Society, not biology, constructs gender identities

Are you male or female? This is a question people have to answer on a regular basis; whether on a government form, an application for college or to sign up for social media. In our culture there is a socially accepted gender binary, each with its own set of stereotyped behaviors: man and woman. There is social pressure to perform one’s perceived gender; people are often called out for any gender expression that goes against the norm.

We receive messages about gender from popular culture, where people are regularly placed in stereotypic gender roles. To understand gender roles, it’s important to examine how these stereotypes are performed and reinforced and what messages they send.

Knowing a future child’s sex can often conjure up a lot of gendered fantasies about their future selves. Male-sex infants invoke scenarios like: playing catch, building Legos, and becoming quarterback of the football team. Female-sex infants invoke scenarios such as: baking with grandma, playing dress up, and a distant wedding day. These gendered expectations based on a child’s sex effect how they relate and interact with the world, and how they present their physical selves.

In Sociologist John Carl’s 2012 article Gender Vs. Sex: What’s the Difference? he discusses how the terms sex and gender are often conflated in our society. Although they may seem interchangeable, sex and gender are not the same thing.

“Gender is defined as the personal traits and position in society connected with being a male or female. For instance, wearing high heels is associated with the female gender, while wearing combat boots is associated with the male gender. Gender is different from sex because sex refers strictly to the biological makeup of a male or a female,” said Carls.

Not only do we obtain ideas about gender through our culture, society, parents, teachers and peers; but we also reproduce these ideas in the ways we present ourselves. We perform gender, or participate in its construction, but we also have gender enforced on us within our society.

In Sociologist Michael Messner’s 2000 article Barbie girls versus sea monsters: Children constructing gender he discusses the ways gender roles are enforced in children. Messner says adults fail to see any similarities because “they do not fit into our preconstructed notions of gender. In other words, we have trouble seeing the similarities between boys and girls because we approach them as different in the first place.”

Throughout my life I’ve felt pressured to perform and present myself according to my perceived gender. I was born and identify with the female sex, and I’ve never felt uncomfortable in my body. I have not, however, always felt comfortable with my gender.

I feel most comfortable identifying as gender fluid. I have both stereotypically masculine and feminine traits that I like about myself, but for a long time I felt I had to reject the masculine parts to fit society’s mold of femininity. There have been many times in my life where family, teachers and friends have felt the need to police and comment on the way I present myself.

As I’ve grown older it’s gotten easier to present myself how I want. I no longer restrict myself to feminine attire, haircuts, or accessories. I like what I like and that’s all that matters to me.

In our society, we reinforce a strict binary form of gender expression. We do this in the ways we teach and communicate with children; we learn to see them through aspects of their perceived gender, and not as the individual human beings they are.


There is nothing inherently natural about the physical gender signifiers we adopt. It’s important to be critical of the ways in which our society constructs gender as a binary, so that we don’t erase the range of gender expression and identity that doesn’t fit in the rigid male/female dichotomy. Try to ask yourself: How do I do gender to others? How is gender done to me?