Redefining Realness

Study Guide

Directions: Before beginning this assignment, please read the book, “Redefining Realness. My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love, & So Much More”. . Then, answer the questions posed below. Your answers should be reflective, indicating a clear understanding of the book’s content, and demonstrate a level of understanding and discernment appropriate for a global HR professional. Additionally, your responses should include specific references to the Hawaiian values of aloha, pono, and kuleana as they are manifested by the characters in the book. If you decide to supplement your responses with information from secondary sources, be sure to cite those sources according to APA format. Please post your response document to the appropriate assignment board in our course website.

1. At birth, Janet Mock was assumed to be a boy, based on the appearance of her body. She says that she knew she was a girl by the time she was three or four years old. Despite being socialized and raised as male and having the physical attributes of a boy, Janet’s self-perception was that she was a girl. In what ways are socialization rituals different for girls and boys? Why might these differences confuse someone who believed she was being socialized into the gender opposite to her own self-image? How might parents teach their children to practice aloha, pono, and kuleana without also imparting gender definitions and roles to the children?

Socialization rituals are extremely different between boys and girls through all stages of life. At a very young age we start to see boys wearing boy colors, like blue, and playing boy games, cops and robbers and wrestling. And girls, pink and ruffles and playing with dolls. When boys play with dolls or wear pink, even when they’re children and don’t know any better, these rituals quickly teach them what is, and isn’t, appropriate for their own gender. This could very quickly confuse a child who felt pulled towards a...