Sex and Culture Response Assignments

QUESTION

Background and Purpose

We’re covering a lot of ground in a short amount of time, and these intermittent assignments are a way to demonstrate your engagement with the materials.

Instructions

These are very short papers, with a minimum of one page (250 words). You may write about any aspect of the materials assigned for the relevant module, so long as you are not repeating conversations taking place on the Discussion Board.

If you feel stuck, here are a few suggestions:

•      Raise a question that was not included in the module discussion forum prompts.

•      Elaborate on (but don’t rehash) a point made in the module discussion forum.

•      Show how one of the assigned materials helps explain a current event.

Submit your assignment both via Turnitin and through the Turnitin Backup widget in the Written Assignments folder in the Assignments & Quizzes content area.

Assessment

Each response paper is worth 5% of your total grade will be graded on a five-point scale. To earn five points for each assignment, you must:

•      Show ample evidence of having reviewed the assigned materials.

•      Engage with the materials beyond what is covered in the module discussion forum.

•      Write in a professional, scholarly manner and use spellcheck and grammar check tools.

•      Include at least one in–text citation and a reference list, properly formatted in APA style. (Note that I will exclude references from the word count.)

• ANSWER

Abstract

The issues of gender identity, gender-based discrimination, and sexual orientation are current issues across the world, issues surrounded by a lot of controversies. In society today, people continue to be more tolerant of these issues and are gradually starting to engage in conversations about gender identity, sexual orientation, and intersex people. With social media platforms increasing and their popularity growing, various gender-related issues are being discussed and evaluated via social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, including gender-based stereotypes, gender-based discrimination, sexuality, and gender non-conformity. Publications discussing gender-related issues continue to increase, increasing the body of knowledge on the issues. The YouTube video by MTV, which was part of the course resources, expounded on the issues of gender identity and sexuality, which enabled me to acquire a better understanding of the issues. A review of the YouTube video on gender identity and the use of pronouns to refer to people is done in this paper.

Keywords: Identity, Gender, Sexual orientation

Gender Identity

Sexual orientation and gender identity have been controversial issues in every society for many years. Traditionally, issues of gender conformity and sexuality were unspoken of in the community, as they were viewed as taboo in many cultures and communities. However, with increasing modernization and digitization of information, more people are engaging in conversation about these controversial issues. The traditional notion or belief that gender identity is a question of male or female, or binary gender identity, has been greatly challenged in recent years (Nanda, 2014), with the accessibility of information on gender identity and physiology increasing. Discussions on gender identity have increased in social media and traditional media platforms. In addition, more publications have been made on these gender-related issues, attempting to challenge the belief that gender is a result of biology and the belief that gender is a social construct, in equal measure.

The “Can You Choose Your Own Pronouns” (Decoded, 2018) video that was provided as a learning material shed light on the issue of gender identity. As the narrators explained, not all people have a sexual orientation or gender identity. Not all people identify as either female or male. The view of gender as being ‘black or white’, or binary, was largely challenged by the video. According to the video (Decoded, 2018), there are individuals who identify as genderqueer, which means that their gender lies between male and female. In addition, there are individuals that do not identify with either being male or female, agender people. The video helped expound the issue of gender identity and discussed how it is important to refer to people using the pronouns that they identify with, instead of being gender insensitive and referring to everyone as either ‘he’ or ‘she’.

References

Decoded, M. (2018, March 21). Can You Choose Your Own Pronouns? Ft. Patti Harrison | Decoded | MTV. Retrieved June 17, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCXY4RVPcW4&feature=youtu.be

Nanda, S. (2014). Gender diversity: Cross-cultural variations. Waveland Press.