3.4: Where does gender come from?
- Page ID
- 48196
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You may have thought your gender identity is something you were born with, which has remained the same throughout your life. If, on the other hand, you thought your sense of yourself as a man or a woman has changed during your life, you might have identified particular experiences, events or relationships that helped to define it. This was quite a difficult activity, but a useful one in helping to reflect on some taken-for-granted assumptions. Given that the view of gender as an inner, unchanging essence or a personal possession is deeply rooted in the ‘common sense’ of society, your own view will probably reflect this. However, reflecting on your gender identity more critically may lead you to challenge aspects of this, and to see your own ‘gender’ as something rather less fixed and stable, possibly more mutable and fluid, and liable to vary to some extent depending on who you are with, what you are doing, and differing social attitudes and expectations.