Am I a Feminist?
Cooper123
Chapter12-SexGenderandSexualityhybridedit.pptx
Chapter 12:
Gender, Sex, and Sexuality
Sex v. Gender
What is the difference between sex and gender?
Why are both more complicated than we’ve been led to believe?
Why is gender sociologically significant?
Gender Differences in Behavior: Biological or Cultural?
The sociological position
The role of biology
Gender as a Performance
Judith Butler in her 1990 book Gender Trouble lets us see gender as a performance, and gender identity as part of a spectrum.
Is Our Conception of Gender Changing?
Because gender is socially defined, it can change over time. Are we in the midst of such change?
Examples of:
Soft masculinity
Tough femininity
Resistance?
Gender Trends
Changing Attitudes About Gender Roles
1972 TGR (Men) TGR (Women) Working Moms (Men) Working Moms (Women) 74 52 49 71 2008 TGR (Men) TGR (Women) Working Moms (Men) Working Moms (Women) 42 39 67 80
Changing Gender Roles
Research from the Family and Work Institutes
10
More Gender Trends
1992 Cooking (Men) Cooking (Men, acc. to Women) Chores (Men) Chores (Men, acc. To Women) Work-Life Conflict (Dads) Work-Life Conflict (Moms) 34 15 40 18 35 41 2008 Cooking (Men) Cooking (Men, acc. to Women) Chores (Men) Chores (Men, acc. To Women) Work-Life Conflict (Dads) Work-Life Conflict (Moms) 56 25 53 20 59 45
Sex Typing of Work - Murdock
Societies around the world divide tasks based on gender.
Regardless of how it’s done, “men’s” tasks are nearly always given more prestige than “women’s” tasks.
Global Gender Inequality
Education – World vs. US
Politics – Where the US lags (slightly) behind
Pay for Work – Worldwide issue
Violence – women as individual exception, but systematic victim
Gender Socialization
Gender socialization takes place through four main agents of socialization:
Family
Education
Peer groups
Mass media
Gender Socialization
Gender socialization takes place through four main agents of socialization:
Family
Education
Peer groups
Mass media
Gender Inequality in the U.S.
Changes in gender rights have only come through struggle and protest.
A theme of conflict theory and the course as a whole:
power is not willingly given up.
Sexuality
Sexuality
Sexuality
Sexual orientation –
Kinsey’s 6-point scale. Why is it important?
Sexuality is complicated
Your book’s typology is inadequate.
Sexual Norms Vary
Incest taboo – universal in principle, not so much in practice
Cousin marriage in the US, e.g.
Attitudes toward premarital sex
Sexuality in the US
We’re oddly puritanical about sexual issues, especially regarding:
Premarital sex
Sex before age 16
Extramarital sex
Homosexuality
Women’s sexual agency
Desire
Expression
Sex Education
This may be changing.
Homosexuality and Public Policy
When homosexuality was a mental disorder
Since the APA did away with that, we’ve seen a push and pull between the gay rights movement and local, state, and federal governments as well as counter movements
1996 – DOMA
2004 Massachusetts Supreme Court Ruling
June 26, 2015 US Supreme Court Ruling
Did the gay rights movement win?
Theory and Sexuality
Functionalists – control of sexuality (good)
Conflict Theorists – control of sexuality (bad)
Symbolic Interactionists – what does it all mean?
Queer Theory – forget ☝
Gender Attitude and Belief Inventory (Janice McCabe and Brian Powell 2008)
For each question, use the following scale to answer:
1 2 3 4
Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree
Theories of Gender Inequality – Physiology or Sociobiology
Physiological or sociobiological theories of gender inequality
Focus on either innate differences or
Evolutionary psychology
Theories – Structural Functionalism
Parsons’s Theory of Complementarity
Early gender roles
Institutionalization
Expressive vs. instrumental orientations
Critiques
Explanation vs. justification
Ignores actual interaction
Even if correct, what explains stratification?
Feminism – What is it?
Feminism – a political movement that seeks the social equality of women and men.
Different types but mostly agree on the following points:
Gender is important
Equality is a worthy goal
Choice expansion is paramount (for both men and women)
Sexual freedom is nonnegotiable
Activism against patriarchy
Activism against gender violence
Liberal Feminism
Women – individuals, not a category
Reform, not revolution
The ERA
Marxist/Socialist Feminism – Revolution
Marxist feminists argue that capitalism must be defeated to pave way for gender equality
Socialist feminists go one step further
Radical Feminism – Annihilation
Patriarchy is built on the concept of gender itself
Roots are found in the biological role of women and childbirth
The entire concept of gender must be abandoned
Also seeks the abolition of the traditional family and sexual norms
Cultural Feminism
Patriarchy is, again, the problem
What traits are traditionally masculine
We can empower women by valuing the traditionally feminine
Separatist Feminism
Source of inequality is patriarchy
Patriarchy cannot be defeated as long as men and women live together
So… stop being together!
Intersectionality (and Intersectional Feminism)
Intersectional Theory – analysis of how race, class, and gender interact, often creating multiple disadvantages for some categories of people.
aka Multicultural feminism
Postmodern Feminism
Gender is fluid
Gender is changing
We should challenge and blur the lines between sexes and genders
Theories – General Conflict
We turn to Engels, not Marx
Early human society approached equality
The problem of surplus
Women’s reproduction
Capitalism and happiness
The double problem of capitalism
Critiques –
Families are vital
Are these power differences unjust?
Patriarchy is (nearly) everywhere
Theories – Symbolic Interactionism
Gender and Personal Behavior
Use of gender power in everyday situations
Gender and space
Language – how does language devalue the feminine?
