Gender (from Anne Serene's Trans Reference site handout)

I used to always think that gender meant female or male and that was it. Last year I took a sociology class and was introduced to the idea that gender is much more than that. In fact, gender is not really scientific, but more theoretical. There is no biology behind the word. That would be sex. For much of my life I never really thought outside the box about gender. There was either female or male and than there were people that chose to be trans gender or what have you , but I never really thought about how to categorize them because it was something out of the "norm" to me that I did not think much about. This article really enlightened me to the idea that gender is something society has created as a way to label people. I think it was done more in a way to put people's thoughts at ease. Meaning, people do not like to have to think about what "gender" you are. If it takes a minute or to for someone to try and figure out if you are male or female than that someone may become uneasy, uncomfortable, and possibly upset. Our society likes things to be simple and straight to the point, but not everything is like that. In fact, sometimes society makes it even more difficult. Gender is more of a cultural theory and view than anything else. A label so to say that society tries to hang over our heads so that others know what we are and can choose how they want to treat us and react to us. A male who comes across another male will treat him differently than that same male coming across a female. What society does not understand is usually than considered something bad. What we do not know frustrates us which is why I think society tries to impose by creating groups and labels for everyone and everything.