Faith Miles

Jamie McBeth-Smith
English 1010-23
December 8, 2014

Male or Female: Does It Really Matter?

The debate on gender and same sex rights is definitely an on-going one; Ive heard it
being discussed for as long as I can remember. Ive had my own personal friends as well as
good family friends who are gay, so it always made the issue feel more personal and close to
home. It is a common belief or opinion that being gay is a choice; that this is something that
people make the conscious decision to be. It is believed by some that they could be straight, if
they really wanted to. However, with this there is also the opposing belief that people are just
born the way that they are. People are born gay, and they have no choice in the matter, it wasnt
a decision that they woke up one day and made. Along with this, there also come the people who
believe themselves that they were born the wrong gender, born in the wrong body. Men are born
feeling more feminine, like they are a woman trapped in a mans body, and vice versa. So if you
are born and on the inside you know what gender you are, but the body that you were born with
is identified as something different by someone else, who is to say what gender you are declared
to be? Whose choice is it? Or what about the people that feel like they identify with both, or even
the people who dont identify with either? When it comes to government, should it be required to
declare your gender?
Culp-Ressler, Tara. Forcing Kids to Stick to Gender Specific Roles Can Actually Be

Harmful to Their Health. www.thinkprogress.org. 7 Aug 2014. http://thinkprogress.org

/health/2014/08/07/3468380/gender-roles-health-risks/ . Web. 8 Dec 2014
In her article, Culp-Ressler explains the ways that conforming youth to such strict gender
role standards can actually have a negative effect on them and their health. She claims that the
constant monitoring of their actions and the way they should be acting, based on the norms
of genders, can lead to all kinds of stress and anxiety. She conducted a study of 14 year olds
over a three month period and found that they were all conforming to acting certain ways
because thats how boys and girls are supposed to act. The boys were worried about not being
masculine enough, having to prove how tough they were. The girls were worried about
coming off as too masculine and not being girly enough. Come to find out in the end of the
study, when it was all openly discussed, the teens nearly all had the same worries but were not
aware that everyone else was feeling the same way. Ressler reports the kids being generally
nicer to each other after this information was revealed. She claims that there was less fighting
and bullying.
Tara Culp-Ressler is the health editor for thinkprogress.org, which is a liberal American
Political blog that is known for its progressive ideas and policies. Culp-Ressler has a B.A.
in Communications from American University. She is extremely fair-minded and likable in
the way that she presents her information and evidence. This makes it easy for the reader to
be open to what it is that she has to say. Also, the fact that she is an editor for the site lets us
know that she is respected in this field and that people believe that she knows what shes
talking about and what she has to say is worth hearing.
This article was interesting to me how it put the focus on the youth. Ive often thought
before how parents dont think that it affects their kids when they tell their son that boys dont

play with barbies, or when they tell their daughter that girls dont play with toy cars. This
article makes a good point in showing that our youth is affected by the gender roles and
conformity that society sets them to. Especially at young ages, what peers think of them is
really important. If they are constantly feeling worried over how their peers are perceiving
them, or if they dont feel like they are allowed to act the way that feels natural to them,
that can lead to a lot of anxiety and self-esteem issues.

McClain, Linda. Categorizing By Sex Is A Remedy For Discrimination. www.nytimes.com

N.p., 20 Oct 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/10/19/is-checking-thesex-box-necessary/categorizing-by-sex-is-a-remedy-for-discrimination Web. 8 Dec 2014.
In Categorizing By Sex Is A Remedy for Discrimination, McClain argues that the
Gender categories are helpful and necessary when looking towards equality for women.
She makes the claim that it is a powerful tool in fighting discrimination that women still face.
She reports that The Annual Gender Gap shows that there 136 countries that have gender gaps
in areas of economics, politics, education, and health. She claims that having a firm gender
identity is essential in researching these gaps and this discrimination and being able to do
something about these gaps for the better. McClain reports that girls have a much higher rate
of sexual violence being committed against them than boys. She says to reduce this
discrimination, sex categories are necessary.
Linda McClain is a professor of law at Boston University, with one of her main focuses
being gender law. McClains article is mostly her reporting facts of studies that have been
done, so since she is stating mostly facts and drawing information out of various studies, this
makes her article feel trustworthy and believable.

This is the first article that I came across where the view being expressed was that gender
identity should be firmly recognized and that it is necessary. She makes the claim that it is
essential in tracking discrimination against women, with no mention of discrimination against
men. This is not something that I really understand or agree with. If we did away with the
such strict gender identities and categories, then wouldnt there ideally be no discrimination
at all? There is a difference between gender and sex, and yes, someones sex and the body
parts that they have are obviously a definite fact. But what Im talking about is the gender
identity, saying that boys should act a certain way and girls should act a certain way. If we did
away with this, then I believe people would be much happier, not being set to a standard of
how they should act.

Milan, Tiq. Why Should A Government Agency Tell Me Who I Am? www.nytimes.com. N.p.,
19 Oct 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/10/19/is-checking-the sexbox-necessary/why-should-a-government-agency-tell-me-who-i-am. Web. 8 Dec 2014.
In Why Should A Government Agency Tell Me Who I Am? Milan reports on how
transgender people are becoming more visible in society and being brought to media attention
more. States are proposing policies for transgender people to be able to play on gender
specific sports teams and use facilities based on their own gender identity, not what is
declared on their birth certificate. He talks about how our gender is chosen on how others
view our bodies, and not how we identify within ourselves. He claims that the fact that we
must declare male or female leaves out those who do not identify with one specific gender, or
who identify with the one opposite of the one declared on their birth certificate. Milan says it
extremely well when he says, Gender is a spectrum of self-identification, not some

immutable truth imposed by someone else. For some, sure they know that they are male or
female, but for some, it is a much more open concept with so many more possibilities.
Tiq Milan is the senior media strategist for nation news at The Gay and Lesbian Alliance
Against Defamation. This clearly shows us that he is well versed on the subject of gender
identity. He works with various media outlets in determining fair and accurate reporting of
transgender people, and has worked closely with the LGBT youth in New York City for the
past decade. This is clearly Milans passion in life, where he focuses his dedication, and this
shows readers that he completely knows what he is talking about and is very experienced in
this subject matter.
I definitely see and understand his viewpoint about how people should be able to identify
their own gender based on how they feel on the inside. Nobody else knows how you feel, or
can tell you how you feel, better than your own self. It does not seem fair to be told what you
are based on the standards that someone else has set for you, when you know inside yourself
who you are and what you are. Also, with only 2 choices when it comes to gender that we are
given, that surely leaves out a lot of people who identify in different ways.

Rosenblum, Darren. For Starters, Unsex the Birth Certificate. www.nytimes.com. 20 Oct
2014. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/10/19/is-checking-the-sex-boxnecessary/for-starts-unsex-the-birth-certificate. Web. 8 Dec 2014.
In this article, Rosenblum makes the claim that setting a strict gender on a persons birth
Certificate stays with them for life, and lines them up against a specific set of standards that
they must adhere to. He says, Choosing a sex using traditional choices send a childs life
down one or the other path: male or female. He tells us that this binary classification ignores

everything that we now know and have learned recently about sex, that there are many more
factors in the differences between genders. He tells us that we must not adhere to such a
completely strict way of viewing genders, that there should be more than just male or female.
While he does acknowledge that there are some instances where it is helpful and necessary,
prescribing appropriate medical treatment, demography, sports, anti-discrimination laws,
he says people feel that the complexity of sex only complicates these issues. He argues that
we should just let children grow as humans from birth, saying We might then allow
our children to be full humans from birth, so they can grow into adults free to develop their
own notions about who they are. Darren Rosenblum has been a professor at Pace Law since
2008, where he has a seminar on gender equality. He also has a scholarship that he does that
focuses on international gender equality.
I agree with this article. I absolutely think that our ideas of what is manly or what is girly
constantly present in the way that we view things, but I think that this shouldnt be the case. I
think if children were just free to be who they are and do what they felt from the beginning, a
lot of negativity and bullying based on gender roles could lead to them being happier and
living more fulfilling lives.

Williams, Patricia. Strict Binary Definitions of Sex and Gender Are Problematic. Gender
Roles. Ed. Noel Merino. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2014. Oppsosing
Viewpoints. Rpt. From Gender Trouble http://www.thenation.com 23 May 2011.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 8 Dec 2014.
In Strict Binary Definitions of Sex and Gender Are Problematic, Williams reports on
how transgender people are being out more recently and the topic being more widely talked

about, how it is creating more controversy in society. She focuses majorly on an instance
regarding Smiths College, an all-female school. The issue she discusses is whether or not they
should allow transmen into the school, and the problems that it can/has caused. With a large
amount of the schools money coming from donations by the alumni students, this has created
an issue because a lot of the alum feel that transgender people should not be accepted into the
school, as they were not born female. Williams argues that this binary system for assigning
genders to people is inadequate and that it should be done away with. She claims that this will
help in decreasing the discomfort regarding transgender people in society.
Williams is a professor of law at Columbia University in New York City. She was honored
with a symposium in 2013 at Columbia Law Schools Center for Gender and Sexuality Law.
This shows that she has good character and that we can trust what she has to say, since she is
is admired by her peers for the work that she has done in this field. She shows real life
examples, like the one regarding Smith College.
Williams shows us that this issue is real and that if we did away with the binary system for
declaring genders, that maybe we would eventually not have to deal with these discomforts
some people feel in society regarding transgender people. I think this is a very good point that
she makes. People only feel discomforted by it because it goes against what they are used to,
it is foreign to them. A lot of the time, people fear or dont agree with the things simply
because they do not understand them. So if we were to do away with the rigid classifications
of gender, maybe people would get used to the idea and not be so against it.
Based on all of the articles that Ive read and the research that Ive done on this topic, I
believe that checking the gender box should not be required by the government. I think there is
so much more to peoples identities than male or female. Labeling always seems to set up room

for negativity and judgment. If people were just looked at for who they were, not if they are a
boy or a girl, I think there would be so much more freedom in that.