The Scientific and Social Construction of Sex, Gender and Race

Outline:
1. Revisiting feminism and key concepts
2. The objectivity of science
3. Sex differences and changing ideas of gender and race
4. Beyond the two/sex gender binary system
5. Intersectionality
Key concepts:
Patriarchy:
Is the study and ideological system that perpetuates the privileging of
masculinity (Cynthia Enloe, 2004, p.4)
Oppresses women, men control
Becomes an organizing principle of power differences between men
and women
Structure e.g. Families, the police, newspapers and political parties
Ideology- ways of understanding, where does our ideas come from
We may want to ask how does race, ability, and sexually impact
womens experience of poverty?
Gender equality- equal relationship between men and women
Kiki Roch : the gender inequality in Canada is structured,
Womens lives are not all the same, because different issues affect
womens life differently
Ideas have a history:
Time- historical period/ context
Place-refers to places where people have been assigned to but not by
choice, position where one understands reality, location
Space- built environment, where people engage in social relations

The objectivity of Science

Science is process of discovering fact
Science is the process of discovering inventions
Science is the product of the engagement between the scientist
psyche and the events to which the scientist is
Science as a cultural product.
Science is neutral and objective
Western science becomes dominant- main way of looking and
describing the world
Sciences neglects different practices and belief of gender equality
Science divides the world between nature and culture
Nature is viewed as unchanging and untouched,

Culture stands as the way humans change and evolve over time
Heterosexist: assumes that heterosexual relationships are norm, and is
also part of anthropomorphism.
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to nonhuman creatures of object
The rule of science is to unlock or uncover the truth, to find out
differences between genders, race, etc.
Sex differences and changing ideas of Gender and Race

Enlightenment period:
18th century (Europe) viewed as the centre
is a moment in which we can take as the start of modernity (period of
progress.)
scientific thought was based on reason (i.e. rational thinking)
men were rational and women were viewed as being irrational
example of brain size (womens brain were measured and viewed as
smaller than men)
race based on scientific reasoning (Eurocentric ideas)
ideas follow categories of race
how come to understand sex and history changes overtime
science has a history and its used as way to cause division between
groups
Socially construction:
words, identities and concepts are socially constructed
socially constructions are produced from history- bounded by social.
Political and economic structures
rules and expectations are rooted in historical practices
SEX: the categories of male and female and the biological
characteristics of bodies placed in these characteristics.
GENDER: the assignment of masculine and feminine characteristics
to bodies categorized as male or female.
RACE: is a labeled used to explain sub-division of the human
population. Although it has no scientific validity it is used a
biological categorical. Race is important for social and political
consequences. To deny the existence of race is to deny the lived and
the historical lives of people.
Beyond the Two Sex/Gender Binary System:

a binary is the two opposite terms in which may be subordinated to the

other. Example includes the binaries of male and female
penis= male=masculinity= sexual attraction to female
vagina= female= femininity = sexual attraction to the females
females are classified as women on their ability to bear children
no language for female reproductive organs, for example ovaries=
female testicles
anthropometry is the measurement of the body
craniometry is the technique of measuring the bones of the skull
essentialism is the claim that there is an inherent characteristics of
persons, groups or things.
Bromely further states the idea that a woman or man can be defined
by a single characteristic is
biological