Gender Identity: Biology vs. Social Construction Debate

Introduction: The Origins of Gender Identity

The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze several essays from Signs of Life in the U.S.A., edited by Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. Specifically, it will consider the debate over the origins of gender identity: Is it primarily biological, or is it largely socially constructed? Gender identity is something nearly everyone struggles with at one point or another. There are girls who want to excel at athletics and science, and boys who want to excel at fashion design and color coordination, and these desires directly oppose the gender roles society places on men and women. Gender identity, then, is largely socially constructed, but for many people who struggle with their identities from a young age, gender identity is fundamentally about their own unique biology. Ultimately, gender identity is a blend of social constructs and each person's own unique biological makeup.

Social Construction of Gender from Birth

Gender identity is most certainly socially constructed in our country, and it begins at the time of birth. Little baby boys come home from the hospital to blue, yellow, red, or green rooms — never pink — decorated with sailboats, jungle animals, or trains, while little girls come home to frilly pink rooms decorated with ruffles, fairies, princesses, and stuffed animals. From then on, the gender roles for little boys and girls become even clearer, and they point children down the "right" paths that little boys and little girls are expected to follow from a very young age. Little boys grow up learning they do not play with dolls, cook, or care about what they wear, while little girls grow up learning they do not get dirty, do not play competitive sports, and never outshine the boys on the playground or in the classroom.

In her essay "I Won. I'm Sorry," Mariah Burton Nelson writes about Sylvia Plath, the well-known poet who committed suicide: "Sylvia was pleased to finish second in a spelling contest. 'It was nicer, she felt, to have a boy first'" (Burton Nelson 439). While this idea may seem outmoded in today's world, there are subtle — and not so subtle — signs of it everywhere in society, from the National Spelling Bee, where boys almost always finish first, to recent television news reports that have finally worked to dispel the notion that boys are inherently better at science and math. Parents and others instill in girls from a young age that boys are somehow "superior," and this is a gender identity social construct if there ever was one.

Social constructs follow boys and girls throughout their lives. Writer Aaron Devor explores many of these constructs, which begin very early, in his essay "Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes." He writes, "Members of both genders are believed to share many of the same human characteristics, although in different relative proportions; both males and females are popularly thought to be able to do many of the same things, but most activities are divided into suitable and unsuitable categories for each gender class" (Devor 459). This is the crux of the socially acceptable gender issue — "suitable and unsuitable" — and what that distinction means in practice. There are certain roles that women can certainly fill in society, from racecar driver to football player, but these roles are not always considered "suitable," which is why so few women appear in these male-dominated sports. Even less acceptable, in the eyes of many, are females who show no maternal or nurturing tendencies; society tends to view them as abnormal in some way, while men who show such tendencies are similarly seen as unsuitable or weak.

Thus, society — subtly and not so subtly — colors the way gender is viewed and the way men and women view themselves. There are so many social constructs for each gender that children, from a very young age, grow up understanding what is considered right and wrong for their gender, and how they will be judged if they stray too far from these constructs. Society is a powerful element of gender identity, and it always will be.

References

Blum, Deborah. "The Gender Blur: Where Does Biology End and Society Take Over?" Signs of Life in the U.S.A., 5th ed. Maasik & Solomon, eds. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006. 475–482.

Burton Nelson, Mariah. "I Won. I'm Sorry." Signs of Life in the U.S.A., 5th ed. Maasik & Solomon, eds. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006. 439–445.

Craig, Steve. "Men's Men and Women's Women." Signs of Life in the U.S.A., 5th ed. Maasik & Solomon, eds. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006. 161–173.

Devor, Aaron. "Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes." Signs of Life in the U.S.A., 5th ed. Maasik & Solomon, eds. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006. 458–464.

Mayer, Andre. "The New Sexual Stone Age." Signs of Life in the U.S.A., 5th ed. Maasik & Solomon, eds. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006. 284–287.