Sex and Gender male roles female role A. Sex and Gender 1. Sex Hermaphrodites Transsexuals 2. Sexual Orientation heterosexuality Homosexuality

Transcription

1 I. Sex and Gender In many small-scale hunting and gathering societies men and women play complementary roles and their lives revolve around many shared activities. In industrial societies the male roles comes to be defined by: success on the job independence aggressiveness The female role comes to be defined by: child-nurturing activities subjectivity dependence on men A. Sex and Gender 1. Sex refers to the biological distinction between females and males a. Hermaphrodites are human beings with some combination of female internal and external genitalia b. Transsexuals are people who feel they are one sex though biologically they are the other 2. Sexual Orientation refers to an individual's preference in terms of sexual partners: same sex, other sex, either sex, neither sex a. The norm in all industrial societies is heterosexuality, attraction to the opposite sex b. Homosexuality is attraction to persons of the same sex Homophobia is the irrational fear of gay people It is difficult to determine how many people in the US population are gay Estimates regarding males range between 3 and 10 percent c. Bisexuality combines heterosexual and homosexual orientations d. The development of sexual orientation appears to involve both biological and social factors 3. Gender refers to the significance a society attaches to biological categories of female and male a. No sex is inherently superior or inferior, but most cultures include notions of male superiority b. Gender identity is defined as traits that females and males, guided by their culture, incorporate into their respective personalities

2 4. Patriarchy and Sexism a. Patriarchy is a form of social organization in which males dominate females Patriarchy and Everyday Life Language and patriarchy. Language is a subtle yet powerful mechanism that helps to perpetuate male dominance, as in the use of titles and forms of address that trivialize women. Social interaction and patriarchy. Gender dominance is expressed in how men physically dominate women, and how in conversation, men interrupt and ignore the attempts of women to change the topic. Pornography and patriarchy. Critics of pornography point out that the women who are hired as actresses in pornographic films are paid to debase themselves for men, often feigning pleasure or pain in order to make the male viewers feel potent and powerful. b. Matriarchy is a form of social organization in which females dominate males No matriarchal societies are known to exist or to have existed c. Sexism is the belief that one sex is innately superior to the other It underlies patriarchy and harms men, women, and society as a whole d. Patriarchy is not inevitable because modern technology has eliminated most of the historic justifications for it

3 B. Gender and Socialization 1. Every society goes beyond biology to establish the more complex social concept of gender: the cultural and attitudinal qualities, which are associated with being male or female. 2. Socialization and gender. Gender socialization begins virtually at the moment of birth and as consequence of early experiences. By the tenth month of life children are already identifying themselves as masculine or feminine and not too long after that, their gender identity is firmly fixed. a. Gender roles are attitudes and activities that a culture links to each sex Gender roles are, as a result of these socialization practices, strongly reflected in adult life b. American society is replete with gender markers: symbols and signs that identify a person's gender. c. Female infanticide: the practice of aborting female fetuses and neglecting, even actively killing, infant girls by parents who would prefer to raise boys, is an extreme example of this d. As people mature, gender markers become more prominent, and much of gender socialization involves learning, which markers are appropriate for men, and which are appropriate for women. 3. Agents of gender socialization. e. Almost from the moment of birth, the family socializes children into specific gender roles: girls receive toys that encourage them to be passive, sedentary, and receptive, while boys receive toys that encourage them to manipulate their environments. f. Peer groups reinforce these difference Boys and girls play different kinds of games and learn different styles of moral reasoning from games g. School further reinforces gender roles and gender identity. Texts and curricula in schools further reinforce a culture's gender roles Recently, educators have become more sensitive to gender issues and are trying to remove gender biases from teaching materials and other school activities. h. The mass media, especially television, also serve this function Advertising typically portrays men as powerful people with many interests, while women are portrayed as dates, as mothers, or occasionally as business people -- but in all cases as being very concerned about their appearance.

4 C. Gender and Social Stratification 1. Refers to society's unequal distribution of wealth, power, and privileges between the two sexes 2. It used to be that women with lower social standing worked, while middleand upper class women remained in the home, but today women of all social classes participate in the labor force. 3. In recent decades in the US, the percentage of women, including mothers of young children, who work outside the home has skyrocketed a. However, women continue to enter a narrow range of occupations, with almost half in clerical or service work. The greater a job's income and prestige, the more likely it is that the position will be held by a male b. Women's entry into the labor market has not substantially reduced their involvement in housework as husbands have resisted increasing their participation in these tasks 4. A woman earns around 71 cents for every dollar a man earns, and in none of the more than 4000 occupations tabulated by the federal census does the average woman earn as much as the average man (except porn) 5. Possible causes of income inequality are: a. Sexism. American culture has historically endorsed the sexist belief that women are best suited for jobs that emphasize service, nurturing, or housekeeping while men are best suited for jobs that involve highlevel decision making, authority, and production. b. Lack of qualifications. Men typically have more education and job experience than women, in part because women must take time out for pregnancy and child care. c. Glass ceiling. Even in the absence of deliberate discrimination, women encounter a glass ceiling. d. Networking. Much of American business and government is conducted outside the office at recreational sites where women are discouraged from participating or even are barred outright. 6. Work segregation. About half of all working women are found in clerical and service occupations. a. Even within occupations that are overwhelmingly female, men dominate the better positions. b. Despite working as much as men, women continue to be responsible for the household and children, a practice called the second shift. c. The greater the responsibility for family and childcare tasks that our society has traditionally assigned to women is another factor explaining the earning differential

5 7. More facts a. Opportunities for women to enter higher education in the US have increased sharply in recent decades c. Female involvement in politics is also increasing, although very slowly at the highest levels d. Minority women are doubly disadvantaged e. Women fit the definition of a minority group, although most do not think of themselves this way (ideology at work) f. Violence against women Family violence is frequently directed against women Rape is another example of violence directed against women Sexual violence is mostly about power, not sexuality Sexual harassment consists of comments, gestures, or physical contact of a sexual nature that are deliberate, repeated, and unwelcome Women are more likely to be sexually harassed than are men Some harassment is blatant, but most of it is subtle Feminists define pornography as a form of sexual violence against women, arguing that it demeans women and promotes rape

6 D. Feminism 1. Feminism is a counter-ideology that has arisen to challenge sexism. a. Betty Friedan believed women should break free of the many cultural restraints that bind women to a rigid and narrow social identity. b. The ideology of feminism is often misunderstood as being against the traditional family, but it actually seeks independence and equality for women. 2. Feminism is the advocacy of social equality for the sexes in opposition to patriarchy and sexism a. Basic feminist ideas Need for change Expanding human choice Eliminating gender stratification Ending sexual violence Promoting sexual autonomy b. Variations within feminism Liberal feminism Socialist feminism Radical feminism c. Opposition to feminism

7 E. Sociological Analysis of Gender Inequality 1. The functionalist perspective. From this perspective: a. Gender inequality channels women into domestic spheres and nurturing occupations and channels men into the paid labor force, commerce, and government. b. Women are given expressive tasks while men assume instrumental tasks. c. Problems with the functionalist perspectives: Functionalism may be interpreted as an apology for the status quo. Just because women can bear children does not mean that they must be responsible for domestic duties, childcare, and expressive roles. A division of labor that keeps the woman tied to the household and the man to non-familial work roles makes less sense than it did in the past. A division of labor based on gender is not truly efficient because some men are more nurturing than some women are and many women are exceptionally well qualified for leadership in business and industry. 2. The conflict perspective. From this perspective, gender inequality is a form of social stratification. a. An upper-class woman will have more power, prestige, and wealth than any lower-class person, but the same upper-class woman will have less status than an upper-class man. b. The power of men to shape society to their ends means that women will inevitably be a subordinate group. c. Conflict theorists suggest that women continue to accept sexism because they have been socialized into a culture that defines women as subordinate; however women have long opposed patriarchy. 3. The symbolic interactionist perspective. This perspective emphasizes the role of meaning and the self in gender socialization. a. According to this perspective, children must first learn the meaning of "girl" and "boy" and then place themselves in the appropriate category. b. Gender definitions are incorporated into the self and become the basis for choosing relationships and activities that reinforce gender identity. c. Because of socialization, people take gender distinctions for granted and seldom consider them as social constructions of behavior.