Sex & Gender

1. Sex & Gender

2. Sex and Gender • Sex • Largely defined in biological terms • Male – Female • Gender • Largely defined in social/cultural terms • Masculine – Feminine “Being female may be biological and thus unavoidable, but being woman is cultural and therefore changeable”. – RickiWilchins

3. Roles and Performance • Gender role: The patterns of socially defined behaviors and expectations, associated with being female or male • Gender Theorists: • West & Zimmerman: “doing gender” • Butler: “performativity” • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CU040Hqbas&feature=related • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av-4OFRj2LQ

4. How Do We Perform Gender? • Attire • Language • Interests • Gender is realized through interaction! • It’s not what we are, it’s what we do.

5. Sociological Theories on Gender • Structural functionalism suggests social roles are better suited to one gender than the other; divisions and differences lead to stability. • Conflict theory suggests that men have historically had access to most of society’s material resources and privileges. • Patriarchyrefers to male domination over women in all aspects of a society. • Symbolic interactionism suggests that gender identities arise through our everyday interactions, such as performativity.

7. Essentialist Framework • The essentialist framework suggests that sex is permanent and purely biological; our gender is directly related to our sex. • It proposes that there are no social or cultural influences on either sex or gender. • It frames only two categories of sex, gender, and gender expression: male and female, boy/man and girl/woman, and masculine and feminine.

8. Social Constructionist Framework • Sex and gender are framed as separate components of our identity. • Gender roles/identities are socially determined. • They vary by time, culture, and even individuals. • Sex and gender labels are points on a spectrum rather than halves of a dichotomy. • We have the agency to choose our gender identities. • “Sex is between the thighs, gender is behind the eyes”.

10. What is sexuality? • L.G.B.T. = Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans(gender/sexual). • Identity related to our sexual desires

11. Forms of Identity • “Gender-Normative” • Transgender –no surgery/hormones • Transsexual –surgery/hormones • Transvestite –“Drag Queen” • Intersex –“hermaphrodite” • Genderqueer • http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/30/whittington-family-ryland-transgender-son_n_5414718.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063

12. Drag • “We’re born naked and the rest is drag”.

13. Sexual Diversity in nature • Multiple-sexed organisms (fish) • Difference in body size • Who gives birth (geese) • Chromosomal Diversity (chickens) • Multiple-gendered species (primates) • Lack of appearance differentiation • Who lactates (bats) • Homosexuality in nature • Females with penises?!?!

14. Sexism • Sexism: the belief that there are innate psychological, behavioral, and/or intellectual differences between women and men and that these differences connote the superiority of one group and the inferiority of the other • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyDUC1LUXSU • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC1XtnLRLPM

15. Gender & Work • The second shift refers to the unpaid housework and childcare often expected of women after they complete a day of paid labor. • There is a definitive gender pay gap in the U.S. where the average full-time female worker earns only 77% of what a full-time male worker makes. • The feminization of poverty refers to the economic trend that women are more likely than men to live in poverty. • There is a sharp division of gendered jobs; those jobs that are labeled as strictly for women are referred to as pink-collar jobs.

16. Feminism • Afeministis a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality between the sexes. • The concept ofintersectionalitysuggests that our race, class, gender, and sexuality are interconnected aspects of our identities.

17. Intersectionality • Matrix of domination • Identity conflict

18. Inequalities • Institutionalized discrimination • Glass ceiling: invisible barrier that prevents women from moving up the corporate ladder • Laws • Religion • Double standards • A standard that is used to measure one gender and/or sex differently than another • Sexual activity • Female authority

19. Masculinity/femininity • Masculinity is largely defined in opposition to femininity. • R.W. Connell- one of the original founders of the social construction of Masculinities and related theories. • Hegemonic • Subordinated • Complicit • Marginalized • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRRBvrZpKZo

20. Masculinity/Femininity • Boys and men must continuously distance themselves from anything considered feminine and follow a heterosexual imperative. • Homosexuality is framed as the antithesis of masculinity, thus Homophobia not just anti-gay but also anti-woman. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRRBvrZpKZo

21. Class discussion • If the worst insult you can call someone is a woman or feminine, how are we supposed to be equal!?!?

22. Class Activities • In 2 minutes, write down 5 things you did to gender yourself before you left your house this morning. The WALK: • One male-bodied and man-identified individual and one female-bodied and woman-identified individual needs to volunteer. • The woman is going to “walk like a man” and the man is going to “walk like a woman”. The rest of the class will “coach” the person walking, giving them instructions and suggestions to “improve” their performance and and make it more believable.