ABSTRACT
Biological sex and social gender are categories that we, in Western culture, assign to human beings. Traditionally, Male mortals perform masculine activities, modes of dress, behaviors, while female mortals perform feminine activities, modes of dress, behaviors, et cetera. These performances allocated to, adopted by, or, in some cases, forced upon, individuals can be identical (e.g., family driver) or different (e.g., men tend not to wear dresses). Western culture also expects certain activities, modes of dress, behaviors, and the like to be performed during certain stages in a man’s or woman’s life. Both sexes are thought to pass through culturally defined chronological stages: infancy, childhood, adolescence, “prime of life,” middle age, and old age. The chronological parameters of these stages have changed through the decades, centuries, indeed, even, millennia. When once there was no childhood, in the United States, it has become common for adult “children” to remain dependent upon their parents well into their twenties and even thirties. Middle age, stereotypically defined as the time when one settles down into a chosen life, may occur in one’s early thirties or late fifties. Conversely, a person may pass through this stage chronologically, but never actually perform it.
