Unraveling Sex and Gender
Chapter Nine
Define
Sex
Gender
Are they the same or different?
Think about your household now…
Think about your household growing up…
List the male jobs….
List the female jobs….
Does a pattern form?
“Pink and blue jobs.”
How do you REALLY feel???
Zones of Comfort Activity….
• How do you feel about a woman making more money than
a man?
• Who pays on a first date?
• Should men still be “chivalrous?”
• How do you feel about a father being a stay at home dad?
• Is it more acceptable to be a female or male exotic dancer?
How do you REALLY feel???
Zones of Comfort Activity
• How do you feel when you see a male nurse?
• Would you be more comfortable with an experienced
female doctor or less experienced male doctor?
• How would you describe a female boss?
• When does no mean no?
• Can a man be raped by a female?
Biological and Psychological
Perspectives
• Men Are From Mars / Women Are From Venus
– Example: conversation at admin. Interviews
• Male – female behavior
– Programmed through our own genetic make up
– Passed down from generation to the next
– Body and brain chemistry help define sex/gender
roles
What is sex?
• The biological distinction– develops before birth
(physiology)
• Mix of biology & society
• An act of intimacy
– Physical and Psychological factors
– Western industrialized Society:
• Related to physical attaction
• Reflected by other factors including race, social class, gender
Myths
• Sexual identity:
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“Hot – Blooded” Latinas / Latinos
AA females– promiscuous nymphomaniacs
AA males – sexually potent
Blondes have more fun
Myths vary according to cultural and global contexts.
Social class: Miss America Pageant
What is gender?
• Socially constructed attitudes, meanings,
beliefs, and behaviors
• Gender is determined by society based on its
perception of male and female qualities and
communicated through the dominant
ideology
Androgyny
• Incorporates social and personality characteristics
associated with math and female.
• Males in touch with feminine side:
compassionate, discerning, receptive,
cooperative, and understanding
• Females: Strong Logical, Dominant, Independent,
Rational, Ambitious, and Competitive
Gender Characteristics
• Not universal and change over time:
• Tchambuli tribes – gender roles reversed
• Historically – minimal (hunting / gathering)
Psychological Explanation
• Focuses on dysfunction as it is related to sex, gender, and
sexuality.
• Studies why those dysfunctions occur and what is needed
to correct
• Freud:
– Sexual Identity: begins in early childhood
– Libido – major instincts driving force to define human beings
– Two basic drives: (Men and Women have varying degrees)
• Eros (greek God of love)
• Thanatos (Greek meaning death / aggressive instincts)
Sociological Perspectives
Structural Functional
• Did not endorse gendered division of labor – perceived it as natural, inevitable, and
necessary
• Traditional gender roles are important not only for individuals – but for economic
and social order of society.
• Gender roles are socially defined activities, behaviors, and attitudes deemed
appropriate for each sex and learned through the process of socialization
• The society would be a better place in which to live and work if systems remained
stable and people were integrated into the dominant culture.
• For a society to survive, it must reproduce itself and train its offspring to perform
functions vital to the operation of society
• Society defines and socializes its members into gender roles
Social Conflict
• Gendered division of labor results from male control
and dominance over women and valued resources
• Research shows very few systems are matriarchy (most
are in 3rd world or underdeveloped countries)
• Women may be making gains but…
– Pay
– Technological contributions unnoticed
Feminism
• Aligned with Karl Marx’s Social Conflict Perspective
• Feminists feel gender stratification must be eliminated
• Liberal Feminists
– Same rights as AA under Civil Rights Acts
– Support institution of family – but ambitions for both must be supported
• Socialist Feminists
– Housework drudgery
– Stay at home wives = domestic slaves
– Current conditions – fostered by capitalism (keeps women dependent)
• Radical Feminists
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Men are necessary evils
Goal is to wipe out gender roles and inequalities
Non-gender clothing, hair cuts, names, etc…
Must be legally enforced (gender neutrality)
Brainstorm…..
• Think of the following fairy tales:
– Snow White
– Cinderella
– Rapunzle
– Sleeping Beauty
– Hansel and Gretel
Socializing Agents
• Family
– Begins as soon as birth
– Décor of the nursery, clothing (blue boys / pink girls)
• School
– Through academics, sports, discipline
• Peers
– Those whom we want to be like, see as friends, identify
• The Workplace
– Unequal salary
– “Boys” club.
• Media
• Religion and Politics
Politics
• Last Presidential Election
– (Democrats) Female vs. Minority
– Sarah Palin
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Shoots
Teenager pregnant
Stay at home dad (with “male” hobby)
Mother of a special needs child
Sexuality and Deviance
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Heterosexuality
Homosexuality
Transvestitism
Transsexuals
• Sociological perspective: Deviance is in the
mind of the beholder.
Domestic Violence
Sexual Harassment
• Sexual Harassment: violates Title IV of Civil
Rights Act – affording employees the right to
work in a hostile-free environment, free from
discriminatory ridicule, hostility, insult or
intimidation
• Sexual harassment: unwelcome sexual
advances, requests or favors, and other verbal
or phsyical conduct of a sexual nature.