Gender identity is what?

Personality can be considered as a combination of all sorts of individual characteristics, socially significant features 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 of believing that gender identity is exclusively sexual orientation, and if it is different from the generally accepted one, it is certainly subject to correction. In fact, everything is somewhat more complicated, and many people are surprised to find in themselves the features of the opposite gender, recognizing this is completely normal.

Determining the gender identity of a person

First of all, it should be noted that gender is not a sex, but a set of characteristics that complement sexual self-determination. Therefore, gender identity is called male and female, and gender, respectively, masculine and feminine. Doubts in gender do not exist: it is determined by physiological signs, a set of chromosomes and the corresponding type of genitalia, while gender identity is characteristics not tied to biological signs.

If to argue in a simplistic way, it is gender that is responsible for the implementation of "real women" and "real men". According to standard stereotyped reasoning, the representative of each gender should meet some ideal ideas of society about oneself. A woman is obliged to be fragile, beautiful, sexually attractive, to be interested in the purely upbringing of children and housekeeping, and a man is traditionally represented as a breadwinner, breadwinner, warrior and even a gentleman, the presence of a "correct" appearance is mandatory. Where does this perception of gender come from in each individual person?

Congenital or acquired?

Supporters of the theory of "biology as fate" insist on the inbornness of all the necessary gender features in every child. Any deviation from the pattern is perceived as a perversion or disease. However, the development of gender identity largely depends on the society, and even if the child is raised exclusively in the family, he sees the appropriate behavior of parents and other relatives.

If parents are disappointed by the fact that a child of the wrong sex was born, there may be a half-conscious desire to "remake" the offspring under the pattern created in dreams. Such 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 brought up as boys than vice versa. In many respects this is due to the attitude that exists in our society that a real man must necessarily have a son. The lack of a child of the right sex prompts fathers and mothers to sublimate, adjusting the "failed offspring" to some speculative pattern.

Childhood through the lens of gender

In early childhood, babies do not realize either gender or gender identity, only absorbing the differences between boys and girls for only two years. A sudden discovery is the presence or absence of the penis. Then follows the parental explanation, why skirts and bows can be worn exclusively, if the penis is not, but play with typewriters and pistols, if there is one. Undoubtedly, the child's gender identity always rests on the signals of approval or censure received from outside, fixed at a subconscious level. It is noticed that already in the kindergarten the kids broadcast the soaked installations to peers and even toys are sometimes chosen not according to their own preferences, but according to the principle of correctness for their sex.

Why, then, does the gender identity of adolescents begin to "fail"? The pubertal age is marked not only by obvious changes in the physique. An active search for oneself, the formation of an individual begins, and this calls for questioning authoritative opinions. The reproachful remark "you're a girl" or "you're a boy", which calls for a certain gender model, causes quite a legitimate opposition. For the sake of justice, it is worth noting that parents in their desire to grow a "right" child at any price, strike at ridiculous extremes. For example, they forbid their son to dance or play music, believing this to be exclusively non-mural.

Types of gender identity

According to biological norms, people are divided strictly into two sexes - male and female. Any deviation in this area is due to a genetic malfunction. To a certain extent, this can be corrected by modern medical methods. Further, only social and cultural characteristics begin which can differ depending on the country and local traditions. The so-called "third sex" - the hermaphrodites (with the biological presence of sexual characteristics of both sexes) and people with non-traditional gender identity of the individual, is legally recognized in ten countries: Canada, Australia, Great Britain, with some reservations Germany, New Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. A few more countries recognize the existence of the third sex as a cultural tradition, but from the legal point of view this is some kind of twilight side of life, on which they prefer not to focus attention.

Initially, there were two gender types: masculine, inherent in men, and feminine, corresponding to the female sex. Appearing in the relatively recent past, the officially androgynous type is a sort of "arithmetic average" between the main two gender types. Anthropologists and sociologists also distinguish biegender, transgender, gender-queer and agent in some categories. Perhaps it is a desire to push the conventional framework to their full extinction and bring gender tolerance to an unattainable absolute. In ordinary life, there are quite a few terms without detailing.

Masculinity

Masculine gender identity is a combination of an emphatically male physique and the fulfillment of a male social role, as well as the corresponding traits of character, habits, addictions and behavior. In addition to uniquely positive characteristics, the norm for masculinity is aggression, risk appetite. In other words, when a crying boy is told to "be a man", it means the requirement to conform to a pattern according to which men do not cry, because this is exclusively a female privilege.

Femininity

Feminine gender identity is the opposite of masculine, a combination of feminine physique and traditional female social role, including some ideal "feminine" traits of character, habits and inclinations. Interestingly, in society, through the gender prism, everything is literally perceived, starting with the color of the baby's sliders.

If the boy wear pink tights, a significant part of adults either confuse him with the girl, or resent that the parents want to raise a girl from him. The visual signal of feminine identity is the clothing or coloring appropriate to the female sex. The right to wear a bright shirt in a flower masculine man will have to prove fists. Fortunately, fashion from time to time insists on absolute tolerance and the destruction of gender barriers in the choice of clothing.

Androgyny

It is interesting that in itself androgyny existed at all times, but was considered somewhat reprehensible, as if this feature of gender identity is the malicious aspiration of the androgyne to deceive those around them. In general, androgyny relies on visual signals - if a person does not have a pronounced masculinity or femininity, it is difficult to determine at first sight, the girl in front of you or a young man. The disguise is exacerbated by clothes in the style of "unisex" and the corresponding behavior.

A striking example is Bryun, a heroine from the Strugatsky brothers' novel "The Hotel of the Dead Mountaineer", which was presented as "the child of the late brother du Barnstockra". Behavior and appearance Brun did not allow to determine what kind of sex this creature is, so they wrote about it in an average way, until it became clear that this is really a girl.

Gender and sexual orientation

Contrary to the widespread misconception, the concept of gender identity is completely unrelated to sexual orientation. In other words, a feminine man of absolutely no brutal appearance is not necessarily homosexual, and a short-cropped bodybuilder in camouflage does not show lesbian tendencies.

The concept of gender is associated primarily with behavior and social role and only indirectly relies on sexuality. Thus, attempts to stop "incorrect sexuality" by using pressure on the visual component of gender identity do not bring any result. At the same time, we should not discount the possibility of a complex influence of external factors on the development of sexuality. Sexologists argue that orientation crystallizes gradually, each person goes through a unique way of becoming a person, including intimate preferences.

Who are biganders and transgender people

Bigenderity can be considered one of the variants of the victorious gender tolerance in the individual head of an individual. If a person takes on some social functions, without missing them through the analysis of stereotypes, we get a fairly harmonious and self-sufficient personality. In the confrontation of gender identity / social identity in bigagers, the expediency and skillful application of talents and inclinations wins. A man can take on a female social role, not counting himself as a victim of circumstances, a woman also copes well with the male role. In the modern world, the gender framework has somewhat eroded, the textbook "mammoth hunt" is increasingly shifting from physical work to mental work, and the skilled earner is not the owner of muscles and excess testosterone, but the individual with a high degree of intelligence. Sexual affiliation of the getter in this matter does not matter.

Another issue, if there is transgenderity, is the discrepancy between biological and gender self-perceptions. If to argue in a simplified way, then the 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 bone", and the physical body does not correspond to self-determination, then it is about transsexuality. In a gender sense, this is not a man. A person thinks as a woman, feels and perceives the world and herself exclusively from the feminine position. Inconsistency of the biological sex is recommended to be corrected by transgender transition. However, not all people who have replaced the biological sex feel themselves to be transsexual. This is a rather confusing situation, in which there are many individual solutions.

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 the disorders of sexual identification, which in the draft International Classification of Diseases, roughly from 2018 (ICD 11), are 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 say that sexual dysfunctions can exacerbate minor gender dysphoria, especially if they are inflicted on a child or adolescent. 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 damaging is broadcast into the surrounding space. Being a woman is a shame, and being 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 perfectly, to be ashamed of a woman". The same principle works in the opposite direction: if the boy's environment is dominated by pejorative characteristics of men, he subconsciously begins to want to belong to the "privileged" category of humanity. The biological sex interferes with this, the development of gender identity disorder is developing.

Contrary to the unrest of the adherents of the traditional model of patriarchal society, gender tolerance does not lead to chaos and the loss of social and cultural landmarks. On the contrary, the absence of radical sexism and aggression reduces the tension in society, reduces the likelihood of dysphoria and promotes the growth of each individual person.