Editing Gender (section)

== Gender studies ==
[[Gender studies]] is a [[Field of study|field]] of [[interdisciplinary]] study and [[List of academic disciplines|academic field]] devoted to gender, [[gender identity]] and gendered [[Representation (politics)|representation]] as central categories of analysis. This field includes [[Women's studies]] (concerning [[women]], [[feminity]], their [[gender role]]s and politics, and [[feminism]]), [[Men's studies]] (concerning [[men]], [[masculinity]], their [[gender role]]s, and politics), and [[LGBT studies]].<ref name="whitman">{{cite web |title=Gender Studies |url=https://www.whitman.edu/content/genderstudies |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121212181127/https://www.whitman.edu/content/genderstudies |archive-date=12 December 2012 |access-date=2 May 2012 |publisher=Whitman College}}</ref>
Sometimes Gender studies is offered together with Study of [[Human sexuality|Sexuality]].
These disciplines study gender and sexuality in the fields of literature and language, [[history]], [[political science]], [[sociology]], [[anthropology]], [[Film studies|cinema]] and [[media studies]], human development, law, and medicine.<ref name="uchicago">{{cite web |title=About – Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality (CSGS) |url=https://gendersexuality.uchicago.edu/about/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814232205/https://gendersexuality.uchicago.edu/about/ |archive-date=14 August 2019 |access-date=2 May 2012 |publisher=[[The University of Chicago]]}}</ref>
It also analyses [[Race (human classification)|race]], [[ethnicity]], [[Location (geography)|location]], [[nationality]], and [[disability]].<ref name="indiana">{{cite web |title=Department of Gender Studies |url=https://www.indiana.edu/~gender/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170910173314/https://www.indiana.edu/~gender/ |archive-date=10 September 2017 |access-date=2 May 2012 |publisher=[[Indiana University]] (IU Bloomington)}}</ref><ref name="Race, Ethnicity, Gender & Class">Healey, J.F. (2003). ''Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Class: the Sociology of Group Conflict and Change'', Pine Forge Press {{ISBN|1-4129-1521-X}}</ref>

In gender studies, the term ''gender'' refers to proposed social and cultural constructions of masculinities and femininities. In this context, ''gender'' explicitly excludes reference to biological differences, to focus on cultural differences.<ref>Garrett, Stephanie (1992). [https://books.google.com/books?id=WMoNAAAAQAAJ ''Gender''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611140800/https://books.google.com/books?id=WMoNAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover|date=11 June 2020}}, Routledge, p. vii {{ISBN|0-422-60570-0}}.</ref> This emerged from a number of different areas: in sociology during the 1950s; from the theories of the psychoanalyst [[Jacques Lacan#Legacy and criticism|Jacques Lacan]]; and in the work of French psychoanalysts like [[Julia Kristeva]], [[Luce Irigaray]], and American feminists such as [[Judith Butler]]. Those who followed Butler came to regard gender roles as a practice, sometimes referred to as "[[performative]]".<ref>Butler (1990) p. 9.</ref>

Charles E. Hurst states that some people think sex will, "...automatically determine one's gender demeanor and role (social) as well as one's [[sexual orientation]]" (sexual attractions and behavior).<ref name="Hurst141">Hurst, C. (2007) ''Social Inequality: Forms, Causes, and Consequences''. 6th ed. pp. 131, 139–142</ref> Gender sociologists believe that people have [[cultural]] origins and habits for dealing with gender. For example, Michael Schwalbe believes that humans must be taught how to act appropriately in their designated gender to fill the role properly, and that the way people behave as masculine or feminine interacts with social expectations. Schwalbe comments that humans "are the results of many people embracing and acting on similar ideas".<ref>Schwalbe, M. (2005). The Sociologically Examined Life: Pieces of the Conversation Third Edition. pp. 22–23 {{ISBN|0-07-282579-0}}</ref> People do this through everything from [[clothing]] and hairstyle to relationship and employment choices. Schwalbe believes that these distinctions are important, because society wants to identify and categorize people as soon as we see them. They need to place people into distinct categories to know how we should feel about them.

Hurst comments that in a society where we present our genders so distinctly, there can often be severe consequences for breaking these cultural norms. Many of these consequences are rooted in [[discrimination]] based on sexual orientation. Gays and lesbians are often discriminated against in our legal system because of societal prejudices.<ref>Smith, N. and Stanley, E. (2011). Captive Genders. 1st ed. Edinburgh: AK Press.</ref><ref>Center for American Progress, (2016). Unjust: How The Broken Criminal Justice System Fails LGBT People. Washington.</ref><ref>Lydon et al., "Coming Out of Concrete Closets: A Report on Black & Pink's National LGBTQ Prisoner Survey."</ref> Hurst describes how this discrimination works against people for breaking gender norms, no matter what their sexual orientation is. He says that "courts often confuse sex, gender, and sexual orientation, and confuse them in a way that results in denying the rights not only of gays and lesbians, but also of those who do not present themselves or act in a manner traditionally expected of their sex".<ref name="Hurst141" /> This prejudice plays out in our legal system when a person is judged differently because they do not present themselves as the "correct" gender.

American political scientist Karen Beckwith addresses the concept of gender within political science arguing that a "common language of gender" exists and that it must be explicitly articulated in order to build upon it within the political science discipline. Beckwith describes two ways in which the political scientist may employ 'gender' when conducting empirical research: "gender as a category and as a process." Employing gender as a category allows for political scientists "to delineate specific contexts where behaviours, actions, attitudes and preferences considered masculine or feminine result in particular political outcomes". It may also demonstrate how gender differences, not necessarily corresponding precisely with sex, may "constrain or facilitate political" actors. Gender as a process has two central manifestations in political science research, firstly in determining "the differential effects of structures and policies upon men and women," and secondly, the ways in which masculine and feminine political actors "actively work to produce favorable gendered outcomes".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Karen |first=Beckwith |year=2005 |title=A Common Language of Gender? |journal=Politics & Gender |volume=1 |issue=1 |page=132 |doi=10.1017/s1743923x05211017 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |s2cid=146644541}}</ref>

With regard to gender studies, Jacquetta Newman states that although sex is determined biologically, the ways in which people express gender is not. Gendering is a socially constructed process based on culture, though often cultural expectations around women and men have a direct relationship to their biology. Because of this, Newman argues, many privilege sex as being a cause of oppression and ignore other issues like race, ability, poverty, etc. Current gender studies classes seek to move away from that and examine the intersectionality of these factors in determining people's lives. She also points out that other non-Western cultures do not necessarily have the same views of gender and gender roles.<ref>{{cite book |last=White |first=Linda |title=Women, Politics, and Public Policy: The Political Struggles of Canadian Women, 2nd ed |publisher=Oxford Press |year=1964 |pages=6–7}}</ref> Newman also debates the meaning of equality, which is often considered the goal of feminism; she believes that ''equality'' is a problematic term because it can mean many different things, such as people being treated identically, differently, or fairly based on their gender. Newman believes this is problematic because there is no unified definition as to what equality means or looks like, and that this can be significantly important in areas like public policy.<ref>{{cite book |last=White |first=Linda |title=Women, Politics, and Public Policy: The Political Struggles of Canadian Women, 2nd ed |publisher=Oxford Press |year=1964 |pages=11–12}}</ref>

=== Gender identity and gender roles ===
{{Main|Gender identity|Gender role}}
{{Transgender sidebar}}
[[File:Sebastian Berggren 1999 for Wild Side Story.jpg|thumb|upright|Gender depicted as an ambiguous phenomenon, by a young Swedish actor]]
''Gender identity'' refers to a personal identification with a particular gender and gender role in society. The term ''[[woman]]'' has historically been used interchangeably with reference to the female body, though more recently this usage has been viewed as controversial by some [[feminist]]s.<ref>Mikkola, Mari (12 May 2008). [https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2012/entries/feminism-gender "Feminist Perspectives on Sex and Gender."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125202601/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2012/entries/feminism-gender|date=25 January 2020}} Stanford University.</ref>

There are qualitative analyses that explore and present the representations of gender; however, [[feminist]]s challenge these dominant ideologies concerning gender roles and biological sex. One's biological sex is oftentimes tied to specific social roles and expectations. [[Judith Butler]] considers the concept of being a woman to have more challenges, owing not only to society's viewing women as a social category but also as a felt sense of self, a culturally conditioned or constructed subjective identity.<ref name="Butler 1990">Butler (1990)</ref> ''Social identity'' refers to the common identification with a collectivity or social category that creates a common culture among participants concerned.<ref>Snow, D.A. and Oliver, P.E. (1995). "Social Movements and Collective Behavior: Social Psychological Dimensions and Considerations", pp. 571–600 in Karen Cook, Gary A. Fine, and James S.House (eds.) ''Sociological Perspectives on Social Psychology''. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.</ref> According to [[social identity theory]],<ref>Taifel, H. & Turner, J.C. (1986). "The social identity of intergroup relations", pp. 7–24 in S. Worchel & W.G. Austin (eds.) ''The psychology of intergroup relations''. Chicago: Nelson-Hall. {{ISBN|0-8185-0278-9}}.</ref> an important component of the self-concept is derived from memberships in social groups and categories; this is demonstrated by group processes and how inter-group relationships impact significantly on individuals' self perception and behaviors. The groups people belong to therefore provide members with the definition of who they are and how they should behave within their social sphere.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Terry, D.J. |author2=Hogg, M.A. |year=1996 |title=Group norms and the attitude-behavior relationship: A role for group identification |journal=Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |volume=22 |issue=8 |pages=776–793 |doi=10.1177/0146167296228002 |s2cid=145426706}}</ref>
[[File:2013 Rally for Transgender Equality 21175.jpg|thumb|A protester holding a flyer with the words "Gender is like that old jumper from my cousin. It was given to me and it doesn't fit" at a rally for transgender equality in Washington D.C. in 2013]]
Categorizing males and females into [[social role]]s creates a problem for some individuals who feel they have to be at one end of a linear spectrum and must identify themselves as man or woman, rather than being allowed to choose a section in between.<ref>Pathak, Sunita, and Pathak, Surendra [https://www.academia.edu/263120/Gender_and_the_MDGs_with_reference_to_women_as_human "Gender and the MDGs with Reference to Women as Human"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125202321/https://www.academia.edu/263120/Gender_and_the_MDGs_with_reference_to_women_as_human|date=25 January 2020}}. Academia.edu.</ref> Globally, communities interpret biological differences between men and women to create a set of social expectations that define the behaviors that are "appropriate" for men and women and determine their different access to rights, resources, power in society and health behaviors.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Galdas |first1=P. M. |last2=Johnson |first2=J. L. |last3=Percy |first3=M.E. |last4=Ratner |first4=P.A. |year=2010 |title=Help seeking for cardiac symptoms: Beyond the masculine–feminine binary |journal=Social Science & Medicine |volume=71 |issue=1 |pages=18–24 |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.03.006 |pmc=5142841 |pmid=20398989}}</ref> Although the specific nature and degree of these differences vary from one society to the next, they still tend to typically favor men, creating an imbalance in power and [[Gender inequality|gender inequalities]] within most societies.<ref name="Warnecke, Tonia 2013">{{Cite journal |last1=Warnecke |first1=T. |year=2013 |title=Entrepreneurship and Gender: An Institutional Perspective |journal=Journal of Economic Issues |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=455–464 |doi=10.2753/JEI0021-3624470219 |s2cid=153502466}}</ref> Many cultures have different systems of norms and beliefs based on gender, but there is no universal standard to a masculine or feminine role across all cultures.<ref>Spade, J., Valentine, C. (2011). ''The kaleidoscope of gender: prisms, patterns, and possibilities''. Pine Forge Press. 3rd edition</ref> Social roles of men and women in relation to each other is based on the cultural norms of that society, which lead to the creation of [[gender systems]]. The gender system is the basis of social patterns in many societies, which include the separation of sexes, and the primacy of masculine norms.<ref name="Warnecke, Tonia 2013" />

Philosopher [[Michel Foucault]] said that as sexual subjects, humans are the object of power, which is not an institution or structure, rather it is a signifier or name attributed to "complex strategical situation".<ref>Tong, Rosemarie (2009). ''[[iarchive:feministthoughtc00tong|Feminist thought: a more comprehensive introduction]]'' / Rosemarie Tong. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press {{ISBN|0-8133-4375-5}}.</ref> Because of this, "power" is what determines individual attributes, behaviors, etc. and people are a part of an ontologically and epistemologically constructed set of names and [[Label (sociology)|labels]]. For example, being female characterizes one as a woman, and being a woman signifies one as weak, emotional, and irrational, and incapable of actions attributed to a "man". Butler said that gender and sex are more like verbs than nouns. She reasoned that her actions are limited because she is female. "I am not permitted to construct my gender and sex willy-nilly," she said.<ref name="Butler 1990" /> "[This] is so because gender is politically and therefore socially controlled. Rather than 'woman' being something one is, it is something one does."<ref name="Butler 1990" /> More recent criticisms of Judith Butler's theories critique her writing for reinforcing the very conventional dichotomies of gender.<ref>Vigo, Julian. [[iarchive:TheBodyInGenderDiscourseTheFragmentarySpaceOfTheFeminine 203|'The Body in Gender Discourse: The Fragmentary Space of the Feminine.']] ''La femme et l'écriture''. Meknès, Maroc, 1996.</ref>

==== Social assignment and gender fluidity ====
{{See also|Sex assignment|Gender fluidity}}

According to gender theorist [[Kate Bornstein]], gender can have ambiguity and [[Genderfluidity|fluidity]].<ref>Bornstein, Kate (1995). ''Gender Outlaw – On Men, Women and the rest of us'', Vintage, {{ISBN|0-679-75701-5}} pp. 51–52</ref> There are two<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-06-28 |title=What Is Fluid? |url=https://www.webmd.com/sex/what-is-fluid |access-date=2022-06-23 |website=WebMD |language=en}} Reviewed by Dan Brennan</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Zheng |first=Lily |date=2020-11-20 |title=Transgender, Gender-Fluid, Nonbinary, and Gender-Nonconforming Employees Deserve Better Policies |url=https://hbr.org/2020/11/transgender-gender-fluid-nonbinary-and-gender-nonconforming-employees-deserve-better-policies |access-date=2022-06-23 |work=Harvard Business Review |issn=0017-8012}}</ref> contrasting ideas regarding the definition of gender, and the intersection of both of them is definable as below:

The [[World Health Organization]] defines gender as "the characteristics of women, men, girls and boys that are socially constructed".<ref name="who-gender">{{cite web |title=Gender |url=https://www.who.int/health-topics/gender |access-date=8 February 2023 |website=World Health Organization}}</ref> The beliefs, values and attitude taken up and exhibited by them is as per the agreed upon norms of the society and the personal opinion of the person is not taken into the primary consideration of assignment of gender and imposition of gender roles as per the assigned gender.<ref name="www.who.int" />

The assignment of gender involves taking into account the physiological and biological attributes assigned by nature followed by the imposition of the socially constructed conduct. ''Gender'' is a term used to exemplify the attributes that a society or culture constitutes as "masculine" or "feminine". Although a person's sex as male or female stands as a biological fact that is identical in any culture, what that specific sex means in reference to a person's gender role as a man or a woman in society varies cross-culturally according to what things are considered to be masculine or feminine.<ref name="Birke, Lynda 2001">Birke, Lynda (2001). "Chapter 24, In Pursuit of Difference." ''The Gender and Science Reader''. New York: Routledge, pp. 309–322.</ref> These roles are learned from various, intersecting sources such as parental influences, the socialization a child receives in school, and what is portrayed in the local media. Learning gender roles starts from birth and includes seemingly simple things like what color outfits a baby is clothed in or what toys they are given to play with. However, a person's gender does not always align with what has been assigned at birth. Factors other than learned behaviors play a role in the development of gender.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ehrensaft |first=Diane |date=25 May 2017 |title=Gender nonconforming youth: current perspectives |journal=Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics |language=en |volume=8 |pages=57–67 |doi=10.2147/ahmt.s110859 |issn=1179-318X |pmc=5448699 |pmid=28579848 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

The article ''Adolescent Gender-Role Identity and Mental Health: Gender Intensification Revisited'' focuses on the work of Heather A. Priess, Sara M. Lindberg, and [[Janet Shibley Hyde]] on whether or not girls and boys diverge in their gender identities during adolescent years. The researchers based their work on ideas previously mentioned by Hill and Lynch in their gender intensification hypothesis in that signals and messages from parents determine and affect their children's [[gender role]] identities. This hypothesis argues that parents affect their children's gender role identities and that different interactions spent with either parents will affect gender intensification. Priess and among other's study did not support the hypothesis of Hill and Lynch which stated "that as adolescents experience these and other socializing influences, they will become more stereotypical in their gender-role identities and gendered attitudes and behaviors."<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Priess |first1=Heather A. |last2=Lindberg |first2=Sara M. |last3=Hyde |first3=Janet Shibley |year=2009 |title=Adolescent Gender-Role Identity and Mental Health: Gender Intensification Revisited |journal=Child Development |volume=80 |issue=5 |pages=1531–1544 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01349.x |jstor=25592088 |pmc=4244905 |pmid=19765016}}</ref> However, the researchers did state that perhaps the hypothesis Hill and Lynch proposed was true in the past but is not true now due to changes in the population of teens in respect to their gender-role identities.

Authors of "Unpacking the Gender System: A Theoretical Perspective on Gender Beliefs and Social Relations", [[Cecilia Ridgeway]] and [[Shelley Correll]], argue that gender is more than an identity or role but is something that is institutionalized through "social relational contexts." Ridgeway and Correll define "social relational contexts" as "any situation in which individuals define themselves in relation to others in order to act."<ref name="Wiley">{{Cite journal |last1=Ridgeway |first1=Cecilia L. |author-link=Cecilia L. Ridgeway |last2=Correll |first2=Shelley J. |author2-link=Shelley Correll |year=2004 |title=Unpacking the Gender System: A Theoretical Perspective on Gender Beliefs and Social Relations |journal=Gender |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=510–531 |doi=10.1177/0891243204265269 |jstor=4149448 |s2cid=8797797}}</ref> They also point out that in addition to social relational contexts, cultural beliefs plays a role in the gender system. The coauthors argue that daily people are forced to acknowledge and interact with others in ways that are related to gender. Every day, individuals are interacting with each other and comply with society's set standard of [[hegemonic]] beliefs, which includes gender roles. They state that society's hegemonic cultural beliefs sets the rules which in turn create the setting for which social relational contexts are to take place. Ridgeway and Correll then shift their topic towards sex categorization. The authors define sex categorization as "the sociocognitive process by which we label another as male or female."<ref name="Wiley" />

The failure of an attempt to raise [[David Reimer]] from infancy through adolescence as a girl after his genitals were accidentally mutilated is cited as disproving the theory that [[gender identity]] is determined solely by parenting.<ref>{{cite web |title=David Reimer, subject of 'sex reassignment,' dead at 38 |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/May/13/ln/ln52a.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180807124805/http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/May/13/ln/ln52a.html |archive-date=7 August 2018 |access-date=11 November 2020}}</ref><ref name="Colapinto2">{{cite book |author-link=John Colapinto |url=https://archive.org/details/asnaturemadehim00john |title=As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl |vauthors=Colapinto J |publisher=[[Harper Perennial]] |year=2001 |isbn=0-06-092959-6}} Revised in 2006{{page needed|date=October 2017}}</ref> Reimer's case is used by organizations such as the [[Intersex Society of North America]] to caution against needlessly modifying the genitals of unconsenting minors.<ref>[http://www.isna.org/faq/reimer Intersex Society of North America | A world free of shame, secrecy, and unwanted genital surgery]</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Meyer-Bahlburg |first=Heino F. L. |date=2005-08-01 |title=Gender Identity Outcome in Female-Raised 46,XY Persons with Penile Agenesis, Cloacal Exstrophy of the Bladder, or Penile Ablation |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-005-4342-9 |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |language=en |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=423–438 |doi=10.1007/s10508-005-4342-9 |issn=1573-2800 |pmid=16010465 |s2cid=34971769}}</ref> Between the 1960s and 2000, many other male newborns and infants were surgically and socially reassigned as females if they were born with malformed penises, or if they lost their penises in accidents. At the time, surgical [[Vaginoplasty|reconstruction of the vagina]] was more advanced than [[Phalloplasty|reconstruction of the penis]], leading many doctors and psychologists, including [[John Money]] who oversaw Reimer's case, to recommend sex reassignment based on the idea that these patients would be happiest living as women with functioning genitalia.<ref name="Bailey12">{{cite journal |vauthors=Bailey JM, Vasey PL, Diamond LM, Breedlove SM, Vilain E, Epprecht M |date=September 2016 |title=Sexual Orientation, Controversy, and Science |journal=Psychological Science in the Public Interest |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=45–101 |doi=10.1177/1529100616637616 |pmid=27113562 |s2cid=42281410 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Available evidence indicates that in such instances, parents were deeply committed to raising these children as girls and in as gender-typical a manner as possible.<ref name="Bailey12" />{{rp|72–73}} A 2005 review of these cases found that about half of natal males reassigned female lived as women in adulthood, including those who knew their medical history, suggesting that gender assignment and related social factors has a major, though not determinative, influence on eventual gender identity.<ref name=":5" />

In 2015, the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]] released a webinar series on gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender, etc.<ref>{{Cite web |title=American Academy of Pediatrics, Education, LGBT Health and Wellness |url=https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/Committees-Councils-Sections/solgbt/Pages/Education.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804215532/https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/Committees-Councils-Sections/solgbt/Pages/Education.aspx |archive-date=2017-08-04 |website=www.aap.org |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=September 11, 2015 |title=American Academy of Pediatrics Webinar Series – What is Gender? |url=https://www.aap.org/en-us/Documents/solgbt_webinar_what_is_gender_sherer.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180807185854/https://www.aap.org/en-us/Documents/solgbt_webinar_what_is_gender_sherer.pdf |archive-date=7 August 2018 |access-date=17 February 2022 |website=American Academy of Pediatrics}}</ref> In the first lecture Sherer explains that parents' influence (through punishment and reward of behavior) can influence gender ''expression'' but not gender ''identity''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dr. Sherer |date=2015-09-15 |title=SOLGBTHW Webinar – What is Gender Terminology and Definitions |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrqIq1oiwdY |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191206064520/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrqIq1oiwdY&gl=US&hl=en |archive-date=2019-12-06 |work=American Academy of Pediatrics}}</ref> Sherer argued that kids will modify their gender expression to seek reward from their parents and society, but this will not affect their gender identity (their internal sense of self).

==== Societal categories ====
{{infobox symbol
|name           = [[Gender symbols]]
|mark=[[File:Venus symbol (fixed width).svg|60px|♀]] [[File:Male symbol (fixed width).svg|60px|♂]] [[File:Male and female sign.svg|60px|⚥]]<br>[[File:Fire symbol (alchemical).svg|60px|△]] [[File:Square symbol.svg|60px|□]] [[File:Full moon symbol.svg|60px|○]]
|unicode=
}}

[[File:Mollcutpurse.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Mary Frith]] ("Moll Cutpurse") scandalized 17th century society by wearing male clothing, smoking in public, and otherwise defying gender roles.]]
Sexologist John Money [[Neologism|coined the term]] ''gender role'' in 1955. The term ''[[gender role]]'' is defined as the actions or responses that may reveal their status as boy, man, girl or woman, respectively.<ref name="drescher" /> Elements surrounding gender roles include clothing, speech patterns, movement, occupations, and other factors not limited to biological sex. In contrast to taxonomic approaches, some feminist philosophers have argued that gender "is a vast orchestration of subtle mediations between oneself and others", rather than a "private cause behind manifest behaviours".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Laurie |first=Timothy |year=2014 |title=The Ethics of Nobody I Know: Gender and the Politics of Description |url=https://www.academia.edu/6262250 |url-status=live |journal=Qualitative Research Journal |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=64–78 |doi=10.1108/qrj-03-2014-0011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102041812/https://www.academia.edu/6262250 |archive-date=2 November 2021 |access-date=20 June 2015 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10453/44221}}</ref>

===== Non-binary and third genders =====
{{main|Genderqueer|Third gender}}
Historically, most societies have recognized only two distinct, broad classes of gender roles, a [[gender binary|binary]] of masculine and feminine, largely corresponding to the biological sexes of male and female.<ref name="Nadal-re-binary" /><ref name="Llorente-re-binary">Maria Llorente, ''Culture, Heritage, and Diversity in Older Adult Mental Health Care'' (2018, {{ISBN|1615372059}}), p. 184: "Historically, in many, if not most, cultures, gender traditionally has been conceived as binary, but the modern and preferred understanding is that gender actually occurs on a spectrum."</ref><ref>Marie L. Miville, Angela D. Ferguson, ''Handbook of Race-Ethnicity and Gender in Psychology'' (2014, {{ISBN|1461488605}}), p. 47: "In Western societies, as in many regions of the world, gender has been historically conceptualized and constructed as a binary (being either "male" or "female") largely determined by both biological (genetic and hormonal) and social cognitive (social, cultural reinforcement, and modeling of gendered behaviour)."</ref> When a baby is born, society allocates the child to one gender or the other, on the basis of what their genitals resemble.<ref name="Birke, Lynda 2001" />

However, some societies have historically acknowledged and even honored people who fulfill a gender role that exists more in the middle of the continuum between the feminine and masculine polarity. For example, the Hawaiian [[māhū]], who occupy "a place in the middle" between male and female,<ref>{{cite web |date=27 May 2014 |title=Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu – TedxMaui |url=https://tedxmaui.com/hinaleimoana-wong-kalu/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200504061735/https://tedxmaui.com/hinaleimoana-wong-kalu/ |archive-date=4 May 2020 |access-date=17 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Intersections: Transgender, Queens, Mahu, Whatever': An Oral History from Hawai'i |url=https://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue6/matzner.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200712194953/https://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue6/matzner.html |archive-date=12 July 2020 |access-date=17 February 2022}}</ref> or the [[Ojibwe language|Ojibwe]] ''ikwekaazo'', "men who choose to function as women",<ref name="Treur2011">{{cite book |last1=Treuer |first1=Anton |title=The Assassination of Hole in the Day |date=2011 |publisher=Borealis Books |isbn=978-0873518017 |chapter=Women and Gender |access-date=17 October 2016 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1aIrg3wiUyoC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227120241/https://books.google.com/books?id=1aIrg3wiUyoC |archive-date=27 February 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> or ''ininiikaazo'', "women who function as men".<ref name="Treur2011" /> In the language of the [[sociology of gender]], some of these people may be considered [[third gender]], especially by those in gender studies or anthropology. Contemporary [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] and [[FNIM]] people who fulfill these traditional roles in their communities may also participate in the modern, [[two-spirit]] community,<ref>{{Cite book |title=Third Sex Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History |publisher=Zone Books |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-942299-82-3 |editor=Gilbert Herdt |oclc=35293440}}</ref> however, these umbrella terms, neologisms, and ways of viewing gender are not necessarily the type of cultural constructs that more traditional members of these communities agree with.<ref name="Kehoe">{{cite web |last=Kehoe |first=Alice B. |author-link=Alice Beck Kehoe |date=2002 |title=Appropriate Terms |url=https://www.saa.org/publications/saabulletin/16-2/saa14.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041105120021/https://www.saa.org/publications/saabulletin/16-2/saa14.html |archive-date=5 November 2004 |access-date=2019-05-01 |work=SAA Bulletin |publisher=Society for American Archaeology 16(2), [[UC-Santa Barbara]] |issn=0741-5672 |quote=At the conferences that produced the book, ''Two-Spirited People'', I heard several First Nations people describe themselves as very much unitary, neither "male" nor "female," much less a pair in one body. Nor did they report an assumption of duality within one body as a common concept within reservation communities; rather, people confided dismay at the Western proclivity for dichotomies. Outside Indo-European-speaking societies, "gender" would not be relevant to the social personae glosses "men" and "women," and "third gender" likely would be meaningless. The unsavory word "berdache" certainly ought to be ditched (Jacobs et al. 1997:3–5), but the urban American neologism "two-spirit" can be misleading.}}</ref>

The [[hijra (South Asia)|hijras]] of [[India]] and [[Pakistan]] are often cited as [[third gender]].<ref>[[Serena Nanda|Nanda, Serena]] (1998). ''Neither Man Nor Woman: The Hijras of India''. Wadsworth Publishing. {{ISBN|0-534-50903-7}}</ref><ref>Reddy, Gayatri (2005). ''With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India.'' (Worlds of Desire: The Chicago Series on Sexuality, Gender, and Culture), University of Chicago Press (2005). {{ISBN|0-226-70756-3}}</ref> Another example may be the [[muxe]] (pronounced {{IPA|zap|ˈmuʃe|}}), found in the state of Oaxaca, in southern Mexico.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/weekinreview/07lacey.html "A lifestyle distinct: the Muxe of Mexico,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200424055510/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/weekinreview/07lacey.html|date=24 April 2020}} ''New York Times'', 6 December 2008.</ref> The [[Bugis]] people of [[Sulawesi]], [[Indonesia]] have [[Gender in Bugis society|a tradition]] that incorporates all the features above.<ref>Graham, Sharyn (April–June 2001) [https://www.insideindonesia.org/edit66/bissu2.htm Sulawesi's Fifth Gender] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060618180935/https://www.insideindonesia.org/edit66/bissu2.htm|date=18 June 2006}}. ''Inside Indonesia''.</ref>

In addition to these traditionally recognized third genders, many cultures now recognize, to differing degrees, various [[genderqueer|non-binary gender identities]]. People who are non-binary (or genderqueer) have gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine. They may identify as having an overlap of gender identities, having two or more genders, having no gender, having a fluctuating gender identity, or being third gender or other-gendered. Recognition of non-binary genders is still somewhat new to mainstream Western culture,<ref>McGee, R. Jon and Richard L. Warms (2011). Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. New York, McGraw Hill.</ref> and non-binary people may face increased risk of assault, harassment, and discrimination.<ref name="Harrison2011">{{cite journal |author1=Jack Harrison |author2=Jaime Grant |author3=Jody L. Herman |year=2011–2012 |title=A Gender Not Listed Here: Genderqueers, Gender Rebels, and Otherwise in the National Transgender Discrimination Survey |url=https://www.thetaskforce.org/downloads/release_materials/agendernotlistedhere.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=LGBTQ Policy Journal |volume=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725182217/https://www.thetaskforce.org/downloads/release_materials/agendernotlistedhere.pdf |archive-date=25 July 2012 |access-date=20 December 2017}}</ref>

==== Measurement of gender identity ====
Two instruments incorporating the multidimensional nature of masculinity and femininity have dominated gender identity research: The [[Bem Sex-Role Inventory|Bem Sex Role Inventory]] (BSRI) and the [[Personal Attributes Questionnaire]] (PAQ).<ref name="Stets2023">{{cite book |last1=Stets |first1=Jan E. |title=Advancing Identity Theory, Measurement, and Research |last2=Kushida |first2=Melanie |last3=Fares |first3=Phoenicia |last4=Whitham |first4=Monica M. |date=26 August 2023 |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |isbn=978-3-031-32985-2 |series=Frontiers in Sociology and Social Research |volume=10 |pages=79–107 |chapter=Exploring Current Gender Meanings: Creating a New Gender Identity Scale |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-32986-9_5 |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-32986-9_5}}</ref> Both instruments categorize individuals as either being sex typed (males report themselves as identifying primarily with masculine traits, females report themselves as identifying primarily with feminine traits), cross sex-typed (males report themselves as identifying primarily with feminine traits, females report themselves as identifying primarily with masculine traits), [[Androgyny|androgynous]] (either males or females who report themselves as high on both masculine and feminine traits) or undifferentiated (either males or females who report themselves as low on both masculine and feminine traits).<ref name="palan">{{cite journal |author=Palan, K. |year=2001 |title=Gender Identity in Consumer Research: A Literature Review and Research Agenda |url=https://www.amsreview.org/articles/palan10-2001.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Academy of Marketing Science Review |volume=10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120911204513/https://www.amsreview.org/articles/palan10-2001.pdf |archive-date=11 September 2012}}</ref> Twenge (1997) noted that men are generally more masculine than women and women generally more feminine than men, but the association between biological sex and masculinity/femininity is waning.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Twenge |first1=Jean M. |year=1997 |title=Changes in masculine and feminine traits over time: A meta-analysis |journal=Sex Roles |volume=36 |issue=5–6 |pages=305–325 |doi=10.1007/BF02766650 |s2cid=144858334}}</ref>

=== Social construction of sex hypotheses ===
[[File:WomanFactory1940s.jpg|thumb|"[[Rosie the Riveter]]" was an iconic symbol of the American [[Home front during World War II|homefront]] in [[World War II|WWII]] and a departure from restrictive, "feminine", [[gender role]]s due to [[Total war|wartime necessity]].]]{{Main|Social construction of sex}}
The [[World Health Organization]] states "As a social construct, gender varies from society to society and can change over time."<ref name="WHO 2023">{{cite web |title=Gender and health |url=https://www.who.int/health-topics/gender#tab=tab_1 |access-date=7 April 2023 |publisher=[[World Health Organization]]}}</ref> Sociologists generally regard gender as a social construct. For instance, [[Ann Oakley]], a professor of sociology and social policy, says "the constancy of sex must be admitted, but so also must the variability of gender."<ref>Oakley, Ann (1972). ''Sex, Gender and Society''. London: Temple Smith. p. 16 {{ISBN|0-85117-020-X}}.</ref> Lynda Birke, a feminist biologist, maintains "'biology' is not seen as something which might change."<ref>Birke, Lynda (2001). "In Pursuit of Difference: Scientific Studies of Women and Men," Muriel Lederman and Ingrid Bartsch eds., ''The Gender and Science Reader'', New York: Routledge. p. 320.</ref> 

However, there are scholars who argue that sex is also socially constructed. For example, gender studies writer [[Judith Butler]] states that "perhaps this construct called 'sex' is as culturally constructed as gender; indeed, perhaps it was always already gender, with the consequence that the distinction between sex and gender turns out to be no distinction at all."<ref>Butler (1990) p. 7.</ref><br />
They continue:<blockquote>It would make no sense, then, to define gender as the cultural interpretation of sex, if sex is itself a gender-centered category. Gender should not be conceived merely as the cultural inscription of meaning based on a given sex (a juridical conception); gender must also designate the very apparatus of production whereby the sexes themselves are established. [...] This production of sex as the pre-discursive should be understood as the effect of the apparatus of cultural construction designated by gender.<ref>Butler (1990) p. 10.</ref></blockquote>

Butler argues that "bodies only appear, only endure, only live within the productive constraints of certain highly gendered regulatory schemas,"<ref>Butler (1993) p. xi.</ref> and sex is "no longer as a bodily given on which the construct of gender is artificially imposed, but as a cultural norm which governs the materialization of bodies."<ref>Butler (1993) pp. 2–3.</ref>

With regard to history, Linda Nicholson, a professor of history and [[women's studies]], argues that the understanding of human bodies as sexually dimorphic was historically not recognised. She states that male and female genitals were considered inherently the same in Western society until the 18th century. At that time, female genitals were regarded as incomplete male genitals, and the difference between the two was conceived as a matter of degree. In other words, there was a belief in a gradation of physical forms, or a spectrum.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Nicholson, Linda |year=1994 |title="Interpreting Gender". Signs |journal=Journal of Women in Culture and Society |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=79–105 |doi=10.1086/494955 |jstor=3174928 |s2cid=225085688}}</ref> Scholars such as [[Helen King (classicist)|Helen King]], [[Joan Cadden (historian)|Joan Cadden]], and Michael Stolberg have criticized this interpretation of history.<ref>Helen King. 2013. ''The One-Sex Body on Trial: The Classical and Early Modern Evidence.'' Farnham: Ashgate. 978-1-4094-6335-1</ref> Cadden notes that the "one-sex" model was disputed even in ancient and medieval medicine,<ref>Joan Cadden. 1993. ''Meanings of Sex Difference in the Middle Ages: Medicine, Science, and Culture.'' Cambridge University Press.</ref> and Stolberg points out that already in the sixteenth century, medicine had begun to move towards a two-sex model.<ref>Michael Stolberg. 2003. "A Woman Down to her Bones. The Anatomy of Sexual Difference in the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries." ''Isis,'' 94: 274-299.</ref>

In addition, drawing from the empirical research of [[intersex]] children, [[Anne Fausto-Sterling]], a professor of biology and [[gender studies]], describes how the doctors address the issues of intersexuality. She starts her argument with an example of the birth of an intersexual individual and maintains "our conceptions of the nature of gender difference shape, even as they reflect, the ways we structure our social system and polity; they also shape and reflect our understanding of our physical bodies."<ref>Fausto-Sterling (2000) p. 45.</ref> Then she adds how gender assumptions affects the scientific study of sex by presenting the research of intersexuals by John Money et al., and she concludes that "they never questioned the fundamental assumption that there are only two sexes, because their goal in studying intersexuals was to find out more about 'normal' development."<ref>Fausto-Sterling (2000) p. 46.</ref> She also mentions the language the doctors use when they talk with the parents of the intersexuals. After describing how the doctors inform parents about the intersexuality, she asserts that because the doctors believe that the intersexuals are actually male or female, they tell the parents of the intersexuals that it will take a little bit more time for the doctors to determine whether the infant is a boy or a girl. That is to say, the doctors' behavior is formulated by the cultural gender assumption that there are only two sexes. Lastly, she maintains that the differences in the ways in which the medical professionals in different regions treat intersexual people also give us a good example of how sex is socially constructed.<ref name="Fausto-Sterling, Anne 2000">Fausto-Sterling (2000)</ref> In her ''[[Sexing the Body]]: gender politics and the construction of sexuality'', she introduces the following example:<blockquote> A group of physicians from Saudi Arabia recently reported on several cases of XX intersex children with [[congenital adrenal hyperplasia]] (CAH), a genetically inherited malfunction of the [[enzyme]]s that aid in making [[steroid hormones]]. [...] In the United States and Europe, such children, because they have the potential to bear children later in life, are usually raised as girls. Saudi doctors trained in this European tradition recommended such a course of action to the Saudi parents of CAH XX children. A number of parents, however, refused to accept the recommendation that their child, initially identified as a son, be raised instead as a daughter. Nor would they accept feminizing surgery for their child. [...] This was essentially an expression of local community attitudes with [...] the preference for male offspring.<ref>Fausto-Sterling (2000) pp. 58–59.</ref></blockquote>

Thus it is evident that culture can play a part in assigning gender, particularly in relation to intersex children.<ref name="Fausto-Sterling, Anne 2000" />