Pitch

For our documentary we are going to examine social dynamics of gender roles in society. The aim is not to define right or wrong, but rather enlighten ourselves and the viewer about how these dynamics are formed and see where they fall on the line between instincts and social norms. We hope to focus on the youth around us and question their ideas about gender definitions. Of course, people who are struggling with social norms are imperative in order to understand how society affects the individual’s identity and how it influences them to make certain choices. We are interested in gender assignment, as it applies to the direction of our lives. What does it mean to be “male” or “female”? This question may seem easy, but what if you ask it to someone who was born with both genetalia? What if we ask a person whose parents chose for them at birth, were given the corrective surgery, but they still feel like they don’t fit into their gender? Also, since we are all different, we want to discredit the extremes of gender definition such as the recent Snickers commercial that focuses on “doing something manly.” We hope that the heart of our film will be the stories of transgendered people and hermaphrodites themselves; learning of their struggles/successes will be crucial. It is also important to look at members of society who embrace the diversions of social norms or who are disgusted by them, and ask, why? We would like to interview doctors, therapists, sociologists, and people of all ages and gain a very broad range of perspectives. It may be interesting to start with children, a time of “innocents” then move to adolescents, a stage of figuring out their identity, and then adults, who are supposed to know who they are. Our topic may seem hard to relate to, but we are hoping that everyone can relate to the need to be understood, loved, and accepted.