Gender.  In a society full of gender ambiguity and gender nonconformity, we often must ask ourselves where gendered ideologies stem from in the first place.  Most sociologists will agree that society holds the key to those things that we consider to be gendered, and why we view them as such.  But aside from a lot of technical lingo, how is gender created, maintained, and perpetuated?

The creation of gender: the birth of man and woman; pink and blue.  The creation of gender is one of ambiguity and confusion.  It is important to understand the difference between gender identity (the particular biological sex that one relates him/herself to psychologically) and sexual identity (the biological sex of a particular individual.  We are all gendered beings and we remake and maintain our gender identities on a daily basis.  The creation of gender starts every morning when we decide what to wear, what to eat, and how to portray ourselves to family and friends.  To be gendered individuals, we must actively participate in being a particular gender.  I know, it's a little confusing.  But think of gender as an action instead of as a noun.  Gender is something that must be acted upon, not as an object acting upon us.

In order for us to maintain our gender, we constantly act gendered.  If we are ridiculed by others for being different (a tomboy, a heterosexual, etc.) we will either actively change that identity, or actively pursue that identity.  This makes gender an ever-changing but constantly existing part of our daily lives.  Realize that every action you perform is in some way a gendered action, whether you realize it or not.

The problem is that often gender stereotypes get perpetuated.  This is done by media, popular culture, family, and old-fashioned socialization.  So now we are able to actively choose our gender, instead of just blindly taking part in gendered activities.  We are aware that playing in mud is for boys, and we may take part in that either to conform to society's ideals of gender, or to pursue a form of nonconformity.  Either way, we are choosing either gender conformity or gender nonconformity.

Gender ambiguity takes place when we are unable to correctly decipher the biological sex of a particular individual.  This is usually due to that particular person not actively portraying their biological sex through their gender identity, actively performing gender nonconformity, or when we ourselves are incorrectly deciphering gendered behavior.

It is important for people to understand how active the role that we take in gender truly is.  We are able to define ourselves, to society, by either following or breaking society's rules.  This is a lesson that could help all of us understand some of the everyday actions that people partake in, and eventually lead us to better understanding of one another in general.