Allison's Bio

I was raised in a completely traditional household where it was out of line to not follow the typical expectations of a "perfect" family. Girls did the dishes and cooked and cleaned, while the boys did the outer lawn work and the typical "dirty" work. Girls played with barbie dolls and dressed up in princess clothes, while my brother played video games and GI joes. Whenever I asked my mom if I could play video games she would say that it was not lady-like and it would not be a useful skill in my future. Other then that, I had rules about when and what I could do. Both my sister and I had very strict rules, while my brother could basically do whatever he wanted. The girls could not date, but my brother started dating in the sixth grade. My dad was very protective of the girls but had an unspoken trust with my brother. The girls had many more responsibilities like laundry and cleaning the house and we also were expected to get everyone together for dinner. I was responsible for getting everyone ready for church and feeding the pets and getting the trash together, while my brother mowed the lawn. I would beg and plead to my dad to allow me to mow the lawn and he would always say it was too dangerous for me to do. I was always extremely jealous of my brother but yet I accepted the rules my parents made. I definitely think that one day I will most likely raise my family the exact same way. I have such a deep respect for my mom from all this. She is a strong mother and she showed me how to be a true lady.

Esther's Bio

I have always been very “girly” while growing up. I loved wearing dresses and make-up, putting pretty hairpins into my hair, and playing with Barbie. I have an older sister, so I may have been influenced by her, but I have always tended to like pretty things like flowers or sparkly objects. Even when playing with legos, I would make houses with flowers and only use the pink lego-person.

However, as I got older, my mother’s feminist views influenced me. During my mother’s generation in Korea, barely any women went to college--but she did. As a result, she married later than most other girls, and understood that a certain type of maturity came with having an education. She put this mentality into raising both my sister and I. We were to set an ambitious goal after going to college and marrying only after succeeding because that was the way to meeting a great man. Most importantly, we were taught to not allow our gender from preventing us from achieving success. As a violinist, she always compared me to boys and their physique. She always said that I had to work twice as hard compared to a boy because they were stronger physically and mentally. I had to practice longer hours and was not allowed to sacrifice violin to anything because she said that boys were goal-oriented and once they found their passion, they would never give it up--unlike girls. (I’m not sure if that is true, but that was definitely a motivating factor for me) As a result, I worked harder and became more ambitious. Through her I learned that women can become successful, but for a woman to do so, she needs to work harder than men because they are a stronger sex. But, the contradicting lesson was that all my hard work was ultimately to meet a great man to marry. The idea of marriage to my mother is still very much “traditional”, where marriage equals happiness.

Mazy's gender bio

I was raised in a not so traditional household, which really developed my character and personality. My parents divorced when I was two years old and both began dating my stepparents by the time I was three years old, so for as long as I can remember I have had four parents. I never felt as if I missed out on anything because my step parents never treated me as if I was their “stepchild”. When I was younger I used to go to each separate house every other day, so I was unique in that I always saw all four of my parents on a regular basis. As I entered high school I weed every other week at each household. My two separate households had two very different ideas on how to raise a child: one was more old-fashioned and the other wasn’t. However when it came to the activities that I participated it was mostly my decision and my parents were always very supportive. I’m from Hawaii and have dance Hula since I was four years old. Hula is a very traditional and feminine thing, but more than influencing my femininity it affected my deep love of Hawaiian tradition and language. Aside from hula I also played soccer since I was four too. Soccer was my energy outlet and something that I loved to do. I did play many other sports growing up, but soccer and hula were the two that I continued to do for the longest time.
I went through fazes of “girly” and “tomboyish” when I was younger. Up until the third grade, I wore a frilly dress to school every day and loved to get dressed in the morning because my mom let me dress myself. Then I went into a “tomboyish” faze where I only wore t-shirts and soccer shorts to school every day up until the seventh grade. After that I seemed to find a nice middle ground between the two. My parents were very open with me and allowed me to dress and act any way I wanted as long as I was tasteful and respectful. I feel like the freedom they gave me really allowed me to find my true level of femininity, which I have found to be a quite high level of femininity with a feminist strength in me.
I was always taught to stand up for myself. All of my parents pushed me to be strong willed and minded and to never be taken advantage of or stepped on. Their teaching has helped me to be a feminist in the sense that I want to provide for myself and I greatly value my independence. They always pushed me to do the best I could and sent me to the best schools so that I could reach my full potential; never once would they ever allow myself to play second to men, for that strength I am forever grateful. They taught me to be strong, but also taught me to be feminine and to “act like a lady.” My mom and I would go on annual mother daughter vacations where we would just shop and eat for days; I love to go shopping and I definitely appreciate the feminine qualities of a woman.
Its hard to label yourself but I would call myself a “girly-girl” or a “tomboy” I would say that I’ve found a mix of the two that is just perfect for me and I owe it to my parents unique situation and unyielding support in all of my endeavors.

Carmen's Gender Bio

My grandmother was the one who taught me how to be a "lady." As far back as I can remember she would nag me to keep my room "neat and tidy," sit up straight, how to eat soup properly, and how to "respect me elders." My mother never taught me specific things about being a "lady" through conversation so I didn't listen to my grandmother too much. She would tell me that no man would want to marry me if I couldn't keep the house clean. At the dinner table I always had to use my perfect table manners when she was around otherwise she would scold me. She would try to convince me that I needed to learn to cook elaborate dinners while I was still in elementary school so I "could practice for when I had a husband." However my mother never taught me "how to be a lady" in the classic sense that my grandmother tried to. Any manners or skills she taught me were never related back to having a husband. I was only expected to do as many chores and have as many table manners as my younger brother. I learned what it was to be a "girl" from my friends, school, and the music artists I listened too. My biggest influences and role models as a girl were B*witched, Christina Aguilera, Spice Girls, and Britney Spears. All of these artists, besides B*witched, were ultra sexy and inspired my "femininity." I began to want to wear shorter skirts, spaghetti straps, and high heels. I tried to express my gender through my clothing and how I interacted with boys. I already had "5 boyfriends" in preschool so I believe that this also contributed to my feeling feminine. From a very young age I felt sought after by boys and this made me feel attractive and pretty. When I got older I tried to express my femininity not only through my actions towards the opposite sex, but also with how I dressed.

Brenton's Biography

As a child I grew up with both a mother and father, yet as I got older I could no longer depend on my father. I learned very early in my life the importance of providing for one’s family especially as a male. At the age of 15 I had a part-time job and I covered my own expenses. But becoming a male meant more to me than merely working, it meant that all my actions had to have purpose and reflect my gender.
Throughout high school I was actively involved in sports. Although I was not amazingly talented at them I was able to hold my own in varsity level. Varsity sports were a fun experience, but I believe I began “playing my gender” when I began to work out in February of 2009. I met a few people from my work at the gym and since then they had gotten me into one of the hardest workout routines. During the six month course I gained 35 lbs of muscle. Never before in my life had I associated bulking up with being manly but once I had dedicated myself to the task, my outlook changed dramatically.
Overall my life has had many different transitional periods yet I feel that my biggest success to achieving a “male gender” has been my workout routine and the ability to dedicate myself to the large time commitment.

Shelby's Bio

I was raised in a very traditional family with a younger brother and sister, but my mom always let me choose what to wear and do what interested me. She never forced me to wear pink or play with Barbie dolls or tea cups. I’m a feminine girl, but at the same time, I’ve always enjoyed participating in activities that might be considered for boys. When I was little, I lived on a street with only boys my age, so naturally, I did everything they wanted to do, such as biking on ramps, skateboarding, and playing hide and seek. My dad also used to take me on frequent camping trips, which probably contributed to my love of the outdoors, hiking, and camping. Although I have become more feminine over the years, I still have many guy friends that I frequently go surfing with, hiking with, surfing at the beach, and playing sports.
My mom, when I was little, introduced me to many different types of activities for me to choose from. I participated in ballet, gymnastics, softball, tennis, and soccer. I eventually ended up choosing tennis and soccer, which I still play today. My grandma, who grew up in a time when sports were considered to be only for males, so she used to ask me why I wasn’t participating in more “girly” activities appropriate for me. I started taking her to my soccer games and tennis matches to show her that the times are definitely changing and that more and more girls are participating in sports.
Some people used to label me as a “tomboy” because of my love for sports and the outdoors, but I am still the feminine girl I’ve always been, just with some hobbies that in society aren’t always considered “girly.”

Jane's Gender Bio

Since I am the only daughter of the family besides my two older brothers, my mom always tried to enforce rules of how I ought to act as a girl even until this day. Being brought up by traditional Asian parents, my dad worked hard to support us and was rarely home, and my mom was a homemaker who devoted all her time and efforts to raise and look after my brothers and me. As a little girl, I disliked the big frilly dresses that my mom made me wear, disliked the bows that my mom tied my hair in, and especially detested the perms that my mom gave me that left my hair into an afro every time. My mom was overly protective of me and strongly believed that I should stay away from any “masculine” activities because she was afraid that I would injure myself because I’m so feminine and “fragile” (lol :P). I couldn’t understand my mom even at a very young age and I soon found myself rebelling against my mom’s wishes and became a tomboy. Although I still had an affinity for pretty sparkly things and played with barbies, I also played with swords and legos, and hit boys and made them cry. In retrospect, there was a subtle and gradual point of transition during junior high that transformed me from being masculine to a feminine young lady; after I started to date boyfriends, I subconsciously became more feminine. In addition, media and my peers greatly influenced and reinforced me to become feminine during my junior high and high school years.

Glenn Ryan Gender Bio 2

After talking with my parents this weekend I realize that my sisters also were given the opportunity to do many "masculine" activities such as Karate, Baseball, Basketball, Soccer, and more. Still, they became anything but masculine and they would eventually put down their soccer ball and pick up barbies. I attribute their lack of enthusiasm towards society maybe even more so than my parents. Just like Professor Messner talked about today, even when the parents encourage a child to do something that doesn't necessarily fit their gender role, society (such as other kids in their classes) will eventually set them straight. A great example was how Professor Messner went and bought his son a Barbie doll who then brought it to school. Immediately he was made fun of, and quickly claimed he never even enjoyed it. It's interesting to think how my own opinions are actually formed. Did I have a natural tendency to like certain things, or did my parents and society show and tell me what to like. Take basketball for instance. I love the game, but maybe that's just because I've been exposed to it my whole life- and it has been highly encouraged. Who knows, maybe I would've like dancing ballet even more. I certainly never tried it- but who knows! I think that we are presented opportunities to enjoy certain things based on our gender, and limited so by society. Then, we choose what we have a natural tendency towards. I guess a simple question would be "how and why do people get enjoyment out of certain things?" Maybe it's different for different people, maybe it's socially created, or maybe it's natural.

Aaron's Gender Bio

During my childhood, I was pulled in multiple directions concerning my gender identity. Living with my mother and grandparents, I was primarily raised by and therefore influenced by women. At the same time, I seemed to gravitate toward more masculine activities without the need for much prodding. Although my grandfather has always been the primary breadwinner in my family, I always perceived my grandmother as being the leader of the household. My grandfather was more passive, while my grandmother took charge and made all the important decisions. Both my mother and grandmother were and still are very strong willed and refuse to conform to gender stereotypes. I suppose growing up with their influence has just given me a lot of respect for them and for women in general. As far as my activities go, I've always loved do-it-yourself projects, building models and machines and playing video games. I was never particularly interested in action figures or sports. As far as I know, I was never pushed or specifically molded by my parents or grandparents very much. However, my grandfather did always try to get me into playing sports, but I just wasn't interested in it at all. I also liked to read and draw, so I participated in both traditionally masculine and more ambiguous/gender neutral activities. So far, although I do identify very strongly with masculine activities, I also identify with and have a lot of respect for women as well.

The Only Girl in Seven

I spent the first few years of my life having six older boy cousins as role models. I was the girl who ran around the yard with a toy gun shooting six other boys and preferred Power Rangers panties instead of Hello Kitty ones. I imitated the way my cousins would rub their mouth with their sleeves, avoided saying “Aww” to cute things, and tried my best not to shed a single tear when I scraped my knee. Needless to say, I was the tomboy in the family.

However, being the only girl actually also had helped me explore my feminine side. For instance, I eventually was always drawn to the girl character in any games because nobody else, for example, would want to be the pink Power Ranger. But I knew that I wanted to be the pink Power Ranger. I liked being a girl and the feeling of being protected. I enjoyed getting the privileges such as getting to go first when we had to share a Nintendo game with only two controllers, and being able to win the game although everyone knew someone must’ve let me won.

It wasn’t until my little sister was born that I began to thoroughly explore the girly side of me. I started to spend less time singing along to “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” with my cousins and more time playing Cabbage Patch dolls with my sister. In middle school I moved to a different school and almost never hung out with my cousins anymore. People say middle school is the time when you find your own identity, and that was when I stopped following my cousins and became more feminine. I started owning skirts and heels and actually enjoyed strutting in them. I would let myself cry during a sad movie. I even painted my room pink.

Looking back, I realized that my gender identity is greatly influenced by the situation and people around me. I wouldn’t trade my experiences of both being a tomboy and a feminine for anything, because it had let me view the world from different angles.

Rohit's Gender Bio

Raised as a first generation American, most people would assume that immigrant parents would heavily push their idea of gender and what it means to “be a man”. However, this wasn’t the case for me. As a child my parents never prevented me from playing with my sisters toys (they often gave me those toys to play with because they didn’t to keep buying me new ones), watching certain TV shows, such as the Powerpuff girls, or listening to certain music just because society deemed those things as feminine. Many kids were raised with a clear gender division in mind (girls do all the domestic tasks and boys do the strenuous labor), but my parents concentrated more of their time on school and studying. My sisters and I were and are all treated the same exact way when it comes to school work. We all get yelled at for not doing our homework, for not getting straight A’s throughout high school, and for not studying hard enough. There was no gender bias, just a lot of lectures about the importance of education. Regardless, most of the things I did was on my own will and that helped to maintain a very healthy relationship between my parents and I.

Richa's Gender Bio

I come from an Indian family where a strong distinction between boys and girls has been passed on from our ancestors. My family is extremely strict with this in that the girls of the family are forced to be more conservative and reserved unlike the boys who pretty much have the freedom to do what they want. However, my parents moved to Canada before I was born and thus I was raised in a very different way from my family in India. My brother, sister and I were all raised to believe that men are equal to women however the beliefs from our ancestors were able to trickle down to our immediate family. When I was young, there was no distinction between my friends that were boys and my friends that were girls. The girls obviously had different likes and dislikes than the boys but we all played together as equals. I was never extremely girly but I did do ballet, classical dance and figure skating. Nevertheless, I had many friends that were boys who I got along with as much as I got along with the girls. When I moved to LA however, things changed a bit. I was older and the pressure of being a girl really came down on me. I had to be extremely careful about going out and my parents always had to know who I was going with. This became a bit of a frustration because my brother never had to give an explanation of where he was going when he went out but I did because I was a girl. I was never allowed to have a boyfriend but I was permitted to have friends that were guys. The reasoning behind this was that as women, we shouldn't go out with too many guys because it would appear "slutty." I always found this to be a double standard because all my older boy cousins were permitted to have as many girlfriends as they wanted but none of the girls in my family were permitted to date. The irony of this double standard is that the girls in our family are still expected to go to college and pursue careers. This mentality of the differences between girls and guys will remain in the Indian culture for many years but there are many Indian parents who have grown from this double standard and given their daughters the same treatment they give their sons.

Jason's gender bio

I was born into a family that was predominantly female, with only one male cousin and a handful of uncles. Since my parents divorced while I was still very young, the main source of male influence was removed from my life when my mother moved my sister and I from Illinois to California. From that point on, I was raised and influenced greatly by my mother and my other female relatives. I can recall one incident in particular (that I became especially ashamed of) where I was scolded by my grandmother for doing “girly” activities. The story goes: I was staying at my grandmothers house with my mother and sister, and I didn’t feel like watching tv or playing video games. My sister was playing with her doll collection, and she beckoned me over to join her. While we were playing, my grandmother noticed and said to me, “KORA! (a Japanese exclamation equivalent to HEY!) What are you doing! You shouldn’t be playing with dolls, you’re a boy! Dolls are for girls… are you gonna grow up to be a girl?!” As children, we are naturally open to suggestion, and from that point on, I cringed at the thought of playing with dolls because I was afraid of people thinking I was “girly.” Looking back, I find it interesting to believe that the person who instilled the idea of being a “man,” wasn’t even male themselves; but instead, my traditionalist grandmother. So as a result of this incident, which I have never forgotten, I progressively began participating in more “gender appropriate” activities, such as basketball, soccer, and baseball. Although I actively tried to stay away from things that would deem me to be “feminine,” it was inevitable that I would pick up certain qualities from my female relatives, such as the ability to braid hair. And once again remembering the incident with my grandmother, I refrained from telling ANYONE this “feminine-ability.” Including my high school girlfriend, who didn’t find out that I could braid her extremely long hair until around a year and a half into our relationship. Even though I still remember the incident with my grandmother, I have since grown comfortable (for the most part) with any feminine qualities that I might possess and any activities that I might be interested in.

Jessica's Gender Bio

THE PAST (more masculine)

My mom always wanted a baby boy before I was born. Maybe that is the reason why I was more masculine than feminine. :p In kindergarden and I used to play with the boys since I thought they were more fun than the girls. My mom never forget when I kicked a boy in the face (I forgot how that happened but I made him cry so bad) and she had to come to school to apologize to the boy's parents. I fought and wrestled with my brother frequently. Moving on to junior high school, I played basketball and I was the fastest runner in the girl's basketball team. I was involved in a lot of organizations and during those times, I prefer to help the guys carry heavy loads and their other jobs other than sitting with the girls, making posters.

THE PRESENT (more feminine)

Now I am more balanced. I look and act more feminine but I still have this masculinity inside me. Pink is one of my favorite colors and most of my stuffs are pink. I love wearing dresses and other feminine clothes. In senior high school, I joined the dance team and I took cheerleading as my extra-curricular. I love fashion and I like to decorate my things. People who looked at me now, probably won't believe that I used to be masculine.

HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN?

1. Parents (the biggest influence)

My mom knows that I was masculine since I was a kid so she tried to introduce femininity into my life as much as possible. Since I was a kid, my mom always dressed me up in cute pink dresses and until now she still bought me cute frilly skirts and other feminine clothes.  She forced me to take ballet lessons. She prevented me from playing basketball and I had to quit the team for a while. Both my parents taught me how a girl should talk, walk, act, and behave. My mom forced me to take "John Robert Powers" program, which basically trained girls and taught them manners of how to be a proper lady.

2. Friends and Media

Most of my friends are feminine and they constantly exposed these femininity to me. I spent about 10 hours hanging out with them each day so the exposure is very influential. The media is very powerful in shaping my gender identity. Most of the movies and tv-shows I saw depicted that female has to be feminine and the most popular girls are the beautiful, blond, feminine, and graceful ones. The female magazines I read are about fashion, beauty, etc. All these media and the people around me have constantly reinforce me to be more feminine.

Schyler's Bio

The people who I grew up with had a remarkable influence on my life and, in particular, the way in which I view and identify with gender. My mother and I have always shared a close relationship in comparison to my father. She is an extremely independent woman; for example, she has had a full-time job since her days in high school. Even when she got married to my father after graduating college, she continued working. She emphasizes the importance of being self-sufficient, obtaining and maintaining the means to support oneself not only financially but emotionally as well. In turn, I have understood gender and my femininity as empowering. As a history student, I have read about various experiences and phenomena in which women have assumed traditionally limited roles in society. However, as a young adult, I find myself yearning to break away from certain stereotypes that are placed upon women and become a truly autonomous and unique individual.

Christina Vo

I definitely grew up a girly girl, but I never felt pressured to be one. My mother bought toys when I was little that were “gender neutral” but I chose to play with the more feminine ones. I played with Barbies long after my sister did at the same age. I never noticed that the boys didn’t play with the barbies. The first time that I noticed the difference was when it cam time to dress up for halloween when I was around four or five. Every year I was a princess. I was Cinderella, Aurora, and Belle each once, but I was Princess Jasmine for multiple years. When I was four I noticed that my sister was a cute kitty cat, and all my girlfriends were cute animals or princesses, but all the boys were scary things or professions such as doctor or fireman. I even saw a few policemen. From then on it was very clear to me that some costumes were okay for me to be and other costumes would draw attention if I was to dress up in them. My mother never tried to force me to be more feminine, but I just ended up choosing to define myself as more feminine than masculine.

HW1

The people who I grew up with had a remarkable influence on my life and, in particular, the way in which I view and identify with gender. My mother and I have always shared a close relationship in comparison to my father. She is an extremely independent woman; for example, she has had a full-time job since her days in high school. Even when she got married to my father after graduating college, she continued working. She emphasizes the importance of being self-sufficient, obtaining and maintaining the means to support oneself not only financially but emotionally as well. In turn, I have understood gender and my femininity as empowering. As a history student, I have read about various experiences and phenomena in which women have assumed traditionally limited roles in society. However, as a young adult, I find myself yearning to break away from certain stereotypes that are placed upon women and become a truly autonomous and unique individual.

Nicole's Gender Bio

When I was younger, all I did was follow my brother around. He started playing basketball and 5, so I started playing basketball at 5. When he went into baseball, I played softball. My dad was always into sports growing up, so he encouraged us when we wanted to pick up different sports, and both my mom and dad would come support me in whatever sport I was playing. Though my parents didn't push gender roles onto us, my mom did try to make me a little more girly. She put me in ballet and tap classes at a young age and dressed me up in dresses and nice shoes for school. Finally, she gave up when she realized that I only participated in the dance classes because one of my best friends was in the class as well, and she stopped putting me in dresses when she saw that I would come home from school with dirt on my dress and shoes because I liked to play tag with the boys. I was a tomboy through and through, though my room said differently. Collectible barbies still in their boxes lined my bookshelves and at least 50 stuffed animals could be found in my room. Most were presents from Christmas and birthdays, but it was the one thing that was girly in my life, and I liked it. Eventually I found my way out of my tomboy stage, and I dress more girly, though I would still pick jeans and a t-shirt over a skirt or dress any day. My barbies have now found their way multiple boxes in my garage, but I plan to keep them for a long time, and the stuffed animal collection has been cut down from 5o to about 30. I still play basketball, and now my whole family plays golf, because it is the one sport where gender does not matter for us. On a good day, I can beat everyone in my family, but on a bad day, my brother or dad will beat me. I think it was good that my parents didn't push gender roles on us, because it has made us closer as a family.

I came home from the hospital swaddled in a green blanket with elephants on it. I grew up in Oshkosh B'Gosh clothes - it was the thing in Oshkosh Wisconsin - from the boys and girls sections, depending on whatever my mom thought was cute. When I started kindergarten, I wore anything from pink flowered leggings and a horribly mismatched turtleneck to frilly blue dresses. My parents never made gender a focus of my life, choosing instead to encourage me to read, learn math, and experiment with baking-soda and vinegar volcanoes through my first years of elementary school. In third grade, I switched into Challenger, meeting my best friends and developing a total dislike for the jumpers and skirts we had to wear. Though our small class of twelve was divided equally into six boys and six girls, we all had our share of 'girly' and 'tomboy' moments. The girls wore shorts under their skirts so that we could take those swishing skirts off in order to get rid of any disadvantage in our daily dodgeball games. The boys were often the ones helping us improve our ridiculous art projects, especially since my art skills hadn't improved since the days of drawing turkeys by tracing with our hands. After going back to a public middle school and high school, I realized how 'abnormal' my behavior was. Girls didn't go around playing dodgeball or taking their skirts off to play sports. Girls were a lot more calm and more into dressing nicely and being pretty. I can't say that it's completely rubbed off on me, but I'm definitely no longer the 'tomboy' I thought I used to be. At the same time, I'm not really into always trying to dress in whatever is the latest fashion. I guess I'll always be a little nostalgic for the time when I could dress in whatever I wanted. I've probably been gendered into wanting to fit in, but for now, I guess I'm not feeling rebellious enough to want to change any part of that.

Paulina's Gender Biography

When I was growing up, I remember that my parents dressed me in pink, a typically feminine color for an infant. My parents also enrolled me in dance lessons, and I have been dancing since then. Dancing required me to wear different tutus and leotards. Occasionally, I would have to wear makeup. I loved getting dressed up for performances, and I think that part of the reason I still love getting dressed up and looking nice is because I did it so often when I was younger. I also was blessed to be able to participate in modeling. I don't remember the exact number, but I know that there were very few males in my modeling and dance classes. I watched Disney movies and liked Disney princesses: my favorite was and is Belle. Similar to other women today, I think that this definitely romanticized my views of love and of finding my "happily ever after." I also watched Barney, Sesame Street, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, and other children's television shows. I played with Barbie dolls and dolls of other brands as well. When I was in the fourth grade I loved Britney Spears so much that one of my friends bought me her CD for my birthday and my other friend bought me her tape. My mom is a very hardworking and feminine woman and I look up and continue to be influenced by her today. Overall, I took part in activities that were seen as things that girls would do. My participation in these typically feminine activities definitely influenced my female gender identity.

Molly's Gender Biography

When I was a young girl, my parents exposed me to as many different activities as possible. I danced, took art classes, did gymnastics, played t-ball, indoor soccer, and basketball. My mom let me pick out my outfits for myself, but she always put a bow in my hair to keep it out of my face. I put up with this until kindergarten, when one day I came home and told her that I no longer wanted to wear bows. It was also in kindergarten when I started to narrow down my activities to just sports. Soon I was playing soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter, and on an all boys baseball team in the spring. At recess I only played with the boys, and when I got home I loved playing catch in the backyard with my dad. While my friends were dressing up as princesses or witches or cats for Halloween, I dressed up as Ken Griffey Jr. one year and Gary Payton the next. We had to wear a uniform at my elementary school, and I threw a fit whenever I was forced to wear the jumper or the skirt, because it wasn’t practical for recess. When I got to middle school, I began to grow self conscious of my boyish dress and started dressing in a more feminine way, but I continued the sports. I stopped playing baseball with the boys when I got to 7th grade (and the boys started to grow), but I played both basketball and soccer (and added lacrosse) all the way through high school.

Shannon's Gender Biography

Ever since I was a little girl, I seemed to be a fearless child, always running around with the boys yet portraying a “girly” image. When I was three years old, I took my first trip of many to Yosemite National Park. My dad had taken this vacation every spring with his friends and finally the children were old enough to go, so all the dads decided to make it a father-son trip. My dad did not have a son, so I was the only girl to go. Although I dressed in outfits covered with “Pocahontas” and “Minnie Mouse,” I spent my days on the trip climbing rocks and playing baseball with the boys. Every year after, we took the same Yosemite trip, but soon the mothers and daughters joined in. I still spent all my time with the boys and took more interest in hiking and adventures than all the other children. As I grew older, I took interest in lots of stereotypical feminine activities, such as dance, singing, horseback riding, and playing with Barbies, but I still had my father’s influence in the more masculine activities because he did not care to be involved in the activities I already liked and he wanted another way to connect with me. I was encouraged to watch sports from a young age, especially football. Once I began to understand the game, I took great interest in it. Though I was still very feminine, I absolutely loved the game and to this day I will spend the entire Sunday watching NFL football. This interest also came from my mom who was highly athletic, yet still very feminine. For my whole life I have always looked up to her and wanted to be similar to her, as so many daughters see their mothers as role models. When I was about four years old, I became an older sister and as both daughters grew up, I began to realize our differences. My sister Lauren was full of crying and complaints and very dependent, while I was very independent. Lauren always looked up to me for clothes, but never for my interest in sports. My dad never really pushed her into it because he saw her as more sensitive like him, and me as emotionally stronger, like my mother. This was also my downfall once my parents got divorced because my father did not like to see me as my mother, strong and independent. As I grew apart from my father, my mother became even more of a role model. She worked so hard to support me and succeed on her own, and I look up to her so much as a mother who has sacrificed so much for her children, yet portrays a powerful, independent image for herself.

BINGXIN'S BIO

I grew up in the mainland China where there is a coast city called Qingdao. It is famous for its beautiful view and its beer. In the 2009 Olympic game, Qingdao held the event of sailing and was ready to open for the whole world.
As the only child in my family, (in fact, my family could have another child since I am a girl even though the government still carried the One Child Policy), my parents love me so much. However, my grandparents love boys more than girls. Every time I went to visit my grandparents, I seldom get some snacks from them. Later, I found out that they keep them for my cousin. Recently, my grandparents still love boys but they change a little bit. They like his grandsons or grand daughter who have a better future. Therefore, I need to work hard to be the favorable one. However, I understand why they like boys more than girls. In their generation, men are the bread winner in family and in responsibility to continue the generation. Women are the one who will marry to other family. Therefore, women are considered outsider-sooner-or-later.
As my parents, due to economic problem, my parents did not have another child but they do not have gender bias. They love me more because they believe I will do as the same as boys do or even better.
In my childhood, I play with boys more than girls. I like to play guns and climbing trees and walls. At the same time, I play dolls as well. So, the gender role is different depends on the environment you grew up.

Margarita Lamas's Post

My parents are total anti-war hippies who do nothing but try to stick it to “the man” whenever they can. They grew up in the “Woodstock” scene where it was all about freedom and being you no matter what people thought. My dad, to this day, has his long shaggy hair and always wears old “vintage” t-shirts and his favorite faded jeans. My mom is pretty much the same way. Having had five kids hasn’t changed them.
My parents had a huge role in my “gendering” and in my lifestyle. Growing up the first thing they did was use gender-neutral colors to dress us. When we came home from the hospital, they dressed all of us in white and we only wore white or black until we were about 1-2, then they let us choose what we wanted to wear. They didn’t second-guess me when I wanted to wear biker boots with my striped purple/orange t-shirt and my blue tweed pleated skirt with black tights. Nope, they didn’t say anything at all, instead they took pictures. They have a scrapbook for each of us. My youngest brother’s is the best. Being the youngest, he wanted to be like the rest of us so he was so excited when he’d get our clothes. His favorite shirt is and will always be (it’s still in his closet) this light orange t-shirt with Rainbow Brite and Starlight on the front. He’s never been able to explain it, he just loves it. (It wasn’t mine by the way; it was my oldest brother’s shirt). His scrapbook has so many pictures of him with that shirt; it was part of his “going out” clothes.
My parents love all our quirks and let us do what we wanted even when it wasn’t “right” for us to do. I took boxing lessons with one of my brothers while another took ballet. People always asked why it was one of the boys taking ballet and not me. My dad said that he wasn’t going to control us; we’re human and have the freedom to do as we please. It’s not to say we didn’t have curfew or rules. We still had chores and homework, but my parents didn’t want us to grow up feeling like we had no choice but to live how we were forced to. We could be gay or lesbian and they would accept us. We could be Jewish or Christian and they would accept us. We could be dancers or politicians and they would accept us. They have made it extremely clear to us that they will accept any choices we make, whether they agree with them or not, as long as we were happy. And that they will be there when the choices we make aren’t the best ones.

Pissing Like a Real Man

When I was younger gender was never something pushed on me. My parents both lived in Berkeley in the hippy days and therefore believe in giving their children freedom to express themselves without the strain of societal norms, such as gender. If I wanted to wear a hot-pink ski jacket when I was five, which I did, they were okay with it and never said that it was feminine or that boys weren’t supposed to wear those clothes. I cannot think of being instructed by my parents at any time in my youth to do an activity or action a certain way because “that’s how men are supposed to do it.” Now that I said that I can actually think of one. I remember a distinct time when I was three years old and was taking a piss in a public restroom with my dad. We were both at our respective urinals and we began our motions. I unbuttoned my jean-shorts, unzipped the fly, and pulled them down along with my tighty-whities, letting them sit on the floor right around my ankles. My dad looked over at me from the neighboring urinal and saw my bare ass and decided it was time to teach me a lesson on how to pee. He explained to me that when you need to go, you don’t have to let your pants go around your ankles, you can actually just unzip them and keep them around your waist. From that day on I’ve been pissing like a real man.

Defining Myself

Starting from day one, my parents have played a very influential role in my development as a person. Thankfully, they’ve always wanted what’s best for me and for me to be happy with who I am. They did however, encourage me to enjoy more feminine activities. When I was younger, they would dress me up in skirts and dresses, put bows in my hair, and offer me baby dolls and Barbies. They also played movies and TV shows like My Little Ponies and Carebears for me to enjoy, which I did, but I also took pleasure in some “masculine” behavior. Sometimes when my mom would try dressing my up for school with a cute headband or skirt, I would try to make it a style of my own by adding leggings underneath and frizzing up my hair. Or when my parents would put on Carebears, I would change the channel to watch Powerrangers instead. I also liked being outside and playing with the boys instead of playing tea party with the girls. It was not that I was necessarily pushed into being a girly girl or that I rebelled against being feminine; I just wanted to express my own preferences and experience things in a way that I felt defined me.

Fei's gender bio

I was raised in a traditional family in China. Because of the one child policy, I am the only child. It is common for us to see most mothers working as housewives. My father works while my mom stays at home cooking and shopping. My mom chose to stay home with the family because she wanted to be there for us. When I was little I loved to play with little toy cars. In elementary school, I realized the differences between girl activities and boy activities because no teams can have both girls and boys. I started playing soccer and table tennis, which most of the boys did. Meanwhile, girls liked dancing and singing. Through my observations, this trend kept its shape well for my experience in high school. I enjoy soccer and realized most soccer fans were male. When I met a girl who was also a fan, I began to realized how different a girl’s view to soccer that was, and I just fell in love with her.

Yikki's Gender Bio

As being the youngest in my family, I am the one who are being protected all the time. When I was in elementary school, my sister and I preferred playing girlish games like playing the barbies. I studied in a girls school later. I also started playing basketball. It made me become more musculine. As there was no boys in the school, girls had to do all the things including setting up booths in open day and moving heavy stuffs. Studied in a girls school made me felt that girls can do all the stuffs without boys. My parent divorced when I was in elementary school. My mom raised me and my sister by her own. She had to work in the daytime and took care me and my sister in the nighttime. She worked hard, but she is still a good mother caring about us. She did the housework, too. We do not even need a father to form a family, as my mom plays both mother and father's role. Both these experiences made me thinking about gender role is not important becasue what men can do, women can do.

Manny's Biography

I grew up in a mixed-tradition family. My father being from Mexico and my mother from Peru. From my father I learned how to be tough and how to show no emotion, because he showed no emotion. He was not always reserved though. He became more so as me and my sister grew up and began to become teenagers. I guess he didn't know how to treat us as we grew from children to adults so he began to keep to himself. My mother on the other hand is the most loving person I've ever known. She was always there for me and always took the extra time to help me and my sister. The difference in culture came through the fact that in Mexico men are meant to be tough while in Peru people are more welcoming and polite. I believe i got most of my characteristics from my mother because although i can act tough at times, more often than not I like to talk to people and be friendly. I believe my gender role was in a large part brought about by my friends in school. We would always play football, soccer, and basketball during recess and lunch, and we would most always hurt each other because it was fun for us. We liked being tough and taking blows and the one who took any breaks was seen as a coward; so naturally I never gave way to pain. With my friends we always bothered girls and cracked sex jokes about how women were bad drivers and that men were in every way superior. So through this in a way I gained a sexist view of women, but only in a joking manner. Personally I do believe women are equal to men and better in some ways also. This may be partly due to my mother's love for me and my sister. My sister and I were never really close and fought constantly, that is until right now in college. Even though we fought I always admired her because she worked hard and was fun at times to hang out with. From her I learned how emotional women can be and that any little thing can set them off. We would play video games together and at times we would play sports. All these experiences and events define who I am today and what my gender role is in the world.

Sharon's biography

I am the third daughter in my family. My parents gave birth to my two older sisters and me. To be honest, both of my parents want to have a boy rather than have me.
However, they also raised me with all their love. As I mentioned above, I got two older sisters, they always tell me how to be a girl or how to act like a girl. If I talk with others with a loud voice, they would stop me and ask me to like a girl. If I play with a boy closely, they would stop me and tell me this is not a girl should look like. If I didn’t clean my room up, they would tell me girls should not like that, girls should very tidy and clean.
When I was young, I always play Barbie and cooking games with my two sisters. I was dressed in pink and like a Barbie by my parents.
Frankly speaking, I always think people are not acting what they are, they are just basically learning what they should be. Just like me, my sisters and parents always ask me to behave like a typically girl should be, and I don’t think I’m doing myself.
I remember a sentence from song which is very impressed me which is “I don’t care what the people say, I just wanna go my way.” I hope all of you guys could also this.

Gender Biography

Growing up with two older brothers, I’ve always been exposed to more “masculine” toys: dinosaurs, hotrods, and teenage mutant ninja turtle figurines. However, despite the plethora of these various toys that were available to me, I still begged my mom for the latest and greatest Barbie doll or stuffed animal every time we went to the supermarket. I was the epitome of femininity; when my parents encouraged me to play softball, I refused because I wanted to be a cheerleader instead and wear pretty uniforms that sparkled. My parents never encouraged me to be anything but myself, but my friends, on the other hand, significantly impacted my ideas of what was acceptable and cool. As I entered my teenage years, it was no longer considered cool to be super girly in school, so I lost a lot of my “girly” interests: I stored away all of my Barbie dolls, repainted my favorite pink colored room to green, and took up a co-ed sport—tennis. However, throughout high school, I became more comfortable with myself and started following my own interests; I can no longer deny that pink is one of my favorite colors or that I still have cute stuffed animals on my bed. Now, I wouldn't consider myself to be extremely feminine as I would've described myself to be in my childhood days, but I definitely have feminine characteristics—it’s just who I am.

Gender Bio

In South Korean tradition, parents prefer to have sons over daughters; when my mom was pregnant with me, my mom felt pressured to have a son because her first child was a girl and on top of that my grandparents strongly wished for a grandson. When I was finally born, my grandparents and relatives were somewhat disappointed and my mom often fell into depression because of her inability to bear a male child. Although my grandparents loved me with all their hearts regardless of my gender, I always thought that the society's view is quite unfair.

Five years after my birth, my parents divorced because of their differences in opinion, and from then, my life has become somewhat hectic. At first, I lived with my dad and my older sister in Korea; during this time, my dad came home after work at dinnertime, cooked dinner for us, took care of the housework, and raised us, just like a mother would. I would always be sad and embarrassed that I did not have a mother when I needed her the most. After three or four years, my dad decided to send us to the United States to my mom. Living with a single mom has taught me many lessons in life. Even though she is stressed and exhausted from a day's work as a dentist, she has never complained to prepare dinner for us and raise us all on her own. Both experiences of living with a single dad for a few years and living with a single mom for ten years have opened a new perspective for me. It really does not matter which gender a person is, because both male and female are equally capable of doing what "traditionally" is the other gender's job.

Glenn Ryan Gender Bio

When I was a kid a was heavily influenced by my parents to do what most Americans would consider to be "masculine." Besides playing a wide array of sports including Baseball, Basketball, Soccer, Tennis, and football, I was always told to "be a man" -even when I was very young. I remember in elementary school there were even times I was bullied and my dad took me outside and taught me to fight. He said "if someone is ruffing you up, always try and get a least one good swing on him so he'll remember you." This contrasted with what was told to my sisters as my mother told them "Ladies don't hit people." Furthermore if I look back at pictures of my siblings and I as toddlers my brother and I are matching in blue and my sisters in pink. Truly, we were raised to be an american culturally defined "male." Personally, I loved doing all the things I was put into by my parents, but it's interesting to think of how much influence they had on the "male" I became.

Gender Bio

I was raised up in an untraditional family. My mum is stricter and dominates more. As a result she doesn’t want me to be shy and sensitive. Most of the time she intended to push me to be stronger and firmer. I remember that when I was in kindergarten, I told her someone teased or hit me. Then she asked me to hit back. I guess that is her way to make me get used to solve problem by myself. Compare to trying to lead my personality into a certain way such as more outgoing; more active, my mum didn’t require me to do a lot of physical activities like a boy. I spend most of the time in boarding school. There isn’t much difference between treating girls and boys except PE class. Most of the teachers are hard. Then I grow up, unlike some of other girls who are also my schoolmates who prefer fluffy or pink stuff, I rarely wear in pink as I thought it will be weird with a not girly personality. As a result, I guess family’s attitude might have the most effect on a child.

Kristine's Bio

When I was a little child many people thought that I am a boy because I was not dressed in little pink or red clothes. Especially, it happened during winter time when I was wearing a hat; thus nobody could see my hair. May be even my actions sometimes were like a boy’s; fighting, claiming trees and hanging out with boys, but my grandmother and girl friends always knew that my favorite game to play was dolls, Barbie and Ken. When I became little bit mature and grew up; I started to become more girly because I was hanging out with more girls, and I took dancing courses where all girls looked and act so ladylike; I wanted to be like them. Back home in Latvia that kind of girls are called “Cacas”, as I can say now that I was one of them. Even though, I started my javelin thrower’s sports career when I was eleven; I tried to do different things and one of them was a volleyball. I quit it after approximately two month; coach told me that it is not a really good idea to go and practice javelin throw because it is not a girly sport that I would become buffed. Moreover, volleyball was made for me; that I had a talent doing it. I did not listen to him and left volleyball; started to concentrate on throwing a javelin what happened at age fourteen and I have been doing it till now. I am glad that I picked the javelin throw; besides, yes, I am a little buffed, but it is not a problem for me.

Arielle Mojica: Gender Bio

Ask anyone who grew up with me and they will all tell you that I was not in the least bit girly. I found no interest in dresses, pink frilly objects, or rummaging through my mother’s makeup. I had fun playing soccer and climbing the numerous trees in my backyard with my brother and several other male cousins. The two female cousins I have that are close in age tormented me when we were younger and excluded me from all of their activities. I have no idea how I would have acted if they were to include me in their play together and thus, I don’t know if my affinity for roughing it with my boy cousins was developed naturally or because I had no other choice. My disinterest in “girly” attire manifested itself as my mother literally forced dresses over my head for church and holidays. At all other times I was wearing baggy pants and sweaters. I eventually grew out of this stage, thanks in large part to my chance encounter with a girl who would eventually become my best friend throughout middle school. I think it’s important to note that during my boyish stage, which did not coincide with socially defined characteristics of what it means to be a little girl, I faced no ridicule from my parents aside from when my mother wanted me to look nice. They never tried to influence into playing with girl-associated toys and allowed me to dress how I wanted for the most part. My cousins refrained from ridiculing me as well for not being girly although nowadays they make fun of me for how different I’ve become since then. I believe my love for soccer and competition contributed to my desire to be less feminine when I was younger as they probably increased certain characteristics usually associated with being a boy. It’s funny to think of how opposed to “girly” attributes I used to be when I was younger and how I now seem to perpetuate the idea of socially acceptable standards for male and female.