Sociological Film Analysis

SEX AND GENDER

SEX AND GENDER 2

 Sex and gender reflect different bases.  Sex comprises the biological characteristics that distinguish males

and females, including primary sex organs (organs related to reproduction) and secondary sex organs (physical distinctions not related to reproduction).  Gender is a social characteristic that varies from one society to

another and refers to what the group considers proper for its males and females.

SEX AND GENDER 3  Gender stratification refers to men’s and women’s unequal access to

power, prestige, and property.  Gender is especially significant because it is a master status, cutting across all

aspects of social life.  No matter what we attain in our lifetimes, we carry the label male and

female with us; this label guides our behavior and serves as a basis of power and privilege.  The sociological significance of gender is that it is the means by which society

controls its members; it sorts us, on the basis of sex, into different life experiences.

 Some researchers argue that biological factors (two X chromosomes in females, one X and one Y in males) result in differences in conduct, with men being more aggressive and domineering and women being more comforting and nurturing.

SEX AND GENDER 4

 The dominant sociological position is that social factors explain why we do what we do. People in every society determine what the physical differences separating men and women mean to them.  Sociologists argue that if biology was the primary factor in human

behavior, then women the world over would all behave the same way, as would men. In fact, ideas of gender vary greatly from one culture to another.

SEX AND GENDER 5

 That biological factors are involved in human behavior is being acknowledged by some sociologists. Real-life cases provide support for the argument that biology influences men’s and women’s behavior.  A medical accident led to a young boy being reassigned to the female sex.

Reared as a female, the child behaved like a girl; however, by adolescence she was unhappy and having a difficult time adjusting to being a female. In adolescence, the child underwent medical procedures to once again become a male.  A study of Vietnam veterans found that the men who had higher levels of

testosterone tended to be more aggressive and to have more problems. The effect of high testosterone differed based on social classes—those in lower social classes were more likely to get in trouble with the law, do poorly in school, and mistreat their wives—suggesting social factors also play a role.

SEX AND GENDER 6

 Research on the effects of testosterone continues and finds that higher levels of testosterone lead to higher dominance but that winning also produces higher level of testosterone. The effects also apply to females. The effects of testosterone also differ depending on the social situation.

 Alice Rossi suggested that it is not biology or society, but rather nature that provides biological predispositions overlaid with culture.

Gender Inequality Around the Globe  Around the world, gender is the primary division between people.

Because society sets up barriers to deny women equal access, they are referred to as a minority even though they outnumber men.  A patriarchy is a society in which men dominate women and

authority is vested in males. The major theory of the origin of patriarchy points to social consequences of human reproduction.  Since life was short and women were tied to reproductive roles, they

assumed tasks around the home.  Men took over hunting of large animals and left the home base for extended

periods of time. This enabled men to make contact with other tribes, trade with those other groups, and wage war and gain prestige by returning home with prisoners of war or with large animals to feed the tribe; little prestige was given to women’s more routine tasks.

Gender Inequality Around the Globe 2  A second theory focuses on the disadvantage women faced in hand-to-

hand combat, which often led to the imprisonment of women for sex and labor.  Patriarchy involves circular reasoning—men dominate society because

they are superior, and they know they are superior because they dominate society.  George Murdock, who surveyed 324 pre-modern societies, found

activities to be sex typed in all of them; activities considered female in one society may be male in another. Nothing about anatomy requires this.  Universally, greater prestige is given to male activities regardless of what

they are. If caring for cattle is men’s work, it carries high prestige; if it is women’s work, it has less prestige.  Globally, gender discrimination occurs in politics, education, paid

employment, and violence against women

Gender Inequality in the U.S.  A society’s culture and institutions both justify and maintain its

customary forms of gender inequality.  Until the twentieth century, U.S. women did not have the right to

vote, hold property, make legal contracts, or serve on a jury.  In response to patriarchy, the feminist philosophy was developed.

Feminism is the belief that men and women should be politically, economically, and socially equal, and that gender stratification must be met with organized resistance. Feminists further believe that biology is not destiny and that stratification by gender is wrong.  Males did not willingly surrender their privileges; rather, greater political

rights for women resulted from a prolonged and bitter struggle waged by a “first wave” of feminists in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Gender Inequality in the U.S. 2  This movement was divided into radical and conservative branches. The

radical branch wanted to reform all social institutions, while the conservative branch concentrated only on winning the vote for women. After 1920 and the achievement of suffrage for women, the movement dissolved.  A “second wave” of feminism began in the 1960s. As more women gained an

education and began to work outside the home, they compared their wages and working conditions to those of men. As awareness of gender inequalities grew, protest and struggle emerged. The goals of this second wave of feminism are broad, from changing work roles to changing policies on violence against women.  The second wave of feminism was also characterized by two branches, one

conservative and the other liberal, each of which has had different goals and different tactics.

Gender Inequality in the U.S. 3

 A “third wave” is now emerging. Three main aspects are apparent. The first is a criticism of the values that dominate work and society. The second is a greater focus on women in the Least Industrialized Nations. The third is the removal of barriers to women’s love and sexual pleasure.  While women enjoy more rights today, gender inequality still

plays a central role in social life.

Gender Inequality in the U.S. 4  In everyday life, femininity is devalued and often invisible. Masculinity

symbolizes strength and success, and femininity often represents weakness and lack of accomplishment.  Sociological studies show that to motivate soldiers, officers use feminine

terms as insults.  This also occurs on sports teams when coaches call players “girls” or

“women” when they do not perform well.  There is growing evidence of sexual discrimination in health care.  Studies showed that women were twice as likely to die after coronary bypass

surgery than men. Physicians had not taken the complaints of chest pain as seriously in female patients as they had males. As a result, women received surgery later after the disease had a chance to progress, thereby reducing their chance for survival.  Surgeons were also likely to recommend more radical surgeries to their

female patients on their reproductive system than necessary.

Gender Inequality in the U.S. 5  There is evidence of educational gains made by women; more females than

males are enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities and females earn 57 percent of all bachelor’s degrees and 60 percent of all master’s degrees.  Almost as many women as men now become dentists, lawyers, and

physicians.  There is still the matter of gender tracking. Men earn 95 percent of

associates’ degrees in the “masculine” field of construction, while women are awarded 96 percent of the associates’ degrees in the “feminine” fields of family and consumer sciences.  In graduate school, the proportion of females enrolled in programs

decreases with each year of education.  There is gender stratification in both the rank and pay at higher educational

institutions. Women professors are less likely to be in the higher ranks of academia, are paid less than their male counterparts, and are less likely to be taken seriously.

Gender Inequality in the Workplace

 One of the chief characteristics of the U.S. workforce is the steady growth in the number of women who work outside the home for wages.

 Today, nearly one in every two paid workers are women.  Geographical factors influence whether women are more likely to

work, but we currently have little understanding of why this is the case.  On average, men start out with higher salaries than women after

graduating from college.

Gender Inequality in the Workplace 2  Men earn more than women, even when their educational

achievement is the same. U.S. women who work full time average only 74 percent of what men are paid. All industrialized nations have a pay gap.  Researchers found that half of the gender pay gap is due to

women choosing lower-paying careers. The other half is due to gender discrimination and the “child penalty”—women missing out on work experience while they care for their children.

 Of the top 500 corporations, only eight are headed by women. The best chance to be CEO of the largest U.S. corporations is to have a name such as John, Robert, James, William, or Charles. One of the few women to head a Fortune 500 company had a man’s name: Carleton Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard.

Gender Inequality in the Workplace 3

 The “glass ceiling” describes an invisible barrier that women face in trying to reach the executive suites.  Researchers find that women are not in positions, such as marketing, sales,

and production, from which top executives are recruited. Rather, they are steered into human resources and public relations; their work is not appreciated to the same degree because it does not bring in profits.  Another explanation for the situation is that women lack mentors; male

executives are reluctant to mentor them because they fear gossip and sexual harassment charges if they get too close to female subordinates or because they see women as weak.

Gender Inequality in the Workplace 4

 Until the 1970s, women did not draw a connection between unwanted sexual advances on the job and their subordinate positions at work.  As women began to discuss the problem, they came to see such unwanted

sexual advances by men in powerful positions as a structural problem. Men were using their positions of authority to pressure women for sex.  Symbolic interactionist argue that labels affect the way we see things.The

change in perception resulted from reinterpreting women’s experiences and giving them a name.  Sexual harassment is not just a “man thing”; women in positions of authority

can also sexually harass subordinates. However, most sexual harassers are men.  Sexual harassment can also apply to homosexuals who are harassed by

heterosexuals and vice versa.

Gender and Violence

 Females are more likely to be the victims of males.  Each year, almost 2 of every 1,000 American women age 12 and older are

raped, assaulted with the attempt to rape, or sexually attacked in some other way.  Most victims are between the ages of 15 to 24 years old and know their

attacker.  Males who are victims of rape also experience devastating consequences.

The rape of males in the military and in jails/prison is a special problem.  Date rape (sexual assault in which the assailant is acquainted with the victim)

is not an isolated event. Most go unreported because the victim feels partially responsible, as she knows the person and was with him voluntarily.  Males are more likely than females to commit murder and be the victim of

murder.  Other forms of violence against women include battering, spousal abuse,

incest, and female circumcision.

Gender and Violence 2

 Feminists use symbolic interactionism to understand violence against women. They stress that U.S. culture promotes violence by males. It teaches men to associate power, dominance, strength, virility, and superiority with masculinity. Conflict theory argues that men use violence to try to maintain a higher status.  To solve violence, we must first break the link between violence and

masculinity.