Question

Both sex and gender are fluid, dynamic, socially constructed concepts. Explain what is meant by this statement.

Answer 1

I agree that both sex and gender are socially constructed concepts because both these terms have different meaning in different cultures. Most of the cultures before few years had only two sexes and two genders and the rest were considered as abnormal. Religion and culture played a major role in defining these.

Sex is determined by the anatomy of a person and the roles attached to a person based on whether they are male or female. Almost in all the societies, there are unwritten rules about what a man should do and what a woman should do. A man has to work and provide for the family while a woman has to bear children and look the children and the household chores. Today, it has changed and as the society became more civilized everyone is considered as equal and they share the roles except bearing children which by nature only the women can do.

Most of the cultures had only two genders until few years back. Today, developed nations who respect the individual freedom has come up with the LGBTQ pattern where the gender roles are based on the sexual orientation of the people. Collective cultures are still reluctant to accept this classification yet.