Gender systems can affect what personal experience of one's own gender and how they fit in society?
Gender systems Gender systems are systems of gender roles in societies. A "gender role" is "everything that a person says and does to indicate to others or to the self the degree that one is either male, female, or androgynous. This includes but is not limited to sexual and erotic arousal and response." Gender identity is one's own personal experience with gender role and the persistence of one's individuality as male, female, or androgynous, especially in self-awareness and behavior.
Difference theory Difference theory has roots in the studies of John Gumperz, who examined the differences in cross-cultural communication. While difference theory deals with cross-gender communication, the male and female genders are often presented as being two separate cultures, hence the relevance of Gumperz's studies. In her development on the difference theory Deborah Tannen in particular drew on the work of Daniel Maltz and Ruth Borker and their 1982 paper "A Cultural Approach to Male-Female Miscommunication", which itself drew on the work of Gumperz. Mary Talbot makes reference to the term "gender-specific culture" in her critique of the difference theory, and this idea of genders being culturally separated is embodied by the 1992 publication "Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus". Difference theory is often compared with dominance theory and deficit theory, and together with the more contemporary dynamic theory they make up four of the theories most widely referred to and compared in the study of language and gender.