Gender, Sex, and Sexuality

Simone de Beauvoir stated, "One is not born, but rather becomes a woman." I believe that what she meant by this was that biology does not determine if you are a man or a woman; as you grow older, you choose whether you are or want to be more of a man or more of a woman. If this is what Beauvoir meant by this, I completely disagree. I think that you are either born a girl or boy, which is determined by biology. However, you do not become a woman or a man until you grow up, gain independence, and can take responsibility for yourself and your actions. I feel that you cannot choose if you want to become a woman or a man. The choice is whether you want to stay a girl or become a woman, or if you want to stay a boy or beomce a man.

There is a difference between sex, gender, and sexuality. Sex is strictly biological determined. Based on what is in your pants, you are either a male or a female. Gender is whether you are socialized to be a man or woman, girl or boy. Gender construction begins when you are first born. If you are biologically a male, your parents may dress you in blue; and therefore, you will be treated as a boy. If you are biologically a female, your parents may dress you in pink; and therefore, you will be treated as a girl. There are traditional gender roles, such as men mow the lawn and women do the dishes; however, as stated in "Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender," "Gender roles change-today fathers are taking care of little children, girls and boys are wearing unisex clothing and getting the same education, women and men are working at the same jobs. Gender roles are not set in stone; they are flexible and are constantly changing. Sexuality is which gender you prefer in a sexual way. You are either heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. In "X: A Fabulous Child's Story," I think that it was very cruel to make your child think he or she was an "X." This would be extremely confusing to them, especially when it came to their sexuality. Child "X" would not know whether to be with a man or a woman when they grew up. More importantly, I know that I would never want to be in sexual relationship with an "X." By labeling their child "X," the parents were being selfish and cutting off potential friendships and sexual relationships that the child may build.

I think the media plays a huge role in today's society forming new definitions of sex, gender, and sexuality. Celebrities are constantly pushing the boudaries of what is acceptable for males and females to do socially; new gender roles are being made every second. People are even trying to change their sex by getting operations to be biologically different from their natural sex. Sexuality is constantly covered by the media; women are with women, men are with men, a woman is with a man and a woman, and the list goes on. Today, we live in a much more liberal society. Sex, gender, and sexuality will never be definitions that are set in stone.

-Kristi Bardosi