Sex and Gender Sociology Term Paper

The modern society has a binary gender system, according to which there are only two genders: male and female. At the same time, such a traditional view on gender is challenged by specialists such as Halberstam, who argue that this concept of gender is too narrow and it has to be expanded. In terms of the study of the feminine masculinity, the researcher focuses his attention on the problem of the gender identification not only by the social environment of an individual but also by an individual him/herself. In this respect, the author reveals numerous examples of females who have the male appearance, namely muscular body, male composure, etc. The author draws numerous examples when such individuals were treated as men even though biologically they were females. For instance, they were not allowed to women’s restroom. I such a situation, the problem of their gender identification naturally arises.

The author suggests that it is necessary to change the existing two-gender system and expand it to allow individuals who cannot be identified definitely as male and female to find their own gender identity. In this respect, it is important to stress that the author justly remarks that the gender identity is, to a significant extent formed under the impact of the social environment. People identify an individual as male or female without any deviations from this norm. In such a context, it is unclear what kind of genders the author could offer to change the public view on gender. It seems to be impossible to change the existing cultural norms and views on gender. Therefore, such an idea of the author of the development of multiple gender concept is a bit unrealistic.

Finally, it is important to remember about the role of an individual in his or her gender identification since the author views such issues as feminine masculinity as a kind of innate characteristic of an individual, but, in actuality, females practicing sport, such as heavy weighting and alike can develop masculine traits without being naturally predisposed to that.