What determines the gender of an individual, nature or nurture, was of interest to people long before the advent of gender studies. The myth of Iphis is a prime example of it. According to Moore (2021), the myth is about “a girl, raised as a boy, who loves another girl and, by a miracle of the gods, is transformed into a biological male in time for his appointed nuptials” (p. 96). Nowadays, the debate on this topic has become even more heated due to the tense political and societal climate. However, it may be the right time for one to develop a critical interpretation of what defines the gender identity of a person. In this paper, a personal explanation of why nurture determines gender will be provided.
Nurture as a Crucial Factor
In the course of an individual’s life, it is nurture that influences their gender identity. Gender and its variations are something that one learns in multiple social interactions of various types in the first decades of their life. Children do not have any initial knowledge hidden in their genes of conventional gender roles. They subconsciously choose who they are by observing and interacting with parents, relatives, friends, teachers, and other social actors.
Moreover, adolescent and adult people rediscover their gender identity also because society strongly influences them. US society is witnessing an increase in the number of transgender people today (Tanner, 2018). It is primarily because the societal climate has become more tolerant; that the human genome remains the same. Social acceptance of the fact that gender identity is what is being learned may result in the emergence of new types of identities. If biological interpretation becomes mainstream, this could lead to further discrimination against transgender people.
References
Moore, K. (2021). The Iphis incident: Ovid’s accidental discovery of gender dysphoria. Athens Journal of History, 7(2), 95-116. Web.
Tanner, L. (2018). More U.S. teens identify as transgender, survey finds. USA Today. Web.