As we have deliberately and meticulously gone through the metamorphosis of gender identity from the
Victorian Era to the present, we have observed that identity is sometimes, or most of the time, shaped by
exterior variables such as as: prosperity, war, popular culture, music, dance, fashion, socialization, depression,
scarcity, poverty, health, famine, droughts, military training, middle-class ideals, birthrates, scientific inventions,
protests, social upheavals, victories, losses, tragedies, status, affluence, wealth, opportunity, careers and the
list goes on…historically, gender identity has been at the mercies of many variables, massaging,
metamorphosing, re-inventing, and eventually, producing: identity for the times.
The formula that I have provided in class, the formula that creates gender identity goes as follows:
Society establishes a commodity, that commodity has a financial cost, but it also has a human value
associated to that one commodity. It is that human value that creates confidence, assurance, determination,
aggressiveness that establishes gender identity. Once that brand of identity is formulated, one then is free to
mate and find a mate.
Essay Question
Explain this process in your life: What is your commodity? What, if any is the price tag? What is the human
value, which you derive from your commodity? How does it form your gender identity? How does it create
confidence? How does it create assurance in your life? How does it, the commodity create determination in
your life? How do you become aggressive in pursuing your destiny? How does this fresh and new, formulated
identity allow you to search for a mate, a lover, a committed relationship, a soul mate, or simply a life-long
partner, marriage?