As I watched the Gender identity stories , one story really stood out to me . The video titled ” you did it girl ” I could relate to Eli. She was very transparent about her personal struggles. Which I strongly believe was influenced by society, including the media .These platforms are usually targeted towards women and expects them to reach unrealistic measures . One of the statements she said was ” I was starving but the compliments I received were feeding me ” that was very potent, in fact very true . How often in life do we partake in things we aren’t to fond of, but we continue to involve ourselves due to possible self gratification. Personally for me ,at the early age of 12 I became obsessed with self image. I hated the way I looked , those emotions were created by an older cousin of mine. She would constantly make fun of the shape of my body and my physical attributes. I was young and she was older so I assumed she must be right ,since she had more years up on me . Because I thought I was fat, I began to only eat one meal a day . Or I would eat very light meals such as cream cheese bagels and a bottle of water. I made sure I worked out every day and never ate around boys, no matter how hungry I was. I had to find a way to stay “beautiful ” when in fact that’s not what beauty means . Even if I was on a thicker side i still would have been beautiful, or if i was petite my beauty wouldn’t have changed. I now today love myself and i have grown out of a negative mind set. However It did take me a while to see myself for the beautiful person God sees me and created me as.
According to introduction “Gender Stories” by “Dan P. McAdams, Ruthellen, Josselson, & Amia Lieblich, Identity and Story” This chapter highlights many different out looks and conceptualizations when it comes to gender. Conceptualization of gender does not treat gender as a stable aspect of a person. Gender is separated from the sex of a person by behavior our personality etc when we socialize in the world. In the reading it explains how our gender depending on who we are around or depending on the situation , changes its never the same. For example in a social context , your behavior changes. if I was arriving to work to have a meeting with the CEO of the company I would want to appear as a women who is confident and bold versus if I was just going to watch a movie with some close friends , I would present myself more laid back . We unconsciously change our genders throughout the day through behavior. Gender is the assignment of meaning to the bodies , which is the way people label and categorize others. I have personally experienced this . My manager for the company i work for is a male. Because I am a young woman, his assumptions were quickly made before even allowing the possibility to come into play, that I could take charge of keeping things in order . His behavior displayed his beliefs that he could only handle the business because he is a man with power.
Over all we are taught these things from our early adolescence. The difference between gender , man and female. The cognitive theory states that children understands identity in stages this doesn’t happen over night . I believe even as young adults we may not know a person personality and identity until we fully get to know them .
