Gender identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 5

Gender identity - Essay Example According to Devor, in all social categories, gender is the most transparent. The acquisition of gender roles come early in life making it hard to relate them to lessons taught and learned. He states that gender has nothing to do with socialization but, everything to do with nature. He further suggests that our ideas of being male or female are socially related. He clearly states that gender identity is a lifelong process. A story of my body: By Judith Ortiz Cofer. Cofer believes that the body plays a major role in different cultures and contexts. She goes on to reflect on how different societies have interpreted her appearances. To an extent, the story of her life is intertwined in this story. Her story brings out interesting comments on cross-cultural perception and gender. The thesis of this paper is generalized as gender identity. It tries to establish what comprises and defines gender identity. The two authors mentioned above have different perceptions about gender identity but all come to social factors. For instance, according to Devor, gender is determined by the roles one plays while on the other hand, Cofer perceives gender identity to be determined by the cultural standards. All these converge to the society which means that gender is identified by interacting with the society. Devor on Gender identity and generalized and significant others The generalized others acts as a kind of measuring or monitoring device through which people in a society judge their actions in reference to the generalized conceptions on how society members are expected to carry out their actions. In that way, individuals monitor their behavior in reference to what the society considers to be right or wrong. Therefore, these people have standards that censor their behaviors which may be either approved or disapproved by the society. Hence, the tension gives rise to the definition of self (Devor, pp 6) Although all others do play a significant figure in people’s lives, an d not everyone is of equal effect on self-development. Any individual is entitled to be part and parcel of the generalized others, but some people, by the sense of time volume spent in interacting with someone, or through particular interactions, would be more vital in the shaping of individuals’ values. The significant others are more influential in the creation of an individual’s self-image, goals, and one’s ideals. In that way, they weigh disproportionately on an individual’s generalized other. Hence, the individualistic impulses of children are outlined into a form that is socially acceptable by specific people and general pressure to adaption exerted by society members. Gender identity is, therefore, a focal point in the development of self-sense (Devor, pp 6) Cofer on generalized and significant others In contrary to Devor’s opinion on generalized others and its effect on one’s gender identity, Cofer argues in a completely different wa y. Coffer perceives one’s identity to be influenced by various aspects the body by different communities. He argues that different communities in their cultures define gender identity differently. For instance, Coffer, while she was in America skin color, had a diverse opinion depending on where one was. The Italian (butcher) at the supermarket discriminated her as she was darker compared to them while on the other hand, the Latinos considered her to be colored.