Gender

When I think of myself, I think of a male, and a masculine male at that. Through out my life I have been shaped and molded into what I am today. Most of this was done subconsciously and I was not even aware of this taking place. Also the people and things that shaped me also most of the time did so subconsciously. Through out this paper I will review where my ideas of gender came from, how I developed into the gender role that I assume today, along with many other things. When I was born I was automatically assigned a specific sex. “Sex refers to the physical and biological differences between men and women.” (279) In my personal situation I was born with male genitalia therefore I was classified as a male. Gender did not come until later in life and it took time to fully develop. “Gender refers to the social, psychological, and cultural attributes of masculinity and femininity that are based on previous biological distinctions.” (279) My sex was immediately assigned to me from birth and my gender was learned and molded into me after birth. The people who had the most influence on my early development of gender was my family. During my infancy and early childhood I was mostly just observant of my parents and older sister. Through interaction with these people my gender role was learned and started to become a part of myself. What I learned from my family about gender, was mostly the difference between a masculine and feminine person. From my mother and sister I learned how to be emotional and how to be sensitive. From my father I learned how to be masculine. For instance how not to show or express your feelings, be tough, play sports, take care of others, along with many other things that would help develop my own masculinity. Some of the direct messages that influenced my gender role, were given to me by my family, the media, school, and peer groups. My family started me off into the world by teaching me the basics of my gender, I was a male, and there