Gender and Family Life

Gender has been a hot topic recently. Everything from traditional gender roles and transgender identities have been addressed and debated over. But why?
To start out, gender is your sex -- whether or not you can draw your name in the snow, to put it bluntly. Recently, it's been changed to "the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones)." I want to focus on what was said in the parenthesis. In sociology, there are two terms, ascribed status and achieved status. Ascribed status is the status that you are born with, such as race, ethnicity, and gender. Achieved status is the status that you... well, achieve. Examples of this term are student, parent, doctor, and so on. However, gender is being viewed more as an achieved status rather than an ascribed status now. Gender is now something that is chosen by the individual, and then developed. There is evidence, though, that gender is something that cannot be chosen. The brains of males and females are different, and thus, gender cannot be flip-flopped by surgeries or pills. This is a super touchy topic, and this fact is not popular in today's society. There is a video, and I'll include the link, that addresses the issues of gender and explains the science much better than I do.
http://stream.byui.edu/VideoPlayer/BYUIplayer.html?StartCue=18&EndCue=2839&VideoName=5687_vcs&VideoType=libraryvideos

This video also talks about the issue of gender differences. I love the claim in the video that states (along these lines) equality is not being the same. Males and females are very different. Our brain structures are different, but why is this scientific finding viewed as bad and offensive? With the feminist movement going on, the concept of women being equal with men has been warped with being the same. We are not the same. Women have more white matter in their brains, and men have more gray matter in their brain. That means women have more connective tissues, and thus can communicate faster and focus on many things at once. Women generally also focus more on relationships, verbal/non-verbal communications, and appearance. They are also generally more detailed-oriented. Males are more active, aggressive, protective, and have more spacial orientation.

There are differences in the brain, and there is also differences in body structure. Men are, on average, have twice as much upper-body strength than women. They are naturally built to be stronger and bigger than women. This fact has caused some issues, especially when it comes to career, and tensions are continuously building.

Instead of focusing on the bad things about each gender, just honor everyone, and who they are designed to be. Who we are is a result of evolution, the differences -- and similarities we have are meant to help us, the children that we raise, and the people that we make contact with. I encourage you to watch the video that I posted in the link above -- whether or not you agree with me.