The Importance Of Gender Identity

Register to read the introduction… He sees the male gender role as a provider, as the one with the responsibility to at least financially take care of those in his family and those dependent on him. I see this playing out in his life as he becomes more and more now the one among his siblings to take care of his aging mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease. He feels this responsibility not only as a son, but also as a man to be the one who provides for her, often not letting his sister to pitch in with the help. My mother seems to hold a very similar view when it comes to what being a man is defined as. She agrees that being a man should be something where the person is responsible for his actions, independent of others, and able to provide for and secure the proper items and services for his family. She is even more traditional in accepting the patriarchal norms of society, in that she also believes a man should be emotionally independent of all opposite gender relationships other than with his significant other. Investing for man, in the lives of other women than his wife or girlfriend is not something that a man should do, according to her. In defining what it means to be a woman, my father holds the traditional patriarchal view that women should be primarily concerned with emotion, giving full weight to their feelings and following what those feelings entail as far as action. My mother differs in her definition of gender identity when it comes to being a woman. She defines being a woman as being independent, being able to make her own decisions and taking action in her own life to benefit herself, not solely based on her feelings, but allowing logic to reign in her life. I found that this was a significant difference, as she believes that men should embrace their patriarchal roles, while she believes that women should not. She believes that being a women means to be able to act in ways that are …show more content…
Primarily, it is the result of living in a patriarchal society like ours. If men show any real humanity in the interactions with other men, they are seen as less masculine, and less of a man in general. If they are more human in their interactions with women, instead of implying systems of control and dominance, they are seen as less masculine as well. Because the gender identity of men is so tied up in the approval they receive from the world, instead of the approval of others, they seek first that approval at any cost. I think that women are more humane in their interactions with others because their approval inside of the patriarchal system is tied up with what others think of them and how others perceive them. Pretty much every single institutions and organizations that I have interacted with throughout my life have been from a patriarchal system, including school, church, youth group and family. I was taught to be in control, to carve out for myself a identity based on the approval of the larger group, and to seek first the approval of the general populous in whatever group I am a part of. In conclusion, my gender identity is completely a product of the “path of least resistance” idea. I have existed for the better part of my life simply following the trends and norms that surround me. This has resulted in my relative inability to describe my gender identity beyond the stereotypes and norms that society forces on us all, such as dominance, assertiveness, and the need to control my surroundings and situation. However, through the studies I am doing throughout this course, as well as the studies involved with the Sociology major, I am becoming more and more an agent of resistance and