Case Study: Gender
Gender by many scholars is deemed to be socially constructed although there is much debate to whether this is actually the case. Simone De Beauvoir (1973: 301) famously claimed that ‘One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman’. In this undisputed text de Beauvoir argues that women are not born a woman. Instead they have to develop feminine behaviours and traits in order to become a woman implying they were not always a woman. It is not the case that nature causes women to be feminine and men to act in a masculine way. Society has constructed it to be this way. Kate Millet also takes a gender socialisation view. Arguing that one’s gender has nothing to do with their biological makeup instead it depends on their culture
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Biological determinism is the view that human traits and behaviours are determined genetically. Thus they believe that humans are born with certain traits, they do not acquire them over time. For example, if a girl is passive and does not speak in class then they were born with those traits. In the context of gender and sex determinists believe traits displayed by men and women are explained in terms of biology. Certain biological determinists do not recognise gender. They would adopt the argument from Parsimony as they believe that gender is not needed to explain the traits of men and …show more content…
I will show first why gender does exist. Then I will go on to explain the reasons why I believe that it is socially constructed using an example called the social learning theory to support my argument. Before the 1960s gender was not a recognised term apart from denoting masculine and feminine words (he or she). In the 1960s a phycologist named Richard Stoller (1968) deemed there was a demand for trying to define transsexual people, as their gender and sex did not seem to match. Transsexuals were biologically the same but chose to be a different gender. Thus the distinction between sex and gender was made. Moreover, it has then been developed to explain the common hierarchal dominance of males over females. This social constructivist stance taken by Stoller is very similar to de Beauvoir. It separates the biological (sex) from the social (gender). Both arguments put forward by both Stoller and de Beauvoir show that biological determinism between the sexes does not explain the experiences of transsexuals. Secondly it shows that the behavioural traits that are shown by men and women are seriously affected by social factors. Thus to support this, one might put together a Quinean Argument from Ontological Commitment to show that gender does
However, there is still and will always be debating points stating that gender socialization either doesn’t occur or doesn’t pose a problem. This can be refuted using multiple examples that trace back to one main topic: sexism. Sexism essentially has been the byproduct of gender socialization in the sense that it is based off the notion that ‘one sex isn’t
There are many different facets to the nature versus nurture argument that has been going on for decades. One of these, the influence of nature and nurture on gender roles and behaviors, is argued well by both Deborah Blum and Aaron Devor, both of whom believe that society plays a large role in determining gender. I, however, have a tendency to agree with Blum that biology and society both share responsibility for these behaviors. The real question is not whether gender expression is a result of nature or nurture, but how much of a role each of these plays.
Seeing femininity as a social construct is important in understanding how it is controlled and shaped by society. This concept is
The reading also discussed the difference between sex and gender. While sex is biological, gender is socio-cultural, meaning it is a social construct. These constructs create stereotypes enforced by the culture. Gender roles are formed and become the "social roles that a person is expected to fulfill based upon his
In this article, Shaw and Lee describe how the action of labels on being “feminine” or “masculine” affect society. Shaw and Lee describe how gender is, “the social organization of sexual difference” (124). In biology gender is what sex a person is and in culture gender is how a person should act and portray themselves. They mention how gender is what we were taught to do in our daily lives from a young age so that it can become natural(Shaw, Lee 126). They speak on the process of gender socialization that teaches us how to act and think in accordance to what sex a person is. Shaw and Lee state that many people identify themselves as being transgendered, which involves a person, “resisting the social construction of gender into two distinct, categories, masculinity and femininity and working to break down these constraining and polarized categories” ( 129). They write about how in mainstream America masculinity and femininity are described with the masculine trait being the more dominant of the two. They define how this contributes to putting a higher value of one gender over the other gender called gender ranking (Shaw, Lee 137). They also speak about how in order for femininity to be viewed that other systems of inequality also need to be looked at first(Shaw,Lee 139).
In their publication, “Doing Gender, ” Candance West and Don H. Zimmerman put forward their theory of gender as an accomplishment; through, the daily social interactions of a man or woman which categorize them as either masculine or feminine. From a sociological perspective the hetero-normative categories of just sex as biological and gender as socially constructed, are blurred as a middle ground is embedded into these fundamental roots of nature or nurture.To further their ideology West and Zimmerman also draw upon an ethnomethodological case study of a transsexual person to show the embodiment of sex category and gender as learned behaviours which are socially constructed.Therefore, the focus of this essay will analyze three ideas: sex, sex
" The Social Construction of Gender" touched on how Western society views gender. This article pointed out historically how women and men appear to be separate species entirely. And that even though physiologically we are similar, male and female, we are of an opposite class. The male and female class should not be labeled how our bodies function for we are all individual and unique. If a scientist views a female to be female based on the fact that physiologically she menstruates, than what is a female that ceased menstruation or never began to? Is she only half woman? Is a male not a ...
What is gender? Gender is present everywhere in society. However, people do not consciously choose to do gender. Gender is intentionally and unintentionally taught and reinforced by family and society similar to how language is learned. Gender is not innate, but it is universally recognized, which is why people think that gender is a natural, essential, and biological behavior. Associated with gender are gender roles and gender characteristics that each gender is expected to perform in order to be considered normal in the eyes of society, who function as the reinforcing gender police. If a behavior t...
Social Construction of Gender Today’s society plays a very important role in the construction of gender. Gender is a type of issue that has raised many questions over the years in defining and debating if both male and female are equal. Today, gender is constructed in four different ways. The The first way gender is defined is by the family in which a child is raised.
While the terms “gender” and “sex” are often used interchangeably, the two words have significantly different definitions. One could argue that sex refers to biological essentialism and the idea that we are who we are because of our genetic material. On the other hand, gender is associated with the social constructionist theory, which argues that the way we are is dependent on our race, class, and sexuality. Because each person is different in their race, class, and sexuality, their gender becomes socially constructed. To argue that gender is not socially constructed would be to say that all people, for example, that are biologically female have the same goals. However, this cannot be true because within the sphere of being female, that individual person varies from the next in their race, class, and/or sexuality, each of which affect their goals and perspectives differently from their sister, friend, and neighbor. One’s gender identity refers to his or her perception of self as a male or female, as well as being masculine or feminine. Because masculinity and femininity are fluid, rather than static, they are dependent on the perspective of the beholder. A person’s perspective is often influenced by their surroundings as well as values with which they were raised, both of which are never identical between two people. Race, class, and sexuality are the underlying factors that influence perspectives and values, thus differentiating the understanding and portrayal of gender identity from one person to another.
In order to grasp the concept of social construction of gender, it is essential to understand the difference between sex and gender. Biologically, there are only two reproductive genital organs that are determinants of sex: the vagina and the penis. Sex is established solely through biological structures; in other words, genitalia are the basis of sex. Once a sex category is determined, gender, a human categorization socially attached to sex, is assigned based on anatomy. Gender typically references social or cultural differen...
Social Construction of Gender is a process, stratification system and structure. The day to day interactions emphasize gender as opposites. Take for instance, conversations, formalities of daily life, sayings, and so on. The social construction of gender is created through social interaction – through the things we do and say with other people. This means that gender it is not a fixed or inherent fact, but instead it varies across time and place.
Sex and gender are terms that are mixed up from day to day and seen as similarities rather than differences. Sex is what distinguishes people from being either male or female. It is the natural or biological variations between males and females (Browne, 1998). Some of these variations are genitals, body hair and internal and external organs. It is the make-up of chromosomes, men have one X and one Y chromosome and women have two X chromosomes, these are responsible for primary characteristics (Fulcher and Scott, 2003). Gender on the other hand refers to the sociological differences between male and female. This is teaching males and females to behave in various ways due to socialisation (Browne, 1998). Example: masculinity and femininity. Girls are supposed to show their femininity by being non-competitive, sensitive, dependent, attractive and placid. If and when some girls don’t succeed in keeping this image they will be referred to as a tomboy. On the other hand, boys show their masculinity through aggression, physical strength...
Different sociologists have given different definitions for gender. However, in its simplest term, gender refers to the socially expected roles and relation between men and women. For example, boys are expected to be the strong ones, aggressive and competitive and girls are to be sweet, caring, and gentle and handled with care. These characteristics, amongst others, are what the society actually expects from individuals based on their sex, but it does not mean that it is imperative for a girl to be feminine or a boy to be masculine which implies that gender is independent of sex. Robert Stoller, an American psychoanalyst, is the first person to have made this observation. While gender is closely linked to sex, they do not have the same meaning. Stoller differentiated between sex and gender by stating that the physical characteristics of a being makes him either a male or a female contrary to gender which makes an individual either masculine or feminine. In other words, it means that sex is what we are born with; either a male or a female and is difficult to change, whereas gender is the character given to us by the society.
Gender refers to the psychological, social, and cultural differences between males and females. Gender also means the physiological and anatomical differences between the male and female bodies. Most socio-biologists believe differences in sex are a result of differences in the thinking and behavior of men and women. They argue gender identity is formed through socialization. Gender structures every aspect of an individual's life through social relationships and all forms of interaction with society including work.