According to Alcoff and Mendieta, the term ôidentityö typically refers to the way people see themselves, the groups they feel a part of, and the aspects of themselves they consider significant. However, some theorists distinguish between oneÆs general identity and what has come to be known as their ôgender identity.ö Gender identity, according to Buchotz, Liang and Sutton refers to the gender with which each given persona identifies (i.e., whether one conceives oneself to be a man, a woman, or describes oneself to oneself in some less conventional way).
However, Buchotz, Liang and Sutton also point out that the term ôgender identityö can be used to refer to the gender that other people attribute to the individual on the basis of what they know from gender role. Here, the term ôgender roleö is said to comprise all of the things a person does to express their gender identity. Thus, gender identity can be self-defined but also socially defined.
Many have noted that the sex of the physical body is not the same thing as gender. It is this difference that is examined in this paper. In particular, this paper looks at the statement, ôThe body does not have a gender. It is genderedö and utilizes sociological and feminist theories to describe precisely what this phrase may mean in terms of differences between oneÆs biological sex and oneÆs gender.
One of the key notions in terms of gendering the body is understanding that sex is biological but gender is social. However, this does not mean that biological sex does not play a role in our sense of general identity and/or in our sense of gender identity as part of human culture. Indeed, according to Shlain, variations in female sexuality changed the course of human evolution in sociocultural terms.
With respect to the foregoing, Shlain attributed high rates of childhood death due to the narrowness of the bipedal pelvis and the increasing size of the infantÆs head...