The dictionary defines gender as the state of being male of female. Throughout modern history gender has been a controversial topic especially within the American culture. Society now sees gender as defined by one’s femininity or masculinity. In this essay, the argument that gender is only a form of social construction and not a biological identification will be made. Speaking from a biological standpoint you are either born female or male. Many people mistakenly identify people’s gender by their biological sex or the levels of masculinity and femininity. Along with the problem of inaccurately using biological sex to define gender, people also tend to use the person’s sexuality to define them. This was not always the ‘normal’ way in which societies organized people into categories. Society and culture help to create gender and gender roles which are used to define the behavior that each sex ideally
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Among the Native American people were certain tribes that included the female cross-gender role (Blackwood 140). The most significant thing about these people were that they were biologically born women, behaved in what was consider a masculine way, had female partners and/or wives and yet were not considered to be lesbian or bisexual (Blackwood 143). This confounded what were considered the Western concepts of gender.
Another significant thing about these Native American tribes were that while they had set gender roles, men traditionally doing the hunting and women handling the household, these roles were not imbalanced. This is important because it shows us that these Native American tribes didn’t have pre-dominated gender roles (Blackwood 142). After the European influence, there seemed to be a declined in the female cross-gender role and even historians have a hard time distinguishing how many tribes contained them and how often of an occurrence it
Among the Native American people were certain tribes that included the female cross-gender role (Blackwood 140). The most significant thing about these people were that they were biologically born women, behaved in what was consider a masculine way, had female partners and/or wives and yet were not considered to be lesbian or bisexual (Blackwood 143). This confounded what were considered the Western concepts of gender.
Another significant thing about these Native American tribes were that while they had set gender roles, men traditionally doing the hunting and women handling the household, these roles were not imbalanced. This is important because it shows us that these Native American tribes didn’t have pre-dominated gender roles (Blackwood 142). After the European influence, there seemed to be a declined in the female cross-gender role and even historians have a hard time distinguishing how many tribes contained them and how often of an occurrence it