Post by tanya on Oct 21, 2017 3:04:35 GMT
The concept of sex refers to our biological state; that is, natural factors such as chromosomes differences, hormones, internal and external sex organs which exist defining whether you are male, female, or intersex. The concept of gender differs from the concept of sex because it is dependent on social constructions that occur based on the sex of the individual. Sex is innate, while gender is the societal perception and performance of roles assigned to the sex. For example, a female born child does not have an immediate desire to wear pink, society's construct of gender for the female child is that baby girls should wear pink. Another example of gender's presentation would be as the female child grows up into her teens and later becomes a young adult she may perform femininity by wearing high heels, putting on makeup, removing body hair, speaking softly and being more submissive as the culture in which she is part of has assigned such characteristics as appropriate for her. While sex is based on biology (being a female), gender is based on the set of characteristics maintained by different cultures used to distinguish between a male and a female. An individual who performs and maintains the gender role associated with their sex is often regarded as a "real woman" or a "real man". This distinction is relevant to psychologists because it portrays the impact of society on how we choose to identify as the sex we are assigned at birth, and is related to the mental health of the individual regarding how they are impacted psychologically by these expectations upon them. Gender is significant to psychologists because they can learn about the various origins of gender roles and expectations in different cultures as well and how they may be similar and different universally, and why gender exists in the first place.
