Table of ContentsThe Complexities of Gender and Sexual Orientation ConclusionReferencesWe are all subliminally limited by our sexual orientation. We're always thinking about what clothes we should wear that might fit gender norms and wondering if others might not like our appearance or our hobbies, even if we supposedly try to ignore them. But does it make a difference to conform to gender norms? Is this really the result of gender stereotypes? How do we choose gender orientation? These questions will be answered in the essay. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayI saw this kind, capable boy skipping down the hall that morning with his new pink backpack. He chose to be himself and made many friends on his first day of school. The capable boy always played with a group of girls during school and always had a smile on his face. However, the standards and norms of society broke him. It’s true that I shied away from being associated with a strange boy and kept my space away from him. The boys made fun of him for his irregularity and threw stones at him. The girls ostracized him and stopped playing with him. I distinctly remember him being scolded by his parents for being distinctive. He was different and alone. The capable boy quickly recognized and assimilated the fact that certain sexes had to like certain colors and practice certain activities to be accepted by others. He decided to change. Do boys' sports and love the color blue. Conforming to standards he didn't like and pursuing passions only boys were supposed to pursue. To this day, this colorless boy looks back on himself and thinks about how stupid and weird he was to be the original version of himself. This once capable boy I never spoke to followed the same path as other boys and it made all the difference. Complexities of Gender and Sexual Orientation To continue, gender is how we perceive ourselves, while sexual orientation is related to who a person is attracted to. The University of Washington addressed this issue by giving two high school classes identical math tests and informing Class A that boys performed better on average than girls. Class B was only asked to ignore the gender stereotypes they heard about that one gender is better than the other at math. The pressure to perform better simply to align with gender expectations imposed itself on the minds of Class A. Girls scored an average of twelve in Class A and girls in Class B scored an average of fifteen. Simply stating gender even conjures up the many negative implications of expected test performance of a certain gender. Stanford conducted a similar test and concluded that women scored on average twenty points lower on the math portion of the SAT when asked to indicate their gender. Men are also disturbed when involved in gender roles. A psychological test of 1,043 men found that "gender role conflict was significantly related to psychological distress" and that there were "correlations with attitudes toward masculinity, fear of 'intimacy and social desirability in expected directions'. Without gender congruence, among other things, humans naturally feel distressed about being.