Whose views on sex & gender do you agree with more -those of Jan Morris or those of Leonard Sax?

We agree to a large extent with Jan Morris’ views on sex and gender. Gender is socially constructed as it refers to the psychological social and cultural differences between males and females. Psychological social and cultural differences can influence one’s behaviour whether he/she tends to the opposite gender or not. Jan Morris was a very “manly” man yet she always felt herself to a woman in a male body thus she underwent a sex-change operation and since then lived as a woman. Even though Jan Morris was born a male, she was affected by many factors such as religion, cultural and the society in general that changed her mindset and thoughts resulting in her going for sex-change operation. Sex-change operation is uncommon yet it’s still happening to males and females who want to become the opposite sex. This minority is largely influenced by society that caused them to feel themselves as a woman/man inside. This is supported by the example stated by Jan Morris on the difference in treatment by the waiter when she was a male and when she became a female.

Leonard Sax’s opinions on the hand are subjective and not representative of the society in general. The example he raised about how “some overweight men have large breasts” is not representative of all overweight man but rather just a minority group of men. We cannot determine whether gender is a socially constructed or not just because of physical appearances and body features.

Fang Ting, Bryan cai, Min Jia, Junling, Kim
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