HOT TOPIC - Gender as Identity

The Associated Press Stylebook commands the world of journalist language. I had the opportunity to review the word choices of journalists for a class in Spring 2018, and discovered just how picky journalists are. Don’t say “12:00 PM”; “noon” is the right term. Include the names of countries in the introduction, unless it’s a major city, such as London or Seattle.

These nuances didn’t bother me too much, but I stumbled across one entry that changed only in the last year or two. Gender is not interchangeable with sex, according to the AP Stylebook. “Gender refers to a person’s social identity while sex refers to biological characteristics,” the Stylebook insists.

Socially, when did this happen? The term “gender” came from the Latin “genus,” which meant birth, family, or nation. Historically, “gender” divided the world in two: male and female. Gender and sex were synonymous.

Over the last decade, men and women have expressed that they do not follow the social norms stereotypical of members of male and female sexes; therefore, they’ve concluded, they are not truly of one sex or another. Facebook has a “Custom” entry for gender, and there are currently 71 registered genders (some are synonymous with each other, so roughly 50 actual gender denominations) on the website.

In light of these changes, I feel that there is some legitimacy to the claims of those who feel that they are a different gender from the sex they were born into. As a culture, we have placed emotional, physiological, and biological stereotypes on men and women that aren’t accurate 100% of the time. I agree that boys should not have to identify with all masculine activities and preferences; girls should not have to identify with all feminine activites and preferences.

I feel not only that this is a reason for people to be confused about gender, but it might be the root cause. Some boys are nurturing and empathetic; some girls are more aggressive or action-oriented. If there is any truth in the gender revolution, it is this: men and women do not necessarily follow their stereotypes. There is a continuum of behavior.

I think taking these societal misconceptions to the level of changing gender is the wrong solution. We overemphasize the incorrectness of cultural assumptions. Truly, the best thing we can do is accept the continuum of behavior without the complexity of gender confusion. If we are reaching for universal tolerance, it is counterintuitive to suggest that men must act masculine in all ways, and that if he is not entirely masculine then he must not be 100% man.

Society presses this continuum of gender identity so hard that tolerance has been squeezed out while we are trying to achieve tolerance. Society chastises those who don’t tolerate varying genders; society teases “effeminate” boys. Tolerate everything, as society would say—unless it doesn’t fit our rules.

There are also dangers to gender confusion. While one well-meaning transgender man-turned-woman legally uses a woman’s bathroom, another man could use that as a guise to attack a woman. I won’t generalize and say all members of the gender movement are attempting to do something wrong; I believe that most of them are doing what they truly feel is right. But I do firmly believe that making new genders is not the best way to express yourself; accept what sex or gender you are and create the best you can with it. I think this would better encourage personal freedom, simplify society, and help us to find our identity in a way that simultaneously embraces our sex and gender alike.

Balancing elements of this topic is difficult, and I hope you don’t take my opinion as non-negotiable. Find your own evidences; start a discussion. Figure out the truth. And have a great week!