‘Women and men are made, not born’

The statement by Simone de Beauvoir, ‘Women and men are made, not born’ proposes that a person acquires the identity of a man or a woman over time, by means of complex social processes. Beauvoir’s statement suggests that gender roles and behaviour are not inherent and that social positioning should not be determined by sex. This essay will begin by drawing a distinction between sex and gender, and will then discuss two arguments that explore the origins of gender difference; social construction theory as implied by Beauvoir’s statement, and the biological determinist position.
Gender refers to the socially constructed categories of ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ and the attributes and behaviours that are assigned to the categories by society. Conversely, ‘sex’ refers to the universal distinction between men and women based on biological and physical differences as characterised by internal and external sex organs, hormones......

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Title: Women And Men Are Made, Not Born
Approximate Word Count: 986
Approximate Pages: 4 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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