Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Sex or Gender: what influences masculinity the most?

It seems that everyone around me are having babies this season and every other season. I have had a lot of my friends invite  me to their “sex” reveal party or as they said it in the stone ages, “gender” reveal party. I was sitting at karen’s baby shower when her aunt leaned into me and said “sex reveal? Why not gender? What the hell is the difference anyway?” I answered to her and said that as the child grew into adulthood, it would grow into its own person and decide its own gender identity. I told her that the baby’s sex would be related to its genitalia and its social experiences and performances would influence its gender. I think I put it as simple as I could without confusing myself or her. She then looked at me and nodded, without saying another word. Six seconds later, she mumbled “this generation is so f***ed up. Sex reveal!” I ignored her mumbling and thought about what might have caused her confusion. Has the ideas of gender and sex definitions really changed that much overtime? It seems that the definitions of both have not changed, but people have become more mindful of the distinction between the two. Sex is more biological and anatomical while gender is based on social roles/ performances. It seems simple right!? Wrong! With trying to understand the the difference between sex and gender, I always wonder if either influence masculinity. Does genitalia or roles make you more masculine or a combination of both? If I have male genitalia am I more likely to be more masculine versus if I am treated and perform what would be traditional male roles. I feel like this is a question I feel fail to answer myself and understand. I strongly believe that experiences (I guess gender identity) make people more masculine, but as a woman I do not believe I truly understand what masculinity is aside from its basic definition. I always think about effeminate straight men. Are they not masculine enough? I found a few videos on the internet that gauged my question about and this one stuck out to me the most.

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