Nathan Loyd

Artifact 1

Sex and Gender, Know the Difference

When understanding the difference between sex and gender I believe that it is a simple understanding of that both sex and gender have two completely different interpretations. According to Sceiceabc.com, sex is biological differences between males and females such as the genitalia and genetic differences. While gender is more difficult to define but it can refer to an individual’s concept of themselves as well as the role that a male or female has in society which is also known as gender role. With this being said, does gender have social/cultural constructs related to roles and expectations? For example, in older society beliefs the roles and expectations of gender was for females to be stay at home moms, cook and clean and raise the children while men were the bread winners of the family and provide for his wife and kids. In modern society that arrangement is not often used. Females are more encouraged to work as well as achieve higher education even though they are still challenged by society through discrimination, sexual harassment, and the wage gap. While these implications are not talked about these are the issues that gender roles face not even to mention the roles transgender females, transsexual females, etc. face.

With my understanding of gender roles, some of the stereotypes and biases that we will most likely face in society is acceptance. People understanding that there is more than just male and female as well as every gender stands for something different and takes on a different role. The challenge will be for acceptance in society and an equal chance for success.

Defining gender beyond the binary breaks down into somewhat of a simple definition, gender beyond the binary is simply not being male nor female but being disconnected forms of masculine and feminine.

Defining third gender is a category of people who do not identify as a male or female while at the same time can be a combination of male and female genders.

When looking into Hijra of India on TheCultureTrip.com, I discovered that it is a special community of trans women that has been a part of the continent for over 4,000 years and has only been recognized as a third gender. Unfortunately, after looking at their roles in the community they are often victims of abuse and discrimin

ation. Violence and hate crimes are common within the community. But it is not the same for the Mahu of Hawaii, according to Huffpost.com it is a community of people mostly being transgender but they do not look at it as gender but as an orientation. Mahu are valued and respected in traditional Hawaiian cultures and are seen as an asset. They are seen as healers and caregivers by society.

Overall, the understanding of sex and gender is growing in today’s world, it has slowly worked its way into the light for people to understand but still has a big uphill battle before it is fully accepted by society. It has its place in society as demonstrated by the Mahu’s of Haaii and I believe with the right kind of courage and leadership we can make strides for the rest of the world to follow and hopefully one day it will come as second nature to society.