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Gender, Sex, & Society

September 18, 2015

Sociology v. Commonsense
Commonsense: Ideas that are so completely taken for granted that they have never
been seriously questioned and seem to be sensible to any reasonable person.
Sociology challenges common sense. The goal of sociology is to find answers/valid
conclusions/truth. They frame their truth within various paradigms.

Paradigms a school of thought that guides scientists in choosing the


problems being studied, how they are studied and in explaining what is found
(a typical example or pattern of something)

Structural Functionalism:
A view that society is a stable, orderly, system in which the majority of its members
share a common set of values, beliefs, and behavioral expectations.
This is referred to collective as social consensus.
A social system comprised of interrelated parts that operate together to keep society
balanced or as functionalists would say in equilibrium
Each element of society functions in some unique way to maintain social
order
Social change under this paradigm must occur slowly and at the same pace for each
element, otherwise society would fall apart.
Structural functionalists view men and women as distinctly different beginning with
biology
Men are bigger and stronger
Women bear and nurse children
From these biological differences, it was only natural that gender roles were constructed
for each sex
Gender role a set of behavioral requirements expected of a person based on
their sex

Problems with Structural Functionalism:

Functionalists see gender differences as natural phenomena deriving from


human biology
o Confuses sex with gender
o Sees both as opposite

Justifies inequality and discrimination


o Women are too emotional to do mens work
o Womens brains are hardwired differently

Key critique is power


o Power ability to impose ones will on others
o Most powerful in society are the ones who have resources
o Resources distributed unequally based on characteristics we cannot
control

Feminist Perspective:

Based on gender equity


o Women and men are equals and should be equals in society
Acknowledges the importance of biological differences BUT also acknowledges it
may be impossible to know real biological differences since gender socialization
begins at birth
Feminists seek to understand womens lives and to examine the difference in
women and mens behaviors, attitudes, and experiences.
o They do not pit one gender against another, but present the whole picture
a holistic approach to examine the different opportunities and
constraints based on gender

Reading: Jekyll and Hyde: Mens Constructions of Feminism and Feminists

Gender relations are power relations; therefore, in order for women to have more
power, mens power must be reduced
Men have tried to counter the feminist movement by saying that patriarchy is a
feminist myth.
Media representations have portrayed feminists and masculine and unattractive
which has caused many women to consider themselves feminists.
All three accounts of men (accounts meaning level of feminism) said that the
position of women has improved in society
Evolution by definition means that things change gradually and overtime. There
are consequences to rushing anything. Therefore, even the feminist-men believe
that it cant be rushed. Its just going to take time. However, it is subtly implied by
these men that women should be tolerant of the current inequalities women face
because their social positions are improving.
Ms Jeckyll is the ordinary women who wants equality. Ms Hyde is the
unfeminine feminist who is contentious and an extreme political activist. This
binary fosters an equivocal view in regards to feminism.

The Gender Binary:


Women:

Sensitive
Emotional
Nurturing
Weak
Shopping/Fashion

Domesticity
Humanities
Cleaning
Cooking

Men:
Strong
Independent
Assertive
Powerful
More athletic
Outdoorsy
STEM
Bread winner
Auto mechanic/Engineering occupations

Gender binary:

The media portrayal perpetuates the construction of the gender binary.


Societal/Community expectations

Sex v Gender:

Sex is the biological/physiological anatomy of a person and how theyre a born.


(Female XX, Male XY) In the case of intersex individuals, the parents usually
decide.
Gender is a socially constructed idea based on societal expectations. Its more fluid.
There are multiple identities. It transcends the gender binary.

Sex Spectrum:
1. Male

2. Female
3. Hermaphrodite
a. People who have one ovary and one tests
4. Puesdo-hermaphrodites
a. Merms XY chromosome and has testes, but does not ovulate. Has a
vagina and may develop breasts.
b. Ferms XX chromosome and has ovaries. No testes. May grow an adultsized penis.

Friday, October 2 2015: Friday


Gender Socialization:
A gendered personality is both a product and a process

West and Zimmerman


o A persons gender is not simply an aspect of what one is but something that
one does, and does recurrently, in interaction with others.
In saying that we do gender, we are saying that gender is not only something that is
done to us
o We create and re-create our own gendered identities within the contexts of
our interactions with others and within the institutions we inhabit.
o By doing gender, it in turn has the effect of reinforcing the notion of essential
difference between females and males
Hidden Curriculum
o Value preferences taught in school that are not an explicit part of the formal
curriculum but are hidden or implicit in it
o Unstated lessons that students learn in school
o Running subtext through which teachers (and peers) communicate behavioral
norms and individual status in the school culture
o Cues children into their place in the hierarchy of larger society

The Three Waves of Feminism:

First Wave Feminist Movement

The first wave of feminism coincided with suffrage movements in both Europe
and the US. Many women were suffragettes.
Other women were more radical pushing for more sexual freedom and the
expansion of middle-class women in the workplace.
o White women were concerned with the expansion of the workforce
because they were not paid for outside work. Slaves however were not
paid in general. Sojourner Truth drew attention to the disparities between
women of color and whites.
The first wave was successful in gaining the right to vote in 1920!!

Second Wave Feminist Movement

When people think of feminism their frame of reference is the second wave
feminist movement that began in the 1960s in the global North. This movement
was part of a larger, global social movement cycle that included independence
movements in the developing world as well as the civil rights movement in the
US.
Like the first wave, the second wave was characterized by diversity in the types of
women involved and in the articulation of their goals. There was no one group of
people and no one unanimously agreed upon agenda.
Feminists focused on finding connections between their personal lives and the
politics of gender.
Many feminists developed theories around gender by their own experiences.
Lesbian feminists and feminists of color started to feel like their voices were not
heard. It was all about upper-middle class white women.

Third Wave Feminist Movement

Was a response to the contradictions of second wave feminism


Emerged during the 1980s and 1990s
The voices of women of color, which have been present in all three movements
(?), were even stronger in the development of third wave feminism
articulate a way to be feminist that is inclusive enough to include both men
and women, whites and people of color, lesbians, gays and straight people, etc.
Third wave feminism was influenced by postmodernism and queer theory.

Liberal Feminism
Inequality between men and women stems from existing institutions and how said
institutions treat men and women.
The methods of liberal feminism prescribe for achieving equality to gain and
ensure basic rights that give women the opportunity to compete on an equal
playing field with men.
The assumption under liberal feminism is that once these barriers to competition
are removed, the experiences, views, and attitudes of men and women will
converge, or become increasingly similar.
Radical Feminism

Radical feminism is primarily associated with the second and third waves of
feminism.
Radical feminism starts with the premise that women and men are fundamentally
different.
Gender is a fundamental aspect of the way society functions, according to a
radical feminist perspective, and serves as an integral tool for distributing power
and resources among people and groups.
Inequality is not solely a result of women being denied the opportunity to
compete, but is it built into all aspects of society; gender affects our social and
personal lives, as well as our political and economic institutions.
From a radical feminist perspective, men directly benefit from the subordination of
women, and mens superior position in many societies is premised on ensuring
womens inferiority.

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