Gender

Gender Gender is beyond biological sex because it is a persons’ understanding of their life on being either a woman or a man. To me being a woman is being independent, strong, and means to never rely on a man because you’re stronger than that and don’t need one. Being a woman can also mean being extremely dramatic about everything and of course being nurturing. Now I believe my understanding of women has definitely come from all the strong women in my family. Growing up I had to see my mother struggle and continue to struggle because her “manly” partner never wanted to step up. I had to see so many women in my life rely only on themselves to play both parts in being a parent.
Now, male to me means being rough, playing videogames, and being straight up lazy. I have this imagine in my head because of the men that grew up around me and sometimes the men I still surround myself with. This image of course is of my father and stepfather. These are the two men that have surrounded me in my life the most. As I got older though I noticed that all men really are different, I even started to see a sensitive feminine side to my father. Now being in a committed relationship I notice that my own boyfriend has qualities of both feminine and masculine. He wears his jeans too tight and has a very nurturing side, a nurturing side that my grandmother shows me and the rest of her grandchildren. Then my boyfriend has this very masculine side to him with the sleeve of tattoos, showing that he can take crazy amounts of pain and of course his beard that is still continuing to grow.
To me everyone seems to have qualities of both feminine and masculine, although most men won’t admit to it. I like to say I was very much raised like a boy, growing up in Chicago playing and watching my father and uncle play basketball in the street or alley and sometimes joining them. I also saw both my father and uncle wrestle with friends in our backyard again sometimes joining in because I thought I