Please write a paper analyzing the film using the concepts from Chapter 11 and 12 This is the film: https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/The-Ma... I've attached the question and I would like to solve it using text book as one and only resource T

20181116020107chapter_11_121.pdf

Home >Business & Finance homework help >Marketing homework help >Please write a paper analyzing the film using the concepts from Chapter 11 and 12 This is the film: https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/The-Ma... I've attached the question and I would like to solve it using text book as one and only resource T

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Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

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● Understand gender as a social construction

● Explain the process of gender socialization

● Identify different components of gender stratification

● Compare and contrast different theories of gender stratification

● Relate gender inequality in the United States to that in other nations

● Evaluate the different components of change with regard to gender

in this chapter, you will learn to:

The Social Construction of Gender 254

Gender Socialization 257

Gender Stratification 264

Theories of Gender 271

Gender in Global Perspective 274

Gender and Social Change 275

Chapter Summary 278

Imagine suddenly becoming a member of the other sex. What would you have to change? First, you would probably change your appearance—clothing, hairstyle, and any adorn- ments you wear. You would also have to change some of your interpersonal behavior. Contrary to popular belief, men talk more than women, are louder, are more likely to inter- rupt, and are less likely to recognize others in conversation. Women are more likely to laugh, express hesitance, and be polite. Gender differences also appear in nonverbal communi- cation. Women use less personal space, touch less in imper- sonal settings (but are touched more), and smile more, even when they are not necessarily happy (Wood 2013). Research- ers even find that men and women write email in a different style, women writing less opinionated email than men and using it to maintain rapport and intimacy (Colley and Todd 2002; Sussman and Tyson 2000). Finally, you might have to change many of your attitudes because men and women differ significantly on many, if not most, social and political issues (see ▲ Figure 11.1).

If you are a woman and became a man, perhaps the change would be worth it. You would probably see your income increase (especially if you became a White man). You would have more power in virtually every social setting. You would be far more likely to head a major corporation, run your own business, or be elected to a political office—again, assum- ing that you are White. Would it be worth it? As a man, you would be far more likely to die a violent death and would probably not live as long as a woman (National Center for Health Statistics 2013).

If you are a man who became a woman, your income would most likely drop significantly. More than fifty years after passage of the Equal Pay Act in 1963, men still earn 22 percent more than women, even comparing those working year-round and full-time (DeNavas-Walt and Proctor 2014). You would probably become resentful of a number of things because poll data indicate that women are more resentful than men about things such as the amount of money available for them to live on, the amount of help they get from their mates around the house, how much men share child care, and how they look. Women also report being more fearful on the

Gender

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The Social Construction of Gender From the moment of birth, gender expectations influ- ence how boys and girls are treated. Now that it is pos- sible to identify the sex of a child in the womb, gender expectations may begin even before birth. Parents and grandparents might select pink clothes and dolls for baby girls, sports clothing and brighter colors for boys. Even if they try to do otherwise, it will be difficult because baby products are so typed by gender. Much research shows how parents and others continue to treat children in stereotypical ways. Girls may be expected to cuddle and be sweet, whereas boys are handled more roughly and given greater independence.

→ SEE for YOURSELF ← Changing Your Gender Try an experiment based on the example of changing gender that opens this chapter.

1. First, list everything you think you would have to do to change your behavior if you were the opposite gender. Separate your list items according to whether

they are related to such factors as appearance, attitude, or behavior.

2. Second, for twenty-four hours, try your best to change any of these things that you are willing to do. Record how others react to you during this period and how the change makes you feel.

3. When your experiment is over, write a report on what your brief experiment tells you about how gender identities are (or are not) supported through social interaction.

Defining Sex and Gender Sociologists use the terms sex and gender to distin- guish biological sex identity from learned gender roles. Sex refers to biological identity, being male or female. For sociologists, the more significant concept is gender—the socially learned expectations, identi- ties, and behaviors associated with members of each sex. This distinction emphasizes that behavior asso- ciated with gender is culturally learned. Gender is a “system of social practices” (Ridgeway 2011: 9) that creates categories of people—men and women— who are defined in relationship to each other on unequal terms.

streets than men. Women are, however, more satisfied than men with their role as parents and with their friendships outside of marriage.

For both women and men, there are benefits, costs, and consequences stemming from the social definitions associated with gender. As you imagined this experiment, you may have had difficulty trying to picture the essential change in your biological identity: Is this the most significant part of being a man or woman? Nature determines whether you are male or female but society gives significance to this distinction. Sociologists see gender as a social fact, because who we become as men and women is largely shaped by cultural and social expectations.

Support allowing people who have

incurable diseases to die

Support using the death penalty

in cases of murder

Support requiring a gun permit to carry a weapon

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▲ Figure 11.1 Hot-Button Issues: The Gender Gap in Attitudes When people use the term gender gap, they are often referring to pay differences between women and men. As the data here show, there is also a significant gender gap on some of the important issues of the day. Source: National Opinion Research Center, General Society Survey. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago. www.norc.org

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The definitions that surround these categories stem from culture—made apparent especially by looking at other cultures. Across different cultures, gender expectations associated with men and women vary considerably. In Western industrialized socie- ties, people tend to think of men and women (and masculinity and femininity) in dichotomous terms, even defined as “opposite sexes.” The views from other cultures challenge this assumption. Historically, the berdaches (pronounced berdash) in Navajo society were anatomically normal men defined as a third gender between male and female. Berdaches, con- sidered ordinary men, married other men who were not berdaches. Neither the berdaches nor the men they married were considered homosexuals, as they would be considered in other places (Nanda 1998; Lorber 1994).

There are also substantial differences in the con- struction of gender across social classes and within subcultures in a given culture. Within the United States, there is considerable variation in the expe- riences of gender among different racial and eth- nic groups (Andersen and Collins 2013; Baca Zinn et al. 2011). Differences within a given gender can be greater than differences between men and women. That is, the variation on a given trait, such as aggres- sion or competitiveness, can be as great within a given gender group as the difference across genders. Thus, some women are more aggressive than some men, and some men are less competitive than some women (see ▲ Figure 11.2).

Sex Differences: Nature or Nurture? Is gender a matter of nature or nurture? Obviously, there are some biological differences between women and men, but looking at gender sociologically quickly reveals the extraordinary power of social and cultural influences on things often popularly seen as biologi- cally fixed. Let’s first examine some basic biological facts about sex and gender.

A person’s sex identity is established at the moment of conception. The mother contributes an X chromosome to the embryo; the father, an X or Y. The combination of two X chromosomes makes a female; the combination of an X and a Y makes a male. Under normal conditions, chemical events directed by genes on the sex-linked chromosomes lead to the formation of male or female genitalia.

Irregularities in the process of chromosome for- mation or fetal differentiation can produce a person with mixed biological sex characteristics—a condi- tion known as intersexed (previously referred to as hermaphroditism). For example, an intersexed infant may be born with ovaries or testes but with ambiguous or mixed genitals, or may be born a chromosomal male but have an incomplete penis and no urinary canal.

Case studies of intersexed people reveal the extraordinary influence of social factors in shaping a person’s identity (Preves 2003). Parents of intersexed children are usually advised to have their child’s geni- tals surgically assigned to either male or female and also to give the child a new name, a different hairstyle, and new clothes—all intended to provide the child with the social signals judged appropriate to a single gender identity. One physician who has worked on such cases tells parents that they “need to go home and do their job as child rearers with it very clear whether it’s a boy or a girl” (Kessler 1990: 9).

Physical differences between the sexes do, of course, exist. In addition to differences in anatomy, boys at birth tend to be slightly longer and weigh more than girls. As adults, men tend to have a lower resting heart rate, higher blood pressure, and higher muscle mass and muscle density. These physical differences contribute to the tendency for men to be physically stronger than women, but this can be altered, depend- ing on level of physical activity. The public now rou- tinely sees displays of women’s athleticism. Women can achieve a high degree of muscle mass and muscle density through bodybuilding and can win over men in activities that require high levels of endurance, such as the four women who have won the Iditarod—the Alaskan dog sled race considered one of the most gru- eling competitions in the world. In other words, until men and women really compete equally in activities from which women have historically been excluded,

Women Men

Less aggressive (women)

More aggressive (women)

Less aggressive (men)

More aggressive (men)

▲ Figure 11.2 Gender Differences: Aggression Even when men and women as a whole tend to differ on a given trait, within-gender differences can be just as great as across-gender differences. Some men, for example, are less aggressive than some women.

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modest correlation between aggressive behavior and testosterone levels. Furthermore, changes in testoster- one levels do not predict changes in men’s aggression (such as by “chemical castration,” the administration of drugs that eliminate the production or circulation of testosterone). What’s more, there are minimal dif- ferences in the levels of sex hormones between girls and boys during early childhood, yet researchers find considerable differences in the aggression exhibited by boys and girls as children (Fausto-Sterling 2000, 1992).

Arguments based on biological determinism assume that differences between women and men are “natural” and, presumably, resistant to change. Like biological explanations of race differences, biological explanations of inequality between women and men tend to flourish during periods of rapid social change. They protect the status quo (existing social arrangements) by making it appear that the status of women is “natural” and there- fore should remain as it is. If social differences between women and men were biologically determined, there would also be no variation in gender relations across cul- tures, but extensive differences are well documented.

In sum, we would not exist without our biological makeup, but we would not be who we are without soci- ety and culture. As sociologist Cecilia Ridgeway puts it, gender is a “substantial, socially elaborated edifice con- structed on a modest biological foundation” (2011: 9).

Who reports the news? Even with the increased presence of women as news reporters, anchors, editors, and writers, the news media continue to be dominated by men—White men at that. Women are the vast majority (74 percent) of those graduating from college with majors in journalism and mass communications (Becker et al. 2010), but their voices and words do not narrate the news of the nation. Some facts from recent research include:

● The number of women staffers in newsrooms is largely unchanged from 1999 at 36 percent;

● Men are quoted three and a half times as often as women, a finding based on a detailed three-month analysis of the front page of The New York Times;

Women in the Media: Where Are Women’s Voices? ● Men outnumber women four to one

on the editorial pages of the most prestigious national newspapers;

● Men write 82 percent of film reviews; ● Men vastly outnumber women as

experts and guests on TV talk shows.

Women are most likely to report on life- style, education, culture, and health, not politics, technology, or criminal justice. Women are most underrepresented as reporters of world affairs. Even when the subject matter is of deep concern to women—abortion and birth con- trol—80 percent of those reporting on these issues are men (4th Estate 2014).

Try observing these patterns yourself: Who writes the bylines in Internet news you read? Who is cited as an expert? Who covers what issues? Although sociologists would argue that the mere

presence of women does not necessarily change the presentation of ideas, do you think that it matters that men are the ones most likely to narrate our nation’s news?

Source: Women’s Media Center. 2014. The Status of Women in the U.S. Media 2014. New York: Women’s Media Center. www.womensmediacenter.com

a sociological eye on the media

Note: Percentage of women and men with bylines and on-camera appearances in major TV networks, newspapers, news wires, and Internet news services, 2013

Men; 63.6%

Women; 36.1%

Gender Gap in the News Media

we may not know the true extent of physical differences between women and men.

Biological determinism refers to explanations that attribute complex social phenomena to physical char- acteristics. The argument that men are more aggres- sive because of hormonal differences (in particular, the presence of testosterone) is a biologically determinist argument. Despite popular belief, studies find only a

Title IX, passed in 1972, has opened up athletic oppor- tunities to women that were not available to earlier generations.

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Culture defines certain behaviors as appropriate (or not) for women and for men; these are learned through- out life, beginning with the earliest practices by which people are raised. Understanding the process of gender socialization is then a key part of understanding the for- mation of gender as a social and cultural phenomenon.

Gender Socialization As we saw in Chapter 4, socialization is the process by which social expectations are taught and learned. Through gender socialization, men and women learn the expectations and identities associated with gender in society. The rules of gender extend to all aspects of society and daily life. Gender socialization affects the self-concepts of women and men, their social and polit- ical attitudes, their perceptions about other people, and their feelings about relationships with others. Although not everyone is perfectly socialized to conform to gender expectations, socialization is a powerful force directing the behavior of men and women in gender-typical ways.

Even people who set out to challenge traditional expectations often find themselves yielding to the powerful influence of socialization. Women who con- sciously reject traditional women’s roles may still find themselves inclined to act as hostess or secretary in group settings. Similarly, men may accept equal responsibility for housework, yet they fail to notice when the refrigerator is empty or a child needs a bath— household needs they have been trained to let someone else notice (DeVault 1991). Gender expectations are so pervasive that it is also difficult to change them on an individual basis. If you doubt this, try buying clothing or toys for a young child without purchasing something that is gender-typed, or talk to parents who have tried to raise their children without conforming to gender ste- reotypes and see what they report about the influence of such things as children’s peers and the media.

The Formation of Gender Identity One result of gender socialization is the formation of gender identity, which is one’s definition of oneself as a woman or man. Gender identity is basic to our self- concept, shaping our expectations for ourselves, our abilities and interests, and how we interact with others. Gender identity shapes not only how we think about ourselves and others but also influences numerous behaviors, including the likelihood of drug and alco- hol abuse, violent behavior, depression, or even how aggressive you are in driving (Andersen 2015).

One area in which gender identity has an especially strong effect is in how people feel about their appear- ance. Studies find strong effects of gender identity on body image. Concern with body image begins mostly during adolescence. Studies of young children (that is,

preschool age) find no gender differences in how boys and girls feel about their bodies (Hendy et al. 2001), but clear differences emerge by early adolescence. At this age, girls report comparing their bodies to others of their sex more often than boys do. By early adoles- cence, girls report more negativity about their body image than do boys. This type of thinking among girls is related to lower self-esteem (Jones 2001; Polce-Lynch et al. 2001). Among college students, women also are more dissatisfied with their appearance than are men (Hoyt and Kogan 2001). Idealized images of women’s bodies in the media, as well as peer pressures, have a huge impact on young girls’ and women’s gender iden- tity and feelings about their appearance.

Sociologist Debra Gimlin argues that bodies are “the surface on which prevailing rules of a culture are written” (Gimlin 2002: 6). You see this especially with regard to gender. Men and women alike practice elabo- rate rituals to achieve particular gender ideals, ideals that are established by the dominant culture.

Understanding gender socialization helps you see that gender, like race, is a social construction. We “do” gender—as you will see in the section near the end of this chapter on theories of gender. Understanding gender as a social construction means thinking about the many ways that gender is produced through social interaction instead of seeing it as a fixed attribute of individuals (Connell 2009).

The experiences of transgender people make this point even more obvious. Transgender people are those who live as a gender different from that to which they were assigned at birth (Schilt 2011). Transgender individuals experience great pressure to fit within the usual expectations. Because they do not necessarily display the expected routines of gender, they may be ridiculed, shunned, discriminated against, or even vio- lently assaulted. Their experiences show how powerful the social norms are to conform to gender expectations (Westbrook and Schilt 2014; Connell 2010, 2012).

Similarly, those who undergo sex changes as adults report enormous pressure from others to be one sex or the other. Managing such identities can be stressful, largely because of expectations that others have about what are appropriate categories of gender identity. Any- one who crosses these or in any way appears to be dif- ferent from dominant expectations is frequently subject to exclusion and ridicule, showing just how strong gen- der expectations are (Stryker and Whittle 2006).

→THINKING Sociologically Look at the products sold to men and women used as part of their daily grooming? How are they packaged? What color are they? What are their names? How do these artifacts of everyday life reflect norms about gender?

25 8 CH A PTER 11

Sources of Gender Socialization As with other forms of socialization, there are different agents of gender socialization: family, peers, children’s play, schooling, religious training, mass media, and popular culture, to name a few. Gender socialization is reinforced whenever gender-linked behaviors receive approval or disapproval from these multiple influences.

Parents are one of the most important sources of gender socialization. Parents may discourage children from playing with toys that are identified with the other sex, especially when boys play with toys meant for girls. Research finds that parents are more tolerant of girls not conforming to gender roles than they are for boys (Kane 2012). Fathers, especially, discourage sons from violating gender norms (Martin 2005). Although fathers are now more involved than in the past in chil- dren’s care, they are less likely to provide basic care and more likely to be involved with discipline (LaFlamme et al. 2002).

Expectations about gender are changing, although researchers suggest that the cultural expectations about gender may have changed more than people’s behavior. Mothers and fathers now report that fathers

should be equally involved in child rearing, but the reality is different. Mothers still spend more time in child-related activities and have more responsibility for children. Furthermore, the gap that mothers perceive between fathers’ ideal and actual involvement in child rearing is a significant source of mothers’ stress (Milkie et al. 2002).

Gender socialization patterns also vary within dif- ferent racial–ethnic families. Latinas, as an example, have generally been thought to be more traditional in their gender roles, although this varies by generation and by the experiences of family members in the labor force. Within families, young women and men learn to formulate identities that stem from their gender, racial, and ethnic expectations.

Peers strongly influence gender socialization— sometimes more so than one’s immediate family. Peer relationships shape children’s patterns of social inter- action. Young people’s play also shapes analytical skills, values, and attitudes. Studies find that boys and girls often organize their play in ways that reinforce not only gender but also race and age norms (Moore 2001). Peer relationships often reinforce the gender norms of the culture—norms that are typically even more strictly applied to boys than to girls. Thus boys who engage in behavior that is associated with girls are likely to be ridiculed by friends—more so than are girls who play or act like boys (Sandnabba and Ahlberg 1999). In this way, homophobic attitudes, routinely expressed among peers, reinforce dominant attitudes about what it means to “be a man” (Pascoe 2011). Although girls may be called “tomboys,” boys who are called “sissies” are more harshly judged. Note, though, that tomboy behav- ior among girls beyond a certain age may result in the girl being labeled a “dyke.”

→THINKING Sociologically Is your pet gendered? People typically think of the social construction of gender in the context of human relations. What about pets? Almost two-thirds of all U.S. households have at least one pet. A recent study of dog owners found that people also gender their dogs, selecting dogs that reflect the owner’s gender identity and describing them in gendered terms. Female pets have names with more syllables and that are more likely to have a diminutive ending. You can find lots of advice how to appropriately gender your pet on the Internet. Try to observe this yourself. Apparently, gender norms pervade human relationships with animals as well as with each other! Sources: Ramirez, Michael. 2006. “‘My Dog’s Just Like Me’: Dog Ownership as a Gender Display.” Symbolic Interaction 29 (3): 373–391; Abel, Ernest L., and Michael L. Kruger. 2007. “Gender Related Naming Practices: Similarities and Differences between People and Their Dogs.” Sex Roles: A Journal of Research 57 (1–2): 15–19.

Changes in gender roles have involved more men in parenting.

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Children’s play is another source of gender social- ization. You might think about what you played as a child and how this influenced your gender roles. Typi- cally, though not in every case, boys are encouraged to play outside more; girls, inside. Boys’ toys are more machinelike and frequently promote the develop- ment of militaristic values; they tend to encourage aggression, violence, and the stereotyping of ene- mies—values rarely associated with girls’ toys. Chil- dren’s books in schools also communicate gender expectations. Even with publishers’ guidelines that discourage stereotyping, textbooks still depict men as aggressive, argumentative, and competitive. Men and boys are also more likely to be featured in children’s books, although interestingly, systematic analysis of children’s books shows that fathers are not very pres- ent and, when they do appear, they are most often shown as ineffectual (Anderson and Hamilton 2005).

→ SEE for YOURSELF ← Try to purchase a toy for a young child that is not gender- typed. What could you buy? What could you not buy? What does your experiment teach you about gender role socialization? If you take children with you, note what toys they want. What does this tell you about the effectiveness of gender socialization?

Schools are particularly strong influences on gen- der socialization because of the amount of time chil- dren spend in them. Teachers often have different expectations for boys and girls. Studies find, for exam- ple, that teachers hold gender stereotypes that women are not as capable in math as men (Riegle-Crumb and Humphries 2012). We know from other research that

when such stereotypes are present, student perfor- mance, such as on standardized tests, is negatively affected by the presence of what is called stereotype threat (Steele 2010). Earlier studies have also shown that when teachers respond more to boys in school, even if negatively, they heighten boys’ sense of impor- tance (American Association of University Women 1998; Sadker and Sadker 1994). Gender inequality is pervasive in schools and at all levels. Even in college, course-taking patterns, selection of majors, and teach- ers’ interaction with students are shaped by gender (Mullen 2010).

Religion is an often overlooked but significant source of gender socialization. The major Judeo- Christian religions in the United States place strong emphasis on gender differences, with explicit affir- mation of the authority of men over women. In Orthodox Judaism, men offer a prayer to thank God for not having created them as a woman or a slave. The patriarchal language of most Western religions as well as the exclusion of women from positions of religious leadership in some faiths signify the lesser status of women in religious institutions. Any religion interpreted in a fundamentalist way can be oppres- sive to women. Indeed, the most devout believers of any faith tend to hold the most traditional views of women’s and men’s roles. The influence of religion on gender attitudes cannot be considered separately from other factors, however. For many, religious faith inspires a belief in egalitarian roles for women and men. Christian, Islamic, and Jewish women, along with other religious women, have often organized to resist fundamentalist and sexist practices (Messina- Dysert and Ruether 2014).

The media in their various forms (television, film, magazines, music, and so on) communicate

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strong—some would even say cartoonish—gender stereotypes. Despite some changes in recent years, television and films continue to depict highly ste- reotyped roles for women and men. In family films, prime-time television, and even children’s TV shows, women and girls are shown more so than men and boys wearing sexy attire, with exposed skin, and with thin bodies, reinforcing gendered images of both women and men, even at an early age (Smith et al. 2013). Men are also seen as more formidable, stereo- typed in strong, independent roles. Women are more likely now to be portrayed as employed outside of the home and in professional jobs, but it is still more usual to see women depicted as sex objects. In fact, the sexualization of women is so extensive in the media that the American Psychological Association has con- cluded that there is “massive exposure to portrayals that sexualize women and girls and teach girls that women are sexual objects” (American Psychological Association 2007: 5).

→ SEE for YOURSELF ← Gender and Popular Celebrations Try to buy a friend a birthday card that does not stereotype women or men. Alternatively, try to find a Father’s Day or Mother’s Day card without gender stereotypes. How do the gender images in cards overlap with stereotypes about aging, family, and images of beauty? After experiment, ask yourself how products promoted in the media affect ideas about gender.

Do people believe what they see on television? Research with children shows that they identify with the television characters they see. Both boys and girls rate the aggressive toys that they see on television com- mercials as highly desirable. They also judge them as more appropriate for boys’ play, suggesting that some- thing as seemingly innocent as a toy commercial rein- forces attitudes about gender and violence (Klinger et al. 2001). Even with adults, researchers find that there is a link between viewing sexist images and having atti- tudes that support sexual aggression, antifeminism, and more traditional views of women (American Psy- chological Association 2007).

It is easy to observe the pervasiveness of gen- dered images by just watching the media with a critical eye. Women in advertisements are routinely shown in poses that would shock people if the char- acters were male. Consider how often women are dis- played in ads dropping their pants, skirts, or bathrobe, or are shown squirming on beds. How often are men shown in such poses? Men are sometimes displayed as sex objects in advertising, but not nearly as often as women. The demeanor of women in advertising—on

the ground, in the background, or looking dream- ily into space—makes them appear subordinate and available to men.

The Price of Conformity A high degree of conformity to stereotypical gender expectations takes its toll on both men and women. One of the major ways to see this is in the very high rate of violence against women—both in the United States and worldwide. Too frequently, men’s power in society is manifested in physical and emotional violence. Vio- lence takes many forms, including rape, sexual abuse, intimate partner violence, stalking, genital mutila- tion, and honor killings. Around the world, the United Nations is working to reduce violence against women, including some initiatives to help men examine cul- tural assumptions about masculinity that promote vio- lence. Violence against women stems from the attitudes of power and control that gender expectations pro- duce and that can lead some men to engage in violent behavior—toward women, as well as toward other men.

Popular culture has increasingly sexualized even the youngest of girls.

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Violence by men is only one of the harms to women stemming from dominant gender norms. Adhering to gender expectations of thinness for women and strength for men is related to a host of negative health behaviors, including eating disorders, smoking, and for men, steroid abuse. The dominant culture promotes a narrow image of beauty for women—one that leads many women, espe- cially young women, to be disturbed about their body image. Striving to be thin, millions of women engage in constant dieting, fearing they are fat even when they are well within or below healthy weight standards. Many develop eating disorders by purging themselves of food or cycling through various fad diets—behaviors that can have serious health consequences (see ◆ Table 11.1). Many young women develop a distorted image of them- selves, thinking they are overweight when they may actually be dangerously thin.

Additionally, despite the known risks of smoking, young women who smoke think that it will keep them thin. Eating disorders can be related to a woman hav- ing a history of sexual abuse, but they also come from the promotion of thinness as an ideal beauty standard for women—a standard that can put girls’ and women’s health in jeopardy (Alexander et al. 2010).

Men also pay the price of conformity if they too thoroughly internalize gender expectations that say they must be independent, self-reliant, and une- motional. Although many men are more likely now than in the past to express intimate feelings, gender social- ization discourages intimacy among them, affecting

◆ Table 11.1 Facts about Eating Disorders

One in five women struggle with an eating disorder or “disordered eating,” referring to eating behaviors that are not classified as anorexia or bulimia but that are considered unhealthy.

Ninety percent of those with eating disorders are women between the ages of 12 and 25.

Of those with anorexia, 10 to 15 percent are men; men are less likely to seek treatment for an eating disorder than are women.

Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.

Over half (58 percent) of women on college campuses report feeling pressure to lose weight; nearly half (44 percent) of them were of normal weight.

The average female fashion model is 5 foot, 11 inches tall and weighs 110 pounds—almost 50 pounds less than what is judged to be the ideal, healthy weight for someone this height.

The diet industry is worth an estimated $50 billion per year.

Sources: Sullivan, Patrick F. 1995. “Mortality in Anorexia Nervosa.” American Journal of Psychiatry, 152 (July): 1073–1074; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Malinauskas, Brenda, et al. 2006. “Dieting Practices, Weight Perceptions, and Body Composition: A Comparison of Normal Weight, Overweight, and Obese College Females.” Nutrition Journal 5 (March 31): 5–11; Smolak, L., and M. Levine, eds. 1996. The Developmental Psychopathology of Eating Disorders: Implications for Research, Prevention, and Treatment. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.; Spitzer, Brenda L., Katherine A. Henderson, and Marilyn T. Zivian. 1999. “A Comparison of Population and Media Body Sizes for American and Canadian Women.” Sex Roles 700 (7/8): 545–565.

the quality of men’s friendships. Conformity to tra- ditional gender roles denies women access to power, influence, and achievement in the public world, but it also robs men of the more nurturing and other-oriented relationships that women have customarily had. Men’s physical daring and risk-taking leaves them at greater risk of early death or injury from accidents. On many college campuses, for example, men showing bravado through heavy drinking can result in death or injury— and, as campus leaders know, heavy drinking is also strongly correlated with sexual assault against women on campus (Insight 2013). The strong undercurrent of violence in today’s culture of masculinity can in many ways be attributed to the learned gender roles that put men and women at risk.

Gender Socialization and Homophobia One of the primary ways that gender is produced dur- ing socialization is homophobia. Homophobia is the fear and hatred of homosexuals. Homophobia plays

Cosmetic surgery is a rapidly growing, and highly profitable, industry. Some do it to try to eliminate signs of aging, others for aesthetic purposes. The pervasive influence of Western images means that some women in other nations pay for procedures to make them look more “Western.”

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an important role in gender socialization because it encourages stricter conformity to traditional expecta- tions, especially for men and young boys. Slurs directed against individuals who are gay encourage boys to act

more masculine as a way of affirming for their peers that they are not gay (Pascoe 2011). Through such ridicule, homophobia discourages so-called feminine traits in men, such as caring, nurturing, empathy,

Research Question: “A culture of thin- ness,” “the tyranny of slenderness,” “the beauty myth”: These are terms used to describe the obsession with weight and body image that permeates the dominant culture, especially for girls and women. Just glance at the covers of popular magazines for women and girls and you will very likely find article after article promoting new diet gimmicks, each bundled with a promise that you will lose pounds in a few days if you only have the proper discipline or use the right products. Moreover, the models on the covers of such magazines are likely to be thin, often dangerously so because being too thin causes serious health problems. Do these body ideals affect all women equally?

Eating Disorders: Gender, Race, and the Body Research Method: Meg Lovejoy wanted to know if the drive for thinness is unique to White women and how gen- dered images of the body might differ for African American and White women in the United States. Her research is based on reviewing the existing research literature on eating disorders, which has generally concluded that, compared with White women, Black women are less likely to develop eating disorders.

Research Results: Black women are less likely than White women to engage in excessive dieting and are less fearful of fat, although they are more likely to be obese and experience compulsive overeating. White women, on the other hand, tend to be very dissatisfied with their body size and overall appearance, with an increasing number engaging in obsessive dieting. Black and White women also tend to distort their own weight in opposite directions: White women are more likely to overestimate their own weight (that is, saying they are fat when they are not); Black women are more likely to underestimate their weight (saying they are average when they are overweight by medical stan- dards). Why?

Conclusions and Implications: Lovejoy concludes that you cannot understand eating disorders without knowing the different stigmas attached to Black and White women in society. She suggests that Black women develop alternative standards for valuing their appearance as a way of resisting mainstream, Euro- centric standards. Black women who do so are then less susceptible to the controlling and damaging influence of the institutions that promote the ideal of thinness as feminine beauty. On

the other hand, the vulnerability that Black women experience in society can foster mental health problems that are manifested in overeating. Eating disorders for Black women can also stem from the traumas that result from racism.

Lovejoy and others who have examined this issue conclude that eating disorders must be understood in the context of social structures—gender, race, class, homophobia, and ethnic- ity—that affect all women, although in different ways. The cultural meanings associated with bodies differ for dif- ferent groups in society but are deeply linked to our concepts of ourselves and the basic behaviors—like eating—that we otherwise think of as “natural.”

Questions to Consider 1. Pay attention to music and visual

images in popular culture. Ask yourself what cultural messages are being sent to different race and gender groups, for example, about appropriate appearance? How do these messages affect people’s body image and self-esteem?

2. Lovejoy examines eating disorders in the context of gender, race, class, and ethnicity. What cultural mean- ings are broadcast with regard to age?

3. Is there a “culture of thinness” among your peers? If so, what impact do you think it has on peo- ple’s self-concept? If not, are there other cultural meanings associated with weight among people in your social groups?

Source: Lovejoy, Meg. 2001. “Disturbances in the Social Body: Differences in Body Image and Eating Problems among African American and White Women.” Gender & Society 15 (April): 239–261.

doing sociological research

Too much conformity to gender roles can be harmful to your health. Such is the case of anorexic women who starve themselves attempting to meet cultural standards of thinness.

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emotion, and gentleness. Men who endorse the most traditional male roles tend to be the most homophobic (Lewis 2003). The consequence is not only conformity to gender roles, but also a learned hostility toward gays and lesbians.

Homophobia is a learned attitude, as are other forms of negative social judgments about particu- lar groups. Homophobia is also deeply embedded in people’s definitions of themselves as men and women. Boys are often raised to be manly by repressing so- called feminine characteristics in themselves. Being called a “fag” or a “sissy” is one of the peer sanctions that forces conformity to gender roles. Similarly, pres- sures on adolescent girls to abandon tomboy behav- ior teach girls to adopt behaviors and characteristics associated with womanhood. Being labeled a lesbian may cause those with a strong attraction to women to repress this emotion and direct love only toward men. Although homophobic ridicule may seem like play and joking, it has serious consequences for both heterosexual and homosexual men and women. Homophobia not only socializes people into expected gender roles, it also produces numerous myths about gays and lesbians—examined in more detail in the following chapter.

Race, Gender, and Identity Attitudes about gender roles are influenced by a large number of social factors. Studies have found some dif- ferences in attitudes comparing racial–ethnic groups. African Americans, for example, have more egalitarian gender role beliefs than do Whites, although women in both groups are more egalitarian in their beliefs than men (Vespa 2009). Traditionally, African American women have had more egalitarian beliefs about gender roles, which most interpret as the result of Black wom- en’s having been more commonly in the labor force than White women. The difference in Black and White attitudes toward gender roles is now diminishing as White women’s labor force participation has increased (Carter et al. 2009).

Generally, Latinos and Latinas are more conser- vative in their gender role beliefs than are White men and women. Studies of Mexican American attitudes, however, find that, among those who have immigrated, these differences in gender role attitudes diminish in the second and third generations (Su et al. 2010). Native Americans also tend not to differ in their gen- der beliefs from other groups, despite stereotypes that they are more egalitarian in their outlooks (Harris et al. 2000). Factors such as the work experience of family members, religion, and other social experiences have more influence on gender attitudes than race per se. In addition to attitudes, race shapes people’s identities. African American women, for example, are socialized

to become self-sufficient, aspire to an education, desire an occupation, and regard work as an expected part of a woman’s role (Collins 1990).

Men’s gender identity is also affected by race. Latino men, for example, bear the stereotype of machismo and Black men, “the player”—both stereotypes about exaggerated masculinity and sexuality. Latinos and African American men adopt different strategies for defining their identities in the context of such stereo- types. Latinos associate machismo not with sexism but with honor, dignity, and respect (Baca Zinn 1995; Mirandé 1979).

African American men may adopt what has come to be called a “cool pose” to assert a positive presen- tation of self where they, not others, control their identity. Other Black men may assert an identity of “respectability”—that is, distancing themselves from negative stereotypes of Black men (Wilkins 2012; Young 2003). Identities are negotiated in a context where gen- der, race, and class frame how both women and men construct their identities.

The Institutional Basis of Gender Gender is not just a matter of identity: Gender is embed- ded in social institutions. This means that institutions are patterned by gender, resulting in different experiences and opportunities for men and women. Sociologists analyze gender not just as interpersonal expectations but also as characteristic of institutions. This is what is meant by the term gendered institution.

Gendered institutions are the total pattern of gender relations that structure social institutions, including the stereotypical expectations, interpersonal relationships, and the different placement of men and women that are found in institutions. Schools, for example, are not just places where children learn gender roles but are gendered institutions because they are structured on specific gender patterns. Seeing institutions as gendered reveals that gender is not just an attribute of individuals but is also “present in the processes, practices, images and ideologies, and dis- tributions of power in the various sectors of social life” (Acker 1992: 567).

As an example of the concept of gendered institu- tion, think of what it is like to work as a woman in a work organization dominated by men. Women in this situation report that men’s importance in the orga- nization is communicated in subtle ways, whereas women are made to feel like outsiders. Important career connections may be made in the context of men’s informal interactions with each other—both inside and outside the workplace. Women may be treated as tokens or may think that company policies are ineffective in helping them cope with the particu- lar demands in their lives.

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Thinking of institutions as gendered is to think about the gendered characteristics of the institution itself. Work institutions have been structured on the old assumption that men work and women do not. Such institutions demand loyalty to work, not family. Even when men and women try to integrate work and family in their lives, gendered institutional practices make this difficult. Gendered institutions thus affect men as well as women, especially if they try to establish more bal- ance between their work and personal lives. To say that institutions are gendered means that, taken together, there is a cumulative and systematic effect of gender throughout the institution.

Gender is not just a learned role: Gender is a social structure, just as class and race are structural dimen- sions of society. Notice that people do not think about the class system or racial inequality in terms of “class roles” or “race roles.” It is obvious that race relations and class relations are far more than matters of inter- personal interaction. Race, class, and gender inequali- ties are experienced within interpersonal relationships, but they extend beyond relationships. Just as it would seem strange to think that race relations in the United States are controlled by race–role socialization, it is also wrong to think that gender relations are the result of gender socialization alone. Like race and class, gender is a system of privilege and inequality in which women are systematically disadvantaged relative to men. There are institutionalized power relations between women and men, and men and women have unequal access to social and economic resources.

Gender Stratification Gender stratification refers to the hierarchical distri- bution of social and economic resources according to gender. Most societies have some form of gender strati- fication, although the specific form varies from country to country. Comparative research finds that women are more nearly equal in societies characterized by the fol- lowing traits:

● Women’s work is central to the economy. ● Women have access to education. ● Ideological or religious support for gender inequality

is not strong. ● Men make direct contributions to household respon-

sibilities, such as housework and child care. ● Work is not highly segregated by sex. ● Women have access to formal power and authority

in public decision making. (Chafetz 1984)

In Sweden, where there is a relatively high degree of gender equality, the participation of both men and women in the labor force and the household (includ- ing child care and housework) is promoted by govern- ment policies. Women also have a strong role in the

political system, although women still earn less than men in Sweden. In many countries, women and girls have less access to education than men and boys, but that gap is closing. Still, in most countries, the illiteracy rate among women is much higher than among men (United Nations 2014).

Gender stratification is multidimensional. In some societies, women may be free in some areas of life but not in others. In Japan, for example, women tend to be well educated and participate in the labor force in large numbers. Within the family, however, Japanese women have fairly rigid gender roles. Yet the rate of violence against women in Japan is quite low in relation to other nations, even though women are widely employed as “sex workers” in hostess clubs, bars, and sex joints (Allison 1994). Patterns of gender inequality are most reflected in the wage differentials between women and men around the world, as ▲ Figure 11.3 shows.

Gender stratification can be extreme. The pub- lic witnessed this in 2012, when Malala Yousafzai, a fourteen-year-old Pakistani girl, was shot in the face by Taliban extremists simply because she advocated for girls’ rights to an education. She has since won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work promoting girls’ educa- tion, the youngest person ever to receive this coveted prize. The Taliban, an extremist militia group, strips women and girls of basic human rights. When the Tali- ban took control of Afghanistan in 1996, women were banished from the labor force, expelled from schools and universities, and prohibited from leaving their homes unless accompanied by a close male relative. The windows of houses where women lived were painted black to keep women completely invisible to the public. This extreme segregation and exclusion of women from public life has been labeled gender apartheid. Gender apartheid is also evident in other nations, even if not as extreme as it was under Taliban rule: In Saudi Ara- bia, women are not allowed to drive; in Kuwait, women were not allowed to vote until 2006.

Sexism: The Biased Consequences of Beliefs Gender stratification is supported by beliefs that treat gender inequality as “natural.” Sexism defines women as different from and inferior to men. Sexism can be overt, but can also be subtle. Like racism, sexism makes gender roles seem natural when they are actually rooted in entrenched systems of power and privilege. In this sense, sexism is a belief that is anchored in social insti- tutions. For example, the idea that men should be paid more than women because they are the primary bread- winners is a sexist idea, but that idea is also embedded in the wage structure. Because of this institutional dimen- sion to sexism, people no longer have to be individu- ally sexist for sexism to have consequences. Increasing

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amounts of research are, in fact, showing that uninten- tional bias—both based on gender and race—has enor- mous negative consequences for women and people of color (Eberhardt et al. 2004; Valian 1999).

Like racism, sexism generates social myths that have no basis in fact but support the continuing advan- tage of dominant groups over subordinates. Take the belief that women of color are being hired more often and promoted more rapidly than others. This belief mis- represents the facts. Women rarely take jobs away from men because most women of color work in gender- and race-segregated jobs. Women of color are especially burdened by obstacles to job mobility that are not pres- ent for men, particularly White men (Andersen 2015; Padavic and Reskin 2002). The myth that women of color get all the jobs makes White men seem to be the victims of race and gender privilege. Although there may be occasional cases where a woman of color (or a man of color, for that matter) gets a job that a White

man also applied for, gender and race privilege usually favor White men.

Sexist beliefs also devalue the work that women do—both in dollar terms and in more subjective per- ceptions. To give a historical example, in jobs that were once held by men but became dominated by women, wages declined as women became more numerous. When this happens, the prestige of the occupation also tends to fall (Andersen 2015). You can also see this ten- dency in something labeled the mommy tax, referring to the loss of income women experience if they reenter the labor market after staying home to raise children. According to the author who coined this term, a col- lege-educated woman with one child will lose about a million dollars in lifetime earnings as the result of the “mommy tax” (Crittenden 2002). Although the mommy tax afflicts all employed mothers, it has been shown to be especially severe among those who can afford it the least—low-income women (Budig and Hodges 2010).

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▲ Figure 11.3 The Gender Wage Gap in OECD Countries, 2013 This graph shows the gap in men’s and women’s wages in the most economi- cally developed countries. Those with the smallest gap in women’s and men’s wages are at the top of the graph. Note the OECD average for all countries and where the United States falls relative to the rest of the world. How do you explain this? Note: OECD is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Data: From OECD Employment Outlook. www.oecd.org

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Sexism emerges in societies structured by patriarchy, referring to a society or group in which men have power over women. It can be present in the pri- vate sector, such as in families in which husbands have authority over their wives, but patriarchy also marks public institutions when men hold all or most of the powerful positions. Forms of patriarchy vary from soci- ety to society, but it is common throughout the world. In some societies, it is rigidly upheld in both the pub- lic and private spheres, and women may be formally excluded from voting, holding public office, or working outside the home. In societies like the contemporary United States, patriarchy may be somewhat diminished in the private sphere (at least in some households), but the public sphere continues to be based on patriarchal relations.

Matriarchy has traditionally been defined as a society or group in which women have power over men. Anthropologists have debated the extent to which such societies exist. Matriarchies do exist, though not in the form the customary definition implies. Based on her study of the Minangkabau matriarchal society in West Sumatra (in Indonesia), anthropologist Peggy Sanday argues that scholars have used a Western definition of power to define matriarchy that does not apply in non-Western societies. The Minangkabau define them- selves as a matriarchal society, meaning that women hold economic and social power. The Minangkabau are not, however, ruled by women. The people believe that rule should be by consensus, including that of men and women. Matriarchy exists but not as a mirror image of patriarchy (Sanday 2002).

In sum, gender stratification is an institutionalized system that rests on specific beliefs and attitudes that support, even inadvertently, the inequality of men and women. Although one could theoretically have a soci- ety stratified by gender where women hold power over men, gender stratification has not evolved in this way, as we will see in the next section.

Women’s Worth: Still Unequal Gender stratification is especially obvious in the per- sistent earnings gap between women and men (see ▲ Figure 11.4). Although the gap has closed some- what since the 1960s, when women earned 59 percent of what men earned, women who work year-round and full-time still earn, on average, only 78 percent of what men earn. Women with bachelor degrees earn the equivalent of men with associate’s degrees (see ▲ Figure 11.5). In 2013, the median income for women working full-time and year-round was $39,157; for men, it was $50,033 (DeNavas-Walt and Proctor 2014). Perhaps more telling is that in the period of time since 1979, women in the top 10 percent of women earn- ers have increased their earning power by 56 percent ; women in the bottom 10 percent have actually seen their income decline, as have men (measured in con- stant dollars; Mishel et al. 2012).

DEBUNKING Society’s Myths← Myth: As more women enter the paid labor force, the gap in women’s and men’s earnings will likely decline. Sociological Perspective: Women’s earnings over the past forty years have increased for women at the very top, but remained flat or negative for those at the bottom. Because most women work in jobs at the lower end of the pay scale, the increased entry of women to the labor force does not necessarily reduce the pay gap (Mishel et al. 2012).

The income gap between women and men per- sists despite the increased participation of women in the labor force. The labor force participation rate is the percentage of those in a given category who are employed either part-time or full-time. Fifty-seven percent of all women are in the paid labor force com- pared with 70 percent of men. As recently as 1973, only

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▲ Figure 11.4 Median Income by Race and Gender, Full-Time Workers You will often hear that there is a 22 percent gap between women and men wage earners, but these data show that the wage gap varies depending on racial–ethnic background. What facts stand out to you from the data depicted here? Data: U.S. Census Bureau. 2014. Detailed Income Tabulations from the Current Population Survey: Selected Characteristics of People 15 Years and Over by Total Money Income in 2013, Work Experience in 2013, Race, Hispanic Origin, and Sex, Table PINC-01. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce. www.census.gov

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▲ Figure 11.5 Education, Gender, and Income, 2013 Although the “economic return” on education is high for both men and women at every level of educational attainment, men’s income, on average, exceeds that of women. According to this national data, how much education would the average woman have to get to exceed the income of men with a high school diploma? To exceed men with a college degree? Data: U.S. Census Bureau. 2014. Detailed Income Tabulations from the Current Population Survey: Selected Characteristics of People 15 Years and Over by Total Money Income in 2013, Work Experience in 2013, Race, Hispanic Origin, and Sex, Table PINC-01. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce. www.census.gov

44 percent of women were in the labor force, so you can see the rather dramatic change that has occurred (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014b). Since 1960, married women with children have also significantly increased their likelihood of employment. Seventy-three percent of mothers are now in the labor force, including more than half of mothers with infants. Current projections indicate that women’s labor force participation will continue to rise, and men’s will decline slightly (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2010).

This pattern of women being in the labor market has long been true for women of color but now also characterizes the experience of White women. The labor force participation rates of White women and women of color have, in fact, converged. More women in all racial groups are also now the sole supporters of their families.

Why do women continue to earn less than men, even when laws prohibiting gender discrimination have been in place for more than fifty years? The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was the first federal law to require that men and women receive equal pay for equal work, an idea

that is supported by the majority of Americans. The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 extended the protec- tions of the Civil Rights Bill of 1964. This act states that discrimination claims on the basis of sex, race, national origin, age, religion, and disability accrue with every paycheck, giving workers time to file claims of discrimi- nation and eliminating earlier incentives for employers to cloak discrimination and then claim the employee filed their claims after the fact.

Wage discrimination, however, is rarely overt. Most employers do not even explicitly set out to pay women less than men. Despite good intentions and legislation, however, differences in men’s and women’s earnings persist. Research reveals four strong explanations for this: human capital theory, dual labor market theory, gender segregation, and overt discrimination, exam- ined as follows.

Human Capital Theory. Human capital theory explains gender differences in wages as resulting from the individual characteristics that workers bring to jobs. Human capital theory assumes that the economic

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system is fair and competitive and that wage discrep- ancies reflect differences in the resources (or human capital) that individuals bring to their jobs. Factors such as age, prior experience, number of hours worked, marital status, and education are human capital vari- ables. Human capital theory asserts that these char- acteristics will influence people’s worth in the labor market. For example, higher job turnover rates or work records interrupted by child rearing and family respon- sibilities could negatively influence the earning power of women. There is a significant earnings penalty for women because of motherhood (Abendroth et al. 2014).

Education, age, and experience do influence earn- ings, but when you compare men and women who have the same level of education, previous experience, and number of hours worked per week, women still earn less than men (see Figure 11.5). Although human capital theory explains some of the difference between men’s and women’s earnings, it does not explain it all. Sociologists look to other factors to complete the expla- nation of wage inequality.

The Dual Labor Market. Dual labor market theory contends that women and men earn different amounts because they tend to work in different segments of the labor market. The dual labor market reflects the devaluation of women’s work because women are most concentrated in low-wage jobs. Although it is hard to untangle cause and effect in the relationship between the devaluation of women’s work and low wages in certain jobs, once such an earnings structure is estab- lished, it is difficult to change. Although equal pay for equal work may hold in principle, it applies to relatively

few people because most men and women are not engaged in equal work.

According to dual labor market theory, the labor market is organized in two different sectors: the pri- mary market and the secondary market. In the pri- mary labor market, jobs are relatively stable, wages are good, opportunities for advancement exist, fringe benefits are likely, and workers are afforded due pro- cess. Working for a major corporation in a manage- ment job is an example of this. Jobs in the primary labor market are usually in large organizations where there is greater stability, steady profits, benefits for workers, better wages, and a rational system of man- agement. In contrast, the secondary labor market is characterized by high job turnover, low wages, short or nonexistent promotion ladders, few benefits, poor working conditions, arbitrary work rules, and capri- cious supervision. Many of the jobs students take— such as waiting tables, bartending, or cooking and serving fast food—fall into the secondary labor mar- ket. For students, however, these jobs are usually short term, not lifelong.

Within the primary labor market, there are two tiers. The first consists of high-status professional and managerial jobs with potential for upward mobility, room for creativity and initiative, and more autonomy. The second tier comprises working-class jobs, including clerical work, skilled, and semiskilled blue-collar work. Women and minorities in the pri- mary labor market tend to be in the second tier. Although these jobs may be more secure than jobs in the secondary labor market, they are more vulner- able and do not have as much mobility, pay, prestige, or autonomy as jobs in the first tier of the primary labor market.

There is, in addition, an informal sector of the market where there is even greater wage inequality, no benefits, and little, if any, oversight of employment practices. Individuals may hire such workers as pri- vate service workers or under-the-table workers who perform a service for a fee (painting, babysitting, car repairs, and any number of services). Although there are no formal data on the informal sector because much of it tends to be in an underground economy, women and minorities form a large segment of this market activity, particularly given their role in care work (Duffy 2011).

Gender Segregation. Dual labor market theory explains wage inequality as a function of the structure of the labor market, not the individual characteris- tics of workers as suggested by human capital theory. Because of the dual labor market, men and women tend to work in different occupations and, when working in the same occupation, in different jobs. This is referred to as gender segregation, a pattern in which different

Data show that occupations where women of color predominate also tend to have the lowest wages.

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groups of workers are separated into occupational cat- egories based on gender. There is a direct association between the number of women in given occupational categories and the wages paid in those jobs. In other words, the greater the proportion of women in a given occupation, the lower the pay (U.S. Bureau of Labor Sta- tistics 2014b). Segregation in the labor market can also be based on factors such as race, class, age, or any com- bination thereof.

Despite several decades of legislation prohibiting discrimination against women in the workplace, most women and men still work in gender-segregated occu- pations. That is, the majority of women work in occupa- tions where most of the other workers are women, and the majority of men work mostly with men. Women also tend to be concentrated in a smaller range of occu- pations than men. To this day, more than half of all employed women work as clerical workers and sales clerks or in service occupations such as food service workers, maids, health service workers, hairdress- ers, and child-care workers. Men are dispersed over a much broader array of occupations. Women make up 81 percent of elementary and middle school teachers, 89 percent of secretaries, 90 percent of bookkeepers, 90 percent of registered nurses, and 95 percent of child- care workers—stark evidence of the persistence of gen- der segregation in the labor force (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014b).

Gender segregation also occurs within occupa- tions. Women usually work in different jobs from men, but when they work within the same occupa- tion, they are segregated into particular fields or job types. For example, in sales work, women tend to do

noncommissioned sales or to sell products that are of less value than those men sell. Even in fast-food res- taurants, where you would expect wages to be routin- ized, women tend to work in those establishments with lower wages, fewer benefits, and less scheduling con- trol (Haley-Lock and Ewert 2011).

Immigrant women are especially prone to being niched into highly segregated areas of the labor market. Many constraints shape the experience of immigrant women, including their legal status. Immigrant Latinas, for example, routinely find themselves in low-wage jobs regardless of their prior level of education, skill, or experience (Flippen 2014).

Overt Discrimination. A fourth explanation of the gender wage gap is discrimination. Discrimination refers to practices that single out some groups for dif- ferent and unequal treatment. Despite the progress of recent years, overt discrimination continues to afflict women in the workplace. Some argue that men (White men in particular) have an incentive to preserve their advantages in the labor market. They do so by estab- lishing rules that distribute rewards unequally. Women pose a threat to traditional White male privileges, and men may organize to preserve their own power and advantage (Reskin 1988). Historically, White men used labor unions to exclude women and racial minorities from well-paying, unionized jobs, usually in the blue- collar trades. A more contemporary example is seen in the efforts of some groups to dilute legislation that has been developed to assist women and racial–ethnic minorities. These efforts can be seen as an attempt to preserve group power.

Because gender segregation is so pervasive in the workplace, people may still be surprised when they see women and men in nontraditional occupations.

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270 CHAPTER 11

DEBUNKING Society’s Myths← Myth: Black women are taking a lot of jobs away from White men. Sociological Perspective: Sociological research finds no evidence of this claim. Quite the contrary, women of color work in gender- and race-segregated jobs and only rarely in occupations where they compete with White men in the labor market (Branch 2011).

Another example of overt discrimination is the harassment that women experience at work, includ- ing sexual harassment and other means of intimida- tion. Sociologists see such behaviors as ways for men to protect their advantages in the labor force. No wonder that women who enter traditionally male-dominated professions suffer the most sexual harassment. The reverse seldom occurs for men employed in jobs his- torically filled by women. Although men can be victims of sexual harassment, this is rare. Sexual harassment is a mechanism for preserving men’s advantage in the labor force—a device that also buttresses the belief that women are sexual objects for the pleasure of men.

Each of these explanations—human capital the- ory, dual labor market theory, gender segregation, and overt discrimination—contributes to an understanding of the continuing differences in pay between women and men. Wage inequality between men and women is clearly the result of multiple factors that together oper- ate to place women at a systematic disadvantage in the workplace.

The Devaluation of Women’s Work Across the labor market, women tend to be con- centrated in those jobs that are the most devalued, causing some to wonder if the fact that women hold these jobs leads to devaluation of the jobs. Why, for example, is pediatrics considered a less prestigious specialty than cardiology? Why are preschool and kin- dergarten teachers (98 percent of whom are women) paid less than airplane mechanics (98 percent of whom are men)? The association of preschool teach- ing with children and its identification as “women’s work” lowers its prestige and economic value. Indeed, if measured by the wages attached to an occupa- tion, child care is one of the least prestigious jobs in the nation—paying on average only $418 per week in 2013, which would come out to an income below the federal poverty line if you worked every week of the year. Male highway maintenance workers, roofers, and construction workers all make more (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014b).

The representation of women in skilled blue-collar jobs has increased, but it is still a very small fraction (typ- ically less than 2 percent) of those in skilled trades such

as plumbers, electricians, and carpenters (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014b). Likewise, very few men work in occupations historically considered to be women’s work, such as nursing, elementary school teaching, and clerical work. Interestingly, men who work in occupa- tions customarily thought of as women’s work tend to be more upwardly mobile within these jobs than are women who enter fields traditionally reserved for men (Budig 2002; Williams 1992).

Gender segregation in the labor market is so preva- lent that most jobs can easily be categorized as men’s work or women’s work. Occupational segregation rein- forces the belief that there are significant differences between the sexes. Think of the characteristics of a sol- dier. Do you imagine someone who is compassionate, gentle, and demure? Similarly, imagine a secretary. Is this someone who is aggressive, independent, and stal- wart? The association of each characteristic with a par- ticular gender makes the occupation itself a gendered occupation.

DEBUNKING Society’s Myths← Myth: Black and White women’s wages are converging as more White women have entered the labor market and Black women have increased their educational attainment. Sociological Perspective: Although the wage gap between Black and White women decreased in the 1970s as the result of opened opportunities for Black women, the wage gap between Black and White women has increased since the 1980s, especially among young women. Scholars explain this as the result of structural disadvantages that Black women face (Pettit and Ewert 2009).

For all women, perceptions of gender-appropriate behavior influence the likelihood of success within institutions. Even something as simple as wearing makeup is linked to women’s success in professional jobs (Dellinger and Williams 1997). When men or women cross the boundaries established by occupa- tional segregation, they are often considered to be gen- der deviants. Women who work in the skilled trades, for example, are routinely assumed by others to be lesbi- ans, whether or not they are (Denissen and Saguy 2014). Men who are nurses may be stereotyped as effeminate or gay; women marines may be stereotyped as “butch.” Social practices like these serve to reassert traditional gender identities, perhaps softening the challenge to traditionally male-dominated institutions that wom- en’s entry challenges (Williams 1995).

As a result, many men and women in nontradi- tional occupations feel pressured to assert gender- appropriate behavior. Men in jobs historically defined as women’s work may feel compelled to emphasize their masculinity, or if they are gay, they may feel even

G EN DER 27 1

more pressure to keep their sexual orientation secret. Such social disguises can make them seem unfriendly and distant, characteristics that can have a negative effect on performance evaluations. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual workers face the added stress of having to “manage” their identities at work. Whether or not they are comfortable disclosing their identities is related to a number of factors, including the organizational cli- mate and policies related to LGBT employees (King et al. 2014).

Balancing Work and Family As the participation of women in the labor force has increased, so have the demands of keeping up with work and home life. Research finds that young women and men now want a good balance between work and family life, but they also find that institutions are resis- tant to accommodating these ideals (Gerson 2010). Men are also more involved in housework and child care than has been true in the past, although the bulk of this work still falls to women—a phenomenon that has been labeled “the second shift” (Hochschild and Machung 1989).

The social speedup that comes from increased hours of employment for both men and women (but especially women), coupled with the demands of maintaining a household, are a source of considerable stress (Jacobs and Gerson 2004). Women continue to provide most of the labor that keeps households running—cleaning, cooking, running errands, driv- ing children around, and managing household affairs. Although more men are engaged in housework and child care, a huge gender gap remains in the amount of such work women and men do. Women are also much more likely to be providing care, not just for children, but also for their older parents. The strains these demands produce have made the home seem more and more like work for many. A large number of

women and men report that their days at both work and home are harried and that they find work to be the place where they find emotional gratification and social support. In this contest between home and work, simply finding time can be an enormous chal- lenge (Hochschild 1997). It is not surprising then that women report stress about household finances and family responsibilities more than men (American Psy- chological Association 2008).

Theories of Gender Why is there gender inequality? The answer to this ques- tion is important, not only because it makes us think about the experiences of women and men, but also because it guides attempts to address the persistence of gender injustice. The major theoretical frameworks in sociology provide some answers, but feminist scholars have developed new theories to address women’s lives more directly (◆ Table 11.3).

Functionalist theory traditionally purported that men fill instrumental roles in society whereas women fill expressive roles. Feminist scholars criticize func- tionalism for interpreting gender as a fixed role and one that is functional for society. Although few contem- porary functionalist theorists would argue that now, functionalism does emphasize gender socialization as the major impetus behind gender inequality. Choices women make because of their gender socialization can make them shy away from leadership roles in public institutions, thus also reproducing traditional gender arrangements (Sandberg 2013).

Conflict theorists, in contrast, see women as dis- advantaged by power inequities between women and men that are built into the social structure. This includes economic inequality and women’s disadvan- tages in political and social systems. Wage inequality, for example, is produced by men who hold power in

◆ Table 11.2 Is It True?*

True False

1. Men are more aggressive than women.

2. Parents have the most influence on children’s gender identities.

3. Most women hold feminist values.

4. Being a “stay-at-home” mom is the most satisfying lifestyle for women.

5. In all racial–ethnic groups, women earn less on average than men.

6. The wage gap between women and men has closed since the 1970s, largely as the result of women being more likely to enter the labor force.

7. In terms of wages, middle-class women have most benefited from antidiscrimination policies.

*The answers can be found later in this chapter.

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272 CH APT ER 11

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G EN DER 273

social institutions. Men also benefit as a group from the services that women’s labor provides. Conflict theorists have been much more attuned to interactions of race, class, and gender inequality because they see all forms of inequality as stemming from power that dominant groups in society have.

Conflict theory also interprets women’s inequal- ity as stemming from capitalism. Influenced by the work of Karl Marx, some feminist scholars argue that women are oppressed because they have historically constituted a cheap supply of labor. Women provide a reserve supply of labor and are pulled into the labor market when underpaid workers are needed. Women also do much of the work that is essential to life, but not paid—that is housework and child care. Conflict theo- rists understand women’s inequality as stemming from economic exploitation and the power that men hold in virtually all social institutions.

Feminist Theory and the Women’s Movement As you will recall, symbolic interaction theory focuses on the immediate realm of social interaction. Feminist sociologists have developed an adaptation of symbolic interaction to explain the social construction of gender. An approach known as doing gender interprets gender as something accomplished through the ongoing social interactions people have with one another (West and Fenstermaker 1995; West and Zimmerman 1987). Seen from this framework, people produce gender through the interaction they have with one another and through the interpretations they have of certain actions and appearances.

Doing gender sees gender not as a fixed attribute of people, but as constantly made up and reproduced through social interaction. When you act like a man or a woman, you are confirming gender and repro- ducing existing social order. People act in gender- appropriate ways, displaying gender to others. Others then interpret the gender display that they see and assign people to gender categories, thereby reinforc- ing the gender order. People can disrupt this taken- for-granted behavior though. From the view of doing gender, gender structures would change if large num- bers of people behaved differently. This is one reason the theory has been criticized by those with a more macrosociological point of view. Critics argue that the doing gender perspective ignores the power dif- ferences and economic differences that exist based on gender, race, and class. In other words, it does not explain the structural basis of women’s oppression (Collins et al. 1995).

Related to doing gender is queer theory, a theo- retical perspective that has emerged from gay and les- bian studies. Queer theory challenges the idea that

sex and gender are binary opposites—that is, either/or categories. Instead, queer theory sees that dichoto- mous sex and gender categories are enforced by the power of social institutions and those who control them. People who disrupt these categories, such as transgender people, show us how gender is deter- mined through such enforcement practices (Jenness and Fenstermaker 2014; Westbrook and Schilt 2014). Briefly put, queer theory interprets society as forcing people into presumed gender and sexual identities and behaviors. We examine queer theory further in Chapter 12 on sexuality.

Doing gender and queer theory are forms of femi- nist theory. Feminist theory has emerged from the women’s movement and refers to analyses that seek to understand the position of women in society for the explicit purpose of improving their position in it.

The feminist movement has fostered widespread changes in and has transformed how people under- stand women’s and men’s lives. Simply put, feminism refers to beliefs and action that seek a more just soci- ety for women. Feminism is not a single way of think- ing, as feminists understand the position of women in society in different ways. Different forms of feminism that emerged in the women’s movement also provide different theoretical ways of viewing women’s status in society.

Liberal feminism emerged from a long tradition that began among British liberals in the nineteenth century. Liberal feminism emphasizes individual rights and equal opportunity as the basis for social justice and reform. From this perspective, inequality for women originates in past and present practices that pose bar- riers to women’s advancement, such as laws that his- torically excluded women from certain areas of work. From a liberal feminist framework, discrimination (that is, the unequal treatment of women) is the major source of women’s inequality. Removing discriminatory laws and outlawing discriminatory practices are primary ways to improve the status of women. Calls for equal rights for women are the hallmark of a liberal feminist perspective.

Liberal feminism has broad appeal because it is consistent with American values of equality before the law. More radical feminists think that liberal feminism is limited by assuming that social institutions are basi- cally fair were women and men treated the same within them. Radical feminists argue that there cannot be jus- tice for women as long as men hold power in social institutions. As one example, men control the laws that govern women’s reproductive lives. In this sense, patri- archy (that is, the power of men) is the major source of women’s oppression. Patriarchy is found at the insti- tutional level where men have control and at the indi- vidual level where men’s power is manifested in high rates of violence against women. Indeed, many radical

274 CH APTER 11

Is It True ? (Answers)

1. FALSE. Generalizations such as this ignore variation occurring within gender categories; moreover, aggression is a broad term that can have multiple meanings.

2. FALSE. There are numerous sources of gender socialization; even parents who try to raise their children not to conform too strictly to gender norms will find that peers, the media, schools, and other socialization agents all push people into the expected behaviors associated with gender (Kane 2012).

3. TRUE. Although many women do not use the label feminist to define themselves, surveys show that the majority of women agree with basic feminist principles. Self-identification as a feminist is most likely among well-educated, urban women (McCabe 2005).

4. FALSE. Surveys show that “stay-at-home” moms experience far more depression, worry, anxiety, and anger than employed women (Mendes et al. 2012); half of women say they would prefer to have a job outside the home (Saad 2012a).

5. TRUE. However, the gap in income is not as wide within some groups as it is in others. Among year-round, full-time workers, White women, for example, earn 76 percent of what White men earn, but Hispanic women earn 93 percent of what Hispanic men earn (because both have very low earnings on average). Black women earn 85 percent of Black men’s earnings, and Asian women, 75 percent of Asian men’s earnings. And White and Asian American women, on average, earn more than Black and Hispanic men (U.S. Census Bureau 2014b).

6. FALSE. The most significant reason for the decline in the wage gap between women and men is the decline in men’s wages; a smaller portion of this closing gap is attributed to changes in women’s wages (Mishel et al. 2012).

7. FALSE. Although all women do benefit from equal employment legislation, wage data indicate that the group whose wages have increased the most since the 1970s are women in the top 20 percent of earners. Middle- and working-class women have seen far lower gains, and poor women’s wages have been relatively flat over this period of time (Mishel et al. 2012).

feminists see violence against women as mechanisms that men use to assert their power in society. Radical feminists think that change cannot come about through the existing system because men control and dominate that system.

Multiracial feminism has also opened new ave- nues of theory for guiding the study of gender and its relationship to race and class (Andersen and Collins 2013; Baca Zinn and Dill 1996; Collins 1990). Multira- cial feminism evolves from studies pointing out that earlier forms of feminist thinking excluded women of color from analysis, which made it impossible for femi- nists to deliver theories that informed people about the experiences of all women. Multiracial feminism exam- ines the interactive influence of gender, race, and class, showing how they together shape the experiences of all women and men.

From this perspective, gender is not a singular or uniform experience, but rather intersects with race and class in shaping the experience of women and men. Gender is thus manifested differently, depending on the particular location of a given person or group in a sys- tem shaped by gender, race, and class, along with other social identities, such as sexual orientation, ability/ disability status, age, nationality, and so forth. Also known as intersectional theory, analyses that are situ- ated in multiracial feminist thinking have opened up sociological theory to new ways of thinking that include the multiplicity of experiences that people have in a society as diverse as the United States.

Gender in Global Perspective Increasingly, the economic condition of women and men in the United States is linked to the fortunes of people in other parts of the world. The growth of a global economy and the availability of a cheaper industrial labor force outside the United States mean that U.S. workers have become part of an interna- tional division of labor. U.S.-based multinational cor- porations looking around the world for less expensive labor often turn to the developing nations and find that the cheapest laborers are women or children. The global division of labor is thus acquiring a gendered component, with women workers, usually from the poorest countries, providing a cheap supply of labor for manufacturing products that are distributed in the richer industrial nations.

Worldwide, women work as much as or more than men. It is difficult to find a single place in the world where the workplace is not segregated by gender. On a global scale, women also do most of the work asso- ciated with home, children, and the elderly. Although women’s paid labor has been increasing, their unpaid labor in virtually every part of the world exceeds that of men. The United Nations estimates that women’s unpaid work (both in the home and in the commu- nity) is valued as at least $11 trillion (www.un.org). Generally speaking, women’s status in the world

G EN D ER 275

is improving, but slowly and unevenly in different nations (see ■ Map 11.1).

Work is not the only measure by which the status of women throughout the world is inferior to that of men. Women are vastly underrepresented in national parlia- ments (or other forms of government) everywhere. As late as 2014, only 24 nations had women heads of state or government. Worldwide, women hold only 22 per- cent of all parliamentary seats. The United States, pre- sumed to be the most democratic nation in the world, ranks 83rd of 145 nations in the representation of women in national parliaments (www.ipu.org).

The United Nations has also concluded that vio- lence against women and girls is a global epidemic and one of the most pervasive violations of human rights (United Nations 2012a). Violence against women takes many forms, including rape, domestic violence, infan- ticide, incest, genital mutilation, and murder (includ- ing so-called honor killings, where a woman may be killed to uphold family honor if she has been raped or accused of adultery). Although violence is perva- sive, some specific groups of women are more vulner- able than others—namely, minority groups, refugees, women with disabilities, elderly women, poor and migrant women, and women living in countries with

armed conflict. Statistics on the extent of violence against women are hard to report with accuracy, both because of the secrecy that surrounds many forms of violence and because of differences in how different nations might report violence. Nonetheless, the United Nations estimates that between 20 and 50 percent of women worldwide have experienced violence from an intimate partner or family member.

As we saw in Chapter 9, many factors put women at risk of violence, including cultural norms, women’s economic and social dependence on men, and political practices that either provide inadequate legal protection or provide explicit support for women’s subordination.

Gender and Social Change Few lives have not been touched by the transformations that have occurred in the wake of the feminist move- ment. The women’s movement has opened work oppor- tunities, generated laws that protect women’s rights, spawned organizations that lobby for public policies on behalf of women, and changed public attitudes. Many young women and men now take for granted freedoms struggled for by earlier generations. These include access to birth control, equal opportunity legislation,

Viewing Society in Global Perspective: Where’s the Best Place to Be a Woman? This map is based on data measuring a number of factors, including access to education and health care, economic status, and

representation in government. Of the 142 countries included, the United States ranks 20th.

Source: World Economic Forum. 2013. The Global Gender Gap Report. Geneva, Switzerland.

Most equal Least equal No data

Top ten countries: 1. Iceland 2. Finland 3. Norway 4. Sweden 5. Philippines 6. Ireland 7. New Zealand 8. Denmark 9. Switzerland 10. Nicaragua

map 11.1

276 CH APTER 11

laws protecting against sexual harassment, increased athletic opportunities for women, more presence of women in political life, and greater access to child care, to name a few changes. These impressive changes occurred in a relatively short period of time.

Indeed, many believe that the gender revolution is over and that there is no further need for feminist change. Some say that the nation is postfeminist, a term that means different things to different people. For some, it simply means that the women’s movement is over because feminism has outlived the need. For oth- ers, it means that second-wave feminism (that of the 1970s and 1980s) does not meet the needs of new gen- erations of women. What has the feminist movement accomplished and what remains to be done?

In some regards, women have reached pinnacles of power and influence unprecedented in U.S. history. Women are highly visible as CEOs of major corpora- tions, as Supreme Court justices, as presidential cabi- net members, and as extraordinary and highly paid athletes—all of which would have been highly unusual not that many years ago. Women have also risen to positions of political influence, perhaps signaling a new era for women in the political realm. Women have also been especially evident in the new conservative move- ment, such as in the Tea Party and other organizations.

No doubt there has been substantial progress for women, but the tensions between progressive and con- servative politics on women’s issues indicate that wom- en’s rights are hardly a settled issue. Despite the greater visibility of women, most women still struggle with low

wages, managing both work and family, or perhaps struggling alone to support a family. On the conserva- tive side, people feel that the value of women as tra- ditional homemakers is being eroded, perhaps even threatened by women’s independence because women in that position need men’s economic support. On the progressive side, feminists perceive constant threats to women’s reproductive rights and think that the nation has not come far enough in protecting and support- ing women’s rights. There is currently a complex mix of progressive and conservative politics surrounding gender in the contemporary world. Yet, the changes the feminist movement has inspired have completely trans- formed many dimensions of women’s and men’s lives, especially apparent in changed public attitudes.

Contemporary Attitudes Surveys of public opinion about women’s and men’s lives are good indicators of the changes we have wit- nessed as the result of the feminist movement. Now, only a small minority of people disapproves of women being employed while they have young children, and both women and men say it is not fair for men to be the sole decision maker in the household.

Young women and men have different ideals for their future lives than was true for earlier generations. Kathleen Gerson’s research finds that most young adults (those she calls “children of the gender revolution”) want a lifelong partner and shared responsibilities for work and family. Yet, Gerson also finds a strong gender divide

In 2012, journalist Hanna Rosin published a book, The End of Men: And the Rise of Women, a book that was widely reviewed and earned Rosin appearances on numer- ous TV talk shows, news reports, and other media outlets. Her argument was fairly straightforward: that women are replacing men as the heads of house- holds; that women’s gender roles make them more adaptable to changes in the economy while men’s roles make them more rigid and conforming to past ideals; and, that women are now dominating men in many workplaces and in colleges. For Rosin, “the end of men” signals a time when women are surpassing men in many areas of life, actually leaving men behind

The End of Men? who cannot adapt to the new demands of a postindustrial, service-based economy.

Rosin’s book points to some major social changes that are affecting both women and men:

● Women are now a majority in the nation’s colleges and universities.

● Women’s wages have been rising while men’s are falling.

● Women can be found among the nation’s highest income earners.

● Women find themselves more often than in the past as the major bread- winner in families.

Rosin’s book, however, ignored other realities, including that women are still

segregated in lower-wage occupations; that women major in fields that are not those that produce top earners; that women have higher rates of poverty than men; and that women remain unequal in every institution in society. Rosin’s portrayal of men as resistant to change and women as flexible also rests on overgeneralized gender stereotypes.

Why did Rosin’s book strike such a nerve for the public? What changes do you see in your environment that might lead people to think that women have it made and men are falling behind? What specific information would you need to assess the claims that Rosin is making, including information about diverse groups of women and men?

what would a sociologist say?

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in how men and women imagine what they would do as a backup plan if their ideals were not realized. Men, much more than women, think that if balancing work and family does not work out in their future, they would fall back on traditional arrangements with wives staying home and husbands working. Women disagree, under- standing that they have to be self-reliant in the event that their ideals are not met (Gerson 2010).

Gerson also found that, although both men and women want to share work and family life, institutions have not adjusted to this reality. In other words, resis- tant institutions have not adjusted to the attitudinal changes and desires for new lifestyles that most women and men embrace.

Attitudinal changes are not, however, complete. Many people want more flexible gender arrangements, but traditional gender norms also remain. Beliefs that there are basic differences between women and men and support for traditional gender norms in many aspects of personal life still prevail. In short, change in gender has been uneven—revolutionary in some regards and stag- nant in others (Prokos 2011; England 2010).

DEBUNKING Society’s Myths← Myth: African American men are less likely than African American women to think that sexism and racism are equally important. Sociological Perspective: African American men and women are equally likely to see racism and sexism as linked together and to see the need to address both (Harnois 2010).

Legislative Change Attitudes are only one dimension of social change. Some of the most important changes have come from laws that now protect against discrimination—laws that have opened new doors, especially for professional, well-educated women. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was one of the first pieces of legislation requiring equal pay for equal work. Following this was the Civil Rights Act of 1964, adopted as the result of political pressure from the civil rights movement. You will be interested to learn that adding “sex” to this law actually protects women by accident. A southern congressman added the term, thinking that the idea of giving women these rights was such a joke that the addition of “sex” would prevent passage of the civil rights law.

The Civil Rights Act bans discrimination in hiring, promoting, and firing. This law also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an arm of the federal government that enforces laws prohibiting dis- crimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, or sex.

The passage of the Civil Rights Act opened new opportunities to women in employment and education. This was further supported by Title IX, adopted as part of the educational amendments of 1972. Title IX forbids gender discrimination in any educational institution receiving federal funds.

Title IX also defines various forms of sexual vio- lence (sexual harassment, sexual assault, and other forms of gender-based violence) as a violation of law. Title IX requires schools and colleges to be free of gen- der discrimination. The bill also requires that schools and colleges have established procedures for handling complaints of sex discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual violence. With one in four college women reporting sexual assault while in college, this is clearly a huge problem. Title IX, however, also protects men and gender-nonconforming students, as well as faculty and staff on campus.

Adoption of Title IX, although not perfect in its implementation, has radically altered the opportunities available to female students and has laid the foundation for many coeducational programs that are now an ordi- nary part of college life. This law has been particularly effective in opening up athletics to women.

Has equality been achieved as the result of Title IX and other laws? In college sports, men still outnumber women athletes by more than two to one, and there is still more scholarship support for male athletes than for women. Title IX allows institutions to spend more money on male athletes if they outnumber women ath- letes, but the law stipulates that the number of male and female athletes should be closely proportional to their student body representation. Studies of student athletes show that although support for women’s athletics has improved since implementation of Title IX, there is still a long way to go toward equality in women’s sports. Some argue that Title IX has reduced opportunities

Young women are the group most likely to support feminist goals. Ending violence against women is a strong theme in contemporary feminism.

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for men in sports. Proponents of maintaining strong enforcement of Title IX counter this by noting that bud- get reductions in higher education, not Title IX per se, are responsible for any reduction in athletic opportuni- ties for men. Furthermore, they point out that men still greatly predominate in school sports.

In the workplace, a strong legal framework for gen- der equity is in place, yet equity has not been achieved. The United States has never, as an example, approved the Equal Rights Amendment, which would pro- vide a constitutional principle that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on the basis of sex” (www .equalrightsamendment.org).

It is clear that the passage of antidiscrimination pol- icies is essential, but not a guarantee that discrimination will end. One solution to the problem of gender inequal- ity is to have more women in positions of public power. Is increasing the representation of women in existing situations enough? Without reforming sexism in institu- tions, change will be limited and may generate benefits only for groups who are already privileged. Feminists advocate restructuring social institutions to meet the needs of all groups, not just those who already have enough power and privilege to make social institutions work for them. The successes of the women’s movement demonstrate that change is possible, but change comes only when people are vigilant about their needs.

How do sociologists distinguish sex and gender? Sociologists use the term sex to refer to biological iden- tity and gender to refer to the socially learned expecta- tions associated with members of each sex. Biological determinism refers to explanations that attribute com- plex social phenomena entirely to physical or natural characteristics.

How is gender identity learned? Gender socialization is the process by which gender expectations are learned. One result of socialization is the formation of gender identity. Overly conforming to gender roles has a number of negative consequences for both women and men, including eating disorders, violence, and poor self-concepts. Homophobia plays a role in gender socialization because it encourages strict conformity to gender expectations.

What is a gendered institution? Gendered institutions are those where the entire insti- tution is patterned by gender. Sociologists analyze gen- der both as a learned attribute and as an institutional structure.

What is gender stratification? Gender stratification refers to the hierarchical distri- bution of social and economic resources according to gender. Most societies have some form of gender strati- fication, although they differ in the degree and kind. Gender stratification in the United States is obvious in the differences between men’s and women’s wages.

How do sociologists explain the continuing earnings gap between men and women? There are multiple ways to explain the pay gap. Human capital theory explains wage differences as the result of individual differences between workers. Dual labor

market theory refers to the tendency for the labor mar- ket to be organized in two sectors: the primary and sec- ondary markets. Gender segregation persists and results in differential pay and value attached to men’s and women’s work. Overt discrimination against women is another way that men protect their privilege in the labor market.

Are men increasing their efforts in housework and child care? Many men are now more engaged in housework and child care than was true in the past, although women still provide the vast majority of this labor. Balancing work and family has resulted in social speedup, making time a scarce resource for many women and men.

What is feminist theory? Different theoretical perspectives help explain the status of women in society. Functionalist theory emphasizes how gender roles that differentiate women and men work to the benefit of society. Con- flict theory interprets gender inequality as stemming from women’s status as a supply of cheap labor and men’s greater power in social institutions. Feminist theory, originating in the women’s movement, refers to analyses that seek to understand the position of women in society for the explicit purpose of improv- ing their position in it. Doing gender and queer theory interpret gender as accomplished in social interaction and enforced through powerful institutions. Liberal feminism is anchored in an equal rights framework. Radical feminism sees men’s power as the primary force that locates women in disadvantaged positions in society. Multiracial feminism, or intersectional the- ory, emphasizes the linkage between gender, race, and class inequality.

Chapter Summary

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When seen in global perspective, what can be observed about gender? The economic condition of women and men in the United States is increasingly linked to the status of peo- ple in other parts of the world. Women provide much of the cheap labor for products made around the world. Worldwide, women work as much or more than men, though they own little of the world’s property and are underrepresented in positions of world leadership.

What are the major social changes that have affected women and men in recent years? Public attitudes about gender relations have changed dramatically in recent years. Women and men are now more egalitarian in their attitudes, although women still perceive high degrees of discrimination in the labor force. A legal framework is in place to protect against discrimination, but legal reform is not enough to create gender equality.

biological determinism 256

Civil Rights Act of 1964 277

discrimination 269 doing gender 273 dual labor market

theory 268 Equal Pay Act of

1963 267

Equal Rights Amendment 278

feminism 273 feminist theory 273 gender 254 gender apartheid 264 gender identity 257 gender segregation 268 gender socialization 257 gender stratification 264

gendered institution 263 homophobia 261 human capital theory 267 intersexed 255 labor force participation

rate 266 liberal feminism 273 Lily Ledbetter Fair

Pay Act 267 matriarchy 266

multiracial feminism 274 patriarchy 266 queer theory 273 radical feminism 273 sex 254 Title IX 277 transgender 257

Key Terms

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A visitor from another planet might conclude that people in the United States are obsessed with sex. Young people watch videos where women gyrate in sexual movements. A stroll through a shopping mall reveals expen- sive shops selling delicate, skimpy women’s lingerie. Popular magazines are filled with images of women in seductive poses trying to sell every product imaginable. Even bumper stick- ers brag about sexual accomplishments. People dream about sex, form relationships based on sex, fight about sex, and spend money to have sex. On the one hand, the United States appears to be a very sexually open society; however, sexual oppression still exists. Gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals are viewed with prejudice and are discriminated against—that is, treated like minority groups (see Chapter 10).

Sexuality, usually thought to be a most private matter, has taken on a public life by being at the center of some of our most heated public controversies. Should young people be educated about birth control or only encouraged to abstain from sex? Should government require employers to provide insurance coverage for birth control? Who decides whether a woman can choose to have an abortion and under what circumstances?

Sexuality and the issues it spins off clearly polarize the public on a range of social issues. On the one hand, sexuality is seen as a private matter but it is also very much on the public agenda. Studying sexuality reveals how deeply it is entrenched in social norms, values, and social inequalities. Human sexuality, like other forms of social behavior, is shaped by society and culture.

Sexuality Sex and Culture 282

Contemporary Sexual Attitudes and Behavior 285

Sex and Inequality: Gender, Race, and Class 286

Sexuality: Sociological and Feminist Theory 288

Understanding Gay and Lesbian Experience 293

Sex and Social Issues 294

Sex and Social Change 303

Chapter Summary 304

● Understand the social basis of human sexuality

● Identify current attitudes and behaviors involving sexuality

● Comprehend how sexuality is linked to other forms of inequality

● Compare and contrast theoretical perspectives on sexuality

● Be able to define homophobia and heterosexism and their influence on lesbian and gay experience

● Comprehend sociological underpinnings of current issues regarding sexuality

● Assess how sexuality is being affected by social change

in this chapter, you will learn to:

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Sex and Culture Sexual behavior would seem to be utterly natural. Plea- sure and sometimes the desire to reproduce are reasons people have sex, but sexual relationships and identities develop within a social context. Social context estab- lishes what sexual relationships mean, how we define our sexual identities, and what social supports are given (or denied) to people based on their sexual identity. Sexuality is socially defined and patterned.

Sex: Is It Natural? From a sociological point of view, little in human behavior is purely natural, as we have learned in pre- vious chapters. Behavior that appears to be natural is the behavior accepted by cultural customs and sanc- tioned by social institutions. People engage in sex not just because it feels good, but also because it is an important part of our social identity. Sexuality creates intimacy between people. Void of a cultural context and the social meanings given to sexual behavior, people might not attribute the emotional commitments, spiri- tual meanings, and social significance to sexuality that it has in different human cultures.

Sexual orientation refers to the attraction that peo- ple feel for people of the same or different sex. The term sexual orientation implies something deeply rooted in a person. Sexual identity is the definition of oneself that is formed around one’s sexual relationships. Sexual iden- tity is learned in the context of our social relationships and the social structures in which we live. Although sometimes used interchangeably, sexual orientation and

sexual identity are not the same thing, nor is one’s sex- ual identity simply based on one’s sexual practices. For example, a man may have sex with other men—perhaps even on a regular basis, but not have a sexual identity as being gay. A person may have a sexual identity as hetero- sexual even in the absence of actual sexual relationships.

Sexual identity as gay, lesbian, heterosexual, or bisexual emerges in a social context, as we will see in the following discussion on the social construction of sexual identity. As an example, recall from the previous chapter that transgender people are those who con- struct a gender identity different from their biological identity. Being transgender does not, however, predict a particular sexual orientation (Schilt 2011). A transgen- der person may be straight, lesbian, gay, or bisexual. The point here is that sexual identity is not necessar- ily simply based on biological or “natural” states, even though there is debate about whether there is a biologi- cal basis to sexual orientation.

Is there a biological basis to sexual identity? This question is debated in both popular and scientific lit- erature. Gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual people often say that they do not choose their sexual orienta- tion and that it is something they just “are,” as if it were a biological imperative. The debate about a biological basis to sexual orientation—heated at times—comes from rejecting the idea that being gay is a choice, as if people could change their sexual orientation at will. There are political reasons for rejecting the idea of sex- ual orientation as a choice because, if it is something inherent in people, then perhaps others might be more accepting of gay, lesbian, and bisexual people.

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Sexual relationships, although highly personal, are also shaped by society and culture.

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Perhaps there is some biological basis to sexual orien- tation, but the evidence is not yet there. Further, even if a biological influence exists, social experiences are far more significant in shaping sexual identity. The social dimen- sions of sexual identity are, however, rarely reported in the media and never with as much acclaim as claims about a biological bases to human sexuality. Whatever the origins of sexual orientation, social influences are no doubt a very significant part of all people’s sexual identity.

Periodically, there is a public claim that scientists have discovered a so-called gay gene. Interestingly, there are never claims about a so-called heterosexual gene because the implicit assumption seems to be that hetero- sexuality is the natural state, and gay or lesbian behav- ior is somewhat a mutant form. Despite the frequency of such claims, scientific experts are skeptical, usually pointing to very small samples, lack of control groups, or other weak standards of evidence (Tanner 2014).

Even if there is some yet undiscovered basis for sex- ual orientation, there is extensive evidence that social and cultural environments play a huge part in creating sexual identities. What interests sociologists is how sex- ual identity is constructed through social relationships and in the context of social institutions.

The Social Basis of Sexuality We can see the social and cultural basis of sexuality in numerous ways:

1. Human sexual attitudes and behavior vary in dif- ferent cultural contexts. If sex were purely natural behavior, sexual behavior would also be uniform among all societies, but it is not. Sexual behaviors considered normal in one society might be seen as peculiar in another. Think about this: In some cultures, women do not believe that orgasm exists, even though it does biologically. In the eighteenth century, European and American writers advised men that masturbation robbed them of their physi- cal powers and that instead they should apply their minds to the study of business. These cultural dic- tates encouraged men to conserve semen on the presumption that its release would lessen men’s

intelligence or cause insanity (Rutter and Schwartz 2011; Freedman and D’Emilio 1988).

DEBUNKING Society’s Myths← Myth: Over time in a society, sexual attitudes become more permissive. Sociological Perspective: All values and attitudes develop in specific social contexts; change is not always in a more permissive direction (Freedman and D’Emilio 1988).

2. Sexual attitudes and behavior change over time. Fluc- tuations in sexual attitudes are easy to document. For example, in 1968, 68 percent of the American public thought premarital sex was morally wrong, com- pared to 38 percent who think so now (Riffkin 2014; Gallup 2003). Teens, as well, have changed their attitudes about sex (see ▲ Figure 12.1). In 1977, one- third of teens thought it was morally wrong to have sex outside of marriage; more recently, 56 percent of teens think you should abstain from sex until mar- riage, suggesting that teen tolerance of casual sex has declined (Lyons 2004, 2002).

Of course, attitudes do not necessarily pre- dict behavior. Despite what teens say, by age 19, 71 percent of teens (both men and women) have had sex (see also ▲ Figure 12.2; Guttmacher Insti- tute 2014). Also, even though in public opinion polls Americans express less tolerance for marital infidelity, they seem endlessly fascinated by the affairs and sexual escapades of celebrities and high- profile people. At the same time, attitudes toward being unfaithful to one’s spouse have become less tolerant. People’s reports of actually being unfaithful to their spouse have wavered over time—with about 25 percent of men and 15 percent of women now admitting they have had marital affairs (Carr 2010).

3. Sexual identity is learned. Like other forms of social identity, sexual identity is acquired through socialization and ongoing relationships. Infor- mation about sexuality is transmitted culturally and becomes the basis for what we know about

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▲ Figure 12.1 Sex among Teenagers: A Change over Time This chart shows the change in the percentage of teen men and women (aged 15 to 19) who have had sex. What do you observe in these data? What sociological factors might you consider to explain what you observe? Source: Vital and Health Statistics. 2011. Teenagers in the United States: Sexual Activity, Contraceptive Use, and Childbearing, 2006–2010. National Survey of Family Growth. Washington, DC: National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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ourselves and others. Where did you first learn about sex? What did you learn? For some, parents are the source of information about sex and sexual behavior. For many, peers have the strongest influ- ence on sexual attitudes. Long before young people become sexually active, they learn sexual scripts that teach us what is appropriate sexual behavior for each gender (Rutter and Schwartz 2011).

Children learn sexual scripts by playing roles— playing doctor as a way of exploring their bodies or hugging and kissing in a way that can mimic het- erosexual relationships. The roles learned in youth profoundly influence our sexual attitudes and behavior throughout life.

→ SEE for YOURSELF ← Children’s Media and Sexuality Carefully watch two movies that are marketed to a spe- cific population of young people (either children, teens, or young adults), and list any comments or behaviors you see that suggest sexual scripts for men and women. Note the assumptions in this script about heterosexual and homo- sexual behavior. What scripts did you see, and who is the intended audience? What do your observations suggest about how sexual scripts are promoted, overtly or not, through popular culture?

4. Social institutions channel and direct human sexuality. Social institutions, such as religion, education, or the family, define some forms of sexual expression as more legitimate than others. Debates about same-sex marriage illustrate this concept. Without being able to

marry, gay and lesbian couples lose some of the privi- leges that married couples receive, such as employee benefits and the option to file joint tax returns. Social institutions, such as the media, also influence sexual- ity through the production and distribution of images that define cultural meanings attributed to sexuality. Even children’s G-rated films have been shown to contain strong and explicit messages that enforce heterosexual romance (Martin and Kazyak 2009).

5. Sex is influenced by economic forces in society. Sex sells. In the U.S. capitalist economy, sex appeal is used to hawk everything from cars and personal care products to stocks and bonds. In this sense, sex has become a commodity—something bought and sold in the marketplace of society. Sex also can be big business. By one estimate, Americans spend over $10 billion per year in the sex industry, includ- ing strip bars, peep shows, phone sex, sex acts, sex magazines, and pornography rentals—and this is likely to be an underestimate (Barton 2006). The business of sex means some people may actually be “bought and sold.” Think of women who may feel that selling sexual services is their best option for earning a living wage. Sex workers are among some of the most exploited and misunderstood workers. Global sex trafficking is also more exten- sive than commonly thought.

6. Public policies regulate sexual and reproductive behaviors. In many ways, the government and other social policies intervene in people’s sexual and reproductive decision making. The existing pro- hibition on using federal funds to pay for abortion eliminates reproductive choices for women who are dependent on state or federal aid. Government

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▲ Figure 12.2 Teen Sex: When Does It Start? Source: Guttmacher Institute. 2014. American Teens’ Sexual and Reproductive Health. New York: Guttmacher Institute. www.guttmacher.org

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decisions about which reproductive technologies to endorse influence what birth control is available to men and to women. Government funding, or lack thereof, for sex education can influence how people understand sexual behavior. These facts challenge the idea that sexuality is a private matter, showing how social institutions can direct sexual behavior.

To summarize, human sexual behavior occurs within a cultural and social context. That context defines certain sexual behaviors as appropriate or inappropriate.

Contemporary Sexual Attitudes and Behavior Sexual attitudes and behaviors in the United States are a mix of ideas and practices, both of which vary depending on the social factors that shape people’s experiences. The growth of a conservative movement has, for example, shaped the sexual values of American society. Differ- ences around sexual values have also been at the heart of highly contested issues shaping U.S. politics in recent years, such as debates about same-sex marriage, sex education in the schools, and policies about reproduc- tive and contraceptive health. This makes sociological research on sexuality all the more fascinating as public attitudes and behaviors shift with changes in society.

Changing Sexual Values Public opinion is now a mix of both liberal and con- servative values about sexuality. Only 20 percent of Americans now think that premarital sex is always wrong, compared to 34 percent in 1972 (Smith and Son 2013). If you put this question before an international audience, you might be surprised to find that Americans are more conservative on this matter than people in western Europe. In Germany and France, as examples, a larger majority of people (in Germany, 86 percent; France, 88 percent) say that they find premarital sexual morally acceptable (Rheault and Mogahed 2008).

On gay rights, more Americans than ever before think that “gay/lesbian relations are morally acceptable” (58 percent in 2014, compared to 40 percent in 2001; Riffkin 2014). Eighty-nine percent think that “homosexu- als should have equal rights in terms of job opportunities” (Saad 2012c). Change in the public’s opinion about same- sex marriage has been remarkable and has happened over a quite short period of time. As recently as 2001, 57 percent of Americans opposed allowing same-sex mar- riage and only 35 percent of the public supported it. By 2015, those attitudes had reversed, even prior to the his- toric Supreme Court decision that now requires states to license marriages between same-sex couples. By the time of the Court’s decision (in 2015), 57 percent of the public supported same-sex marriage; 39 percent were opposed

(Pew Research Center 2015). The historic Court decision to recognize same-sex marriage (Obergefell v. Hodges) also means that same-sex marriages made in one state must be recognized in any other state. This gives same-sex couples the same benefits of marriage enjoyed by heterosexual couples. Even with the majority of the public supporting this decision, resistance to same-sex marriage remains fierce among some. Only time will tell how attitudes will evolve as same-sex marriage becomes more familiar.

Attitudes about sex vary significantly depending on various social characteristics. For example, men are more likely than women to think that gay/lesbian relations are morally wrong. Sexual attitudes are also shaped by age. Younger people are more likely than older people to think that gay/lesbian relations are morally acceptable. These differences likely reflect not only the influence of age, but also historical influences on different generations. Religion also matters. Those who attend church weekly are far less likely to support gay rights compared to those who worship less often (Pelham and Crabtree 2009). Public opinion on mat- ters about sexuality taps underlying value systems, thus generating public conflicts. In general, sexual liberal- ism is associated with greater education, youth, urban lifestyle, and political liberalism on other social issues.

Gays, lesbians, and their allies have mobilized for social change, fostering pride and celebration as well as a reduction over time in homophobic attitudes.

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Sexual Practices of the U.S. Public Sexual practices are difficult to document. What we know about sexual behavior is typically drawn from sur- veys. Most of these surveys ask about sexual attitudes, not actual behavior. What people say they do may differ significantly from what they actually do.

As much as sex is in the news, national surveys of sexual practices are rare. Those that have been con- ducted tell us the following:

● Contrary to public opinion, teens are waiting longer to have sex than was true in the past, though seven in ten teens have had sex by age 19 (Guttmacher Insti- tute 2014).

● Having only one sex partner in one’s lifetime is rare (Laumann et al. 1994).

● A significant number of people have extramarital sex; estimates are that 20 percent of all marriages experience at least one instance of infidelity (Guer- rero et al. 2010; Parker-Pope 2008).

● A small percentage of the public says they personally identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, but such iden- tities are notoriously difficult to measure accurately (Gates and Newport 2012).

Sex and Inequality: Gender, Race, and Class When you take a sociological view of sexuality, you see how sexuality is linked to other social identities and social systems. Start with gender. Our gender identities link with sexuality in many ways. Indeed, men learn to be men by dissociating themselves from anything that seems “gay” or “sissy” (Pascoe 2011). Being called a “fag” or a “sissy” is one peer sanction that socializes children to conform to particular gender roles. Boys are raised to be manly by repressing any so-called feminine characteristics. Similarly, verbal attacks on lesbians by using the term butch are a mechanism of social control because ridicule encourages social con- formity to the presumed “normal” gender roles (Pascoe 2011). Homophobia produces many misunderstand- ings about gay people, such as that gays have a desire to seduce straight people. There is little evidence that this is true.

Gender also shapes the so-called double standard for men and women. The double standard is the idea that different standards for sexual behavior apply to men and women. The double standard has weakened somewhat over time, particularly in the context of “hooking up” among young people. Hooking up is the term used to describe casual sexual relations, ranging from kissing to sexual intercourse, relationships that occur without any particular commitment. The double standard, though, is still very much present. A national

survey of American youth finds that men who report higher numbers of sexual partners are more popular than men with fewer partners. The opposite is true for women—that is, women with high numbers of sexual partners are less popular (Kreager and Staff 2009).

Although the popular image of hooking up is that it is totally free and without constraint, this behavior in fact has very gendered norms. Women who hook up too frequently or with too many different partners are likely to be judged as “slutty.” Men who do the same things are not judged in the same way. They may be seen as “play- ers,” but they are not subjected to the same shame or attribution of guilt that is targeted at women (England and Bearak 2014).

The sexual double standard for men and women has many consequences, both for people’s identities and reputation, and in people’s reactions to sexual violence. An extensive body of research shows that the stereotype of women as sexual temptresses is highly cor- related with the acceptance of rape myths—such as that women’s provocative dress encourages rape. The sexual script that men cannot stop once they become sexually aroused is also related to whether people believe rape myths. This has serious consequences because women who are raped and believe such myths themselves are far less likely to report rape and may believe they some- how encouraged the rape (Deming et al. 2013; Davies et al. 2012; Ryan 2011).

Sexuality is also integrally tied to race and class inequality in society—a fact that is apparent in sexual stereotypes associated with race and class. Latinas are stereotyped as either “hot” or “virgins”; Latino men are stereotyped as “hot lovers.” African American men are stereotyped as overly virile; Asian American women, as compliant and submissive, but passion- ate. Class relations also produce sexual stereotypes of women and men. Working-class and poor men may be stereotyped as dangerous, whereas working-class women may be disproportionately labeled “sluts.”

Having celebrities “come out” about being lesbian or gay has empowered others to be able to do so as well.

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Class, race, and gender hierarchies historically depict people of color and certain women as sexu- ally promiscuous and uncontrollable (Nagel 2003). During slavery, for example, the sexual abuse of Afri- can American women was one way that slave owners expressed their ownership of African American peo- ple. Slaveowners thought they had rights to women slaves’ sexuality. Under slavery, racist and sexist images of Black men and women were developed to justify the system of slavery. Black men were stereo- typed as lustful beasts whose sexuality had to be con- trolled by the “superior” Whites. Black women were also depicted as sexual animals who were openly available to White men.

A Black man falsely accused of having had sex with a White woman could be murdered (that is, lynched) without penalty to his killers (Genovese 1972; Jordan 1968). Sexual abuse was also part of the White con- quest of American Indians. Historical accounts show that the rape of Indian women by White conquerors was common (Freedman and D’Emilio 1988; Tuan 1984). These patterns also can be seen in the exten- sive rape of women that often accompanies war and military conquest. This has been witnessed in various

places—Darfur, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and other places where war rages. In the after- math of war, victors may see raping women as their claim to power, making it clear that horrific acts of sex- ual violence against women—and also children—are acts of domination.

Poor women and women of color are the groups most vulnerable to sexual violence and exploitation. Becoming a prostitute or otherwise working in the sex industry (as a topless dancer, striptease artist, pornographic actress, or other sex-based occupa- tion) are often last resorts for women with limited options to support themselves. Women who sell sex also are condemned for their behavior more so than their male clients—further illustration of how gen- der stereotypes mix with race and class exploitation. Why, for example, are women, and not their male clients, arrested for prostitution? Although data from the Uniform Crime Reports do not report the arrest rates of customers, prostitutes claim that only about 10 percent of those arrested for prostitution are cus- tomers. They also say that women of color are more likely to be arrested for prostitution than are White women, even though they are a smaller percentage of

Imagine that some of the classical socio- logical theorists were reincarnated and observed sexuality and references to it in everyday current life. What observations and comments might they make?

Emile Durkheim would remind us that marking some behaviors as deviant is how people in society also define what is considered “normal.” He might observe young boys calling each other “faggots.” Interestingly, were he watching carefully, he would also see that the person being targeted by such comments, including by adults, is probably not gay. But the homophobic banter among boys and men is a way of asserting the dominant (and somewhat narrow) norms of what masculinity is presumed to be.

Max Weber would see something else. He would notice that sexuality, par- ticularly heterosexuality, is rampant in popular culture. Clothing styles, popular

Sex and Popular Culture lingo, and styles of dance are all marked by overt displays of sexuality. He would argue that such cultural displays go hand in hand with an economy that treats sexuality as part of the market- place. Moreover, the interplay between culture and the economic marketplace leads to social judgments about some sexual styles and identities being more highly valued than others. In other words, Weber would emphasize the multidimensional connection between the economy, culture, and social judgments.

Karl Marx, on the other hand, would be intrigued by the commercial exploita- tion of sex, or “sexploitation.” Sexuality has become a commodity in modern society. It is used to sell things for the benefit of those who own the various industries where fashion, personal care products, and even sex itself profit some while exploiting others. Marx might even

note, were he paying attention to the treatment of women, that sex workers are among the most exploited work- ers, actually selling their bodies for the benefit of others.

W. E. B. DuBois would add that sexual exploitation is particularly harsh for Black people. The popular practice of college students partying as “pimps and hos” rests on a stereotype of Black men as sexual predators and Black women as promiscuous. These stereotypes have a long history stemming from racism. Black women are among the most sexually exploited. Their bodies are abused, they are portrayed in sexualized stereotypes in popular culture, and they are most victimized by sexual violence.

Together, these classical theorists provide sociological perspectives on images and practices common in everyday life, but rarely challenged or questioned, unless someone is on the receiving end of narrow, sexist, and racist understandings of sexuality.

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all prostitutes (Prostitutes Education Network 2009). Although these are not scientific data, they suggest the role that gender and race play in how laws against prostitution are enforced.

How do sociologists frame these complex connec- tions between sexual identities, sexual stereotypes, and the various forms of social inequality that permeate society? For answers, we turn to sociological theory.

Sexuality: Sociological and Feminist Theory How are sexual identities formed? Does the government have a role in regulating sexual relationships? What role does power have in sexual relationships? Where does the right to privacy in sexual relations begin and end? Although these and other questions are debated as moral issues in society, sociologists see them as sub- jects for sociological study. Sociological theory puts an analytical framework around the study of sexuality, examining its connection to social institutions and cur- rent social issues. How do the major sociological theo- ries frame an understanding of sexuality?

Sex: Functional or Conflict-Based? The three major sociological frameworks—functionalist theory, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction—take divergent paths in interpreting the social basis of human sexuality (see ◆ Table 12.1). Feminist theory and gay/ lesbian/transgender studies have also very much trans- formed sociological understanding of sexuality and its connection to society.

Functionalist theory, with its emphasis on the interrelatedness of different parts of society, tends to depict sexuality in terms of its contribution to the stability of social institutions. Norms that restrict sex to marriage encourage the formation of families. Similarly, beliefs that give legitimacy to heterosexual behavior but not homosexual behavior maintain a particular form of social organization in which gender roles are easily differentiated and the nuclear family is defined as normative. From this point of view, regulat- ing sexual behavior is functional for society because it prevents the instability and conflict that more liberal sexual attitudes supposedly generate. You can see that functionalist theory relates to conservative views about sexuality, but remember that theory is an analytic, not a moral, approach to understanding social issues.

Conflict theorists see sexuality as part of the power relations and economic inequality in society. Power is the ability of one person or group to influence the behavior of another, including the power that some sexual groups have over others and power within sexual relationships. Conflict theorists argue that sexual rela- tions are linked to other forms of stratification, namely, race, class, and gender inequality. According to this perspective, sexual violence (such as rape or sexual harassment) is the result of power imbalances, specifi- cally between women and men.

At the same time, conflict theorists see economic inequality as a major basis for social conflict. Conflict theory, for example, examines how the global sex trade is linked to poverty, the status of women in society, and the economics of international development and tour- ism (Altman 2001; Enloe 2001). In connecting sexuality

◆ Table 12.1 Theoretical Perspectives on Sexuality

Interprets Functionalism Conflict Theory Symbolic Interaction Feminist Theory

Sexual norms As functional for society because they produce stabil- ity in institutions such as the family

As often contested by those who are subordinated by dominant and powerful sexual groups

As emerging and rein- forced through social interaction

As established in a system of male domina- tion, producing narrow definitions of women’s and men’s sexuality

Sexual identity As learned in the family and other social institutions, with deviant sexual identities con- tributing to social disorder

As regulated by individuals and institutions that enforce only some forms of sexual behavior as desirable, thus enforcing heterosexism

As socially constructed when people learn the sexual scripts pro- duced in society

As acknowledging that multiple forms of sexual identity are pos- sible with some people crossing the ordinarily assumed boundaries

Sex and social change

As regulating sexual values and with norms being impor- tant for maintaining tradi- tional and social stability, and too much change resulting in social disorganization

As coming through the activ- ism of people who challenge dominant belief systems and practices

As evolving as people construct new beliefs and practices over time

As sexual values being changed through disrupting taken-for- granted categories of the dominant culture

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and inequality, conflict theorists use a structural analy- sis of sexuality.

Because both functionalism and conflict theory are macrosociological theories (that is, they take a broad view of society, seeing sexuality in terms of the overall social organization of society), they do not tell us much about the social construction of sexual identities. This is where the sociological framework of symbolic interac- tion is valuable.

Symbolic Interaction and the Social Construction of Sexual Identity Symbolic interaction theory uses a social construction perspective to interpret sexual identity as learned, not inborn. Symbolic interaction interprets culture and society as shaping sexual experiences. Social approval and social taboos make some forms of sexuality per- missible and others not (Seidman 2014; Lorber 1994).

The social construction of sexual identity is revealed by coming out—the process of defining one- self as gay or lesbian. The process is a series of events and redefinitions in which a person comes to see herself or himself as having a gay identity. While coming out, a person consciously adopts a gay identity either to him- self or herself or to others (or both). This is usually not

the result of a single experience. If it were, there would be far more self-identified gays and lesbians, because researchers find that a substantial portion of both men and women have some form of homosexual experience at some time in their lives. Typically, a person who is coming out will do so gradually, disclosing their iden- tity in the context of specific social relationships.

Developing and disclosing a sexual identity is not necessarily a linear or unidirectional process, with peo- ple moving predictably through a defined sequence of steps or phases. Although there may be milestones in a person’s identity development, people also experience periods of ambivalence about their identity and may switch back and forth between lesbian, heterosexual, and bisexual identity over time (Rust 1995, 1993). Some people may engage in lesbian or gay behavior but not adopt an identity as lesbian or gay. Certainly, many gays and lesbians never adopt a public definition of them- selves as gay or lesbian, instead remaining “closeted” for long periods, if not for their entire lifetime.

One’s sexual identity may also change. For example, a person who has always thought of himself or herself as heterosexual may conclude at a later time that he or she is gay, lesbian, or possibly bisexual. In more unusual cases, people may undergo a sex change operation, per- haps changing their sexual identity in the process.

Research Question: Several national studies have reported a decline in sexual activity among teens. The percentage of sexually active teens has dropped from the early 1990s, rates of teen pregnancy have fallen, teens are having fewer abor- tions, and the rate of sexually transmitted diseases among teens has declined. Does this herald a growth in sexual conserva- tism among young people and the success of policies encouraging sexual abstinence?

Research Method: Sociologists Barbara Risman and Pepper Schwartz based their research on a synthesis of all of the national studies on teen sexuality, as well as data from research organizations on the prevalence of teen sexuality.

Research findings: Most of the change in teen sex activity is attributable to changes in behavior of boys, not girls.

Teens and Sex: Are Young People Becoming More Sexually Conservative?

The number of high school boys who are virgins has increased. Girls’ behavior has not changed significantly, except among African American girls, whose rates of sexual activity have declined, nearly matching those of White and Hispanic girls. Risman and Schwartz conclude that sexual behavior of boys is then becom- ing more like girls, the implication being that boys and girls are likely to begin their sexual lives within the context of romantic relationships.

Conclusions and Implications: Although many declare that the changes in teen sexual behavior mean a decline in the sexual revolution, Risman and Schwartz disagree. Certainly fear of AIDS, educa- tion about safe sex, and some growth in conservative values have contributed to changes in teen sexual norms. Risman and Schwartz show that numerous

factors influence sexual behavior among teens, just as among adults. They suggest that sexuality is a normal part of adoles- cent social development and conclude that the sexual revolution—along with the revolution in gender norms—is generating more responsible, not more problematic, sexual behavior among young people.

Questions to Consider 1. Are people in your age group

generally sexually conservative or sexually liberal? What factors influ- ence young people’s attitudes about sexuality?

2. To follow up from question 1, what evidence would you need to find out if young people in your community are more liberal than young people in the past? How would you design a study to investigate this question?

Source: Risman, Barbara, and Pepper Schwartz. 2002. “After the Sexual Revolution: Gender Politics in Teen Dating.” Contexts 1 (Spring): 16–24.

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Although most people learn stable sexual identi- ties, sexual identity evolves over the course of one’s life. Change is, in fact, a normal outcome of the process of identity formation. Changing social contexts (includ- ing dominant group attitudes, laws, and systems of social control), relationships with others, political movements, and even changes in the language used to describe different sexual identities all affect people’s self-definition.

Feminist Theory: Sex, Power, and Inequality Feminist theory has had a tremendous impact on the study of sexuality, as has the theoretical work that has emerged from gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender stud- ies. Feminist theory emphasizes that sexuality, like other forms of social identity, exists within a sex/gen- der system of structured inequality. Dominant institu- tions define heterosexuality as the only legitimate form of sexual identity, and enforce heterosexuality through social norms and sanctions, including peer pressure, socialization, law and other social policies, and, at the extreme, violence (Rich 1980). In other words, sexual- ity exists within a context of power relationships within society.

Sexual politics refers to the link between sexual- ity and power, not just within individual relationships. The feminist movement has linked sexuality to the status of women in society, including how women are treated within sexual relationships. High rates of vio- lence against women as well as hate crimes against

sexual minorities are evidence of the degree some go to in exercising power over others.

The feminist and gay and lesbian liberation move- ments have put sexual politics on the public agenda by challenging gender and sexual oppression (D’Emilio 1998). Such thinking has profoundly changed public knowledge of gay and lesbian sexuality. Gay, lesbian, and feminist scholars have convincingly argued that being lesbian or gay is not the result of psychological deviance or personal maladjustment. The political mobilization of many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and the willingness of many to make their sexual iden- tity public have also raised public awareness of the civil and personal rights of gays and lesbians. Indeed, one of the most striking and seemingly rapid changes in pub- lic opinion has been in the number of those who now support the freedom of gays and lesbians to marry (see ▲ Figure 12.3). It is hard to think of another social issue where attitudes have changed so quickly in such a short period of time.

One of the new perspectives that sexual liberation movements have generated is queer theory (see also Chapter 11). Queer theory has evolved from recog- nizing the socially constructed nature of sexual iden- tity and the role of power in defining only some forms of sexuality as “normal”—that is, socially legitimate. Instead of seeing heterosexual or homosexual attrac- tion as fixed, queer theory interprets society as forc- ing sexual boundaries, or dichotomies, on people. By challenging the “either/or” thinking that one is either gay or straight, queer theory disputes the idea that only one form of sexuality is normal and all other forms

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▲ Figure 12.3 Support for Same-Sex Marriage As you can see, public opinion about whether gay and lesbian relations should be legal has varied over time, but has never been as strongly supported as now. Data: McCarthy, Justin. 2014. “Support for Same-Sex Marriage Reaches New High at 55%.” The Gallup Poll. www.gallup.com

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are deviant or wrong. Queer theory has opened up fascinating new studies of gay, straight, bisexual, and transsexual identities and introduced the idea that sexual identity is a continuum of different possibilities for sexual expression and personal identity (Wilchins 2014; Sullivan 2003).

Queer theory has also linked the study of sexuality to the study of gender, showing how transgressing (or violating) fixed gender categories can reconstruct the possibilities of how all people—men and women, gay, bisexual, transgender, or straight—construct their gen- der and sexual identity. Transgressing gender catego- ries shows how sex and gender categories are usually constructed in dichotomous ways (that is, opposite or binary types). By violating these constructions, people are liberated from the social constraints that so-called fixed categories of identity create. Queer theory empha- sizes how performance and play with gender categories can be a political tool for deconstructing fixed sex and gender identities (Rupp and Taylor 2003).

→THINKING Sociologically A recent trend among young people on college campuses has been the creation of theme parties called “CEOs and corporate hos.” Have such parties occurred on your cam- pus? Why do you think they are so popular? What sexual scripts are being played out by such role-playing, and how do these scripts involve gender, race, and class? You might also think about how such parties portray women as sexual objects.

A Global Perspective on Sexuality Cross-cultural studies of sexuality show that sexual norms, like other social norms, develop differently across cultures. Take sexual jealousy. Perhaps you think that seeing your sexual partner become sexually involved with another person would naturally evoke jealousy, no matter where it happened. Research- ers have found this to be false. In a study comparing patterns of sexual jealousy in seven different nations (Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United States, Russia, and the former Yugoslavia), research- ers found significant cross-national differences in the degree of jealousy when women and men saw their partners kissing, flirting, or being sexually involved with another person (Buunk and Hupka 1987).

Cultures also vary considerably on how they view teen sexuality. Parents in the United States mostly dis- courage sex between teenagers, but in some other nations parents see sexuality for teens as part of the normal course of adult development. A study in the Netherlands, for example, found that two-thirds of Dutch teens (age 15 to 17) are allowed to sleep over

with steady girlfriends or boyfriends—with parental approval. Interestingly, the Netherlands also has the lowest rate of teen pregnancy in the world, even with the age at first intercourse there having dropped over the years.

Compare this to the United States where the age at first intercourse has actually been increasing, but where the teen pregnancy rate is one of the highest among industrial nations. What makes the difference? The answer is cultural values around sexuality. In the United States, teen sexuality is discouraged and seen as risky. In the Netherlands, to the contrary, cultural morals see sexuality as part of developing self-determination, and it is treated with frank discussion, a strong place in public policy for sex education, and an idea that mutual respect is part of healthy sexual relationships (Schalet 2010).

Likewise, tolerance for gay and lesbian relation- ships varies significantly in different societies around the world. Germany has legalized gay and lesbian relation- ships, allowing them to register same-sex partnerships and have the same inheritance rights as heterosexual couples. The new law does not, however, give them the same tax advantages, nor can same-sex couples adopt children. Cross-cultural studies can make someone more sensitive to the varying cultural norms and expectations that apply to sexuality in different contexts. Different cultures simply view sexuality differently. In Islamic cul- ture, for example, women and men are viewed as equally sexual, although women’s sexuality is seen as potentially disruptive and needing regulation (Mernissi 2011).

Sex is also big business, and it is deeply tied to the world economic order. As the world has become more globally connected, an international sex trade has flourished—one that is linked to economic develop- ment, world poverty, tourism, and the subordinate sta- tus of women in many nations.

Sex trafficking refers to the use of women and girls worldwide as sex workers in an institutional context in which sex itself is a commodity. Sex is marketed in an international marketplace. As sex workers, women are used to promote tourism, cater to business and mili- tary men, and support a huge industry of nightclubs, massage parlors, and teahouses (Bales 2010; Sara 2010; Shelley 2010). Through sex trafficking, women—usually very young women—are forced by fraud or coercion into commercial sex acts. Sometimes identified as a form of slavery, sex trafficking can involve a system of debt and bondage, where young women (typically under age 18) are obligated to provide sexual services in exchange for alleged debt for the price of their housing, food, or other living expenses. Sometimes these young women are actually kidnapped; other times, they may simply be duped, initially lured into sex work by promises of mar- riage, large incomes, or the glam of travel, but are soon trapped in a cycle of debt and/or actual captivity.

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Research Question: The presence of a hookup culture on college campuses is a relatively recent phenomenon and reflects changes in sexual attitudes and behaviors among, especially, young people. Some argue that hooking up liberates women from traditional sexual values that constrained women’s sexual- ity. Others argue that this culture is harmful to women, making them sexual objects for men’s pleasure (for example, the practice of women making out with other women in public settings, such as bars and campus parties). Is hooking up harmful to women or is it a sign of their sexual liberation?

Research Method: Several sociologists have examined this question, some using national surveys, others using a more qualitative approach. Paula England and her colleagues, for exam- ple, studied sexual activity in a survey of over 14,000 students at 18 different campuses in the United States, explor- ing students’ experiences with hooking up, dating, and relationships. Laura Hamilton and Elizabeth Armstrong used a more qualitative approach, actually residing among students in a so-called “party dorm,” observing as well as interviewing students for a full year. Leila Rupp and Verta Taylor had their undergraduate students interview other students about the party scene on their campus.

Research Findings: Research finds that both arguments about the effect

Is Hooking Up Bad for Women? of hookup cultures on women are true: Some parts of this culture are harmful to women, but women’s experiences within the hookup culture also vary and are not uniformly negative.

England, for example, found that hooking up is not as wildly rampant as assumed. She found that 72 percent of both men and women participated in at least one hookup, but 40 percent had engaged in three or fewer hook - ups and only 20 percent of students had engaged in ten or more. England concludes that the popular image of “girls gone wild” in popular culture is simply not true. She also found that hooking up has not replaced com- mitted relationships. As Hamilton and Armstrong found, the hookup culture allows women (and men) a chance for sexual exploration. At the same time, the hookup culture does present risks to women—risks of being pushed to drink too much, risks of sexual violence, and loss of self-esteem. Some women say that the hookup culture frees them to pursue education and careers without the emotionally consuming pressures of committed relationships (Hamilton and Armstrong 2009).

Rupp and Taylor have similarly found that the college party scene commonly includes women making out with other women. Unlike those who argue that this practice sexually objectifies women for the pleasure of men, Rupp and Taylor argue that women who do so are explor- ing sexuality. But they do so within social

boundaries and heterosexual norms. Even though women may engage in same-sex sexual practices, they do not necessarily develop a lesbian identity, although the lines of sexual identity are expanding for women.

Conclusions and Implications: There is not a simple or single answer to the question of whether the hookup culture harms or liberates women. Taken together, these studies reveal a complex portrait of young women’s sexuality today. Sexual boundaries are perhaps more fluid than they once were, although they are still marked by sexual double standards and norms of heterosexuality.

Questions to Consider 1. Is there a hookup culture on your

campus? If so, are there both posi- tive and negative consequences of the hookup culture for women on your campus? What are they? If there is not such a culture on your campus, why not?

2. How is the hookup culture shaped by such social factors as age, social class, race, or gender? How might it change over time—both as history evolves and as the current genera- tion ages?

Sources: Armstrong, Elizabeth A., Laura Hamilton, and Paula England. 2010. “Is Hooking Up Bad for Young Women?” Contexts 9 (Summer): 23–27; Hamilton, Laura, and Elizabeth A. Armstrong. 2009. “Gendered Sexuality in Young Adulthood: Double Binds and Flawed Options.” Gender & Society 23 (October): 589–616; Rupp, Leila J., and Verta Taylor. 2010. “Straight Girls Kissing.” Contexts 9 (Summer): 28–33.

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Related to sex trafficking is sex tourism, referring to the practice whereby people travel to particular parts of the world specifically to engage in commercial sex- ual activity. “Sex capitals” are places where prostitution openly flourishes, such as in Thailand and Amsterdam. Sex is an integral part of the world tourism industry. In Thailand, for example, men as tourists outnumber women by a ratio of three to one. Although certainly not all men— or even a majority—go to Thailand solely to explore sex

tourism, some men do go explicitly to Thailand and other destinations to buy sexual companionship. For example, hostess clubs in Tokyo cater to corporate men. Although these clubs are not houses of prostitution, scholars who have studied them say that they are based on an environ- ment in which women’s sexuality is used as the basis for camaraderie among men (Allison 1994).

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somewhere between 2 and 14 percent of the gross domestic product in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines is derived from sex tourism. Much of this lucrative business involves the exploitation of children (U.S. Department of Justice 2009).

Sex tourism and sexual trafficking are now part of the global economy, contributing to the economic development of many nations and supported by the economic dominance of certain other nations. As with other businesses, sex industry products may be pro- duced in one region and distributed in others. Think, for example, of the pornographic film industry centered in southern California, but distributed globally. The sex trade is also associated with world poverty. Soci- ologists have found that the weaker the local economy, the more important the sex trade. The international sex trade is also implicated in problems such as the spread of AIDS (Kloer 2010; Altman 2001).

Understanding Gay and Lesbian Experience Sociological understanding of sexual identity has developed largely through new studies of lesbian and gay experience. Long thought of only in terms of social deviance (see Chapter 7), gays and lesbians have been stereotyped in traditional social science. The feminist and gay liberation movements have discouraged this approach, arguing that gay and lesbian experience is part of the broad spectrum of human sexuality.

The institutional context for sexuality within the United States, as well as other societies, is one in which homophobia permeates the culture. Homophobia is the fear and hatred of lesbians and gays. It is deeply embedded in people’s definitions of themselves as men and women. Homophobia is manifested in prejudiced attitudes toward gays and lesbians, as well as in overt hostility and violence against people suspected of being gay. Like other forms of negative social judgments about particular groups, homophobia is a learned attitude.

Homophobia produces numerous fears and mis- understandings about gays and lesbians. For example, there is the widespread, though incorrect, belief that children raised in gay and lesbian households will be negatively affected. This is a myth. Sociological research has shown that the ability of parents to form good rela- tionships with their children is far more significant in children’s social development than is their parents’ sex- ual orientation (Stacey and Biblarz 2001).

Other myths about gay people are that they are mostly White men with large discretionary incomes who work primarily in artistic areas and personal ser- vice jobs (such as hairdressing). This stereotype pre- vents people from recognizing that gays and lesbians come from all racial–ethnic groups, may be working class or poor, and are employed in a wide range of occu- pations (Connell 2014). Some lesbians and gays are also elderly, though the stereotype defines gay people as pri- marily young or middle-aged (Cronin and King 2014). Support for these attitudes comes from homophobia, not from actual truth.

→THINKING Sociologically Keep a diary for one week and write down as many examples of homophobia and heterosexism as you observe in routine social behavior. What do your observations tell you about how heterosexuality is enforced?

Heterosexism refers to the institutionalization of heterosexuality as the only socially legitimate sexual orientation. Heterosexism is rooted in the belief that heterosexual behavior is the only natural form of sexual expression and that homosexuality is a perversion of “normal” sexual identity. Heterosexism is reinforced through institutional mechanisms that project the idea that only heterosexuality is normal. Institutions also provide different benefits to people presumed to be heterosexual. Businesses and communities, for exam- ple, rarely recognize legal rights of people in homosex- ual relationships, although this is changing.

Within an institution, individual beliefs can reflect heterosexist assumptions. A person may accept gay and lesbian people (that is, not be homophobic) but still benefit from being heterosexual. At the behavioral level,

The international trafficking of women for sex exploits women—and often children—and puts them at risk for disease and violence.

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heterosexist practices can exclude lesbians and gays, such as when coworkers talk about dating, assuming that everyone is interested in a heterosexual partner. In the absence of institutional supports from the dominant culture, lesbians and gays have invented their own insti- tutional support systems. Gay communities and gay rit- uals, such as gay pride marches, affirm gay and lesbian identities and provide a support system that is counter to the dominant heterosexual culture. Those who remain “in the closet” deny themselves this support system.

The absence of institutionalized roles for lesbians and gays affects the roles they adopt within relation- ships. Despite popular stereotypes, gay partners typi- cally do not assume roles as a dominant or submissive sexual partner. They are more likely to adopt roles as equals. Gay couples and lesbian couples are also more likely than heterosexual couples to both be employed, another source of greater equality within the relation- ship. Researchers have also found that the quality of relationships among gay men is positively correlated with social support the couple receives from others (Lyons et al. 2013).

Lesbians and gays are a minority group in our soci- ety, denied equal rights and singled out for negative treatment in society. Minority groups are not necessar- ily numerical minorities; they are groups with similar characteristics (or at least perceived similar characteris- tics) who are treated with prejudice and discrimination (see Chapter 10). As a minority group, gays and lesbi- ans have organized to advocate for their civil rights and to be recognized as socially legitimate citizens. Some

organizations and municipalities have enacted civil rights protections on behalf of gays and lesbians, typi- cally prohibiting discrimination in hiring. The historic Supreme Court ruling in 2015 that supported same-sex marriage was based on the constitutional principle of equal protection under the law, as mandated by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. How this will play out in protecting LGBT people from job or other forms of discrimination is yet to be seen in the years ahead.

Sex and Social Issues In studying sexuality, sociologists tap into some highly contested social issues of the time. Birth control, repro- ductive technology, abortion, teen pregnancy, por- nography, and sexual violence are all subjects of public concern and are important in the formation of social pol- icy. Debates about these issues hinge in part on attitudes about sexuality and are shaped by race, class, and gender relations. These social issues can generate personal trou- bles that have their origins in the structure of society— recall the distinction C. Wright Mills made between personal troubles and social issues (see Chapter 1).

Birth Control The availability of birth control is now less debated than it was in the not-too-distant past. Still, specific forms of birth control, such as the so-called “morning-after pill,”

What does it mean to be a “real man”? In a gender-stratified world, masculinity is typically perceived as something one either has or does not. Beliefs about masculinity define “real men” as those who are strong, straight, and sexually powerful. Thus, socially constructed beliefs about manhood are deeply tied to assumptions about male sexuality. What happens to men who do not fit this narrowly constructed definition of manhood—men who are marginalized in a social system that only privileges those with particular social characteristics?

Idealized definitions of masculinity shape experiences of disabled men

Sexuality and Disability: Understanding “Marginalized” Masculinity

who may be negatively stereotyped by others as “asexual,” “impotent,” or “not real men.” Discrimination and prejudice against disabled people is pervasive in society. As a result, men with dis- abilities have to resist the perception that they somehow do not meet social standards of masculinity. Some may respond by acting “hypermasculine”— that is, working to exaggerate their strength and endurance. Others create different sets of standards for them- selves, thus reformulating ideas about masculinity.

Examining experiences of disabled men with regard to sexuality and

gender shows how male privilege is not a universal experience—that is, men’s gender privilege is conditioned upon other forms of privilege or lack thereof, such as one’s status as abled or dis- abled. A sociological perspective that recognizes the diversity of social expe- riences provides a multidimensional lens through which men’s sexuality can be understood.

Sources: Coston, Beverly M., and Michael Kimmel. 2012. “Seeing Privilege Where It Isn’t: Marginalized Masculinities and the Intersec- tionality of Privilege.” Journal of Social Issues 68:97; Gerschick, T. J., and A. S. Miller. 1995. “Coming to Terms: Masculinity and Physical Disability.” Pp. 183–204 in Men’s Health and Illness: Gender, Power, and the Body, Research on Men and Masculinities Series, vol. 8, edited by D. Sabo and D. F. Gordon. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

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are the subjects of intense public debate, especially regarding young and poor women. To this day, mostly men define laws and make scientific decisions about what types of birth control will be available. Women, though, are seen as being responsible for reproduc- tion because it is a presumed part of their traditional role. Changes in birth control technology have broken the link between sex and reproduction, freeing women from some traditional constraints.

The right to birth control is a fairly recently won freedom. In 1965, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Griswold v. Connecticut, defined the use of birth control as a right, not a crime. This ruling originally applied only to married people. Unmarried people were not extended the same right until the 1972 Supreme Court decision Eisenstadt v. Baird. Today, birth con- trol is routinely available by prescription, but there is heated debate about whether access to birth control should be curtailed for the young—at a time when youths are experimenting with sex at younger ages and risking teenage pregnancy, sexually transmit- ted diseases, and AIDS. Some argue that increas- ing access to birth control will only encourage more sexual activity among the young, though there is little evidence that this is true.

Class and race relations also have had a role in shaping birth control policy. In the mid-nineteenth century, increased urbanization and industrialization ended the necessity for large families, especially in the middle class, because fewer laborers were needed to support the family. Early feminist activists such as Emma Goldman and Margaret Sanger also saw birth control as a way of freeing women from unwanted preg- nancies and allowing them to work outside the home if they chose. As the birthrate fell among White upper- and middle-class families during this period, these classes feared that immigrants, the poor, and racial minorities would soon outnumber them (Gordon 1977).

The eugenics movement of the early twentieth cen- tury grew from fear of domination by immigrant groups. Eugenics sought to apply scientific principles of genetic selection to “improve” offspring of the human race. It was explicitly racist and class-based, calling for, among other things, the compulsory sterilization of those who eugenicists thought were unfit. Eugenicist argu- ments appeal to a public that fears social problems that emerge from race and class inequality. Instead of attrib- uting these problems (such as crime) to the structure of society, eugenicists blame genetic composition of the least powerful groups in society.

In contemporary society, attitudes about the use of birth control have evolved and have also been shaped by greater awareness about risks of HIV/AIDS infection. Now two-thirds of women who are sexually active and aged 15 to 44 use contraceptives, an increase since 1995 (Guttmacher Institute 2014). Among women users, the

pill is the most frequent type of birth control used, fol- lowed by tubal ligation (sterilization), and then con- doms. Similar data are not reported for men—itself a reflection of the belief that contraception is primarily a woman’s responsibility.

Among teenagers, the majority (78 percent of women and 85 percent of men) use contraceptives the first time they have sex. Yet, one in four sexually active has not used contraception at last intercourse, put- ting them at risk of an unintended pregnancy. Sexu- ally active teens who do not use contraceptives have a 90 percent chance of becoming pregnant within the first year of initiating sex (Guttmacher Institute 2014).

New Reproductive Technologies Practices such as surrogate mothering, in vitro fertiliza- tion, and new biotechnologies of gene splicing, clon- ing, and genetic engineering mean that reproduction is no longer inextricably linked to biological parents. A child may be conceived through means other than sex- ual relations between one man and one woman. One woman may carry the child of another. Offspring may be planned through genetic engineering. A sheep can be cloned (that is, genetically duplicated). So can mon- keys. Are humans next? With such developments, those who could not otherwise conceive children (infertile couples, single women, or lesbian couples) are now able to do so, raising new questions: To whom are such new technologies available? Which groups are most likely to sell reproductive services? Which groups are most likely to buy? What are the social implications of such changes?

These questions have no simple answers, but soci- ologists would point first to the class, race, and gen- der dimensions of these issues (Roberts 2012, 1997). Poor women, for example, are far more likely than middle-class or elite women to sell their eggs or offer their bodies as biological incubators. Groups that can afford new, costly methods of reproduction may do so at the expense of women whose economic need places them in the position of selling themselves for financial necessity.

Breakthroughs in reproductive technology raise especially difficult questions for makers of social policy. Developments in the technology of repro- duction have ushered in new possibilities and free- doms but also raise questions for social policy. With new reproductive technologies, there is potential for a new eugenics movement. Sophisticated prenatal screenings make it possible to identify fetuses with presumed defects. Might society then try to weed out those perceived as undesirables—the disabled, cer- tain racial groups, certain sexes? Will parents try to produce “designer children”? If boys and girls are dif- ferently valued, one sex may be more often aborted, a

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▲ Figure 12.4). Furthermore, even among those self- identified as “pro-life,” 69 percent support abortion when the woman’s life or physical health is endan- gered. Half of those identifying as pro-choice think abortion should be illegal in the second trimester (Saad 2014, 2011). Clearly, more complex views are involved in thinking about abortion than simple labels can suggest.

The right to abortion was first established in con- stitutional law by the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruled that at differ- ent points during a pregnancy, separate but legitimate rights collide—the right to privacy, the right of the state to protect maternal health, and the right of the state to protect developing life. To resolve this conflict of rights, the Supreme Court ruled that pregnancy occurred in trimesters: In the first, women’s right to privacy with- out interference from the state prevails; in the second, the state’s right to protect maternal health takes prece- dence; in the third, the state’s right to protect develop- ing life prevails. In the second trimester, the government cannot deny the right to abortion, but it can insist on reasonable standards of medical procedure. In the third, abortion may be performed only to save the life or health of the mother. More recently, the Supreme Court has allowed states to impose restrictions on abortion, but it has not, to date, overturned the legal framework of Roe v. Wade.

Data on abortion show that it occurs across social groups, although certain patterns emerge. The abortion

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▲ Figure 12.4 Attitudes toward Abortion Attitudes toward the legality of abortion have been fairly steady over time. As you can see, the majority of Americans support abortion rights, at least under some circumstances. Data: Gallup Poll. 2014 (May). Abortion. Princeton, NJ: The Gallup Poll. www.gallup.com

frequent practice in India and China—two of the most populous nations on earth. Because of population pressures, state policy in China, for example, encour- ages families to have only one child. Because girls are less valued than boys, aborting and selling girls is common and has created a U.S. market for adoption of Chinese baby girls.

There are no traditions to guide us on such ques- tions. Although the concept of reproductive choice is important to most people, choice is conditioned by constraints of race, class, and gender inequalities in society. Like other social phenomena, sexuality and reproduction are shaped by their social context.

Abortion Abortion is one of the most seriously contested politi- cal issues. The public is sharply divided on whether they identify as “pro-choice” (47 percent) or “pro- life” (46 percent), but this varies according to various social factors. College graduates and those with post- graduate degrees are more likely to identify as pro- choice. Women, young people, and those identifying as Democrats are more likely to identify as pro-choice (Saad 2014). Identifying with these labels is differ- ent though than other attitudes toward abortion (see

New technologies, such as artificial insemination where sperm is injected into an egg, raise new questions about ethics and social policies regarding reproductive rights.

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rate has declined since 1980, from a rate of 25.1 per 1000 women in 1990 to 21.6 in 2010 (among women aged 15 to 44). As you can see in ▲ Figure 12.5, the number of deaths from illegal abortions plummeted in the years following the Roe v. Wade decision. Young women (aged 20 to 29) are the most likely group to get abor- tions; the second most likely group is women under 20. Black and Hispanic women are three times more likely to have abortions than White women; poor women are four times more likely to have abortions than other women. You may be surprised to learn that the majority of women having abortions (80 percent) have already had at least one birth (U.S. Census Bureau 2014b; Boon- stra et al. 2006).

The abortion issue provides a good illustration of how sexuality has entered the political realm. Abor- tion rights activists and antiabortion activists hold very different views about sexuality and the roles of women. Antiabortion activists tend to believe that giving women control over their fertility breaks up the stable relationships in traditional families. They tend to view sex as something that is sacred, and they are disturbed by changes that make sex less restrictive. This belief has been fueled by the activism of the reli- gious right, where strong passions against abortion have driven issues about sexual behavior directly into the political realm. Abortion rights activists, on the other hand, see women’s control over reproduction as essential for women’s independence. They also tend to see sex as an experience that develops intimacy and communication between people who love each other. The abortion debate can be interpreted as a struggle over the right to terminate a pregnancy as well as a

battle over differing sexual values and a referendum on the nature of men’s and women’s relationships (Luker 1984).

Pornography and the Sexualization of Culture Little social consensus has emerged about the accept- ability and effects of pornography. Part of this debate is about defining what is obscene. The legal definition of obscenity is one that changes over time and in dif- ferent political contexts. Public agitation over pornog- raphy has divided people into those who think it is solidly protected by the First Amendment, those who want it strictly controlled, those who think it should be banned for moral reasons, and those who think it must be banned because it harms women.

An ongoing question in research is whether view- ing pornography promotes violence against women. This is a complex question and one that has mixed results in research studies, in part because the connec- tion is difficult to observe directly. Verbal and physical abuse of women in pornography is shockingly com- mon. One analysis of popular pornographic videos found that 88 percent of scenes in such videos include physical aggression against women—hitting, gagging, and slapping, for example. Moreover, these aggressive scenes depict women as either enjoying it or respond- ing neutrally (Bridges et al. 2010).

Many experimental studies have found a correla- tion between men’s viewing of pornography and sexu- ally aggressive behavior. Studies also link consumption of pornography to a greater acceptance of rape myths.

Deaths from abortion declined dramatically after legalization.

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▲ Figure 12.5 Deaths from Abortion: Before and After Roe v. Wade *By the end of 1970, four states had repealed their antiabortion laws, and eleven states had reformed them. Source: Boonstra, Heather, Rachel Benson Gold, Cory L. Richards, and Lawrence B. Finer. 2006. Abortion in Women’s Lives, New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2006, p. 13.

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Remember, however, that correlation is not cause. As it turns out, men who are sexually aggressive are more frequent consumers of pornography, meaning that the correlation between viewing pornography and violent attitudes is as much the result of men who are already sexually aggressive being more likely to con- sume pornography, as it is the use of pornography per se (Malamuth et al. 2011).

The connection between violence against women and consumption of pornography is not settled, but there is a different way to look at the issue—beyond the attitudes and behaviors of those who view it. Instead, think of pornography as an economic indus- try where, as in other industries, there are owners, bosses, and “employees.” Seen in this way, the vio- lence and dehumanization that happens to women in pornography is not just about images and their impact, but is about how women as sex workers are exploited (Voss 2012; Boyle 2011; Weitzer 2009). Women who have limited economic opportunities may turn to work in the pornographic industry as the best possible means of supporting themselves and their dependents, even if the product that results is completely dehumanizing to them.

One thing that is certain about pornography is that it permeates contemporary culture. Once avail- able only in more “underground” places like X-rated movie houses, pornography is now far more public than in the past. Hotel rooms have a huge array of por- nographic films available on television; pornographic spam appears regularly in people’s email inboxes; casual references to pornography are made in popular shows on prime-time TV; and images that once would have seemed highly pornographic are now commonly found on widely distributed magazines such as Maxim, Cosmopolitan, and others.

Pornography has also infiltrated the web. There are now over 4.2 million pornographic websites, a 2.8-billion-dollar industry. Researchers estimate that worldwide, men spend an average of $3000 per second purchasing pornographic material (Johnson 2011; Ropelato 2007). These figures do not account for women’s use of pornography, nor do they capture the extent to which pornography is viewed on the web for free.

The United States is both the largest producer and exporter of “hard-core” porn on the web. Studies of Internet porn also find that the most popular website searches are for Black and Asian porn sites; Blacks and Asians have the most porn sites devoted to them, fol- lowed by Latinos—a reflection of the sexualized imag- ery of racism. Sites devoted to “teen porn” also tripled between 2005 and 2013 (Ruvolo 2011).

Pornography clearly reflects the racism and sexism that are endemic in society. Highly sexu- alized expressions and images are so widely seen

throughout society that one commentator has said we are experiencing the pornification of culture (Levy 2005). Does this indicate that society has become more sexualized?

According to a major report from the American Psychological Association (APA), the answer is yes. The APA defines sexualization as including any one of the following conditions:

● People are judged based only on sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics.

● People are held to standards that equate physical attractiveness with being sexy.

● People are sexually objectified—meaning made into a “thing” for others’ use. Sexuality is inappropri- ately imposed on a person (American Psychological Association 2007)

The APA report then details the specific consequences, especially for young girls, of a culture marked by sexual- ization. This report shows that overly sexualizing young girls harms them in psychological, physical, social, and academic ways. Young girls may spend more time tend- ing to their appearance than to their academic stud- ies; they may engage in eating disorders to achieve an idealized, but unattainable image of beauty; or they may develop attitudes that put them at risk of sexual exploitation. Although the focus of this report is on young girls, one cannot help but wonder what effects the “pornification of culture” also has on young boys, as well as adult women and men.

Despite public concerns about pornography, most people believe that pornography should be protected by the constitutional guarantees of free speech and free press. Yet people also believe that pornography dehumanizes women; women especially think so. Public controversy about pornography is not likely to go away because it taps so many different sexual values among the public.

Teen Pregnancy Each year about 370,000 teenage girls (under age 19) have babies in the United States (see ■ Map 12.1). The United States has the highest rate of teen preg- nancy among developed nations, even though levels of teen sexual activity around the world are roughly comparable. Teen pregnancy has declined since 1990, a decline caused almost entirely from the increased use of birth control (▲ Figure 12.6). Contrary to popular stereotypes, the teen birthrate among African American women has declined more than for White women (U.S. Census Bureau 2014 ; see also ▲ Figure 12.7). Most teen pregnancies are unplanned, due largely to inconsistent use of birth control (Guttmacher Institute 2014).

Beginning in the early 1980s, the federal govern- ment encouraged abstinence policies, putting money behind the belief that encouraging chastity was the best

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way to reduce teen pregnancy. Under programs that encourage abstinence, young people are encouraged to take “virginity pledges,” promising not to have sexual intercourse before marriage. Do such pledges work?

In one of the most comprehensive and carefully controlled studies of abstinence, researchers compared a large sample of teen “virginity pledgers” and “non- pledgers” who were matched on social attitudes such as religiosity and attitudes toward sex and birth control. The study compared the two groups over a five-year period. Results showed that over time, there were no differences in the number of times those in each group had sex, the age of first sex, or the practice of oral or anal sex. The main difference between the two groups was that pledgers were less likely to use birth control when they had sex. Also, five years after having taken

an abstinence pledge, pledgers denied having done so. The researchers concluded that not only are abstinence pledges ineffective (supporting other research findings) but that taking the pledge makes pledgers less likely to protect themselves from pregnancy and disease when having sex (Rosenbaum 2009). Consistent with these findings are other studies that find that abstinence poli- cies account for a very small portion of the decline in teen pregnancy—probably only about 10 percent of the difference (Santelli et al. 2007; Boonstra et al. 2006).

Although the rate of teen pregnancy has declined, so has the rate of marriage for teens who become preg- nant. Now, most babies born to teens will be raised by single mothers—a departure from the past when teen mothers often got married. What concerns people about teen parents is that teens are more likely to be poorer

Teen Births by State What sociological factors would you say explain these regional differences in the teen birthrate?

Source: Ventura, Stephanie J., Brady E. Hamilton, and T. J. Mathews. 2014. “National and State Patterns of Teen Births in the United

States, 1940–2013.” National Vital Statistics Report. 63 (August). www.cdc.gov

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than other mothers, although sociologists have cau- tioned that this is because teen mothers are more likely poor before getting pregnant (Luker 1996). Teen parents are among the most vulnerable of all social groups.

DEBUNKING Society’s Myths← Myth: Providing sex education to teens only encourages them to become sexually active. Sociological Perspective: Comprehensive sex education actually delays the age of first intercourse; abstinence- only education has not been shown to be effective in delaying intercourse (Risman and Schwartz 2002).

Teenage pregnancy correlates strongly with pov- erty, lower educational attainment, joblessness, and health problems. Teen mothers have a greater inci- dence of problem pregnancies and are most likely to deliver low-birth-weight babies, a condition asso- ciated with myriad other health problems. Teen parents face chronic unemployment and are less likely to complete high school than those who delay

childbearing. Many continue to live with their par- ents, although this is more likely among Black teens than among Whites.

Although teen mothers feel less pressure to marry now than in the past, if they raise their children alone, they suffer the economic consequences of raising chil- dren in female-headed households—the poorest of all income groups. Teen mothers report that they do not marry because they do not think the fathers are ready for marriage. Sometimes their families also counsel them against marrying precipitously. These young women are often doubtful about men’s ability to sup- port them. They want men to be committed to them and their child, but they do not expect their hopes to be ful- filled (Edin and Kefalas 2005). Research shows that low- income single mothers are distrustful of men, especially after an unplanned pregnancy. They think they will have greater control of their household if they remain unmar- ried. Many teen mothers also express fear of domestic violence as a reason for not marrying (Edin 2000).

Why do so many teens become pregnant given the widespread availability of birth control? Teens typically delay the use of contraceptives until several

▲ Figure 12.6 Teen Birthrate (by Age and for Unmarried Teens) Despite public concerns about teen pregnancy, the rate of births to teen women is now lower than at any previous time. But, as you see in Figure 12.6b, births to unmarried teens increased, even while the birthrate in general was declining. How do you explain both facts? In Figure 12.6b, what explains the decline in births to unmarried teens since about 1990? What sociological factors might explain why such behaviors change over time? Source: Ventura, Stephanie J., Brady E. Hamilton, and T. J. Mathews. 2014. “National and State Patterns of Teen Births in the United States, 1940–2013.” National Vital Statistics Report 63 (August). www.cdc.gov

Teen Birthrate (Number per 1000 Women) by Age Group, 1960–2013

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▲ Figure 12.8 Teen Contraceptive Use, 1982–2010 These data include teenaged (15 to 19) women’s contraceptive use. The data indicate contraceptive methods used in the past month, not necessarily those used regularly. How do social factors influence whether or not a young woman uses contraception? Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2014. Health United States 2013. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. www.cdc.gov

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▲ Figure 12.7 Teen Birthrate (per 1000 Women) by Race/Ethnicity, 1990–2012 Despite public beliefs to the contrary, teen pregnancy among all racial/ethnic groups has declined substantially. What factors explain this decline? Source: Ventura, Stephanie J., Brady E. Hamilton, and T. J. Mathews. 2014. “National and State Patterns of Teen Births in the United States, 1940–2013.” National Vital Statistics Report 63 (August). www.cdc.gov

months after they become sexually active. Teens who do not use contraceptives when they first have sex are twice as likely to get pregnant as those who use contra- ception. In recent years, the percentage of teens using birth control has increased, although, as you can see

in ▲ Figure 12.8, patterns of contraceptive use change over time (Guttmacher Institute 2014).

Sociologists have argued that the effective use of birth control requires a person to identify himself or herself as sexually active (Luker 1975). Teen sex, how- ever, tends to be episodic. Teens who have sex on a cou- ple of special occasions may not identify themselves as sexually active and may not feel obliged to take respon- sibility for birth control. Despite many teens initiating sex at an earlier age, social pressure continues to dis- courage them from defining themselves openly, or even privately, as sexually active.

Teen pregnancy is integrally linked to gender expectations of men and women in society. Some teen men consciously avoid birth control, thinking it takes away from their manhood. Teen women often romanti- cize motherhood, thinking that becoming a mother will give them social value they do not otherwise have. For teens in disadvantaged groups, motherhood confers a legitimate social identity on those otherwise devalued by society. Although their hopes about motherhood are not realistic, they indicate how pessimistic the teenag- ers feel about their lives that are often marked by pov- erty, a lack of education, and few good job possibilities. For young women to romanticize motherhood is not surprising in a culture where motherhood is defined as a cultural ideal for women, but the ideal can seldom be realized when society gives mothers little institutional or economic support.

Sexual Violence Before the development of the feminist movement, sexual violence was largely hidden from public view. One great success of the women’s movement has been to identify, study, and advocate better social policies

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to address the problems of rape, sexual harassment, domestic violence, incest, and other forms of sexual coercion. Sexual coercion is not just a matter of sexual- ity; it is also a form of power relations shaped by social inequality between women and men. In the forty years or so that these issues have been identified as serious social problems, volumes of research have been pub- lished on these different subjects, and numerous orga- nizations and agencies have been established to serve victims of sexual abuse and to advocate reforms in social policy.

Rape and sexual violence were covered in Chap- ter 7 on deviance and crime, in keeping with the argu- ment that these are forms of deviant and criminal behavior, not expressions of human sexuality. Here we point out that various forms of sexual coercion (rape, domestic violence, and sexual harassment) can best be understood (and therefore changed) by understanding

how social institutions shape human behavior and how social interactions are influenced by social factors such as gender, race, age, and class.

Take, for example, the phenomenon now known as acquaintance rape (sometimes also called date rape). Acquaintance rape is forced and unwanted sexual relations by someone who knows the victim (even if only a brief acquaintance). This kind of rape is common on college campuses, although it is also the most underreported form of rape. Researchers esti- mate, based on surveys, that 15 to 25 percent of college women experience some form of acquaintance rape (Fisher et al. 2000).

Studies show that although rape is an abuse of power, it is related to people’s gender attitudes. Holding stereotypical attitudes about women is strongly related to adversarial sexual beliefs, accepting rape myths, and tolerating violence against women (Deming et al. 2013).

Violence against women is more likely to occur in some contexts than others, especially in organizations that are set up around a definition of masculinity as competitive, where alcohol abuse occurs, and where women are defined as sexual prey. This is one explana- tion given for the high incidence of rape in some col- lege fraternities (Armstrong et al. 2006; Stombler and Padavic 1997; Martin and Hummer 1989).

Research on violence against women also finds that Black, Hispanic, and poor White women are more likely to be victimized by various forms of violence, including rape (U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics 2012a). African American and White women report the highest incidence of intimate partner violence; Latinas, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders have the lowest inci- dence (Catalano 2012).

Images such as this pregnant Barbie glorify pregnancy and can influence the unrealistic attitudes of young girls.

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DEBUNKING Society’s Myths← Myth: Campus parties are inherently dangerous places because they encourage violence against women. Sociological Perspective: Not all parties are dan- gerous places for women, but certain individual and organizational characteristics make some parties risky places for sexual violence. At the individual level, con- cerns about one’s social status and holding traditional sexual values put one at risk in the party scene. At the organizational level, parties where men have a “home turf” advantage and women do not; where excessive drinking is encouraged; where men know each other more than the women know each other; and where traditional sexual/gender scripts are played out make women especially prone to sexual violence (Armstrong et al. 2006).

In sum, sociological research on sexual violence shows how strongly sexual coercion is tied to the sta- tus of diverse groups of women in society. Rather than explaining sexual coercion as the result of malad- justed men or the behavior of victims, feminists have

encouraged a view of sexual coercion that links it to an understanding of dominant beliefs about the sexual dominance of men and sexual passivity of women. Researchers have shown that those holding the most traditional gender role stereotypes are most tolerant of rapists and least likely to give credibility to victims of rape (Deming et al. 2013). Understanding sexual violence requires an understanding of the sociology of sexuality, gender, race, and class in society.

Sex and Social Change As with other forms of social behavior, sexual behavior is not static. Sexual norms, beliefs, and practices emerge as society changes. Some major changes affecting sex- ual relations come from changes in gender roles. Tech- nological change and emphasis on consumerism in the United States also affect sexuality. As you think about sex and social change, you might try to imagine what other social factors influence human sexual behavior.

The Sexual Revolution: Is It Over? The sexual revolution refers to the widespread changes in men’s and women’s roles and the greater public acceptance of sexuality as a normal part of social development. Many changes associated with the sexual revolution have been changes in women’s behaviors. The sexual revolution has narrowed the dif- ferences in sexual experiences of men and women. The feminist and gay and lesbian movements have put the sexual revolution at the center of public attention by challenging gender role stereotyping and sexual oppression, profoundly changing our understanding of gay and lesbian sexuality. The sexual revolution has meant greater sexual freedom, especially for women, but it has not eliminated the influence of gender in sexual relationships.

Some argue that the sexual revolution has created some new challenges, especially for women whose gender and sexual roles have changed so much. Soci- ologist Leslie Bell calls this the “paradox of sexual freedom”—meaning that women, especially younger women, are now expected to build successful careers while at the same time meeting the cultural ideals that are laid out for them as sexually fulfilled women (Bell 2013). Women are now told they should be success- ful and independent but also have fulfilling, intimate relationships. The messages that permeate popular culture, as we have seen throughout this book, make it all seem easy if you are just sexy enough, thin enough, attractive to men, but not too pushy, sexually active, or demanding. This sexual revolution may have changed people’s attitudes and expectations, but it has also pro- duced new dilemmas as people navigate this changed social environment.

Public awareness of the problem of battered women has increased in recent years, although there is no evidence that battering itself has lessened.

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Technology, Sex, and Cybersex Technological change has also brought new possibili- ties for sexual freedom. One significant change is the widespread availability of the birth control pill. Sex is no longer necessarily linked with reproduction; new sex- ual norms associate sex with intimacy, emotional ties, and physical pleasure (Freedman and D’Emilio 1988). These sexual freedoms are not equally distributed among all groups, however. For women, sex is still more closely tied to reproduction than it is for men because women are still more likely to take the responsibility for birth control. Contraceptives are not the only technol- ogy influencing sexual values and practices. Now the Internet has introduced new forms of sexual relations as many people seek sexual stimulation from porno- graphic websites or online sexual chat rooms. Cybersex,

as sex via the Internet has come to be known, can trans- form sex from a personal, face-to-face encounter to a seemingly anonymous relationship with mutual online sex. This introduces new risks, such as by sexual preda- tors who use the Internet. The Internet has introduced new forms of deviance that are very difficult to control.

Commercializing Sex At the same time that there are new sexual freedoms for women, many worry that this will only increase their sexual objectification. Furthermore, sexuality is becoming more and more of a commodity in our highly consumer-based society. Girls are being sexualized at younger ages, evidenced by the marketing of thongs to very young girls, the promotion of “sexy” dolls sold to young girls, and the highly sexualized content of media images that young boys and girls consume (Levy 2005). Often, these images are extremely violent and depict women as hypersexual victims of men’s aggression, such as the popular video game, Grand Theft Auto.

Definitions of sexuality in the culture are heavily influenced by the advertising industry, which narrowly defines what is considered “sexy.” Thin women, White women, and rich women are all depicted as more sexu- ally appealing in mainstream media. Images defining “sexy” also are explicitly heterosexual. The commer- cialization of sex uses women and, increasingly, men in demeaning ways. Although the sexual revolution has removed sexuality from many of its traditional constraints, inequalities of race, class, and gender still shape sexual relationships and values.

The combination of sexualization and commoditi- zation means that people become “made” into things for others’ use. When people are held to narrow defi- nitions of sexual attractiveness or are seen as valuable solely for their sexual appeal, you have social conditions that are ripe for exploitation and damage people’s sense of self-worth and value (American Psychological Asso- ciation 2007). Even in what seems to be an increasingly “free” sexual society, sexuality is still nested in American culture within a system of power relations—power rela- tions that, despite the sexual revolution, continue to influence how different groups are valued and defined.

In what sense is sexuality, seemingly so personal an experience, a part of social structure? Sexual relationships develop within a social and cul- tural context. Sexuality is learned through socialization, is channeled and directed by social institutions, and reflects the race, class, and gender relations in society.

What evidence is there of contemporary sexual attitudes and behavior? Contemporary sexual attitudes vary considerably by social factors such as age, gender, race, and religion. Sexual behavior has also changed in recent years, with mixed trends in both liberal and conservative sexual

Chapter Summary

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values. In general, attitudes on issues of premarital sex and gay and lesbian rights have become more liberal, though this depends on social characteristics such as age, gender, and degree of religiosity, among others.

How is sexuality related to other social inequalities? Sexuality intertwines with gender, race, and class inequality. This is especially revealed in the sexual ste- reotypes of different groups, as well as in the double standard applied to men’s and women’s sexual behav- iors, such as in the hooking up culture.

What does sociological theory have to say about sexual behavior? Functionalist theory depicts sexuality in terms of its con- tribution to the stability of social institutions. Conflict theorists see sexuality as part of the power relations and economic inequality in society. Symbolic interaction focuses on the social construction of sexual identity.

Feminist theory uncovers the power relationships that frame different sexual identities and behaviors, as well as linking sexuality to other forms of inequality.

How do homophobia and heterosexism influence lesbian and gay experience? Homophobia is the fear and hatred of gays and les- bians. Heterosexism refers to institutional structures

that define heterosexuality as the only socially legiti- mate sexual orientation. Both produce relationships of power that define gays and lesbians as a social minority group.

How is sexuality related to contemporary social issues? Sexuality is related to some of the most difficult social problems—including birth control, abortion, reproduc- tive technologies, teen pregnancy, pornography, and sexual violence. Such social problems can be under- stood by analyzing the sexual, gender, class, and racial politics of society.

How is sex related to social change? The sexual revolution refers to widespread changes in the roles of men and women and a greater acceptance of sexuality as a normal part of social development. The sexual revolution has been fueled by social move- ments, such as the feminist movement and the gay and lesbian rights movement. Technological changes, such as development of the pill, have also created new sexual freedoms. Now, sexuality is influenced by the growth of cyberspace and its impact on personal and sexual interactions. At the same time, sex is treated as a commodity in this society, bought and sold and used to sell various products.

coming out 289 eugenics 295 heterosexism 293 homophobia 293

queer theory 290 sex tourism 292 sex trafficking 291 sexual identity 282

sexual orientation 282 sexual politics 290 sexual revolution 303 sexual scripts 284

social construction perspective 289

Key Terms

Ch 11: Gender

The Social Construction of Gender
Gender Socialization
Gender Stratification
Theories of Gender
Gender in Global Perspective
Gender and Social Change
Chapter Summary

Ch 12: Sexuality

Sex and Culture
Contemporary Sexual Attitudes and Behavior
Sex and Inequality: Gender, Race, and Class
Sexuality: Sociological and Feminist Theory
Understanding Gay and Lesbian Experience
Sex and Social Issues
Sex and Social Change
Chapter Summary