Sociological Perspective On Gender Identity

We live in an era where our sex and gender identity is defined not by how we wish, but how society has socially constructed it to be. It has built a binary, which means whatever is feminine is not masculine and whatever is masculine is not feminine (Foss et al. 16). From there an identity begins to build that is also based off of a master narrative, which instruct members of a culture to be certain types of people who live certain kinds of lives (Foss et al. 54). This is where traditional gender roles come into play with men and women as differences are established. My Mexican cultural background has taught me to follow these set of rules, but exposure to new views on gender has influenced me to also break some of these rules. As a young
The idea that an ideal man is “active, aggressive, athletic, competitive, dominant, independent, logical, self- confident, and unemotional” (Foss et al. 59) As I entered high school I became the stereotypical school jock and walked with confidence around campus. I took football games very serious and competitive which built on my masculinity. When I graduated I followed in my father’s footsteps and got a job at a mechanic shop and became a second financial support system to my household. The gender roles that I was being exposed to I had now stepped into. Times got hard from time to time from a financial standpoint, but I looked at my father and showed no emotion I knew I had to be the same way with my attitude. So I never showed any emotion despite how worried and concerned I was due to my masculinity the male gender binary my father
Gender takes into account not only your body and sexual orientation but also your race, class, nationality, education, religious beliefs, and personality traits (Foss et al. 9). For years we have lived under the same social structure, from this class I have learned that we must negotiate identity in the binary world. Gender is used to separate men and women that lead to treating each other unequal and in other instances more superior. It should be acceptable for men to not always be masculine and not always follow the gender binary and for women they should challenge the binary of their gender role despite the cultural background that they originate from if they choose to. From my Mexican culture I did learn masculinity and follow my cultural gender role but from different gender stories I have also learned that you must enact agency in order to take steps away from the socially constructed binary that has been built. Women and men have always been identified as two distinct individuals that have their own set of binary which we did not build but followed. We have let others socially construct our identity without choice or say as far as using masculine language in our everyday lives. The male and female binary should continue to be