Understanding Gender Identity & Communication

This assignment delves into the intricate connection between gender identity and communication. It examines how individuals with diverse gender identities navigate social interactions, emphasizing the impact of stigma, discrimination, and intersectionality. The readings cover topics like psychological practices with transgender individuals, lexical variations in social media, and the influence of erotic preference on gender identity. The assignment also explores intercultural communication theories and their application to understanding LGBT+ experiences.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Introduction:
There can be no gain stating the fact that in case of intercultural discourse,
communication plays a crucial role, as it not only helps the person with different cultural identity
express his views and opinions freely, but also because it acts as a marker of the speaker’s
cultural identity. It is the distinct identity of the individual that determines how the individual is
perceived in an inter-cultural social set up. Each society has a distinct set of beliefs, norms and
ideologies that determine which communication or interaction is considered to be feminine or
masculine, or which behavior is regarded as transgressive and which is deemed to be socially
acceptable. Thus, while an individual or an organization seeks to communicate beyond the
confines of his culture, his or her very gender identity may impede the development of effective
communication. For example, while communicating with an individual having a distinct cultural
identity, belonging to a conservative nation like Saudi Arabia, a woman may encounter difficulty
in attaining validation, simply because of the stereotypes imposed on her gender by the culture
(Sorrells, 2015). While for the Westerners, it is absolutely normal to exchange looks or shake
hands with people of opposite sex, the same thing in a conservative Islamic culture may land
them in trouble. Hence, the thesis statement of this report is to critically analyze what role does
gender identity play in intercultural communication, as well as to evaluate which steps can help
in developing healthy intercultural relations, regardless of the stereotypical gender identities
(Langevin, 2014).
Discussion:

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Although gender identity has more than often been used synonymously with the sexual
identity of an individual, it should be noted that while the latter is defined by the biological
identity an individual is born with, the latter explains which sexual identity does the individual
wish to relate with. Thus, unlike the sexual identity of a person, gender identity is a free, flexible
concept that a student is free to choose. It should be noted that the developmental psychologists
tend to define gender identity as the tendency of an individual to act and feel in a masculine or a
feminine way. Most of the countries not only possess a distinct culture, but it also requires its
native people or even outsiders remain adherents to the cultural norms of gender identity. Often
in case of organizations engaging cross-cultural trade, and intercultural communication
encounter trouble with its employees strictly adhering to the internalized standard of gender, and
hence getting viewed as a potential threat to the cultural values of the place. In this connection, it
would be interesting to note, that gender identity should be a flexible one, where each individual,
belonging to any cultural domain must be allowed to enjoy autonomy, to act, interact and
behavior whatsoever way he or she pleases to (Reisner et al., 2015). In today’s global era,
employees need to visit foreign nations, engage with people of different cultural backgrounds
and communicate. In case of deviant behavior, as per the cultural norms of the country, the
employees as individual members of the society often encounter cultural resistance. For ages, the
female identity has been expected to revolve around the qualities of dependence and
subservience, while the male identity has been expected to revolve around domination and
independence (American Psychological Association, 2015). However, in a globalized era of the
present world, people of different cultural views face each other and interact, and they people
often have different ways of relating to each other. Hence, this is high time that the people of
different cultural backgrounds do not constrain themselves while dealing with different gender

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identities, but rather aim at creating salutogenic, multifold and intercultural identities that can
help in connecting people of different nations and cultural backgrounds.
The gender identity plays an important role in the intercultural communication. It
generally helps to lessen the gap between various cultures and their way of communication. The
ability of gender identity begins at home and it creates awareness about the cultural values.
Identities are also created through communication when the messages are exchanged among the
persons. In the United States, when the people are young they are motivated to develop a strong
knowledge of identity. However this in same way in every society this identity development does
not occur (Mallory et al., 2017). While talking about the role of the genders, people become too
much protective about their traditions and culture. Different identities depend on the person with
whom we are communicating and the topic we are communicating about. When we
communicate with some people in our society to whom we are attached our gender identity
become more important to us than our national or ethical issues. The communication is the most
important and become successful whenever the person to whom we are communicating must be
able to confirm the identity of a person.
In a social discussion with somebody the people are attached to, the sex or sexual
introduction personality is presumably more essential to the people than, the ethnic or national
characters. Also, the communication is the best when the individuals are discussing about a topic
they believe is the best. Communication is very important for the development of identity. When
a child is born its gender identity is determined, which is very important to understand the views
of common people on biological sex.

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During communication each of the indications of a man's character is communicated
either through verbal or nonverbal means. Rarely the individuals cover up that non-verbal
communication is a most powerful communication. Difference in multicultural communication,
expression of face, utilization of space, and particularly, indication are very much prone to error.
A complex culture makes it clear that people of the societies manages their beliefs about sex, and
gender identity in many different ways (Furnham and Sen, 2013). Gender diversity or gender
identity, is referred to the way that societies have developed diverse gender systems, and that
these frameworks manage these difficulties in an unexpected way.
Sexual introduction refers to a person's ID as bisexual, gay or lesbian. Sexual orientation
character alludes to a person's interior feeling of being male or female. Despite the fact that not
yet secured as an ensured class under government law, there has been various Congressional
endeavors try to ensure gay, lesbian, androgynous and transgender people from private working
environment separation and badgering (Turner, 2015). Some government courts have expanded
Title VII sex segregation or lewd behavior insurance in instances of saw sex generalizations,
cross-dressing and sex character investigation. Further, many states have ordered laws to shield
workers from segregation in light of sexual introduction and sex character. Also, workers
influenced by sexual introduction/sex personality segregation or provocation have used other
lawful speculations against businesses, for example, battery, deliberate punishment of
enthusiastic trouble, criticism and wrongful end (Ting‐Toomey, 2015). According to these laws,
the employers must have the knowledge to recognize the discrimination issues which can help to
protect the employees from sexual harassment or gender identity discrimination. This will help
them to protect themselves from litigation.

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Any identity is merely a socially conditioned situation, and under no circumstance can
be regarded to be fixed and stable. In today’s world, the gender identity is regarded as an ever
changing conceptualization, a fluid idea that is defined by the socio-cultural ideas of a society. It
is quite obvious a fact that every individual society does contain individuals who do not
necessarily fit into a specific culture’s dominant sex or gender categories - persons born
intersexed that is those exhibiting behavior or desires which are deemed appropriate for the
"opposite" sex/gender, have been found experiencing inner conflict with the socially accepted
roles in some way or the other. Hence, it is important to educate people about the Third Sex, the
less socially acknowledged gender choices and gender identities through proper education
(Callens et al., 2016). The employees of an international organization should be trained to
embrace workplace diversity within and outside the nation. By accelerating globalization
processes in the present world, a greater emphasis is placed on intercultural competencies, both
individual as well as collective, which enable the members of the society manage gender
diversity, within intercultural contexts, more effectively and monitor cultural change in a better
way (Rogers et al., 2015).
In all over the world when it comes to the points of the sexuality and gender identity,
some people used to join together to stand against discrimination and abuse. These people are
known as activists who changed the policies of daily life in various places. They generally
struggle for the togetherness of common people. The gay lesbian or transgender people used to
suffer from discrimination in workplace and at public places (Bamman, Eisenstein, &
Schnoebelen, 2014). This discrimination occurs due to gender identity. Although there are no
such laws to protect the LGBT peoples from discrimination, there are some special laws and
many other policies which can provide help to the people who have been mistreated. There are

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various ways which can reduce the discrimination of gender identity in intercultural
communities. They are:
 There are some organizations which work on sexual orientation and gender identity
 To build better network for general support and communication
 Diversity training can also be given to common people so that they can understand the
facts about different races and different genders
 Another type of training known as sensitivity training is given to the workers and
students to provide them the knowledge about the communities and recognize the
discriminatory practices.
In a workplace an employee should establish some policies which prohibit gender
identity discrimination against the individuals. It’s important to provide some training to each
and every employee regarding the gender identity discrimination and sexual orientation. In an
organization class must have the power to report a complaint against the peoples who are
discriminating or harassing others on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Also
they must follow the state and Municipal laws regarding the workplace protections different
peoples on the basis of gender identity (Langevin, 2014). An employee must also consider
accommodation that is needed to provide the LGBT peoples. Although they are protected under
the special federal law there have been numerous efforts to protect gay, lesbian and transgender
individual in a workplace against discrimination and harassment. Some of the court laws have
extended in order to protect sexual harassment in case of gender stereotypes and gender identity
exploration moreover the employees who get affected by the gender identity discrimination or
harassment can utilize other legal authority against the person who is discriminating or harassing
them (Cahill & Makadon 2014).

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It is imperative to break gender stereotypes through effective communication. It is highly
important to communicate the flexibility of gender roles to the employees as well as groom their
cultural skills to embrace the new cultures, while remaining loyal to one’s self-chosen identity.
One of the major flaws of the system is that usually when an expatriate employee is sent to a
foreign country, he is expected to be trained in the distinct culture of the new country, and his or
her gender identity needs to be adapted to the expected socio-cultural norm of the country.
However, as a result, the women are expected to behave in a complaint and passive way, if they
are getting transferred to a nation with conservative culture (Cahill & Makadon 2014). However,
this impedes the growth and effective development of a fluid culture. Hence, it is important to
ensure that the company organizes training for the existent employees of the host country as
well, so that they can get embrace and explore the new culture of the foreign country, rather than
merely expecting the new employees adapt to the new culture.
More than often, the transgender people do not enjoy equal rights at workplace. It is
important for companies to recruit employees who are transgender, and since very few
companies do that in reality, it becomes imperative to introduce quotas. Thereby it would be
possible for the management authority of the companies hire as well as ensure the economic
well-being of the employees (Yep, 2013). The transgender employees should not only be
recruited by these organizations, but must essentially be offered equal pay and promotion rights
as well. Initially, the companies might encounter resistance from the employees, and yet in due
time, the diversity in identity across cultural borders will be accepted as normal. It is highly
important to develop conscious sensitivity amongst the individual members of the society so that
they can learn to be more considerate and lenient towards different gender identities. However, at
the same time in the process of developing conscious sensitivity to decode the message carrying

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elements of identity, it is very important to presuppose their omnipresence (Ting‐Toomey, 2015).
The first step to this would be to accept and recognize the very complexity of people’s gender
identity in terms of how they wish to represent themselves in different cultural contexts. In case,
a person is coming from a country where the society is far more complex and multifaceted than a
second country, and where the gender roles are defined in a different way than the latter, the
layers and the depth of such a complex society are as a rule visible, hence must essentially be
exhibited in communication as well. Consequently, in such changing societies, it would be easier
for the people to establish the identity as something that is not only multifaceted but at the same
time is also continuously shifting. It should be noted that in order to understand the complexity
of gender, an individual must learn to look at it from different angles and embrace the diversity
in it as well.
Conclusion:
It should be noted that in the globalized era of today’s world, it is important to ensure
effective intercultural communication amongst people. Identity, gender or racial or ethnic, should
not impede effective communication under any circumstance. In the process of ensuring
multicultural gender education, each individual member of the society should be made aware of
the importance of ignoring gender prejudices and gender differences, and embrace the gender
diversity as it exists. More and more people need to be aware that gender is a choice, and one is
free to choose his or her own gender identity. More and more people need to be aware of the
essentialist approach in gender identity that claims that there exists a universal essence, as well
as homogeneity and unity amongst each gender identity, and regardless of the cultural norms, an
individual should be allowed to lead a healthy life, and access to equal rights and privileges.

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Reference List:
American Psychological Association. (2015). Guidelines for psychological practice with
transgender and gender nonconforming people. American Psychologist, 70(9), 832-864.
Bamman, D., Eisenstein, J., & Schnoebelen, T. (2014). Gender identity and lexical variation in
social media. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 18(2), 135-160.
Cahill, S., & Makadon, H. (2014). Sexual orientation and gender identity data collection in
clinical settings and in electronic health records: A key to ending LGBT health
disparities. LGBT health, 1(1), 34-41.
Callens, N., Van Kuyk, M., van Kuppenveld, J. H., Drop, S. L., Cohen-Kettenis, P. T., Dessens,
A. B., & Dutch Study Group on DSD. (2016). Recalled and current gender role behavior,
gender identity and sexual orientation in adults with disorders/differences of sex
development. Hormones and behavior, 86, 8-20.
Furnham, A., & Sen, R. (2013). Lay theories of gender identity disorder. Journal of
homosexuality, 60(10), 1434-1449.
Keuroghlian, A. S., Ard, K. L., & Makadon, H. J. (2017). Advancing health equity for lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people through sexual health education and
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Langevin, R. (Ed.). (2014). Erotic preference, gender identity, and aggression in men: New
research studies. Routledge.
Langevin, R. (Ed.). (2014). Erotic preference, gender identity, and aggression in men: New
research studies. Routledge.

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Mallory, C., Brown, T. N., Russell, S., & Sears, B. (2017). The Impact of Stigma and
Discrimination Against LGBT People in Texas. The Williams Institute.
Reisner, S. L., Greytak, E. A., Parsons, J. T., & Ybarra, M. L. (2015). Gender minority social
stress in adolescence: disparities in adolescent bullying and substance use by gender
identity. The Journal of Sex Research, 52(3), 243-256.
Rogers, L. O., Scott, M. A., & Way, N. (2015). Racial and gender identity among Black
adolescent males: An intersectionality perspective. Child Development, 86(2), 407-424.
Sorrells, K. (2015). Intercultural communication: Globalization and social justice. Sage
publications.
Ting‐Toomey, S. (2015). Identity negotiation theory. The International Encyclopedia of
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Ting‐Toomey, S. (2015). Identity negotiation theory. The International Encyclopedia of
Interpersonal Communication.
Turner, S. G. (2015). LGBT Discrimination as Sex Discrimination: How Existing Doctrine Can
Provide the Most Expansive Protection for LGBT Rights.
Yep, G. A. (2013). Queering/Quaring/Kauering/Crippin'/Transing “other bodies” in intercultural
communication. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 6(2), 118-
126.