The talk of gender and concepts of gender has been hotly debated over the past 4 years in the forefront of culture to the point of nauseum.
But the construct of "gender' is not what many assume, and moreover (outside the various conspiracy theories) the use of "gender" as being only two and specific to male and female is in fact a recent invention.
In reality the "concept" and "construct" of "gender" is not the assignment of sex, but the assumption of societal roles.
Additionally, there are other aspects involved with this debate other than the talking heads on the radio.
The very word "gender" is an anglicized version of the word Genre.
Yes the same genre of comedy, sci-fi, western, drama, etc. in movies or rock, blues, rap, country in music.
It is the "assumption of and presentation of" a sub-group.
I attached several simple links below to give you an example. You can research this quite heavily and look for information PRIOR to about 2017. (Less influenced by popular culture).
One place to read is also jstor, where you can find articles dating as far back as the 1800's. There you can find a healthy does of information not covered by modern media.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gender1a: a subclass within a grammatical class (such as noun, pronoun, adjective, or verb) of a language that is partly arbitrary but also partly based on distinguishable characteristics (such as shape, social rank, manner of existence, or sex) and that determines agreement with and selection of other words or grammatical forms
b: membership of a word or a grammatical form in such a subclass
c: an inflectional form (see INFLECTION sense 2a) showing membership in such a subclass2 a: SEX sense 1a
the feminine gender
b: the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sexEtymologyNounMiddle English gendre, from Anglo-French genre, gendre, from Latin gener-, genus birth, race, kind, gender — more at KINVerbMiddle English gendren, from Anglo-French gendrer, from Latin generare — more at GENERATE
https://open.maricopa.edu/culturepsychology/chapter/632/Gender is a term that refers to social or cultural distinctions and roles associated with being male or female. Gender is not determined by biology in any simple way. At an early age, we begin learning cultural norms for what is considered masculine (trait of a male) and feminine (trait of a female). Gender is conveyed and signaled to others through clothing and hairstyle, or mannerisms like tone of voice, physical bearing, and facial expression. For example, children in the United States may associate long hair, fingernail polish or dresses with femininity. Later in life, as adults, we often conform to these norms by behaving in gender specific ways: men build houses and women bake cookies (Marshall, 1989; Money et al., 1955; Weinraub et al., 1984).https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-eight-genders-in-the-talmud/Thought nonbinary gender was a modern concept? Think again. The ancient Jewish understanding of gender was far more nuanced than many assume. The Talmud, a huge and authoritative compendium of Jewish legal traditions, contains in fact no less than eight gender designations including: - Zachar, male.
- Nekevah, female.
- Androgynos, having both male and female characteristics.
- Tumtum, lacking sexual characteristics.
- Aylonit hamah, identified female at birth but later naturally developing male characteristics.
- Aylonit adam, identified female at birth but later developing male characteristics through human intervention.
- Saris hamah, identified male at birth but later naturally developing female characteristics.
- Saris adam, identified male at birth and later developing female characteristics through human intervention.
https://www.buzzworthy.com/native-americans-five-genders/Two Spirits, Five Genders
“Two Spirit” is a blanket term, and one that wasn’t even widely used until the late 20th century, but it describes the genderqueer, transgender, and gender fluid individuals who were accepted and well respected in many Native American societies. The term “Two Spirit” comes from the idea that everyone has both a male and female spirit within their body, and a person’s identity comes not from their physical form, but from whichever of the two spirits is more dominant within them. Sometimes, the two spirits were equals, or changed which one was dominant many times, and it’s important to note that being Two Spirited is an observation on gender, but not sexual orientation.Different Native nations had different words for Two Spirit individuals, and not all of them can be easily translated into English. In the Cherokee Nation, for example, the word asegi is a blanket term, with more specific words to describe male-assigned and female-assigned people. In Inuit culture, the term sipiniq roughly translates to “infant whose sex changes at birth”, and in the language of the Lakota, winkte is the term used for male-bodied people who live as women, and bloka egla wa ke is the term for Two Spirited people born female. In Navajo society, the term is nadleehe, which means “one who is in a constant state of change” or “one who is transforming”.https://unibam.org/2013/05/24/beyond-binary-definitions-of-gender-3rd/in the article below, note the date: Written by Manase Chiweshe
Thursday, 16 September 2010 07:46 |
Persistent and unmistakable ‘third’ or alternative gender subcultures have always existed in one form or another.(2) There are examples from across the world, such as the ‘mahu’ and ‘aikane’ of Polynesia, the ‘berdache’ of Native American tribes, the ‘sekhet’ of prehistoric Egypt, the ‘eunouchos’ of ancient Greece and Rome, the ‘saris’ of the Israelites and the ‘mu’omin’ or ‘trusted men’ of the Syrians. There were traditional third-gender roles in African aboriginal tribes such as the Mbo people of Zaire and amongst the palace and harem guards of the Arabs and Chinese. Don’t forget the cross-dressing entertainers of Manila and Bangkok and the ‘hijra’ and ‘jogappa’ dancers and temple priests of North and South India.This last one is of great interest for a whole host of reasons, but if you read yopu'll get the jist.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/goethe-yearbook-15/new-mantheories-of-masculinity-around-1800/5A16951683006558DA37BA9FF5ECF3E7SummaryRECENT HISTORICAL RESEARCH HAS PLACED considerable emphasis on the redefinition of masculinity around 1800. Scholars have rightly pointed to the French Revolution as a major event in the transformation of masculinity, an event that left its mark not only on France but also on other parts of Continental Europe. In the German countries, changes began to emerge during the 1780s, especially in the field of education; yet, it is only after the devastating Prussian defeat of 1806 that the question of masculinity receives official attention. For the Prussian reformers, the debacle of the Prussian army at Jena and Auerstedt represented much more than a simple military failure; rather, it signaled fundamental deficiencies within army and society that the state must confront. The reformers felt that a fundamental reorganization of the Prussian army was necessary in order to confront Napoleon's forces. At the heart of this question was the creation of a new type of soldier who would be an equal to the revolutionary spirit of the French soldiers. He was supposed to be both a warrior and a citizen, motivated to fight for his fatherland without regard for his life. The glorious Prussian army had been defeated, the reformers realized, because it consisted of soldiers who had been pressed to fight and had no reason to identify with the cause of the war. A new kind of virility was needed, not only within the army, but also at the base of the social structure from which the state draws its soldiers. Eighteenth-century masculinity came under close scrutiny and was considered deficient. The negative verdict pertained to the aristocrat, who serves as the lord, as well as the scholar (der Gelehrte), who primarily reads and writes, and also the merchants, who focus their energies on profit making. They were equally culpable because of their lack of manliness in a situation of political and social crisis. In short, a new type of manly subject was needed that was strongly motivated to act, but also demonstrated responsibility and self-restraint in his decision making. When one looks at the writings of the leading educators and intellectuals of the time it is hard to overlook the urgency of the quest. These authors make clear that they are responding to a serious crisis that is eroding the existing social order. Most of them do not defend the old regime. They understand themselves as reformers who envision a better and stronger social order that results from rethinking the concepts of man and manliness and improves civil society. They wanted to overcome the slow disintegration of the older family order, which had legitimized the domination of the patriarch—either in the context of the old Ganzes Haus or in that of the more recent, smaller family controlled by the father. The diffusion of established social roles, especially the weakening of the father's role, necessitated a new conceptualization of masculinity to address the growing social and political pressures. While the military reformers in Prussia after 1806 responded primarily to the revolutionary French army and attempted to adapt its principles to the needs of the Prussian state, the general discourse on the new man had already emerged in the 1790s, although it did not initially address the military aspect. The question directing the discourse did not consider the creation of a better soldier; rather, it concerned the needs of civil society for responsible and effective participants. The new definition or definitions of masculinity were to assist with the transformation of the older Ständegesellschaft, although these broader issues were not always explicitly discussed. The authors who participated in the debate typically had more limited goals. They wanted to improve their communities through new cultural norms. For them, the central questions were ethical ones that needed to be resolved by a fundamental redefinition of masculinity. Yet this redefinition is not strictly limited to moral issues. It concerns physical appearance and cultural education as well
Topic: Defining "Gender" (Read 1819 times)
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