Throughout the course of taking Biology of Gender I have learned so much about the importance of gender and how it is interpreted around the world. Going into the class the first day I was clueless on the subject. I was under the false impression that there were two genders and two sexes and that those two went together without question. After having finished the course I am much more informed on the subject of gender and its understanding worldwide.

Gender is not as easy and straight forward as one might think, there is a lot more to it than just genitalia. I talk about the gender identity in artifact 1 and I explain the significance of it in this paragraph. “Sex is determined by your biological anatomy, your genitalia. A male has a penis and a female has a vagina. That on the other hand does not mean that someone who identifies to be a man does in fact have a penis. Gender is what we see ourselves as. Just because someone has the genitals that scientifically say that they are a specific sex means that they identify themselves as the gender that corresponds with their sex. Gender is what people see themselves as. Someone may be a male, sexually, but they say that their gender is a female. Gender identity is not the same as gender expression. Gender identity is what people individually see themselves as. So if I being a male thought felt that deep down I was really a girl, then I would identify as being a woman. Gender expression is a little different, on the other hand. Gender expression is how you represent yourself and how others perceive your gender. Gender is more than just anatomy. Many people around the world have been suffering for years believing that they are different and have never been comfortable in their bodies. We are moving forward in the steps to make everyone feel comfortable with their true identities” (Artifact 1). There needs to be more understanding on the subject of gender. People need to know about it so that others don’t get hurt.

There is gender inequality all over the world, woman are treated differently than men and vice versa. The global gender gap is the scale of how well a country has done in making men and woman as equal as possible. For example pay grade, social statuses and leadership positions all influence the global gender gap. In Artifact 3 I discuss the global gender gap and explain the United States position compared with other countries. “Global gender gap is the difference between men and woman in the workforce and all other parts of life. Some ways of determining the gender gap are levels of income. So if a man makes more money than a woman in the same position then there is a larger gender gap and your ranking will go down. The US is currently ranked 28 out of 179 countries. We still have a lot of improving to do if we want to be in the top ten. Iceland is ranked number one. They have had a woman as the head of state for 20 of the last 50 years. US is low on the rankings of political equality because woman do not make up that much of the political power in the US. According to fortune.com, woman made up 32% of politics in 2014 while Sweden which is ranked number 4 had a total of 57% female political members” (Artifact 3). The US should not be this low on the global gender gap list. We need to make progressive steps in the right direction to close this gap altogether, not just nationally, but worldwide.

Most people are under the impression that there are strictly two genders and that is it, well, most people are ill-informed. People are born every day who do not see themselves as male or female, this is referred to as the third gender. In artifact 4 I discuss the third gender and its importance of acceptance in society. “By defining gender as binary, you are saying that there are only two different genders, male and female. While that is normally what society thinks as the only genders, this is not necessarily accurate. We cannot label gender as binary when there are so many people out there who do not see it that way. By saying that gender is binary we as a society only see male and female. The reality is that there are many other genders than just male or female. If we go outside the realm of binary gender then you are risking going against the social norm and not fitting in.Third gender is defined as recognizing more than just male and female genders. Australia, Germany, India, Japan, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand all recognize third genders. They have the option to choose indeterminate gender on birth certificates. The Kathoey are what the third sex is called in Thailand. They are born males who identify as female.  The Thai are extremely tolerant towards the kathoeys. They recognize them as a separate gender and some even see them as woman or a different category to woman. The kathoeys all recognize that they may have male genitals but none of them see themselves as men” (Artifact 4). By recognizing that gender is not binary we are making the proper steps toward a more informed and tolerant culture.

After taking Biology of Gender I am much more informed and knowledgeable on the subject of gender. I feel that more people need to be educated on this matter seeing how it is so important to millions of people around the world. Gender is not a representation of genitals and no one should go through life pretending to be something that they are not. Be who you want to be and do what makes you happy. Life’s too short to be hiding who you really are just to please society.

Reference:

Artifact 1 Sex and Gender

Artifact 3- Global Gender Gap

Artifact 4- Third Gender

In the United States boys and girls are raised with equal rights and are equal in the eyes of the law and society. This is not the case for all countries and cultures though. America would be considered a utopia for a lot of woman around the world who have been subjected to extreme violence and living condition because of the genitalia they were born with.

Gender-based violence happens all over the world. It is especially harsh in Sierra Leone where rape is a common occurrence after their civil war. Rape is not punishable in Sierra Leone and so all of the rapists are just roaming the streets unpunished. There is not much that can be done about this in Sierra Leone because of the lack of repercussions.

Sex trafficking is a very scary and serious issue. Woman are bought and sold on the black market and forced to perform sexual acts all day every day. In Cambodia sex trafficking is very widespread. Girls are bought and sold at a very young age and forced to do unspeakable things for men who are in some cases over 5 times their age. Now there are police who go around to shut down as many brothels as they can to try to put an end to the sex trafficking in Cambodia.

Maternal mortality is a huge problem in Somaliland. Girls are under fed and anemic. There is a lot of female genital mutilation that goes on in Somaliland. FGM leads to infections from unsterile instruments and also leads to birth complications. As a result they are training midwives and are trying to have them at every health facility to reduce the birth complications and to make sure proper sterilization is implemented.

There is a lot of stuff that goes on that we in the US don’t have to worry about and don’t even hear about. Woman are subject to violence and harassment everyday all over the world and we need to raise awareness so that woman in the future aren’t subject to such cruel behavior.

The menstrual cycle is a monthly cycle that happens for every woman in the world. The way we perceive menstruation varies from culture to culture. Growing up with two sisters, a mom and a not-so-politically-correct dad, I had to learn the basics of the menstrual cycle at a pretty young age. I would always here my dad bitching that it was harder for him when the woman were on their period than it was for them. As a young and impressionable kid I always just believed that whatever my dad said was ultimately correct, so when I actually learned what the menstrual cycle was I was pretty amazed what girls have to go through every month.

Every culture is different with their attitude towards menstruation. The United States does not have a very open view on menstruation. We do not openly talk about woman on their periods and woman normally don’t share that information freely. For some reason we have made this 100% natural physical cycle a weird and awkward thing to talk about.

My family is a very open about our bodies and our issues. One of the funniest menstruation situations I have been in was at a VMI football game when I was a junior in high school. My cousins were on the football team and so all of my extended family was in town. My little sister is normally the life of the party and has to be the center of attention all the time, so when my family was all sitting around drinking at my uncle’s cabin right outside of town after the game and she was not getting any attention she had to think of something to turn the attention to her. She was in 7^th grade and there were all these big VMI guys around and cousins and uncles and Rett randomly blurts out “I just got my period!” She said it loud enough for just about everyone to hear. All of the guys were disgusted and uncomfortable and all of the woman were excited for her and surprised she was so open about it. My uncle broke the silence and told her to “get off my damn couch then.” Low and behold she didn’t really have her period, she made the whole thing up. We still laugh about that when our family gets together.

Circumcisions in men and woman are two very different procedures. Male circumcision has proven health benefits for both male and females. Female circumcisions, however, have no health benefits what so ever and is considered to be a human rights violation. Male circumcision happens all over the world while female circumcision is carried out exclusively in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Female circumcision is known more commonly now as female genital mutilation. The procedure is carried out mostly by elder woman in the tribe who are ill qualified and use unclean tools. Infections are common due to the inexperience and unclean tools used. The procedure also causes problems with urinating, severe bleeding and cysts later in life as well as problems with child birth and newborn deaths. Female circumcision is carried out to prevent promiscuous behavior.

Male circumcision is commonly practiced procedure that happens to most males at a young age. Most cultures circumcise boys at birth, but others do the circumcision when the boy becomes a man. When circumcising a penis the doctor will simply cut the excess skin off of the tip of the penis. The cutting of the excess skin helps to keep your penis cleaner, by eliminating places for infections to grow. Male circumcision helps prevent HIV as well and therefor helps prevent the spreading of HIV.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/

In today’s world of social media and technology our access to social norms is at our fingertips. We as humans just want to fit in with the rest of society and some people will go to drastic lengths to “fit in.” From a young age we all know what girls and boys are expected to act like and we are pushed to act in these stereotypical ways. We all know by now that not all males recognize as men and the same goes for females. It is a constant struggle for the individuals who are on the fence with their gender because of these gender stereotypes telling them one thing but their gut telling them the other.

In the film Guyland, it was showing how guys are constantly trying to prove their masculinity to their peers so they don’t seem like less of a man. This process has not made guys manlier but only more immature. Guys put each other down if they don’t display the same masculinity as them. This constant trying to prove our masculinity has made us much more immature as people and hasn’t helped society at all.

In the film Pornland, they discuss the rise of the Porn industry and the serious consequences it has on men. Porn is a major industry in the United States and it makes up a good percentage of the internet. With it being so accessible to anyone who owns a computer or a smartphone, which is basically everyone, it is bound to have an impact on our society. The average age of a boy who watches porn for the first time is 11 years old. The sex in porn is not an accurate representation to what sex should be like in a healthy relationship. Porn is supposed to be like a fantasy land. But these 11 year old kids who watch porn for the first time, maybe even before they learn about sex in a healthy environment, don’t realize that this is not normal sex. They think that 5 dudes dominating a girl is what sex is. Porn turns woman into objects and when young boys watch this they think that that is what being a man is.

The gender health gap is the difference in life expectancy between males and females. Females have a much higher life expectancy rate than men. Their bodies are generally healthier than men’s. Woman tend to lead healthier lifestyles than men.

There are many cultural influences that bring about differences in the health of men and woman. There are certain ways that men and woman are expected to act and some of these gender norms have an impact on our everyday health. For example, back in the good ole days, before cigarettes killed millions of people, every single man smoked. If they didn’t they were a part of a select few. Even though they didn’t know all of the effects of tobacco at the time it didn’t mean that there weren’t any. In 1950 the average life expectancy for males was 65 years old. For woman it was 71.

One of the leading causes for male deaths is accidental accidents. That is pretty sad that being a dumb ass is one of the leading cause for male deaths. A Navy Seal that I used to know always said “pride has killed more men than cancer”. This is a pretty accurate statement. Men think that they have to prove themselves as a man and therefor do stupid things that puts them in life threatening situations. Men also think that they will be less of a man if they go through preventative measures with their health. Men are supposed to get a colonoscopy once they are at a certain age, but many men are embarrassed to get a tiny camera stuck up their butt, because they think it will make them “gay”. That is the dumbest thing ever, from personal experience, they are not bad. Many people just let their pride get to them and influence their health decisions.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/mars-vs-venus-the-gender-gap-in-health

By defining gender as binary, you are saying that there are only two different genders, male and female. While that is normally what society thinks as the only genders, this is not necessarily accurate. We cannot label gender as binary when there are so many people out there who do not see it that way. By saying that gender is binary we as a society only see male and female. The reality is that there are many other genders than just male or female. If we go outside the realm of binary gender then you are risking going against the social norm and not fitting in.

Third gender is defined as recognizing more than just male and female genders. Australia, Germany, India, Japan, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand all recognize third genders. They have the option to choose indeterminate gender on birth certificates.

The Kathoey are what the third sex is called in Thailand. They are born males who identify as female.  The Thai are extremely tolerant towards the kathoeys. They recognize them as a separate gender and some even see them as woman or a different category to woman. The kathoeys all recognize that they may have male genitals but none of them see themselves as men.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_gender

Global gender gap is the difference between men and woman in the workforce and all other parts of life. Some ways of determining the gender gap are levels of income. So if a man makes more money than a woman in the same position then there is a larger gender gap and your ranking will go down. The US is currently ranked 28 out of 179 countries. We still have a lot of improving to do if we want to be in the top ten. Iceland is ranked number one. They have had a woman as the head of state for 20 of the last 50 years.

US is low on the rankings of political equality because woman do not make up that much of the political power in the US. According to fortune.com, woman made up 32% of politics in 2014 while Sweden which is ranked number 4 had a total of 57% female political members.

The US is working to close the gender gap all together but as of now they are doing pretty good in the workplace. Woman now are receiving equality in professional and technical jobs. Woman are now the majority in those occupations. Studies have shown that companies with more woman leaders tend to do better than companies with men at the top.

We need to hire more woman in the workplace to close the gender gap. Also to bring our country to the top 10 of the list we need to have more woman in power in politics in the country. Closing the gap between gender equality will do nothing but good in the United States.

http://fortune.com/2014/10/27/global-gender-gap-america/

The native people of the plains of North America were located in the western plains of North America. They had an economy based around agriculture. They were a pastoral and horticultural society. Most were nomadic foragers, hunters and herders. Their economy changed over time with the introduction of horses from the Europeans. With horses available their resources were much more ample. They could hunt larger animals by traveling farther and faster. Herding cattle became much easier and more efficient with the help of horses. And trade also became a possibility because they could travel easier and they had a need for trade because they needed more horses.

The role of men and women was pretty equal in the plains’ people’s society. The men would do the hunting while the woman would gather wild vegetation and take care of the kids at home. Europeans sort of influenced the role of men and woman in these societies. With the introduction of horses the men would play a more major role in hunting and cattle and trade and the woman would help them with their tasks, but the woman were never in charge of these different types of trades.

Most all of the plains’ people had patrilineal societies. They would all take after their fathers’ names. While most would take their fathers, not all did. The Navajo were a matrilineal society. They on the other hand would take after their mothers’ name. The mothers were a big deal in the Navajo society, understandably.