Gender Identity - Sam Stangl

There are certainly obvious religious reasons behind how our society defines gender and gender roles; it is religion that tells us that man is the leader and the necessary being, and woman is the subordinate and the child-producer. American society only provides for two gender roles because of our religions. Although there are probably thousands of religions in America today, maybe more, we tend to be most accepting of monotheistic ones, and that classifies man and woman as the only two gender roles that exist. It is only in other cultures and other religions that you find things like berdaches, or other cultural equivalents. These berdaches are men that serve a feminine role in their society. They cook, clean, and gather food, and it was said in one example that the can even be the wife and the sexual partner of another man. This is completely acceptable in their culture, because it is another gender that is decided for you by fate, or by the gods, or by anyone other than you.
Americans also view gender as man and woman because we have come to learn that being gay is not like being another gender, but rather "same-sex relations" contrary to "opposite-sex relations." This notion, described in the berdache example, is the literal translation that we see everything as one vs. its opposite or one in the same; never one, its opposite, and its "similar" as I could call it.
In the example about saving Muslim women, it is clear that their traditions have made the women dress and act the way they do. The religion and culture influence them to become who they are in life, and this is not something that we should try to "save" them from. We are treating their cultural tradition of wearing burqas as if it is an abomination because American men like to see their women significantly underdressed (for the most part, I'm being stereotypical). In the Nigerian example, the men prefer their women plump and well-fed, and that is how they decide that the woman is able to bear healthy children and will be a good wife. In America it is thin and petite that men prefer (again, for the most part, not totally) in women, and this creates the effect of seeing large and small women as two sub-gender roles of the "woman" gender role.
However, it seems as though our views on gender are changing, as we learn more about other cultures and other religions, and what is acceptable in other regions and societies. This is not to say that we are going to integrate these acceptances into our culture. But it is possible that a greater understanding of gender roles in other cultures is a positive influence on our American culture, and that cultures around the world coming to America and introducing their ideas about gender is going to contribute solidly to that influence.