Gender Identities and Gender Roles One Has

Gender Identities and Gender Roles One has very little choice as to what sex one is born with, but identifying with a certain gender is a different story. Although an individual can be born with a given sex, that does not guarantee the development of a specific type of gender (Lahey, 2005). Gender identity can have both biological and social influential factors, and it is this that in the end, define these concepts.

By the time a child is 30 months old, they have learned what the concept of gender identity is (Coon & Mitterer, 2008). Children learn that they are part of a certain category, whether it is boy or girl, and they know how to differentiate between a boy and a girl. Although at the beginning stages of gender identity development children still believe that gender could be changed, they are aware of its existence (Lahey, 2005). In a sense however, gender is not necessarily stable, just as sex is.

Gender identity is based on a choice that an individual makes. It entails all the rules and concepts associated within the given concepts. There are also certain stereotypes associated with gender identity (Lahey, 2005). For example, automatically when an individual sees a baby girl they automatically give them something pink, or associate the color pink with their identity, just as boys are then given the color blue as an assignment to their identity.

Getting roughed up and playing in the dirt is also something associated with the male identity, while playing with dolls is something that is given more direct contact with girls. These are also preconceived notions that people cannot help but falling into (Coon & Mitterer, 2008).

Of course this is all a very superficial concept of gender identity, as gender is something that is chosen, again unlike sex which is biological, and although the aforementioned is what is considered "normal," these identifications could be changed according to what the individual actually feels that they want to identify with. Gender roles tend to be given based on the stereotypes associated with the gender.

Although identity is something that is mostly established while a child or an adolescent, gender roles tend to be given more as an adult (Lahey, 2005). From a biological perspective, females are always going to be the only ones that can ever have children, so the mother role is always one that females are associated with. They are seen as the home maker, the nurturer, and the wife.

The male however, although they do take care of their children, they are mostly seen as the bread winners and the ones that bring stability to a family structure (Coon & Mitterer, 2008). Of course this is all also very situational and dependent on the given culture. When looking at the differences between gender perspectives, the biological analysis is always put upon the concepts. Evolutionary theory makes one believe that the gender differences have emerged as a way for the human species to survive (Coon & Mitterer, 2008).

Women are more biologically prone to raising children, and men are more biologically prone to support the family as a result of their bigger and.