What does "Gender" mean in Real Life?
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Before entering into the Virtual World, we must first study gender in our first life, in our real world. Against common misconceptions, "gender" is not the correct term in dealing with the biological difference between men and women. The term "sex" however, refers to the biological identification of individuals. A baby is born either with the sexual genitalia and identification of male or female. However, he or she is engendered upon birth to be the gender of "male' or "female." Gender, therefore, refers to the terms masculinity or femininiity. Often, women are engendered at a young age to be overtly feminine. She is taught to be well-mannered, well-behaved, calm, docile. She is encouraged to play fairly and peacefully. She is given dolls to play with, at once drawing out her motherly, tender, home-making side. Men, on the other hand, are engendered in a different way. They are at once praised for their strength, their brutality, their dominance. They can play roughly and not be shunned or appall their parents with their hyperactivity. They are given trucks to play with, praised about their "manliness"-- their "machoism." Is this idea of gender, then, driven by stereotypes? |
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