The boy was taught that he was a girl so he came to believe it, just as we are taught the definitions of sex and gender by our parents, peers, teachers, etc. Because gender is a socially constructed ideal it must be taught to us and not innate. ...
By the nineteenth century, industrialization was in full swing, as were the gender roles inaugurated by the historical turning point; but those gender ideals were short lived as female Irish immigrants flooded American streets in search of "men's" work. ... Women would not be able to remain single if they were not self-reliant, the theme of unmarried Irish women was especially popular in the second generation of Irish-Americans; the economic assertiveness of the first female Irish immigrants was passed down to their daughters who began abandoning domestic and factory jobs and s...
