Gender

Our society tries to limit gender identities to either male or female. However, there are many people who fall in between these two categories. In Darryl B. Hill’s article “Categories of Sex and Gender: Either/Or, Both/And, and Neither/Nor” he interviews transgendered people, who explains the different categories that Hill had devised. In the either/or category, participants of Hill’s study believe that there is either a female gender or a male gender. This coincides with society’s view of gender. The next category is both/and. These participants believe that there is “actually a large amount of overlap between the genders” (28). This means that there are males with female qualities and females with male qualities. Under the both/and logic, there is also more than two genders and also those who feel “in between” the two genders (29). Other participants of the study suggested that their gender is neither/nor; they are not female and they are not male. In other words, there is thirdness. This neither/nor category rejects gender altogether; they are not female and they are not male.

Before enrolling in the education program I never thought about gender. I always assumed that everyone is either male or female. Assigning gender begins at birth. Baby boys go home in blue and baby girls go home in pink. As children grow up gender is always reinforced. Parents give there boys trucks, baseballs and GI Joes and they give their girls dolls. Society also reinforces gender roles by telling boys that it is not okay to play with dolls.

Society dictates how each gender should act. Males should be masculine and they shouldn’t show emotions, females are more feminine and are emotional. However, society needs to realize that people fall in between these two genders. Teachers should be aware that students aren’t going to fit easily into the male and female categories. Schools should organize their curricula so we don’t restrict our students’ identity. We should let our students explore all aspects of gender, which means letting males explore traditionally female roles (for example, cheerleading) and letting females explore traditionally male roles (for example, football). Educators should also limit their language that builds these gender restrictions. We should build language skills that support our students and not limit them into thinking that there is only male and females, that there is also an “in between.”

Educators need to also move away from a male-centered curriculum. Most of the English Language Arts curriculum is based off of “dead white males.” We need to incorporate females and transgendered into our curriculum. Our society is mostly male-centered and to “level off the playing field” educators should incorporate other genders. We need to make our education system equal for all identities.