Construction Of Gender Identity Research Articles

Beyond Stereotypes: The Polysemous and Polymorphous Representation of Women in Moroccan Cinema through Adam (2019)

This paper critically examines the portrayal of women in Moroccan cinema, with a specific focus on Meriem Touzani's film Adam (2019). The film is a substantial case study, challenging traditional gender roles, particularly in cinematically representing the two female protagonists' bodies and voices. By critically re-evaluating the poetics and politics of representing women in Moroccan cinema, this paper features the importance of adopting an intersectional perspective and engaging with feminist film theory. The study employs qualitative methods, including close textual and thematic analysis, to investigate how bodily expressions and vocalizations contribute to constructing gender identity. Within the film, the findings are situated in the broader scholarly discourse on gender representation, drawing on theoretical frameworks from scholars such as Laura Mulvey and Kimberlé Crenshaw. This research is interested in tapping into the present debate on transcending hegemonic patriarchal structures in the Moroccan cinematic apparatus, advocating for more unbiased and empowering narratives that reflect the diverse experiences of women. As active media consumers, the audience plays a crucial role in this advocacy. Eventually, this paper contributes to ongoing discussions about gender representation, cultural identity, and social change in Moroccan cinema, offering new insights into the dynamics of advancing a new image of women on screen.

Educational television in school and Flemish preadolescents’ gender attitudes and beliefs: An experimental study

ABSTRACT Scholars have recently begun to explore the potential of educational media featuring counter-stereotypes in changing gender attitudes and beliefs, but so far experimental studies simulating interventions are lacking and preadolescents are understudied as target group. Further exploration of this research field is highly needed. In this mixed-design experimental study among 271 preadolescents (M age = 10.34, SD = .77), we therefore examine the impact of watching and discussing an educational television program containing diverse and counter-stereotypical gender images in a classroom setting on preadolescents’ gender attitudes and beliefs. Findings indicated that exposure to the program affects gender essentialism and acceptance of and willingness to affiliate with gender-nonconforming peers. However, after-exposure discussions in a classroom setting did not yield stronger results, nor did gender identity constructs moderate the effect. This study emphasizes the effectiveness of educational television in influencing components of gender attitudes and beliefs, but also suggests that a classroom setting may not be the most effective context for discussing such content with the goal of altering gender attitudes and beliefs.

Gendered Psyche: A Psychoanalytical Reading of Jacob Tobia’s Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story

This literary research paper employs psychoanalytic literary theory to delve into the complex interplay between identity formation and transgender experiences in Jacob Tobia’s memoir titled Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story. Through the lens of psychoanalysis, the study aims to unravel the intricate layers of self-discovery, acceptance, and resistance present in the text. By closely examining the text, the paper explores how psychoanalytic concepts like the unconscious, symbolism, and repression contribute to an enriched understanding of transgender characters' psychological landscapes.The analysis focuses on the representation of transgender characters in literature, examining how their narratives echo and diverge from psychoanalytic frameworks such as those proposed by Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. The paper argues that psychoanalytic approaches can shed light on the internal conflicts and external societal pressures that shape transgender identities within the literary realm. Through carefully examining character motivations, symbolism, and narrative structures, the study elucidates how these works engage with psychoanalytic concepts to offer nuanced and empathetic portrayals of transgender experiences.Furthermore, this research explores the broader implications of employing psychoanalytic perspectives in the analysis of transgender literature, contending that such an approach can deepen our understanding of the complex and often subconscious dynamics at play in the construction of gender identity. Drawing connections between psychoanalytic theory and literary representation, this paper contributes to ongoing discussions surrounding the psychological dimensions of transgender experiences in literature, offering insights into the intricate relationship between identity formation and psychoanalytic frameworks within transgender narratives.

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Construction as a Joint Youth-Parent Project

This study investigated how sexual and gender minority youth and their parents construct goals and strategies relevant to the youth’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity (SOGI). Six youth-parent dyads were studied over 10 months using the qualitative action-project method, which is grounded in contextual action theory. The data consisted of participant conversations, video recall of internal processes, and telephone monitoring. Data analysis resulted in the identification of a youth-parent relationship project for each dyad. Embedded within the broader relationship project were joint actions specific to the youth’s SOGI construction process, such as supporting one another with challenges related to identity disclosures, revisiting the past, and cultivating hope and gratitude. Findings demonstrate a SOGI construction process that is relational, ongoing, dynamic, and infused with goal-directed action. These findings provide insight into youth-parent relationship processes that facilitate the youth’s SOGI construction process.

Translanguaging for Doing Gender in English-Medium Classrooms in Hong Kong: Towards Critical CLIL in Plurilingual Settings

ABSTRACT Critical content and language-integrated learning (CLIL) has been advocated to attest raciolingusitic ideologies in plurilingual educational settings. However, little is known about how to help students in contesting inequalities about other structures of domination in bilingual education programs. This study aims to address this gap by examining the construction of gender identities in Secondary 4 (Grade 11) English-medium Liberal Studies lessons, which aimed to enhance awareness of gender equality and subject-specific English skills about the topic. The study shows that gender was constructed and reconstructed by conflicting multilingual and multimodal gendered discourses, including the formal curriculum, school lesson materials, and classroom interaction. The paper reveals that teachers and students jointly constructed masculinities of “real men,” “good men” and “gay men” in CLIL classrooms imbedded in curriculum contexts infused with gender dualism and alternative gender values began to emerge after the CLIL lessons. The results suggest that CLIL teachers can facilitate development of critical literacies about gender by enabling encounters of different voices in translanguaging and trans-registering spaces created by students’ familiar L1 everyday discourses and multimodal practices. Pedagogical implications were also discussed.

Hanfu catwalk shows: A performance of Chinese femininities

This article analyses the complex relationship between the construction of gender identities among young Chinese females and the practice of dressing up in Hanfu attire. The study employs the perspectives of dress as a situated embodied practice, the performativity of gender and the catwalk as a form of performance art. By drawing on an ethnography of self-defined Hanfu fans in Beijing, China, the authors investigate how the female participants construct femininities through performing on Hanfu catwalks. The ethnographic findings are that, first, the Hanfu catwalk mediates the intricate interplay of Chinese aesthetic norms and gender expression between performers and the audience. Second, wearing Hanfu is an embodied practice unifying the Hanfu costume style, gender construction and corporeal acts, situated in China’s sociopolitical context. Third, Chinese femininity is complex, with both flexibility and internal conflicts, reflecting China’s paradoxical modernization.

The material of the body: Corporeal gender identities and sexual orientation in Darling in the Franxx

This article explores the construction of gender identities and sexual orientations displayed in the 2018 anime series Darling in the Franxx by focusing on the series’ emphasis of its characters’ bodies. Karen Barad’s account of Agential Realism functions as a critical framework. The theory offers an understanding of matter as a dynamic process that provides a tool to think about bodies beyond the binary framework of female and male. The anime exhibits notions of gender fluidity, homosexuality and transsexuality. This analysis, therefore, aims to disclose how the sexed body is employed in the series’ conceptualization of gender identities and sexual orientation deviating from heteronormativity. Simultaneously, it discusses how Darling in the Franxx bears the risk of reaffirming the binary structure, as Barad’s theory does not necessarily follow an opening of binary structures.

Maritime Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Tarac and Gender Roles Reflected in It

The maritime pilgrimage of Our Lady of Tarac in the Kornati islands, Dalmatia, Croatia, is held on the first Sunday in July. The culture of these island communities is based on a patriarchal system that implies gender inequality. This cultural order has an impact on the construction of gender and religious identities in children and adults when they participate in pilgrimages. The basic methodological approach of the paper is autoethnography. The author concludes that the model of cryptomatriarchy along with the dominant patriarchy well explains well the role of women/mothers and grandmothers in the context of the pilgrimage. The pilgrimage also serves as a framework for transferring gender roles to children.

La neurociencia como base para la mejora de las TIC educativas

The construction of gender identity in childhood is a topic of great importance, since it influences the personal and social development of boys and girls. Several investigations have shown that gender stereotypes present in society have a great influence on the construction of children's gender identity. In this sense, different aspects that can influence the formation of stereotypes have been analyzed, such as classic stories, children's advertising, television consumption, gender roles in play, toys and cartoons. In addition, social factors such as family and school have been identified that can influence the modification of gender stereotypes. Different strategies and classroom projects have been proposed to promote gender equality, foster education in values and avoid the transmission of gender stereotypes in children's education. Children's and young people's literature has also been analyzed as a means for theconstruction of gender identity in children, and educational proposals have been proposed to work on the elimination of gender stereotypes in children's and young people's literature. In general, it can be concluded that it is necessary to continue working on the elimination of gender stereotypes in education and society in general, in order to promote a more egalitarian and respectful education of gender differences.

The Influence of Information Media on People's Gender Identity

Media and gender identity construction are interdependent. Media reinforce people's gender identity by perpetuating stereotypes, while also reflecting the public's demand for gender identity. This paper explores the impact of information media on people's gender cognition and the changes in gender perception under media influence. It also examines the differences between media in the past and contemporary periods, and their respective effects. For instance, before the popularization of paper information, oral language was the main medium for people. At that time, information was subject to the media, with slow transmission speed and a small influence range. In this condition, due to the superiority of the male physiological structure, there is a male-biased patriarchal gender relationship, which was first established in social production relations. The low social productivity makes the social status of men with innate physiological advantages above that of women. This fact proves that the influence of information media on people's gender cognition is huge, and society reinforces people's gender identity by emphasizing men's physical advantages. The ultimate goal of this study is to showcase the huge stereotypes created by the media in the past and the current 'improvement' situation.

Becoming ‘farazat’: Re-examining feminisation from a Tunis used clothes sorting factory

In over 40 factories in Tunisia, female sorting workers transform container loads of imported Western used clothing into comparable value categories that are packaged for re-export or sale on the local market. The dominance of women on these factory shopfloors indicates the feminisation of sorting work, typically implying a process of devaluation of labour power. However, this article shows how feminisation has situated outcomes and meanings that are specific to a given labour process. Through an ethnographic account of a Tunis sorting factory, it argues firstly that feminisation cannot be understood separately from the particular production process of used clothes sorting, in which the heterogeneity of used commodities requires female sorters to engage in highly contingent practices of value creation. Situated knowledge is necessary to separate the valuable from the valueless, and to assemble new product categories. Second, the article holds that these hierarches of skill in the factory result in processes of gendered identity construction associated with the vernacular profession ‘farazat’ (pl. sorters). Derived from the activity of sorting, and used exclusively in its feminine form, the identity is collectively asserted to convey a sense of professional pride and authority. Despite the lack of formal recognition, this professional designation is then used to mobilise a language of ‘respect’ that positions the farazat as both ‘workers’ and ‘women’. Far from devaluation, the feminisation of sorting here opens possibilities for women to assert their indispensability to the production process and to challenge the formal bounds of factory work.

Pernikahan Anak Usia Dini dan Konstruksi Identitas Gender: Analisis Teori Peter L. Berger (Studi di Desa Pandansari Poncokusumo Kabupaten Malang)

Early marriage often becomes a prevalent culture in rural areas. This is primarily attributed to a lack of knowledge and the inability to meet the family's livelihood needs. The underlying basis for early marriages is how the community supports their underage children to engage in matrimony. An exploration of the meaning of early marriage and the family's role in early marriages is a novel aspect to present. This research aims to describe how early marriages are interpreted on both a national and international scale. Unlike other studies that tend to focus on external aspects of marriage, this research views marriage within the context of gender identity construction. The data collection method employed in this research is the interpretative understanding constructivist approach with a phenomenological framework. It adopts an approach of interpretative understanding analysis. The results indicate three key factors related to early marriages in rural areas: (1) Arranged marriages are a supportive factor for early marriages, (2) Social support, particularly the role of the family head, plays a crucial role in early marriages due to the prevailing tradition of arranged marriages within the community, and (3) The education levels within the community and among adolescents remain insufficient in terms of understanding the consequences of early marriages. The conclusion drawn from this research is that the socio-cultural norms present in the community can be used as one of the approaches to reduce the prevalence of early marriages. Formal education emerges as a primary area that has been overlooked by both adolescents and parents, thus aiding in reducing early marriages in rural areas.

Barriers to the Full Participation of Girls in Robotics: A Case Study of a South African Community of Practice

The lack of participation of girls in programming robotics is well documented in the international literature on the subject. The Inspired Towards Science, Engineering and Technology (I-SET) is a community engagement project that promotes science engagement in predominantly disadvantaged communities. In this paper, we present the findings of an action research project. The primary objective of this research project is to monitor and improve this community of practice. This research paper aims to explore whether girls encounter barriers to full participation in robotics competition teams. While educational parity has been reached in STEMI-related subjects at the school level, young women are far less likely to select STEMI fields at the tertiary level compared to young men. The I-SET community of practice is well-situated to promote STEMI fields to girls from an early age. Barriers to their full participation in the I-SET community of practice included male dominance in the everyday activities and speech acts of the teams; a lack of technohabitus; and alienation. Broader constructions of gender identity in schools and the communities that they serve presented a major challenge to coaches keen to actively include girls. These challenges were further compounded by gendered divisions of labour that left little time for girls (particularly those from poorer backgrounds) to practice.

My stunning angel: endearment terms as strategies of gender identity construction in Facebook picture uploads in Nigeria

ABSTRACT This study investigates the language features deployed in the production and reproduction of gendered identities on social media with a particular focus on Facebook picture uploads. The data comprised one hundred purposively selected endearment terms on the Facebook platform. Drawing analytical insights from social constructionism, this study examines social media commentaries that accompany Facebook picture uploads by young women between the ages of 15 and 25. The study focused on the discursive and social significations that are embedded in the linguistic choices and comments people post about their friends’ Facebook picture uploads. These linguistic expressions use strategies such as neologisms, code-switching and language mixing, and draw their resources from the Nigerian linguistic ecology including comedy skits, hip-hop music and popular slang. The results indicate that endearment terms have positive and negative connotations: they may be used to construct gender identities and express politeness or “impoliteness” by being out-rightly patronising. In this way, endearment terms are sites for the enactment of emotive relationship that enables social media users to bond socially and adapt flexibly in their social networking spaces.

Digital literary readings for the promotion of gender and affective-sexual diversity: Predictors of its didactic recommendation in secondary education

This study analyses the frequencies of inclusion of digital literary-educational proposals on the diversification of sex/gender/sexuality expectations by in-service Spanish teachers of secondary education (<i>n</i>=436), and the predictors that determine this inclusion. Based on the application of the instrument <i>Digital Literary Education and the Construction of Gender Identities</i> (DLECGI), the study is developed in non-experimental designs of a cross-sectional nature, and at the relational, explanatory and predictive levels of research, insofar as it seeks to reveal the socio-demographic, formative and didactic causes of the phenomenon or event of interest, and its degree of occurrence. The results obtained indicate the existence of a profile of teachers who promote the recommendation of this type of digital reading based on their belonging to non-binary gender groups with previous training in co-education and equality, and with explicit didactic stances on controversial issues. Likewise, the relationship between socio-demographic variables and the didactic positioning of teachers on the recommendation of digital readings on affective-sexual diversity shows that initial and/or ongoing specific training in co-education and equality is a key predictor of this relationship. These findings attest to the fact that the visibility and recognition of identity plurality in literary education necessarily involves the proposal of counter-hegemonic models regarding gender and affective-sexual identity. In this regard, teacher training must continue to progress towards the adoption of inclusive didactic approaches within the framework of educational principles for democratic citizenship, regardless of the gender or personal and social identity that defines these teachers.

The pragmatics of advice-giving in the media discourse

Abstract This study investigated how the gender of the contestants in TV talent competitions affects male and female judges’ management of their advice, exemplified by evaluative talks in two Taiwan-based talent contests. In addition to the pragmatic configuration of the advising acts, the internal and external modifiers of the advising speech events were also analyzed in an attempt to gain insights into whether and how the advice messages are instrumental in the construction of gender identities. Results showed that deviating from the stereotypical gendered style of communication, the female judges utilized significantly fewer politeness mechanisms than did their male counterparts to moderate their advice. Besides, the psychological needs and face want of the male and female advice-receivers remarkably influenced the discursive moves of the given advice comments. These findings suggested that in the public media discourse, the speech context outweighs the socially prescribed gendered styles of communication on one’s advice-giving behavior.

The virtual mask: The dark underbelly of digital anonymity and gender identity construction in Turkey

This study explores the impact of online identity on individuals’ perception of self and communication codes. Specifically, the study investigates the relationship between the presentation and construction of identity and gender identity. The research methodology involves conducting in-depth interviews with eight Turkish university students aged 19–23, hailing from various cities across Turkey. Through these interviews and subsequent evaluations, the study identifies significant differences between social and digital identities, which can be attributed to various demographic factors, including gender. Furthermore, the study argues that the digital realm provides favourable opportunities for individuals to express their identities while serving as a platform for mobilization, opposition and alternative modes of communication that challenge existing societal norms. Moreover, results show that young people sometimes experience fears about their social media posts and anxiety that society and the government will punish them.

Sexual Minorities - Men who have Sex with Men1, Transgender2 and Lesbian3 Women in Côte d'Ivoire: Between Life Paths and Hesitations in the Process of Constructing Gender Identity

The construction and acceptance of the identity or sexual orientation of sexual minorities by society and the individual are realities that are constantly in crisis. This reality is all the more perceptible in societies where minorities are strongly discriminated against as a result of certain social considerations. In Côte d'Ivoire, the legal vacuum on the issue of sexual minorities leaves them prey to practices that are sometimes demeaning to certain members of the community. This article provides an insight into the lives of some of Côte d'Ivoire's sexual minorities (MSM, TG and Lesbian) and the hesitations that mark the construction of their gender identity. Based on a qualitative approach with four (04) leaders of the LGBTQ+ community on the one hand, and referring to social identity theory on the other, it emerges that the construction process is discontinuous or disjointed due to hesitations created by internal and external factors. Internally, the individual's decisions or choices help to create hesitations or set up these situations. From an external point of view, the family or social context and certain discriminatory behaviours with regard to the sexual orientation of individuals have a strong influence on the acceptance and definition of a gender identity within this category of the population.

Colors as Gender Markers: A corpus based Critical Study of English Novels by Pakistani Female Writers

The present study aims at investigating a discursive role of colors in the construction of gender identities in the selected corpus of English novels by Pakistani females. It focuses on understanding the mechanism which contributes to construe, challenge or reinforce the traditional gender images in Pakistani society. A corpus-based critical approach was employed to demystify the constructed gender structures in the web of texts selected for this study. The research finds a significant relationship between color association and the constitution of gender images. Some colors are presented as permanent features of one gender which cannot be seen otherwise. Some bright colors like pink, yellow, purple, green, orange have been predominantly associated with females and sober and decent ones like brown, gray, khaki have been associated with males. These color connotations are employed to create and reinforce gender identities of the characters, their traits, and their behaviors. The whole process of construction is executed by employing language as discursive and strategic tool in a specific sociopolitical context of Pakistani society.

Globalization and the health and well-being of migrant domestic workers in Malaysia

BackgroundNeoliberal globalization contributes to the out-migration of labour from sending countries in the global South. Supported by multilateral organizations including the IMF and World Bank, the migration and development nexus holds that nations and households in migrant sending countries can migrate their way out of poverty. Two countries that embrace this paradigm, the Philippines and Indonesia, are major suppliers of migrant labour including domestic workers, and Malaysia is a primary destination country.Theory and methodsWe deployed a multi-scalar and intersectional lens to highlight the impact of global forces and policies, interacting with constructions of gender and national identity, to explore the health and wellbeing of migrant domestic workers in Malaysia. In addition to documentary analysis, we conducted face-to-face interviews with 30 Indonesian and 24 Filipino migrant domestic workers, five representatives from civil society organizations, three government representatives, and four individuals engaged in labour brokerage and the health screening of migrant workers in Kuala Lumpur.ResultsMigrant domestic workers in Malaysia work long hours in private homes and are not protected by labour laws. Workers were generally satisfied with their access to health services; however, their intersectional status, which is both an outcome of, and contextualized by, the lack of opportunities in their own country, prolonged familial separation, low wages, and lack of control in the workplace, contributed to stress and related disorders—which we regard as the embodied manifestation of their migratory experiences. Migrant domestic workers eased these ill effects through self-care, spiritual practices, and the embrace of gendered values of self-sacrifice for the family as a form of solace.ConclusionsStructural inequities and the mobilization of gendered values of self-abnegation underpin the migration of domestic workers as a development strategy. While individual self-care practices were used to cope with the hardships of their work and family separation, these efforts did not remedy the harms nor redress structural inequities wrought by neoliberal globalization. Improvements in the long-term health and wellbeing of Indonesian and Filipino migrant domestic workers in Malaysia cannot focus solely on the preparation and maintenance of healthy bodies for productive labour, but must attend to workers’ attainment of adequate social determinants of health, which challenges the migration as development paradigm. Neo-liberal policy instruments such as privatization, marketisation and commercialization of migrant labour have led to both host and home countries benefitting, but at the expense of the migrant domestic workers’ well-being.