. My biggest value as an immigrant is opportunity. This is the biggest reason why my family has migrated to the United States. In Jamaica at the time we left there weren’t a lot of options for my family to grow successful. This is why up here I try to take advantage of any resources that have come my way. Which leads to my third influence which is my education. Attending college is really the key for me to be successful and make my family proud. Despite all the obstacles that have come my way I am determined to graduate from college.

My education is definitely a value that can get in the way of my communication with other groups. I am privileged in this way. An example of this is that I get to take a Gender and Communications class where I can educate myself on certain topics and get rid of any ignorant views I could possibly have but people who aren’t educated or have access to something such as I did resulting in negative communication. Being an immigrant is also something that negatively interferes with my ability to communicate with other groups. I feel like as an immigrant we are often portrayed negatively and looked down upon compared to the people who were born here.

In order to explain the concepts, I would choose the Genderbread Person diagram. I believe it shows that the concepts of gender expression, sex, attraction, and identity clearly and provided some explanations as well. The graphic is easy to understand and doesn’t carry too much information which allows it to be understandable for adults and children alike.

Here is my diagram:

The groups that have influenced me the most are: Humble Upbringing, Democrat, and Art Lover.

My humble upbringing allowed me to have values of being careful with money, grateful for what I have, and being a minimalist. At the same time, it might be challenging for me to communicate with people who are complaining without taking any action or are wasteful with money and resources.

Being a democrat, or more so, a human of liberal views embraces my values of equality, feminism, and environmental protection. Therefore, I would have problems supporting racist, anti-egalitarian views, and the belief of some people that climate change is fake.

As an art lover, I value the variety of visual perception of the world that is available to me, history knowledge that comes with it, and the opportunity to express myself through art. I don’t really think I would have any problems communicating with people who do not share the same values, however, I don’t think I would be able to have a deep connection with them.

Sex Gender Sexuality Interlace

After reading and analyzing each gender diagram, I think that the best description explaining gender and sex is “Sex, Gender, Sexuality Interlace.” In this diagram, we can visualize the three main categories in which people can experience self-identity or define their own identity. This diagram is precise and detailed about each group, which made it very straight forward for me to understand well enough to teach others. For example, the chart explained that sex could be explored or perceive through your biological, anatomical, and physiological characteristics, which is the standard way in which babies are identified at their birth moment. This can be recognized by society as your destined sex. This view neglects to represent human intercession. We, as people, need to understand that we affect the social courses of action of society. That’s when socio-cultural, psychological, and personal identity comes into place. We all impact this because, through our communication, we affect how others perceive gender, which is attached to masculinity, femininity, and androgyny. For example, in some cultures, it is normal for women to wash the laundry and wash the dishes because “that’s what women do. The men take out the garbage because “that’s what boys do.” These are stereotypes that help form the identity of an individual. Sometimes we are not aware, but it does affect us all. However, when it comes to sexuality, society tends to have a binary gender perspective. It assumes that only men and women exist, not considering gender diversity and not considering the presence of people who do not identify as men or women. Gender, sexuality is neither binary nor fixed. There are straight individuals and gay individuals, yet individuals, bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, queer, and heteroflexible. That is how the Sex, Gender, Sexuality Interlace” diagram depicts sex and gender.

Furthermore, it is incredible how a simple diagram can help you be more conscious of the many ways you identify yourself and how things you do help others define your sex and gender. For example, while writing this entry, I started thinking that the list I put together without my gender or sex could be perceived differently by different people. It automatically reminded me of how sex and gender can be created in our heads and view by the values and norms attached to our heads. Your identity is also significantly impacted by your family and friends because most of the things you do where a result of that close circle you are where surrounded most of the time. For example, in society, we tend to see parents telling their kids that a boy has to dress like a man, with hats, dark neutral colors, that pink is for girls and blue for boys. Yet those are standers and requirements created by society and is delivered by how we communicate. In reality, what you wear does not define who you are or your gender. That is why it has to be very clear that sex and gender are determined by what you feel like and not as others perceive you. The way others see you is full of personal perception and stereotypes. That was the most important lesson learned from doing my diagram.

Gender is far beyond the sex that you are assigned during childbirth. Sexual orientation is appended to your personality and the things that make you who you are today, and it is also affected by society.

If i had to describe Gender to someone using a photo I would go with the Genderbread Person. I find it to be very simple and can be easily understood. We are who we are despite what others label us or what society has labeled as “normal” or “acceptable.” And if that means your gender doesn’t “match” with your genitals or you’re a woman who likes other women, etc., then so be it. I can’t help but to question each time I hear the word “normal” what is normal? normal to whom? Because even everyone’s sense of normal are not all the same. I’ve always thought gender and sex to be separate and apart from each other because I have family members and close friends who were born one sex but identify as the opposite sex. I’ve been around all types of people all of my life. So this concept wasn’t new or out of the norm to me. At times I think that also fuels my naivety because I find it hard to understand how people can dislike other people simply for the way they look, color of their skin, gender, sex, etc. without even taking the chance to get to know them. I didn’t grow up in a religious household at all and for the most part my parents did not enforce “gender” roles, though there were exceptions, such as the girls washing dishes/cleaned the house because “women cleaned and kept house” or my brother taking out the garbage because that was a “man’s job.” If anything, my father made sure his children were self sufficient, and didn’t “need” anyone but themselves-man or woman.  We were all taught to go to school, educate ourselves, find a job and live life however we saw fit. My father couldn’t stress that enough. And again this is how I in turn raise my sons.

Values:

Family–Family is important and for the most part are there with you throughout important times in your life, no matter how big or small it may be. Throughout life people come and go but family is constant. My immediate family and I are pretty close and my brothers and sisters and I along with our children try and get together as much as possible. Life goes by in a flash, so we try to make as many memories as possible. And we teach our children the same in the hopes that it continues. And it is disheartening to see and know or even hear about others who aren’t as lucky to have a supportive family, people who aren’t judgmental and just generally want what’s best for you constantly in their lives pushing them to do/be better.

Work–Work is important because without a job there is not much you can do to self sustain. Work gets you money. Money you need in order to buy food, clothes, pay rent, enjoy life, etc. It’s always best to get a job doing what you love because then it doesn’t seem like a job. It will be something you look forward to doing everyday, spending all your time. Which at times will be more than you spend with your family/children.

The personal diagram that I drew give me a clear understanding of my gender identity, I did know about myself and who I am but I didn’t know that my personalities were related to my gender identity, I thought they were divide but in reality they were just one.

In my diagram the bleu represents my masculine side and the pink my feminine side and I embraced both equality inside me.

Like few women in my in my circle and that I know, I don’t need a man to make me feel pretty or loved, that is the reason I consider myself independent, I open doors for my boyfriend we lift the same weigh at the gym, we share the restaurant bills together mostly, I fix the window when it is broken and I do the plumbing etc.. even if he refuses sometimes, as a rebel like in my draft, I told him this is gender stereotype. As a curious person it is really fun for me to learn new things even society assign a lot of things to “manly things”. Society teach us that men needs to provide in the household contrary to women, but I love being in control of my financial life and future and that’s one the main reason I decide to become a CPA and not otherwise.

Like most woman I am shy like society want us woman to be, I put Yahweh AKA God, family and friends first in my live. I cook for them maybe because I am a foodie too, I clean, I do laundry and the groceries.

If someone see me he or she won’t know that I am agender because maybe I do my make-up, nails and hair like a girly girl so they always assign my gender as femininity but after they get to know me they get confused about my gender because of their lack of knowledge and information about gender identity. Most of them think the woman movement is about more money, education and job opportunities for women but is about to break gender barrier in a society where rich white men established norms, rules, class, a pyramid to put down people who are different from them.

At the end of the diagram I addition a pink heart and a square blue color to show what I feel inside and really happy with the result color actually I believe that of the purple represents my gender identity.

VISUAL IDENTITY 6/01/20

I will choose the Genderbread diagram to explain gender to someone else because of its clarity and familiarity of shape. Explaining gender can be difficult especially to people whose ideals have been established by decades of tradition. In many cultures’ men are expected to be providers while women are expected to please and care for their families, but within this ideal I believe that many people can see a degree of variation of gender roles and stereotypes. The word choice of the diagram recognizes these differences without any confusion, because of this, traditional families can be more willing to listen or acknowledge this idea. This is also where the shape of the diagram has a lot to do with how we can be introduced to new ideas. The gingerbread man gives us a degree of comfort because of its likeness to humans. The colors, kindness, and children-like aspects of this gingerbread man can help a person identify and be willing to listen without maybe feeling fooled by a unicorn or confused by a solid shape diagram. The gingerbread allows for personal connection.

I think my personal identity has been one of my greatest challenges. As I was creating this diagram, I asked my boyfriend how he thought people saw me, but this turned into a self-analysis. I believed people saw me as an uneducated and naïve Mexican, but honestly, I don’t know what others used to think. In 5th grade I got made fun of constantly (my Mexican culture highlighted my difference in this grade) and in response to this I suppose my mind tried to find answers, in turn developing my self-awareness. Whatever others made fun of it became something I hated about myself. Now I see that my biggest battle was against myself which paved the way for future conflicts. My experiences, passions and likes have become the most influential part of my identity. Moving from a small village to New York City was inexplicably challenging, but I am incredibly thankful I have gone through what I did because it made me value my family, education and it gave me something to pursue. I chose some of my features to represent me because some of them have been my greatest challenges and I feel proud to have accepted them. My smile is a feature I love about myself, but on the other hand, my bushy eyebrows and hairy arms is something that I was self-aware of. I got teased because of them, and all my friends who I thought I could turn to, just showed me I had to conform to these standards because they always ended up shaving their arms. My curly hair was also a torment until it became a trend. You can see my physical features, but you cannot see what’s inside me. One of the reasons I did not include my ethnicity is because I truly don’t know where I fit in, I have played this game my whole childhood and I will not play it now. As a result, I have developed family as my number one value, creativity and courage. I want to build a business surrounding creative fields to help my community. Even though family is my number one value there may be times where they might not agree with how I think, and this can become a challenge. With my creativity I always want to make sure I stay on track and do not overweight a creative process over an objective. Finally, my courage might put me in an uncomfortable situation if I am not prepared.