From the readings these week, I learnt that gender is who we are that is socially created by the characteristics of being a man or a woman, referring to the roles that each gender plays.  There are three types of genders: gender expression, gender assignment and gender identity. Gender is not just about who we are, how our bodies are, it also related to what society think the gender role should play.

People feel it is easier if there is a label so that they would use gender to label a baby since there is nothing they can talk about. Once they know the gender of the babies, they can come up with other labels very quick—for example, pink clothes for baby girl, blue or green clothes for baby boy. Barbie for girls, cars for boys. In many places, they are comfortable for these concept and stereotypes. If you tell them that is a concept and human beings can choose which gender that they think is more close to the real selves, that would be a difficult idea for them to receive since they get used to these stereotypes for many years.

Before even reading these two readings, I had a sort of an idea about sex, gender, and feminism. It wasn’t as deep as these readings. While thinking about what to write for the discussion question, I didn’t even know the minimum knowledge I now know from the reading. It made me think about many things that I let pass by me when I was younger. I never thought that it had a deeper meaning to it. I feel a little more education on this matter. I used to believe that all feminism where the same thing, but this reading taught me that there is more to feminism knowledge than everybody knows. For example, she stated, ” masses of people think that feminism is always and only about women seeking to be equal to men.” this statement was the one that made me think about my knowledge and that I need to start thinking deeply about the meaning. Some women fight every day for what they believe in and want to make things right between women and what we deserve. When incidents like feminism and sexism happened to me, I used to think that it was okay for them to be joking or playing around. I come from a family that doesn’t let it bother them. As im getting older, im seeing how men treat the women in my family. This reading helped me figure out the meaning of feminism and know I will have the courage to start speaking to my family about this matter and what needs to be done.

  In the “Sex and Gender 101” article by Kyl Meyers.  He taught me many things because I knew what gender and sex were, but not with as many details and with more clarity.  For example, she argues that Gender is who we are that is socially created by the characteristics of being a man or a woman, referring to the roles that each gender plays.  We have 3 types of gender which are: Gender expression, gender assignment and gender identity.  Now when I find out that there are 3, I wonder when I am?. I think I am gender expression and gender assignment Because since I was little I have liked to dress up, comb my hair, draw attention to my physical appearance and in the same way I feel good as a woman, proud and comfortable.  On the other hand, Sex is different, many people confuse it with gender but it has very different definitions. For example, Sex is the different physical or biological characteristics of men and women.  I understand more like the difference that a child goes from being a child to a man, just like a woman, how her body changes.  For example, when I was in puberty, I knew that many things were going to happen to me because my mother talked to me before it happened so that I would have an understanding and if she was not there when something happened, I would know how to deal with the situation. She told me that this is part of our body due to age and that I must accept myself as I am.  When I got my period when I was 11 years old , I was scared because my mom told me that when it comes it ‘s red blood , but in my case it was different because it was like a brown discharge. I remember that I ran to her because I didn’t understand anything and thought it was something bad, but she explained it to me and from that day on I understood that this is normal in the changes of our body.  

  On the other hand in the essay “Feminism is for Everybody” by Bell Hooks.  She teaches that it is not about treating men badly, about taking away their value and being anti-evil.  Feminists just want to be accepted in society, valued and with the rights they deserve for being human beings like men of equal genders.  It is the same what happens with the categories, for example, a dark-skinned person is not treated the same as a white-skinned person by society because they have created stereotypes and roles in society that one person is worth more than the other because of their skin color. when it’s not true.

There is so much to gender aside from whether or not one is born a male or female. I never imagined just how complex this topic can be considering I always thought it was something small and simple. After reading the article ” Sex and Gender 101″, it has made it pretty evident just how complex and in-depth this can become and go. Gender not only has to do with whether or not you were born a male or female, but it also has to do with society as well. Gender can be broken down into different categories. Gender identity refers to how someone sees themselves regarding gender while gender expression refers to the way a person shows their gender identity through the use of clothes, hairstyles, and makeup. When I was reading this section it really took me by surprise because my entire life I just simply thought of a way to express yourself rather than express the gender you identify with/as. It really led me to wonder and think about how society plays a role in our lives when it comes down to clothing and makes me also wonder why there is such a high price value difference between male and female clothing. It is pretty evident to know and see the difference in clothing between males and females but in the end, they share one thing in common. They are simply but a piece of fabric. So why is it that female’s clothing tends to be more amongst glitter and pink meanwhile male’s clothing has much darker color schemes? Why is it that a ‘female’ shirt is a bit more pricey than a ‘male’.

“Biological Sex refers to anatomy and physiology. This includes sex chromosomes, sex hormones, sex organs, and external genitalia”. Sex and gender are not the same thing. The sex of an individual is mostly identified based on the appearance of one’s external genitalia. And even with regards to this, one can change the appearance or have their external genitalia changed based on their preference. They can also have changes in hormones due to medications received. The biological sex of humans is said to be universal, meaning in every part of the world you go to, a similar sex experiences the same puberty changes and/ or development. Nonetheless, the manner in which that individual decides to carry him or herself socially and decides to appear is what will be termed as gender. Although a person may be a female, that person’s gender may not be the same. In our society, an individual is expected to be a female if their biological sex is that of a female, and a male if his biological sex is that of a male. From birth, a child’s gender is already decided and categorized because of our own established traditions and virtues. Females are often associated with flowers, and pink colored stuff and fragility/ weakness, being emotional and submissive. On the other hand, boys are associated with being loud, rough, dirty, rude, and aggressive. It is in no way acceptable if a boy is quiet. It is even worse when he is an emotional person. People criticize little boys for crying, you will hear things like “don’t be a girl”, “don’t be a sissy”. That is also how females who showcase masculinity are also bashed. “You will not find a man to like you or even marry you if you are hardheaded”. This is what has been normalized in society.

Reading gender sex 101 was very clarifying. It’s not that I didn’t understand gender and sex. It’s just that they gave the definition to the most common things we need to know. The idea that (gender is a construct, sexuality is fluid) slips through some people’s minds. I think growing up this is not something my health teachers Clarified. I’ve learned things like this on my own. In this article they made sure to clarify that for me. I think this article would be so useful to explain to kids in middle school, so they go into high school or become teens with a great understanding of Sex and Gender. Around the time of entering high school that’s where I recognized people’s differences and people coming out. It’s a good way to understand what’s going on once you read about sex and gender. 

Feminism Is for everybody by Bell Books taught me this most. Feminism Is a word I’ve heard so much over the years growing up. In high school the girls that hated boys, the group of women that wanted to make rule for women that didn’t benefit men were considered the feminist. After reading the article by Bell books. From the very beginning they explain that this is not the matter. They really just want Gender Justice. There are many versions of feminism and as time goes the idea of feminism is becoming unclear. In the reading they want this to be clarified. Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression. I also understand the fact after reading this being a feminist doesn’t have to do with color, race, or age. Anyone can support the agenda, even a boy or man. The thing is to push the right message and not an agenda of hate. 

1- Sex & Gender 101 by Kyl Meyers: This was a very informative article for me. Although the topic sounds really easy to talk about. It is actually very complicated and needs an understanding process. I feel more confident talking about sexuality and gender now after I read this article by Kyl Meyers. Gender is more associated with society and cultural environment. Gender is classified into three groups: Gender expression, gender identity, and gender assignment. Gender expression is how people take care of their outside appearances like clothes, hair, makeup, or gestures. Gender identity is how people like to be preferred as, for example, a “he” would like people to call him a “she”. It is more important to respect others’ identities and how they identify themselves. Gender assignment is when people are identified based on their biological appearance, therefore they can be women. men or intersex. For sexuality, there are 3 categories, first one is really common which is straight, or heterosexual which means someone is attracted d to his/her opposite gender. The second category is bisexual, gay, or homosexual which means people are attracted to their same-sex. The third one refers to people who are attracted to intelligence and not their gender which is called pansexual. When I broke down terms and definitions in a more simple way, it became easy for me to understand the whole meaning and differences between terms.

I honestly felt a little silly reading the ‘Feminist Politics’ excerpt because it was one of those pieces of text I had to read multiple times to really make sure the information got to my brain and wasn’t lost somewhere in the middle. It was eye-opening in a sense especially as a woman because in my mind feminism has always been wanting women to be equal with men. But putting it in terms that it’s a movement to end sexism felt more neutral, but still a little new to digest if I’m being honest. It almost felt like a callout post because it specifically said men are not the enemy, but that’s always how I’ve felt because of society. In my mind I know every single man I encounter isn’t inherently evil, (but that doesn’t stop me from keeping my guard up) it’s the system that’s corrupt.

Sex & Gender 101 on the other hand was a much more familiar topic, it made me flashback to junior year of highschool in health class. It felt weird to read something that had been assigned to me for class and be very informed about the topic, like it wasn’t a stranger to me. The only thing that felt semi-new was the intersex, I definitely needed a refresher on that term. Also, for some reason reading the phrase ‘sexuality is fluid’ on an established article and not just hearing it from a friend felt almost bizarre. Because I do believe sexuality is fluid but is that a scientific statement? And how did we find that out? Who established that, I guess I’m asking who discovered it like Newton and his apples.

After reading, Feminists Politics: Where We Stand by Bell Hooks, I now have a verbal idea of what feminism is about. It’s not about being very aggressive towards males but adjusting the way society’s expectations and acceptance towards women’s rights. I agree with the author that white women have always been the ones to lead feminism but they practically leave out women of color. White women have the privilege to do what they want but often leave out women that aren’t in their category.

After reading the article, Sex and Gender 101, Kyl Meyers, just describes the difference between gender, sex, and orientation. I feel like although this is a very complex topic it describes or tells the reader the necessary things that they need to know about these topics. 

Feminism has been a word used by plenty and has interpreted many different meanings over time. Same with gender, it’s changed over time, and so has the understanding people have of it, I included. By reading these, I have learned a lot of things I might’ve been ignorant of in the past. I never really understood the idea of gender because I thought it was only connected to the biological sex someone is assigned at birth. I learned a lot about Intersex people and some of the things they have to go through if they have some more complicated variants that could affect their health. It helps you learn that your sex chromosomes affect who you are when developing. I think that I’m still going to have a hard time wrapping my head around everything because I am slow. It will take some time for me to understand feminist politics, but I did have a lot of fun learning about sex and gender and how it works. In many Hispanic/Latinx households, most of the older generation doesn’t understand the idea of feminism and what it stands for. Many of them just think they are angry and hate men, which I used to think (not anymore, though, I was just confused). The same way with gender, many people don’t get it while many do. It takes time to learn how these all work and learn about your self-identity. I’ll be honest, I’ve had an identity crisis plenty of times, and I’ve cried because of the things I have to go through every time I go outside. It’s annoying and exhausting.