<P> The constructionism of gender and stereotyped roles can be examined through a given environment . A certain gendered patriarchy turns abstraction into material reality . This reality is negotiated into each interaction we have . For example, based on a simulation discussed in "Walk Like a Man, Talk Like a Woman", the simulation used "demonstrates the social constructiveness of gender, maintaining that gender should be conceptualized and portrayed as a process, system of stratification, and social structure". The perceptions of the social world in which these students view the world around them is as an "objective reality rather than as a product of human interaction and interpretation that is institutionalized and transformed over time". One of the most powerful notions that this simulation encourages is teaching from a constructionist perspective that requires instructors to "challenge perceptions by requiring students to unpack the "hows and whys" of sociological phenomena". </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Look up gender identity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary . </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Look up gender identity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary . </Td> </Tr> <P> Lisa M. Diamond argues that gender identity is not a stable, fixed trait--rather, it is socially constructed and may vary over time for an individual . A study by Bandura and Bussey shows that kids want to be like others of their sex . Social conformity has been widely studied on adolescents . Results showed that 6 - year - old children tend to conform to choices that their peers find more popular . They begin labeling objects as "for girls" or "for boys" and conform to what is expected of them . West and Zimmerman argue that the notion of womanhood or femininity is accomplished through an active process of creating gender through interacting with others in a particular social context . Society typically only recognizes two genders . Therefore, when transgender individuals want to have a sex change operation, they must prove that they can "pass" as a man or woman--so even the choice of changing one's gender is socially constructed . </P>

Gender is best understood as what type status