Editing Gender role (section)

==Background==
{{See also|Gender expression}}

A '''gender role''', also known as a '''sex role''',<ref name="Sex Roles and Gender Roles">Levesque R.J.R. (2011) ''[https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4419-1695-2_602#howtocite Sex Roles and Gender Roles]''. In: Levesque R.J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Adolescence. Springer, New York, NY. {{ISBN|978-1-4419-1695-2}}. Retrieved 22 January 2018.</ref> is a [[social role]] encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's [[sex]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lindsey |first1=Linda L. |title=Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective |date=14 October 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-34808-5 |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qjjbCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 |access-date=19 December 2022 |language=en |quote=Gender roles, therefore, are the expected attitudes and behaviors a society associates with each sex.}}</ref><ref name="Alters">{{cite book |last1=Alters |first1=Sandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lc-YBRQkldAC&pg=PA143 |title=Essential Concepts for Healthy Living |last2=Schiff |first2=Wendy |publisher=[[Jones & Bartlett Publishers]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7637-5641-3 |page=143 |quote=gender role - patterns of behavior, attitudes, and personality attributes that are traditionally considered in a particular culture to be feminine or masculine. |access-date=3 January 2018}}</ref><ref name="Gochman">{{cite book |author=David S. Gochman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hW_1BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA424 |title=Handbook of Health Behavior Research II: Provider Determinants |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-4899-1760-7 |page=424 |quote=The social roles, behaviors, attitudes, and psychological characteristics that are more common, more expected, or more accepted for one sex or the other; includes a group of interrelated behaviors, attitudes, and psychological characteristics that influence a variety of risk and risk-taking behaviors as well as care-seeking behaviors. |access-date=3 January 2018}}</ref> Gender roles can be linked with [[essentialism]], the idea that humans have a set of attributes that are necessary to their [[Identity (philosophy)|identity]] based on their gender. Sociologists tend to use the term "gender role" instead of "sex role", because the [[sociocultural system|sociocultural]] understanding of gender is distinguished from biological conceptions of sex.<ref name="Lindsey 2015">{{cite book |last1=Lindsey |first1=Linda L. |title=Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-34808-5 |pages=4–5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qjjbCgAAQBAJ |access-date=6 March 2023}}</ref>

In the [[sociology of gender]], the process whereby an individual learns and acquires a gender role in society is termed ''[[gender socialization]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Adler |first1=Patricia A. |last2=Kless |first2=Steven J. |last3=Adler |first3=Peter |date=July 1992 |title=Socialization to Gender Roles: Popularity among Elementary School Boys and Girls |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_sociology-of-education_1992-07_65_3/page/169 |journal=Sociology of Education |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=169–187 |doi=10.2307/2112807 |jstor=2112807}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dill |first1=Karen E. |last2=Thill |first2=Kathryn P. |date=December 2007 |title=Video Game Characters and the Socialization of Gender Roles: Young People's Perceptions Mirror Sexist Media Depictions |journal=Sex Roles |volume=57 |issue=11–12 |pages=851–864 |doi=10.1007/s11199-007-9278-1 |s2cid=55706950 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Dietz |first1=Tracy L. |date=March 1998|title=An Examination of Violence and Gender Role Portrayals in Video Games: Implications for Gender Socialization and Aggressive Behavior |journal=Sex Roles |volume=38 |issue=5–6 |pages=425–442 |doi=10.1023/A:1018709905920 |s2cid=56032975 }}</ref>

Gender roles are culturally specific, and while most cultures distinguish only two ([[boy]]/[[man]] and [[girl]]/[[woman]]), others recognize more. Some non-Western societies have three genders: men, women, and a [[third gender]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=Will |date=17 June 2000 |title=Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn=0-312-22479-6}}<br />See also: Trumbach, Randolph (1994). ''London's Sapphists: From Three Sexes to Four Genders in the Making of Modern Culture.'' In Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History, edited by Gilbert Herdt, 111–36. New York: Zone (MIT). {{ISBN|978-0-942299-82-3}}</ref> [[Gender in Bugis society|Buginese society]] has identified five genders.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Richards |first1=Christina |last2=Bouman |first2=Walter Pierre |last3=Barker |first3=Meg-John |year=2017 |title=Genderqueer and non-binary genders |location=United Kingdom |publisher=Macmillan |pages=22, 306 |isbn=978-1-137-51053-2}}</ref><ref name="Graham">{{cite web |last=Graham |first=Sharyn |url=http://insideindonesia.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=982&Itemid=29%2Fedit66%2Fbissu2.htm |title=Sulawesi's fifth gender |website=Inside Indonesia |date=April–June 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090604031253/http://insideindonesia.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=982&Itemid=29%2Fedit66%2Fbissu2.htm |archive-date=4 June 2009}}</ref> [[Androgyny]] has sometimes also been proposed as a third gender.<ref>{{cite book |last=Maccoby |first=Eleanor Emmons |title=The Development of Sex Differences |year=1966 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |location=Stanford, Calif. |isbn=978-0-8047-0308-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/developmentofsex0000macc/page/25 25–55] |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_jumAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA27 |chapter=Sex differences in intellectual functioning |url=https://archive.org/details/developmentofsex0000macc/page/25}}</ref> An androgyne or [[androgynous]] person is someone with qualities pertaining to both the male and female gender. Some individuals identify with no gender at all.<ref>"LGBTQ Needs Assessment" (PDF). Encompass Network. April 2013. pp. 52–53. Retrieved 6 March 2015. {{cite web |url=http://encompassnetwork.org.uk/uploads/LGBTQ-Needs-Assesmentabsolutelyfinal.pdf |title=Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire LGBTQ Needs Assessment |date=April 2014 |access-date=18 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024234412/http://encompassnetwork.org.uk/uploads/LGBTQ-Needs-Assesmentabsolutelyfinal.pdf |archive-date=24 October 2014}}</ref>

Many [[Transgender|transgender people]] identify simply as men or women, and do not constitute a separate third gender.<ref name="vox-trans">{{cite web |url=https://www.vox.com/2015/4/24/8483561/transgender-gender-identity-expression |title=9 questions about gender identity and being transgender you were too embarrassed to ask |website=[[Vox (website)|Vox]] |last=Lopez |first=German |date=18 April 2016 |access-date=31 July 2016 |quote=Transitioning can be made much more difficult by persistent misconceptions, including the myth that transgender people belong to a third gender.}}</ref> Biological differences between (some) [[trans women]] and cisgender women have historically been treated as relevant in certain contexts, especially those where biological traits may yield an unfair advantage, such as sport.<ref name="trans-sport">{{cite journal |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/d8691a6dcaf6f5e469538ddc3fa4a5fb/1?pq-origsite=gscholar |title=Transsexual and Transgender Policies in Sport |last=Sykes |first=Heather |journal=Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal |volume=15 |pages=3–13 |number=1 |year=2006 |access-date=31 July 2016 |doi=10.1123/wspaj.15.1.3}}</ref>

''Gender role'' is not the same thing as ''[[gender identity]]'', which refers to the internal sense of one's own gender, whether or not it aligns with categories offered by societal norms. The point at which these [[Internalization (sociology)|internalized]] gender identities become [[Externalization (psychology)|externalized]] into a set of expectations is the genesis of a gender role.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Adler |first1=P. |last2=Kless |first2=S. |last3=Adler |first3=P. |year=1992 |title = Socialization to gender roles: Popularity among elementary school boys and girls |journal=[[Sociology of Education]] |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=169–087 |doi=10.2307/2112807 |jstor=2112807}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Acker |first1=J. |year=1992 |title=From sex roles to gendered institutions |journal=[[Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews]] |volume=21 |issue=5 |pages=565–569 |doi=10.2307/2075528 |jstor=2075528}}</ref>