2002, Devor announced his decision to live as a man and to adopt the name Aaron H. Devor A professor of sociology, Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Victoria in British Colombia, a member of the International Academy of Sex Research and author of FTM: Female-to-Male Transsexuals in Society (1997) Reading (387) This selection is taken from his groundbreaking book, Gender Blending: Confronting the Limits of Duality (1989) Gender is the most transparent of all social categories: we acquire gender roles so early in life and so thoroughly that it’s hard to see them as the result of lessons taught and learned. Maleness and femaleness seem “natural,” not the product of socialization. Aaron suggests that many of our notions of what it means to be female or male are socially constructed He also touches on the various ways that different cultures define gender. The Gendered Self (387) Learning to be properly gendered members of society begins with the establishment of gender identity which acts as a filter guiding people learn gender role behaviors appropriate (to their statuses) Learning to behave in accordance with one’s gender identity is a lifelong process. Society demands different gender performances from us as we growing up and moving through our lives, and we are either rewarded or punished differently according to the social norm As children learn that they are members of a group of gender, they come to see themselves in terms they have learned from the people around them. For example: (387-388) + Children begin to settle into a gender identity between the age of eighteen months and two years. By this age, children usually understand that they are members of a gender grouping and can correctly identify other members of their gender. + By age 3, they have a firm and consistent concept of gender + However, it is not until they are 5 to 7 that they become convinced that they are the permanent members of their gender grouping Researchers test the establishment, depth, and tenacity of gender identity through the use of language and its concepts. The language system (used in populations studied) conceptualizes gender as permanent and binary. Permanent as in people are believed to be unable to change sex without physical surgery. Binary as in males and females. All males are boys, and then men; all females are girls, and then women. (388) But, this doesn’t mean that gender is considered the same in all cultures. (388) + Aboriginal cultures have more than just 2 genders; under certain circumstances, gender may be changed without changes being made to biological characteristics. + North and South American native people had a proper social category for people who wish to live as the opposite gender. Each culture had its own word to describe such people, most commonly translated into English as “berdache” + Similar concepts have been recorded in early Siberian, Madagascan, and Polynesian societies, as well as in medieval Europe. Young children learn the social definitions of gender at the same time they learn what behaviors are appropriate for them. Young children may learn the words to describe their gender and able to apply them to themselves appropriately, but their comprehension of their meaning is often different from that used by adults. + 5-year-old children may be able to recognize their own gender and the genders of the people around them based on hair style or clothing, rather than physical attributes, such as breast, even when physical cues are clearly known to them. Children with this level of understanding believe that people may change their gender with a change in clothing, hair style, or activity (388 – 389) The characteristics most salient to young minds are the more culturally specific qualities which grow out of gender role prescriptions. (389) + For example: children were giving dolls to identify their gender. Only 17% of the children identify