Gender & Identity

Knowing who you are an know what you believe in, is important in today’s society. If not that, knowing who to be or what to believe in is important. I believe that I can say that honestly no one can truly say that they are one hundred percent themselves and original. As soon as we are born, we are immediately categorized to a gender. Immediately, we start to get treated differently even though all babies are the same.


I saw a study on the way people react to either a female or a male baby is presented to them. In the experiment, the subject (an adult) was given a baby boy to play with for ten minutes named Jamie. Jamie was dressed in the typical little boy clothing which was jeans and a t-shirt. When Jamie was presented to the subjects, they were given a few toys to play with. One of these toys was a plastic hammer and a baby doll, and as one can guess, most people choose the hammer. The subjects also let Jamie crawl on the floor and let him explore his surroundings, which is very typical for boys because they tend to be more curious and adventurous. But what happens when a female baby is presented.?

Jamie then was taken in a back room, and they change “his” clothes to that of a little girl’s, which was a pretty little pink dress. Now it was the same baby that the other subjects played with earlier, and he was still able to be called Jamie because it is in fact a unisex name. When Jamie was again presented to other subject, the most definitely treated “him” differently than before. Everyone thought that “he” was a girl, so they all tended to be more gentle to “him.”. People kept closer contact with Jamie and talked to “him” more and used words like “pretty” and “adorable”. People tend to be more talkative with baby girls because that’s what they are known for. Girls tend to be more social and communicating with one another. So what does this tell us? That we are all fabricated immediately at birth.

Cases like this, show us how gender is important aspect in one’s life, and can ultimately craft our identities. And it is sad to say, that in cases with hermaphrodites and intersexes, that they will forever struggle with their personalities. Not on what they feel, but what society thinks. I believe that everyone should have equal treatment, and if that means adding another sex to the Male or Female, so be it. No one should have to go through discrimination like that. I believe that we should just get along and live happy.

I believe if more classes like this (English: Gender, Image, and Rhetoric) are taught more commonly, people will have a better perspective on things and be well informed. Thus there will be less discrimination and more understanding. I am already an open mined person and strongly believe in women’s rights, as well as other genders and sexualities. So I believe that this class will ultimately make me even more open, as well as more informed with many social matters.