Gender in the Modern World

Recently, the topic of gender has been increasingly raised in modern society.

The gender approach is widely used in many areas of human life: pedagogy, psychology, politics, economics, education, and many others. This is not surprising, as the issue of gender identity is one of the most significant for a person’s self-perception.

When a child is born, the first thing people are told is their sex. Each person must belong to a specific gender in order to understand the expected behavior of them. In this article, I would like to discuss the relationship between family culture and the formation of gender identity.

Modern family culture has changed significantly: alternative forms of marriage have emerged, the family structure itself has changed; the distribution of roles within the family has become less rigid; the personal development and psychological well-being of each member is becoming more important; attitudes towards children have changed.

The influence of globalization is especially important: people adopt values ​​from different cultures, which, in turn, influences child-rearing, family traditions, and even holidays.

It’s important to distinguish between the concepts of sex and gender. Gender, in a broad sense, refers to a combination of natural (physical, physiological) and cultural qualities, such as willpower, intellect, emotions, and so on.

The term “sex” is used to denote biological sex, which is determined by physiological characteristics of the body and a specific set of chromosomes. However, sex and gender are interrelated concepts.

Gender is a reflection of biological (natural) sex in a person’s social existence. For a long time, the understanding of sex was limited to two types of sex—male and female. In the modern understanding, human sex has not only a social interpretation but also a cultural and symbolic one. This is precisely what underlies the understanding of gender as a cultural concept.

In other words, biological sexual differentiation is demonstrated and reinforced in our culture through the symbolism of masculinity and femininity. This is reflected in the fact that many concepts and phenomena (such as nature, various elements, colors, concepts of good and evil, the divine world, mystical phenomena, and much more) that are not directly related to gender are associated with the “masculine/male” or “feminine/feminine” principles.

Thus, the symbolic meaning of “feminine” and “masculine” arises, and it is interesting to note that “masculine” is identified with God, creativity, light, strength, activity, and rationality.

Consequently, God, creativity, and strength symbolize masculinity, the male principle. “Feminine” is associated with opposing concepts and phenomena: darkness, emptiness, submission, weakness, helplessness, and chaos.

Sigmund Freud’s theory had a significant impact on the development of ideas about men and women. Freud distinguished the concepts of “masculine” and “feminine” from biological, psychoanalytic, and social perspectives. Drawing on his many years of observation of both sexes, he outlined the discrepancy between so-called “pure” masculinity and femininity and biological sex.

Freud’s theory gave rise to the idea that humans combine traits defined by society as male and female.

A landmark work in the development of gender theory was the study by anthropologist Margaret Mead, who published “Coming of Age in Samoa,” in which she drew attention to the differences in the understanding of the social roles of men and women among non-European peoples.

Russian thinkers also reflected on issues of gender and sex. Russian philosopher and theologian Sergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov writes in his book “The Unfading Light”: “In the depths of the spirit, every person remains bisexual, because otherwise life would be impossible. Each personality represents an individual and unique blend of masculine and feminine elements.” It should be noted that, despite this, Sergei Bulgakov remains a supporter of patriarchy.

From early childhood, children learn notions of what is considered “masculine” and “feminine.” From early childhood (2-3 years old), children begin actively seeking information about how others of their gender should behave: what games and toys to play with, what activities to do.

Girls receive positive reactions from parents and others for feminine behavior and negative reactions for masculine behavior. For example, “Don’t fight, you’re a girl!” In boys, on the contrary, masculine behavior is encouraged and feminine behavior is frowned upon (“Don’t cry, you’re not a girl!”). In this way, the child learns to distinguish behavior patterns differentiated by gender, then generalize this experience to new situations, and finally, follow the corresponding rules.

In Russian psychology, Igor Semenovich Kon conducted research in the field of gender. He notes that by the age of one and a half, a child already understands their gender. Subsequently, the child begins to imbue their gender identity with corresponding masculine or feminine traits. Initially, a child determines their gender identity based on external characteristics, such as clothing, cosmetics, hairstyle, and the like. In the next stage, the child determines their gender identity based on their “body schema,” which serves as the basis for developing gender-appropriate behavior. Sexual orientation then develops.

I would especially like to emphasize that the family plays a significant role in the development of gender identity. Many modern researchers argue that the family’s influence on a child begins even in the prenatal period. Gender identity is influenced by many factors: the relationship between parents, family structure, whether the child has siblings, the child’s relationship with each parent, the child’s place in the family hierarchy, and much more. It is within the family that an individual begins to construct their gender and gender system. Gender identity is formed depending on whether parents have gender-stereotypical expectations for their children, what parental gender attitudes they have, what ideas parents have about their children’s future, and what parenting strategies parents choose for their children.

The author of this article once studied the relationship between the development of gender identity in adolescents and family culture and traditions. The study revealed that a significant proportion of adolescents raised in families espousing traditional values ​​had a more developed gender identity. Today, we are facing a modern identity crisis in various areas, including gender formation. One way to overcome the gender identity crisis in modern children and adolescents is to work with culture and instill traditional values ​​in the modern family.