Artifact 1: Sex vs. Gender
Max Liebl
The common misconception with sex and gender is that people tend to relate the two. In fact, sex is defined as the biological characteristics of a male or female such as chromosomes, genitalia, etc. Whereas gender is the role and social identification of a male or female sometimes influenced by biological characteristics. The world is not black and white, one’s certain biological makeup does not necessarily dictate how someone identifies him or herself or the role they play in society. In some cultures, it is widely accepted and encouraged for people who may feel they identify as something they are biologically not, and in some it is necessary. It all depends on how a certain gender is viewed in a society. For example, in Afghanistan which is a patriarchal society, a woman cannot be without a man and the role of a woman is very restricting. Thus, families with only girls will assign one of their daughters to become a male and take on the roles of a male. History tells us that your role in society was often times based on gender and while we still have ways to come, the status quo has changed and societal roles are increasingly no longer based on gender.
Gender is often misconstrued as being a biological, black and white sort of construct between male and female. However, gender is the way we identify ourselves socially and amongst society and doesn’t always match our biological identity. From birth, we are assigned a gender, male or female, and it is immediately dictated by our parents how we are to behave as children. For instance, in a video created by Buzzfeed which exaggerates the way males and females are treated as young children by a certain color or phrase that identifies with boys and girls. It’s perplexing to think about how much of our childhood is determined for us and society assumes that boys and girls should grow up to appreciate some things over others that identify with a certain gender. However, the opposite end of the spectrum includes children who must assume a certain gender role out of necessity such as the Bacha Posh girls of Afghanistan.
In Afghan culture, it is necessary for a woman to be accompanied by a man at all times whether it be a husband or a son. Women have very few freedoms in their culture, so if a family has all female children, it is the duty of one of the girls to take on the role of a male in order to help with the needs of the family. Some of the implications that might exist with this is that a girl may be forced to act as a boy not on her own accord and may find transitioning back to female life to be difficult. This often leads to Bacha Posh women to be looked down upon in society or lonely and have to find other ways to adapt to life. While it may seem dismal, these Afghan girls redefine the status quo and break the stereotypes that are often associated with females. In American society we have very defined gender roles and carry with them certain stereotypes. But as other cultures show, they are in fact just stereotypes and do not represent our population accurately. Gender and sex are two very distinct things and they do not define each other. While in many cases gender and sex do align, sometimes they do not and just because our biological make up says one thing, it does not assume that we identify with it.
Help Received: Class resources on Canvas