Reference no: EM133279865

Assignment:

What is gender? What makes gender? This week you are exploring the research on what gender is and factors that influence our gender development and hopefully have more information that allows you to answer these questions with more confidence in those answers. But what happens when society's understanding of gender differs from the research? The purpose of this application assignment is to use this new knowledge about what gender is, isn't, and where it comes from, in the real world.

Scenario

We are socialized throughout our lives to conform to society's gender roles and expectations, and for many people this is not a problem because your gender identity matches your gender expression and behaviors- you are cisgender. For some people, these do not match and this discordance causes a great deal of internal and external confusion, discomfort, or uncertainty- this is commonly referred to as being transgender and the internal and external pressures can be collectively known as transphobia, or anti-trans attitudes. However these beliefs are often rooted in misunderstanding of the origins of gender.

If a friend, family member, co-worker, or neighbor, said to you that they don't believe a person can change their gender, how could you respond in a way that would help to better inform that person about the origins of gender, but would also provide a supportive environment for people that are transgender? Be sure that you include at least 2-3 things that you've learned from the lesson; do not just use your own experience or personal opinions by themselves, although you can use them with your evidence.