A personality can be considered as a combination of all kinds of individual characteristics, socially significant traits that identify a person as a member of society and characterize his personal qualities. At this point, the average person begins to get confused in terms, believing that gender identity is an exclusively sexual orientation, and if it differs from the generally accepted one, it must be corrected. In fact, everything is somewhat more complicated, and many people are surprised to find features of the opposite gender, recognizing this as completely normal.
Definition of a person’s gender identity
First of all, it is worth noting that gender is not gender, but a set of characteristics that complement sexual self-determination. Therefore, gender is called male and female, and gender, respectively, masculine and feminine. There is no doubt about gender: it is determined by physiological characteristics, a set of chromosomes and the corresponding type of genitals, while gender identity is a characteristic that is not tied to biological characteristics.
In simpler terms, it is gender that is responsible for the implementation of “real women” and “real men”. According to standard stereotypical reasoning, a representative of each gender must meet certain ideal ideas of society about themselves. A woman must be fragile, beautiful, sexually attractive, take an interest in purely raising children and housekeeping, and a man traditionally presents himself as a breadwinner, breadwinner, warrior, and even master, the presence of a “correct” appearance is mandatory. Where does such a perception of gender come from in each individual?
Congenital or acquired?
Proponents of the theory of “biology as fate” insist on the innate nature of all the necessary gender traits in every child. Any deviations from the template are perceived as a perversion or illness. However, the formation of gender identity in many respects depends on society, and even if the child is brought up exclusively in the family, he sees the appropriate behavior of parents and other relatives.
If the parents are disappointed that the child was born of the wrong sex, of which they dreamed, a semi-conscious desire to “remake” the offspring to fit into the pattern formed in dreams may appear. Similar cases are noted not only in fiction, but also in real life. The formation of gender identity occurs under pressure, and more often girls are raised as boys, than vice versa. This is largely due to the prevailing attitude in our society that a real man must have a son. The absence of a child of the right sex encourages fathers and mothers to sublimate, adjusting the “failed descendant” to some speculative model.
Childhood through the prism of gender
In early childhood, babies are not aware of either gender or gender, only absorbing the differences between boys and girls by the age of two. A sudden discovery is the presence or absence of a penis. The following is a parental explanation of why skirts and bows can only be worn if there is no penis, and play with cars and pistols if there is one. Of course, the child’s gender identity is always based on signals of approval or censure received from outside, and is fixed on a subconscious level. It has been noticed that even in kindergarten, kids broadcast absorbed installations to their peers and even choose toys sometimes not according to their own preferences, but according to the principle of correctness for their gender.
Why then does the gender identity of adolescents “fail”? Puberty is not only marked by obvious changes in physique. An active search for oneself begins, the formation of personality, and this requires questioning authoritative opinions. The reproachful remark “you are a girl” or “you are a boy”, calling for a certain gender model, provokes a quite logical opposition. In fairness, it is worth noting that parents in their desire to raise a “right” child by all means hit ridiculous extremes. For example, they forbid their son to engage in dancing or music, believing this to be exclusively unmanly pursuits.
Types of Gender Identity
According to biological standards, people are divided strictly into two sexes - male and female. Any deviations in this area are due to genetic failure. To a certain extent, this can be corrected by modern medical methods. Further exclusively social and cultural characteristics begin, which may differ depending on the country and local traditions. The so-called “third sex” - hermaphrodites (with the biological presence of sexual characteristics of both sexes) and people with non-traditional gender identity are legally recognized in only ten countries: Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, with some reservations, Germany, New Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Several more countries recognize the existence of the third sex as a cultural tradition, but from the point of view of legislation this is a kind of twilight side of life, on which they prefer not to focus.
Initially, two gender types were distinguished: masculine, inherent in men, and feminine, corresponding to the female sex. The officially androgynous type that appeared in the relatively recent past is a kind of “arithmetic mean” between the main two gender types. Anthropologists and sociologists also distinguish bigenders, transgenders, gender queers and agenders into separate categories. Perhaps this desire to push the generally accepted framework to their complete disappearance and to bring gender tolerance to an unattainable absolute. In ordinary life, a few terms are enough without going into details.
Masculinity
Masculine gender identity is a combination of emphasized male physique and the fulfillment of a male social role, as well as the corresponding character traits, habits, addictions and behavior. In addition to uniquely positive characteristics, aggression, a tendency to risk , is considered the norm for masculinity . In other words, when the crying boy is told to be a man, this means the requirement to conform to the pattern according to which men do not cry, since this is an exclusively female privilege.
Femininity
Feminine gender identity is the opposite of masculine, a combination of a feminine physique and a traditional female social role, including some ideal “female” character traits, habits and inclinations. Interestingly, in society, literally everything is perceived through the gender prism, starting with the color of the sliders in the baby.
If you put pink tights on the boy, a significant part of adults will either confuse him with the girl, or be outraged that the parents want to raise a girl out of him. The visual signal of feminine identity is the styles of clothing or colors corresponding to the female sex. The right to wear a bright floral shirt with a masculine man will have to be proved with his fists. Fortunately, fashion from time to time insists on absolute tolerance and the destruction of gender barriers in the choice of clothing.
Androgyny
Interestingly, androgyny itself existed at all times, but was considered somewhat reprehensible, as if this feature of gender identity is the malicious desire of the androgyne to mislead others. Basically, androgyny is based on visual signals - if a person does not have a pronounced masculinity or femininity, it is difficult to determine at a glance whether the girl is in front of you or the young man. Disguise is exacerbated by unisex clothing and appropriate behavior.
A striking example is Brun, the heroine from the story of the Strugatsky brothers "Hotel" At the deceased climber ", which was presented as" the child of the deceased brother du Barnstocra ". The behavior and appearance of Bryun did not allow to determine what kind of sex this creature was, therefore, they wrote about her in the middle gender, until it became clear that this is really a girl.
Gender and Sexual Orientation
Contrary to popular belief, the concept of gender identity is completely unrelated to sexual orientation. In other words, a feminine man of a completely brutal appearance is not necessarily homosexual, and a short-haired bodybuilder in camouflage does not show lesbian inclinations.
The concept of gender is primarily associated with behavior and social role and only indirectly relies on sexuality. Thus, attempts to suppress “incorrect sexuality” by pressure on the visual component of gender identity do not bring any result. At the same time, one should not discount the possibility of a complex effect of external factors on the development of sexuality. Sexologists say that orientation crystallizes gradually, each person goes a unique way of becoming a person, including intimate preferences.
Who are Bigender and Transgender
Bigender can be considered one of the options for winning gender tolerance in a single individual’s head. If a person takes on certain social functions without passing them through the analysis of stereotypes, we get a fairly harmonious and self-sufficient personality. In confrontation, gender identity / social identity among bigenders defeats the expediency and skillful application of talents and inclinations. A man can take on a female social role, without considering himself a victim of circumstances, a woman also copes well with a male role. In the modern world, the gender framework has erased somewhat, the textbook "hunt for a mammoth" is increasingly moving from physical work to mental work, and the person with a high degree of intelligence is not the owner of muscles and excess testosterone, but a skilled earner. The sex of the earner in this matter does not play a role.
Another issue, if there is transgenderism, is the discrepancy between biological and gender self-perception. To simplify the discussion, then a transgender can be called a man who prefers a female social role, including some visual attributes. If he really feels like a woman "to the marrow of bones", and the physical body does not correspond to self-determination, then we are talking about transsexuality. In a gender sense, this is not a man. A man thinks like a woman, feels and perceives the world and himself exclusively from a feminine position. In this case, the mismatch of the biological sex is recommended to be corrected through a transgender transition. However, not all people who have changed their biological gender feel like transgender people. This is a rather confusing situation in which there are many individual decisions.
Sexism as a catalyst for gender dysphoria
If the formation of gender identity has occurred with a mismatch in biological parameters, this is called gender dysphoria. This concept includes all disorders of sexual identification, which in the draft International Classification of Diseases, tentatively since 2018 (ICD 11), have been transferred from the section of psychiatric disorders to the category of sexology. This condition can be superficial and deep, depending on the degree of rejection of one's own biological sex.
Sociologists and sexologists note that manifestations of sexism can aggravate minor gender dysphoria, especially if they fall upon a child or teenager. For example, machismo, as a radical and aggressive form of the masculine model, can demonstrate frank misogyny - the idea that everything inherent in women is flawed is transmitted into the surrounding space. Being a woman is ashamed, and being like a woman is even worse. Sexist statements can lead a child to a logical chain: “I do not want to be a despised object, to be a man is beautiful, to be a woman is ashamed.” The same principle works in the opposite direction: if the boy’s environment is dominated by derogatory characteristics towards men, he subconsciously begins to want to belong to the “privileged” category of humanity. Biological gender prevents this; a gender identity disorder develops.
Despite the unrest of adherents of the traditional model of a patriarchal society, gender tolerance does not at all lead to chaos and loss of social and cultural landmarks. On the contrary, the absence of radical sexism and aggression reduces tension in society, reduces the likelihood of dysphoria and contributes to the growth of each individual.