Basic understanding of LGBT, Gender role and Gender Stereotyping

What is LGBT or GLBT?

*LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. In use since the 1990s, the term LGBT is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase gay community beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the community in question felt did not accurately represent all those to whom it referred. The initialism has become mainstream as a self-designation and has been adopted by the majority "sexuality and gender identity-based" community centers and media in the United States and some other English-speaking countries.

The term LGBT is intended to emphasize a diversity of "sexuality and gender identity-based cultures" and is sometimes used to refer to anyone who is non-heterosexual or cisgender instead of exclusively to people who are homosexual, bisexual, or transgender. To recognize this inclusion, a popular variant adds the letter Q for those who identify as queer and/or are questioning their sexual identity as "LGBTQ", recorded since 1996.

*Definition adopted from Wikipedia.com - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT
 

 

Sex, Gender, Gender Identity and Sexual orientation

I remember one time in my psychology class, the textbook describe gender roles as" culturally defined behaviors that are seen as appropriate for males and females, including attitudes, personality traits, emotions, and even postures and body language that are considered fundamental to being male or female in a culture."  I realized that I never questioned anyone  about why a girl and a boy should behave in a certain way . Why girl should wear dress? Why boy should play tough? Why pink is for girl and blue is for boy? I was wondering how would my parents and teachers response on these questions if I asked them when I was a preschool student. I also recognize how this gender framework (or gender stereotype) has shaped my perceptions and beliefs towards one's sexuality expression while I interact with others.

Here is a very popular riddle during the past few decades, let's try it out.

A boy was in a terrible car accident. His dad was driving and immediately killed. The boy was rushed to the hospital and wheeled into the emergency room. The doctor took a first look at the victim and exclaimed, "This can't be true. This is my son!"

Question: Why would the doctor say "This is my son"?

I have tried asking my friends around me using this riddle, most of them did not get the correct answer at the first attempt.  As you ponder the riddle,  the question can be quite puzzling. Many automatically assume the doctor was male, until one eventually discovers that the emergency room doctor may be female, the boy's mom. Others may assume the doctor is a part of a two-dad family. I was amazed how this innocent riddle could correctly portray   the stereotypes we have in terms of gender role, gender identity and sexual orientation. How often do we make assumptions of others in regards to their sexual and gender expression? How often do you assume that the person is heterosexual?

 

Moreover, one of my pervious supervisors told me an interesting experience which I would like to share with you.

My supervisor was having a job interview one day to recruit a new staff for an admin position.  He was having a difficulty to interview  one of the candidates as he couldn't be sure if the candidate was a female or male (It seems that there was no gender stated in the resume). He couldn't engage the candidate  in a proper discussion as he was extremely uncomfortable with  his "gender ambivalence" in his mind. As a result, he did not recruit that candidate for the position.

Apparently  my supervisor's gender framework in his mind has broken down and his gender /gender role stereotypes or beliefs have been challenged. How often do you check the gender identity of an acquaintance from the internet so that you could engage him or her in the chat room? Will you choice of words changed while you know he or she is male or female?

Thus, it will be helpful if we could differentiate these terms  (or you might already could differentiate) as we will use them quite often in this blog

1) Sex is biological = our genetic makeup, our hormones, and our body parts, especially our sex and reproductive organs. (Did you pay attention to the various forms that we fill up? Are they asking for sex or gender ? Did the form creator know the different? )

2) Gender or gender role = is society's expectations on how we supposed to think and act as women and men. It is our social and legal status as women and men

3) Gender identity is our feeling and expression of our gender and gender role through clothing, behavior and personal appearance

4) Sexual orientation is the term used to describe whether a person feels sexual desire for people of the opposite gender, same gender or both genders.

I found that this video is wonderful in illustrating sex, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation.  They adopted a traditional gender model and readapted the gender model to a continuum model.   ( Andrew, I believe you will like this model) :)

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXI9w0PbBXY

Thanks Andrew for the picture, it is really creative!

 

Gender Stereotyping

Simply put, gender stereotypes are generalizations about the roles of each gender. Gender roles are often firmly established by adolescence, and gender stereotyping can begin at very young ages regardless of a young person's predisposition to be gay, or lesbian, and it can be disturbing to any child. This disturbance is amplified for young LGBT children and teens who have self-identified but are still fearful of coming out to friends, family and community.

Female gender stereotypes

• Women are nurses, not doctors
• Women are not as strong as men
• Women are supposed to make less money than men
• Women don’t need to go to college
• Women don’t play sports
• Women are not politicians
• Women are quieter than men and not meant to speak out
• Women are supposed to be submissive and do as they are told
• Women are supposed to cook and do housework
• Women are responsible for raising children
• Women are supposed to look pretty and be looked at
• Women are never in charge

Male gender stereotypes

• All men enjoy working on cars
• Men are not nurses, they are doctors
• Men do "dirty jobs" such as construction and mechanics; they are not secretaries, teachers, or cosmetologists
• Men do not do housework and they are not responsible for taking care of children
• Men play video games
• Men play sports
• Men enjoy outdoor activities such as camping, fishing, and hiking
• Men are in charge; they are always at the top
• As husbands, men tell their wives what to do
• Men are lazy and/or messy
• Men are good at math
• It is always men who work in science, engineering, and other technical fields
• Men do not cook, sew, or do crafts

 

I believe the list could go on for pages long if I don't stop here. How true are these stereotypes in your community? What do you think?

 

Stereotypical Gender Slurs

As gender stereotyping generally shape the beliefs of appropriate female and male behaviors,  it is not surprised that LGBT youth could be constantly bombarded with following stereotypical remarks by their peers or people around them.

"You are so gay." "Don't be so gay"

"Boys don't cry. Be a man. Be tough."

"You are a dyke. She is a real butch."

"You are a fag, faggot, queer."

"Girls like dresses. What is wrong with you?"

" Go play with the girls."

I always feel disheartened that people could be so awful by giving such hurtful remarks to others. Could they be so apathy?  It is so disturbing sometime for a "mainstream" youth to receive such remarks. Because of these stereotypical slurs, LGBT  youth could be so terrified about disclosure and more confused about their sexual orientation and gender identity.  

Do you know how these internal stress  (internalizing homophobia) and criticism could cause harm to their mental health status? Please refer to my research findings and important facts page for more details (pages are still in process. Coming soon...)

 

References

Carroll JL. (2010). Sexuality Now: Embracing diversity (3rd ed). Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Choong B. (2011). Handling sexuality issues. Singapore: Oogachaga.

Goldman L. (2008). Coming Out, Coming In: Nurturing the Well-being and Inclusion of Gay Youth in Mainstream Society. New York: Routledge.

Wikipedia. LGBT. Retrieved Oct 4, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT