An Systematic Norms Of A Young Age - 895 Words

From a young age, society classifies us in order to keep our civilization organized and to avoid chaos. However, ambiguity can be necessary at times to question the systematic norms. Gender is a system that categorizes males and females based on their physical appearance, tone of voice, and personality. However, these strict gender roles created by society exclude those who defy classification, such as individuals who are non-gender binary or gender fluid. Gender is a cultural construct, completely unrelated to one’s sex assigned at birth. Nevertheless, in American culture one is assigned a specific gender the minute they are born. When we enter the world, the doctor immediately exclaims: â€Å"it’s a boy!† or â€Å"it’s a girl!† and the baby is†¦show more content†¦Even the sign on the bathroom door is of a woman wearing a dress, which presumes that all women wear dresses or that everyone who wears a dress is a woman. This limited designation fails to include others who may not fit the traditional stereotype, including men who self-identify as biologically male, but prefer wearing female attire, or individuals who are born biologically male but might identify as women. Nor does this description take into consideration women who were born biologically female, but identify as male, or women who may dress more masculine but consider themselves female. We are constantly being bombarded by the social constructs of gender. In advertisements women are portrayed as beautiful, fragile and dainty, where as men are seen as powerful, strong and masculine. These subliminal messages, along with the more blatant ones from peers, teachers, media, and parents, serve to reinforce gender stereotypes, roles and labels. In addition, they further alienate those who do not conform to these norms. There are two opposite ends of the spectrum, male and female, but non- gender binary and gender fluid people do not fit neatly into these two categories. Unlike cisgenders, who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth, non-gender binary individuals do not identify with a specific gender. More specifically, if you are non-gender binary, you have