Sam Killermann: Understanding the Complexities of Gender.
In Sam Killermann’s Tedx Talk Understanding the Complexities of Gender,” within the first two minutes he raises this overbearingly obvious standard about gender that we can see through our everyday lives. “In the States,” he begins, we have two types: boys to the right and girls to the left. This idea of two different kinds of people is very prevalent in our everyday society, you’re either male or female, no in-between. Boys are supposed to be rough, play with trucks, like the color blue, and have the world as their oyster. “Boys have no limit” unless it’s feminine, then that’s “gay.” Girls are meant to play house, do hair, vacuum rugs, and love the color pink. He goes on to say, basically we only have “two options to describe everyone in the room.”
Sex incorporates the biological sex you are born with: especially penises verses vaginas. For the biological sex of a person, we look at chromosomes, hormones, and physical traits. There are times where there is an intersex, and we guess and assign a specific sex to the person for them, despite their consent to what is being done. Gender is a relative, cultural constructed ideal. Gender is in your head, not what makes up your body.
Biological sex does not determine your gender despite society’s attempts to keep this gender binary. They are two separate things. Gender is learned.
Gender identity is a way of classifying personality, with options that are binary. Sam Killermann goes on to describing over 15 different types of gender, with the knowledge that there are many more. We classify people who aren’t a part of the binary as freaks, sick, psychologically off, etc.
Gender expression is the way we present ourselves and what those things stand for: masculine verses feminine. Gender expression is expressing the gender they have been given in everyday activities—a performance—we are given a role at birth to perform.
Sam Killermann brings up a lot of flaws in our society’s norms. We have this idea that we are taught which is “normal” according to what many of us believe to be a natural concept, when in actuality we are given a handful of cards and are asked to play the hand given. This is such an isolated concept. We need to question these norms given and allow for a more open and accepting society in order for all people to be comfortable and express who they are with more confidence and less questions. Why should we allow society tell us who we should be, how we should think, and what is “normal”? We should question all these norms we are faced with and create a more open and considerate world to embrace.
