Blog #2 - What Is Gender?

From when we are born, people commonly mistake sex for gender. I agree with Lorber that people are sexed, not gendered. We're able to determine the child's sex, however, gender is a completely different topic. Who's to say that a man will grow up masculine or feminine? Outside the 'norm' of society, there are people known as transvestites who cross dress in their opposite sex. Woman are classified by society to be feminine however, there are those who break that tradition and cross dress as males and act masculine. Same with males, they're classified to be masculine but there are those who cross dress as females and act really feminine. They're outcasts because society has the idea of male, masculine and female, feminine so concrete and straightforward, there isn't anything in between. Thus, whatever that doesn't fit in society's 'norm' they're tossed aside and categorized as misfits. They don't belong to society.

Who's to say what's normal? Who is to say what our gender is? We certainly don't have the power to tell another individual what their gender is.That is something we and even society cannot determine. Although society plays a major role in influencing childhood development and setting certain standards, gender is something the individual has to figure out them self.