Do you define your gender or does your gender define you?

Question

Is gender something learned?

I.E.

Being "ladylike"

Can gender stereotypes be unlearned? Should they? Do they do more harm than good?

I'd like to hear your thoughts. Thanks =)

Answer 1

I honestly pick and choose which stereotypes I follow.  If I like them or they suit me at the moment I'll use them, if not forget it.  For example I can go to a formal event in a gown and eat a fancy dinner and dance all while being the picture of femininity, but I can hang out with my guy friends and be obonxious and crude as well as the best of them.

Answer 2

I saw an interesting news report about this. A doctor accidently burned off the p***s of this baby, and they decided to just make him female. Even with all estrogen they gave him, the guy didn't feel like a female, and it was a huge issue for him. He tracked down the doctor who burned off his p***s, and he was going to kill the doctor, but then he changed his mind. But it gets better, because he got surgery to become male again, and now he's married to a women.

Answer 3

Neither.  

Being ladylike is a societal label that can change from region to region.

Ever read, "X: A Fabulous Child's Story", by Lois Gould?

Answer 4

I define it. At this point, I'm one of the least girly girls I know, and I love it.

Answer 5

Gender is a biological construct and no amount of feminism can change this fact.

Answer 6

I was born a Man, and I will die a Man.

Answer 7

Gender defines me.

Answer 8

Your gender defines you. Now if you are born a male with a strong feminine side, you will understand that your gender as a female has to be learned. But it is lots of fun learning to be ladylike.

Answer 9

I think it is often a mixture of both birth gender plus culture and socialisation.

Obviously your gender is defined for you at birth but how much you become like that gender is down to how much you choose to follow it.

Answer 10

Very few things about how each gender typically behaves is inherent, in my opinion. Most of it is learned.

Answer 11

My gender defines me. I believe gender is mainly biological; culture may refine or develop our characteristics, but I think men and women are born different.

I don't mind gender stereotypes, because for the majority of people they're true. I think it's best to accept who we are, rather than try to change it. I actually believe that those people who don't fit gender stereotyes learned their behaviour, rather than the other way round.

I'm a typically feminine female, and proud of it. :)

Answer 12

I believe that gender is not just decided by the amount of XX or XY chromosomes we have, how do you explain when a baby is born on gender has the sexual organs of both genders? Do we raise that baby depending on which sexual organ is most prominent? A boy being raised as a girl because his p***s didn't develop properly? Or visa verse a girl raised as a boy because her clitoris didn't fully develop?

I think we need to look at gender from either a masculine or feminine personality. The case on 20/20 News a few years back classified the paternal twins Adam and Derek both raised by a single mother.

The mother told 20/20 that she knew at soon as 18 months that Adam was developing more "feminine" traits than his brother "Derek." It seems that Adam had a more feminine-like personality and through observation and culture learned to be more feminine like the girls he played with. Derek on the other hand, was all boy and had a "masculine" personality, rough and tumble compared to Adam, pretty and pink.

On the TV show it showed both boys at ages 8 or 9, and Adam wearing purple and pink colored nail polish, his bedroom was purple and he had a silk "purplish" canopy and his favorite toys were "My Little Pony" while Derek loved sports, baseball, football, etc.

When asked by the interviewer what do you think about yourself, are you a girl or a boy, Adam responded "I think I am a girl" while Derek identified himself as a boy. I applaud the mother for letting Adam being raised as he wanted to be, and be more happier in his lifestyle, more as a girl, but it's unfortunate that society is cruel and may cause problems with harassment for Adam later on if not already.  The show also predicted that Adam may turn out to be g*y, not there is anything wrong with that, in his adult years.

It appeared that the researchers concluded that something must happen in the mother's womb right before birth and would explain Adam's "feminine" side and Derek's "masculine" side.

Is this why trans genders born in the wrong gender have a different personality than when they were actually born? Like a trans gender M-F, raised a boy in his early childhood years but is confused in his own male body; and always thinking  he was a girl ro would rather do things that girls do but maybe he is coaxed into not doing feminine things) in his adult life decides to have a s*x change operation, taking female hormones, wearing feminine style clothing and feeling more "comfortable" being a woman? Maybe it is.

Answer 13

Nothing "defines" me. I'm me. That's all there is to it.

Answer 14

Gender is culturally learned.  Gender concepts vary from culture to culture.  There are no "natural" or universal "gender" roles.  Gender concepts do not define us.  They limit us, put us in an abstraction of a box.  Some people get off on those boxes, though, feel safer about who they are with an ego-protecting playpen to define the boundries and territories of ourselves.  Some people use gender for their boxes.  Some people use skin color.  Some people use tax bracket.  Gender roles are only "Traditional" level of social consciousness at best.  Gender roles, for the more ego-mature post-traditional man or woman, are usually limited to sexual fantasy role playing in courtship rituals.

http://www.integralworld.net/images/spir...

Answer 15

,I Certainly don't think you can Stereotype ones Gender. I Am Me, Female,Extremely Feminine, And 100% WOMAN!

And Lucky Me, Would You Believe I also Have a Mind of My Own!!

Answer 16

While my gender does play a role, it is not ALL of me. Admittedly, it does dictate a lot of my behavior. I don't think it's a bad thing though.

Answer 17

That question is very closed. Neither option is correct. Many tests and studies a have shown that gender cannot be learned because your body's hormones program you at a more basic level than social learning.