Chapter
4
GENDER
PERSONALITIES:
THOUSANDS
OF POSSIBLE GENDER-PATTERNS
The Gender-Pattern Chart (the previous two
pages) lists hundreds of traits,
most of which are usually associated with one sex or the
other.
Some personality-traits are listed on both sides of the chart,
for example self-confident, independent, & intelligent.
And ‘masculine’ intelligence might differ from ‘feminine’
intelligence.
All personality-characteristics differ from
culture to culture
and vary over different historical periods within each
culture.
And within a given culture during a specific period of time,
there might be considerable fluidity of personality-traits.
Our first personalities were shaped by our
early socialization,
not given by biology (not controlled by our genes and hormones).
Later we gain the power to change our original
personalities.
It used to be assumed that the biological sex
of an individual
would determine his or her gender-personality.
But his genes did not made him macho;
and her genes did not make her submissive.
Rather it was the cultural assumption
that men have a certain type of personality and women another
that created these personalities in us, beginning at an early
age.
Parents and peers reinforced ‘appropriate’ characteristics
and discouraged any personality-traits they believed to be
inappropriate.
We also developed our early gender-patterns by imitating
role-models
—‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ personalities we
admired.
It is extremely unfortunate that the word
“gender”
has come to be used as a synonym for the sex of an individual.
The word “gender” originally came from linguistics:
In some languages each noun must be either masculine or
feminine.
So when we use the word “gender” to refer to persons,
it should point to their masculinity or femininity.
An individual’s sex is whether that individual is male or female
—as defined by the 7 criteria in the first chapter of this book.
The gender-pattern of any individual is defined by
his or her particular set of personality-characteristics
—as made explicit by the Gender-Pattern Chart.
There is no one ‘masculine’
gender-pattern;
and there is no one ‘feminine’ gender-pattern.
Rather, because all of the personality-traits are independent,
there are literally thousands of possible
personality-patterns.
And we are free to re-create our gender-personalities,
replacing some regrettable traits with ones we regard as
admirable.
18 VARIATIONS OF SEX & GENDER:
SIX PHENOMENA FREQUENTLY CONFUSED by
James Park
Created
1-11-2009; Revised 1-4-2012