Discussion 3

Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

Gender and

Sexuality

Angela Barian

Todd Schoepflin, Niagara University

Jessica Brown, Houston Community

College

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Gender and Sexuality

A N G E L A B A R I A N

T O D D S C H O E P F L I N , N I A G A R A U N I V E R S I T Y

J E S S I C A B R O W N , H O U S T O N C O M M U N I T Y C O L L E G E

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES OF GENDER

Nature, nurture, neither?

Social construction of gender

Intersectional perspectives of gender

INEQUALITIES AND PROGRESS

Feminism

Institutional inequality

Gender and violence

SEXUALITIES

The creation of sexuality

Intersectional sexualities

The social control of sexuality

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INTRODUCTION

In 2013, retired Army veteran Jamie Shupe changed their legal identity from male to

female (Shupe's preferred pronouns are their and they). Assigned male at birth, Shupe

remembers their mother slapping them as a child for being “a sissy.”1 Shupe was a married

father when they decided they’d had enough: “I was in a deep, dark depression because I

had boxed myself into this male identity that I couldn't stand anymore.”2 Shupe started taking

hormones and for a while lived as a transgender woman. Transgender refers to people whose

gender identity and expression are different from what they were assigned at birth.3 But they

didn’t feel “fully female” either.4 So in 2016, Jamie Shupe petitioned to be the first person in the

history of the United States to be legally recognized as non-binary (that is, not exclusively

masculine or feminine). They won. Following that decision, Shupe’s home state of Oregon

became the first state to officially offer gender-neutral driver’s licenses. As of July 2017,

residents can have an “X” in the gender box on their state-issued ID.5 In court, Shupe said, “I

can’t divorce my male side with my female side. And you’re just going to have to

acknowledge that sex and gender is a spectrum, not two poles.”6

While societies have always seen gender expressions that move beyond the male-

female binary, a recent Time article notes that this gender flexibility has moved from being

marginalized to being more widely accepted.7 A survey from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance

Against Defamation (GLAAD) reports that “20% of millennials identify as something other than

strictly straight and cisgender (someone whose gender matches the sex they were assigned at

birth).”8 This is compared to just 7% of Baby Boomers, the generation born between 1946 and

1964. Social understandings of gender and sexuality continue to evolve in ways that have

profound effects on our daily lives.

You could make a case that gender is the primary way people organize the social

world. Before birth, parents prepare nurseries in pink or blue and use social media for

elaborate reveals of whether the baby will be a boy or a girl. Elementary school teachers use

gender to line students up and pit them against each other in competitions. Kids are teased

by each other and even adults with a song that contains a gender-based script about

marriage, family, and sexual orientation: “Rob and Mary sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First

comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage.” Fast-forward to high

school, where prom kings and queens are crowned; then to a baby shower, a space usually

reserved for women, although occasionally a couple allows men and women to attend in a

“Jack and Jill” format. Gender matters before the cradle and all the way to the grave.

In this chapter, we have two goals. First, we provide you with a sociological lens on

gender and sexuality. We consider how, despite being firmly rooted in minds and bodies,

gender and sexuality are also profoundly social. Second, we explore how gender and

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sexuality intersect with other social relations to create a multitude of experiences and unequal

interactions and institutions.

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES OF GENDER

 What is sex? What is gender?

 What does it mean for gender to be a social construction?

 How do diverse bodies, identities, and expressions complicate social constructions of both

gender and sex?

Nature, nurture, neither?

In 2009, runner Caster Semenya won a gold

medal in the women’s 800-meter race at the

World Championships. Semenya smashed the

previous African record and improved her own

personal best by eight seconds in eight months, an

almost unheard-of feat.9 But there were whispers:

Semenya’s time was too fast. And just look at her,

one of the other athletes said. The track & field

governing body expressed suspicion about

whether she qualified to run with women. Later

that year, Caster Semenya went through “gender

verification testing.”10 The purpose of the testing,

said officials, was to determine if Semenya is

“really” a woman. For almost a year, she was

unable to compete while tests were administered

and analyzed. While the results of the so-called

gender test were never revealed, Semenya was

cleared to compete with other women. She later won a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics. But

why was her case so difficult? Why did it take so long for the committee to affirm that, as she

and her father maintained all along, she’s a woman? Let’s consider some sociological

concepts of gender before returning to Caster Semenya.

We can start with a comment made by a student in one of our classes: “You are what

your birth certificate says you are.” In the student’s eyes, you’re either male or female, just as a

birth certificate indicates. End of story. But it’s not so simple. The certificate tells us a biological

fact. It tells us nothing about society. Sex refers to the different biological and physiological

Caster Semenya. Source: Wikimedia Commons

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characteristics of males and females, such as reproductive organs, chromosomes, and

hormones. Gender refers to the socially-constructed characteristics of women and men – such

as norms, roles, and relationships among and between groups of women and men.11

You may be familiar with the terms nature and nurture, with nature referring to

biological influences and nurture referring to social ones. Both are crucial to understanding sex

and gender, but the sociological perspective focuses on how the social world impacts our

gender development. In Biology 101, you may spend a lot of time talking about the role that

genes play in influencing our appearance or our behavior. But in sociology, we devote much

of our attention to how the social environment shapes every aspect of us – including its impact

on our genes and how they function.

Think of the phrase “boys will be boys.” The expression suggests that certain behaviors

are inevitable for boys. But it doesn’t account for how the traits we attribute to boys are

learned. Through socialization, we learn about gender from family, peers, teachers, coaches,

and other influential people in our lives. We also learn gender messages from media;

commercials, TV shows, movies, songs, video games, internet memes, and magazines all have

something to say about gender. Perhaps you saw the Gillette commercial calling for a positive

change in masculinity. Entitled “The Best Men Can Be,” it reminds us that ideas about gender

are always under examination and are subject to change.12

Consider the link between girls and the

color pink. We aren’t born with color

preferences, we learn them. Believe it or not, in

the early 1900s, pink was considered a boy’s

color and blue a girl’s color. It wasn’t until the

1940s that the colors became gender-coded

in the way we know them today.13 We now

take the color scheme for granted because it’s

in the fabric of society. Browse the toy aisles at

Target and Wal-Mart and you’ll see pink

products marketed toward girls. Pink is a

primary Victoria’s Secret color. You can buy a

pink air rifle at Cabela’s. Meanwhile, clothes, bikes, and toys for boys are awash in blue and

gray. People have choices in what they buy, of course, and many of us stray from the color

norms, but the notion of “boy colors” and “girl colors” remains entrenched in American

society.

Let’s think about the Caster Semenya case again. Her situation reveals a lot about

social expectations regarding “what it means” to be a man or a woman: what you’re

supposed to look like, how you’re supposed to sound, how strong you are, how emotional you

are, what your interests are. These are gender norms, or social definitions of behavior assigned

“Gender reveal” cake. (Source)

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to particular sex categories. While gender norms can and do change through time, place,

and context, the thing they have in common is that they are socially-determined and socially-

enforced. Most of us are treated according to how we’re perceived. And these gender

perceptions are generally assumed to match our biological sex.

Table 1: Frequencies of Sex Variations, by Number of Births14

SEX VARIATION FREQUENCY

Not XX and not XY One in 1,666 births

Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome One in 13,000 births

Gonadal dysgenesis (abnormal growth or development) One in 150,000 births

Vaginal agenesis (lack of development) One in 6,000 births

Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia One in 13,000 births

Klinefelter Syndrome One in 1,000 births

Ovotestes One in 83,000 births

Idiopathic (no discernable medical cause) One in 110,000 births

But perceptions can be deceiving. The Intersex Society of North America notes, “If you

ask experts at medical centers how often a child is born so noticeably atypical in terms of

genitalia that a specialist in sex differentiation is called in, the number comes out to about 1 in

1500 to 1 in 2000 births.”15 And genitals are only one of many ways that we determine sex

differences. In Semenya’s case, though her test results weren’t revealed, there is speculation

that she had higher levels of testosterone, a hormone associated with muscular size and

strength, aggression, and other traits, than most women. She remains under scrutiny, and is

impacted by a 2019 ruling requiring female track athletes with naturally elevated levels of

testosterone to take hormone suppressants to compete in certain women’s races.16 Do you

know your testosterone level? Most people don’t, and so wouldn’t know if they have unusually

high or low levels. Below is a table of the frequency of variations in sexual development. To put

the stats in perspective, consider that Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is estimated to occur in 0.2 to

1.5 infants for every 1,000 live births in certain areas of the United States;17 about one in 3,500

babies is born with cystic fibrosis;18about one in 1,574 babies is born with a cleft palate without

a cleft lip;19 and Down Syndrome is estimated to occur in about one in every 700 births. The

point? Intersex conditions are relatively rare – but not as rare as we think they are.

For Caster Semenya, social assumptions had severe consequences – she was unable to

participate in her sport for nearly a year, and, due to the recent rule change, was banned

from defending her 800-meter title at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics unless she took testosterone-

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reducing drugs. Refusing to take such drugs, Semenya plans to focus on long-distance events

for the remainder of her career.20 But there are everyday expectations for all of us, even if our

identity matches what society assumes about us.

The social construction of gender

As Semenya’s example illustrates, what is considered gender-appropriate is determined

collectively. In the language of sociology, we say that these notions are socially constructed.

The social construction of gender refers to how meanings of gender are created through

social interaction and social norms. Teaching, learning, performing, and policing gender

behavior in light of expectations of appropriate conduct are also part of the ongoing process

of social construction. Giving a name to a baby is one way a sex category becomes a gender

status, and babies and children are then treated according to that gender status. When

children learn to talk, they refer to themselves by their gender. This is all part of the social

construction of gender.21

Here’s another example: have you ever heard someone speak and noticed that the

person raises his or her voice at the end of each sentence, making everything sound as if it

were a question? Linguists call this high-rising terminal; you may know it as “uptalk” or

“upspeak.” What about ending sentences with words spoken in a low, almost croaky tone?

That’s referred to as vocal fry. And if modern linguistic research is any indication, you probably

associate both vocal fry and uptalking with women, particularly young women.

These speech patterns have social consequences. People who use vocal fry are seen

as less trustworthy, less competent, and less educated than those who don’t, and their

prospects for landing a job can be affected by the way they talk.22 People who use both

vocal fry and uptalking are even more disadvantaged due to stereotypes about the kind of

people who use them.

This is an example of the social construction of gender, or the ways in which we create

gendered meaning through (in this case, literal) communication. Research shows that both

men and women use uptalk often, and there’s no evidence that women use vocal fry any

more than men do. 23 But these ways of speaking are associated with women. The social

construction of gender implies that these vocal techniques have gendered meaning

attached to them. Men talk like this; women talk like that. Whether this and that are actually

different in the overall population isn’t what matters; the important thing is that vocal fry and

uptalking are associated with women, affecting the way women and men who use these

techniques are perceived.

The example of speech patterns suggests that we shouldn’t think of gender as

something that we are (male or female). Instead, think of gender as something that we do,

every single day. We do gender in the way we talk, gesture, dress, and sit. Look at Instagram

and see if you observe men and women posing in different ways. Remember when the

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duckface selfie was popular? Girls and women used it more often. And maybe you notice

that a common pose for men in pictures is to cross their arms. As you go about your day, look

at how men and women take up space. You might see men with their legs extended from a

couch or chair, while women may sit in ways that make their bodies take up less space.24

Candace West and Don Zimmerman developed the idea that we do gender. They

suggested that we perform actions that produce gender; we do gender in interactions with

others, and we take into consideration what is believed to be appropriate for our gender.25

West and Zimmerman understood that we do gender knowing that we will be judged

by others; we are held accountable for our gender performances. A girl might be

reprimanded for not crossing her legs when wearing a dress. “That’s not ladylike,” a parent

might say. Men are encouraged by their peers to “man up” if they haven’t followed norms of

masculinity. A boy who shows interest in a Barbie might be told “Boys don’t play with dolls!”

We’re evaluated for our gender behavior. In her research at a high school, C.J. Pascoe found

that boys frequently called each other “faggot” as a way of policing each other’s

masculinity.26 If boys engaged in behavior that wasn’t regarded as masculine at this high

school – dancing, caring about clothing, being emotional – the insult was used against them.

Sociologists, then, don’t view gender as an innate, biologically-determined

characteristic. We focus on gender as socially and culturally influenced and subject to

change. Gender isn’t a fact, says Judith Butler, author of Gender Trouble. Gender is produced.

Think of it as an unspoken agreement to perform gender in socially acceptable ways, and our

performances are so believable that gender behavior appears to be natural. The way we act

sustains and reinforces the ideas we have created about gender.27 Stray too far outside the

lines and you risk being ostracized or ridiculed. We have words for those who perform gender

out of line with our expectations. Think of the dweeb, the wimp, the dork. Perhaps you picture

a skinny, awkward guy who isn’t cool, who dresses and walks in ways that make him stand out

and invite ridicule. We have more words for people who are thought to be doing masculinity

wrong: douchebag, dick, prick, pussy, asshole. These may be used as general insults, but often

they’re applied specifically to men as gender insults.

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A Google Image search for “masculine man.”

In contrast, a muscular, self-assured man may find himself being praised by others. But is

this always the case? Does a man have to look and act like Channing Tatum or Taye Diggs to

be considered masculine? Not always. A guy may find other types of masculinity that work for

him, such as the class clown who gets by on his comedic skills. Nerds aren’t normally

celebrated as models of masculinity, but it helps to invent something and become a

billionaire, like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. Celebrities are more likely to stretch the

boundaries of gender, perhaps because they feel more freedom to express gender with less

fear of backlash. For example, the musician Young Thug wore a long ruffled dress for the cover

art of his album No, My Name Is Jeffery. He also modeled women’s clothing for a Calvin Klein

campaign, saying: "In my world, of course, it don't matter, you know, you could be a gangster

with a dress or you could be a gangster with baggy pants. I feel like there’s no such thing as

gender.”28 While we disagree with his assertion there’s no such thing as gender, he certainly

resists gendered clothing norms. Another example is Jaden Smith, who frequently dresses in

ways that don’t conform with gender norms. Talking about his fashion choices, Smith said: “So,

you know, in five years when a kid goes to school wearing a skirt, he won’t get beat up and

kids won’t get mad at him.”29 These are examples of widening the ideas of what Black

masculinity is, says writer Mikelle Street.30

Widening the boundaries of gender is one way of challenging the gender binary, the

classification system that allows for only two separate gender categories. The gender binary is

just one of many gender systems, and there’s ample evidence that even within this strict

binary system, there has always been some room for change, growth, and flexibility. Gender

terms change over time to represent different ways of doing gender: girly-girl, tomboy, emo,

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metrosexual. Within show business, we have particularly seen and welcomed non-conforming

expressions of gender and sexuality. Artists like David Bowie wore makeup and dresses and

adopted an androgynous style, incorporating both feminine and masculine characteristics. In

1984, Prince’s song “I Would Die 4 U” proclaimed, “I’m not a woman; I’m not a man. I am

something that you’ll never understand.” In 1981, his “Controversy” lyrics asked, “Am I Black or

White? Am I straight or gay?” In a video released in 2021, Demi Lovato announced “Over the

past year and a half, I’ve been doing some healing and self-reflective work, and through this

work I’ve had the revelation that I identify as non-binary…I’ll officially be changing my

pronouns to they/them. I feel that this best represents the fluidity I feel in my gender expression

and allows me to feel most authentic and true to the person I both know I am and still am

discovering."31 This reminds us of sociologist Cary Gabriel Costello’s observation that the extra

time and space to self-reflect during the COVID-19 pandemic may have accelerated

people’s timeline for coming out as transgender or non-binary.32 Can you think of other

examples of non-binary gender expression?

David Bowie. (Source: Wikipedia Commons)

Let’s return to the student who asserted that gender is what your birth certificate says

you are. For this student, gender is fixed, and gender is binary; you are either a man or a

woman. The reality is that people experience gender in complex, nuanced ways. For

example, Mack Beggs is a transgender wrestler who won the Texas state high school girls’

wrestling championship in 2017 and 2018. Although he identifies as male and wanted to

wrestle boys, he competed against girls during his high school career because Texas law

requires students to wrestle based on the gender listed on birth certificates. He has endured

slurs and insults, including being called “fag” and “it.” When he was younger, Mack struggled

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with suicidal thoughts and engaged in self-harm. Reflecting back to when he was younger,

Mack says: “I was angry as in why I got made like this. Why do I have to feel this way? I

couldn’t figure out my identity.” His mother has been supportive: “I knew that something was

different when he was five he had asked why God gave him girl parts instead of boy parts,”

she explained in an interview.33 That Mack was legally required to wrestle opponents based on

his birth gender illustrates the power of the gender binary system. However, his desire to wrestle

opponents based on his identity (and his family’s acceptance of him) represents a shift away

from the gender binary. Mack went on to make the men’s wrestling team at Life University.34

Institutions and organizations are also acknowledging that not everyone fits into a strict

gender binary. Originally, Facebook had only two options for gender: male or female. In 2014,

it expanded the gender options to 58 different labels,35 including transgender and cisgender,

the broad classifiers “neither,” “other,” and “non-binary,” and many more specific ones (for

definitions of each, look at this explainer from The Daily Beast). By 2015, Facebook opened up

the list even more. The company’s diversity page states, “Now, if you do not identify with the

pre-populated list of gender identities, you are able to add your own. As before, you can add

up to ten gender terms and also have the ability to control the audience with whom you

would like to share your custom gender. We recognize that some people face challenges

sharing their true gender identity with others, and this setting gives people the ability to express

themselves in an authentic way.”36

Public opinion data provides a glimpse into beliefs about gender identity: 55% of

Americans believe there are only two genders, with men more likely than women to express a

belief that only two genders exist. Comfort level with transgender people is mixed; while a

majority of Americans say they’d be comfortable learning a close friend is transgender, slightly

less than half would be comfortable if their child revealed they were transgender. When asked

about their views of transgender rights, Americans report that their support has increased in

recent years. A majority of Americans say they favor allowing transgender people to be in the

U.S. military.37

With regard to gender, we are living in a time of change. But many of our elected

officials have made it clear they do not embrace this change. Florida governor Ron DeSantis

signed into law a ban on transgender athletes participating in women’s sports at high school

and college levels. "In Florida, girls are going to play girls sports and boys are going to play

boys sports," DeSantis said. The law is similar to ones in Idaho, Arkansas, Mississippi and

Tennessee that restrict transgender girls and women from playing on teams that match their

gender identity.38 Such legislation reinforces the myth that trans people don’t know what’s

best for themselves and portrays them as a danger to others.39

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Intersectional perspectives on gender

When actress Patricia Arquette won the Best Actress Oscar in 2015, she used her time

on the podium and backstage to highlight the wage gap between men and women, even in

Hollywood. Arquette’s statements became controversial, however, because of the way she

talked about various marginalized groups in America. She said:

It’s time for women. Equal means equal. The truth is the older women get, the less

money they make. The highest percentage of children living in poverty are in female-headed

households. It’s inexcusable that we go around the world and we talk about equal rights for

women in other countries and we don’t…. It’s time for all the women in America, and all the

men that love women and all the gay people and all the people of color that we’ve all

fought for to fight for us now.40

Her comments seem like the type of earnest expression that would garner praise from

the audience, so why were they controversial? As feminist author Amanda Marcotte noted,

“gay people and all the people of color” are categories that also include women.

Arquette’s words suggested that all

women find themselves in the same

position. A different perspective, called

intersectionality, refers to the ways in which

different types of social relations are linked

together in complex ways, creating very

different experiences for different groups of

people. Developed by legal scholar

Kimberlé Crenshaw, intersectionality argues

that gender, race, class, (dis)ability,

sexuality, geography, and other

characteristics intersect and interact to

shape individual experience.41 This means

gender can never be examined or

understood in a vacuum. We always have

other identities, interactions, and relations that affect who we are and how we experience the

world.

When it comes to the intersection of race and masculinity, for example, certain ideas

and images are so common we don’t think twice about them. As Mark Anthony Neal says,

“The example I always use is if we see a Black man with a basketball, we don't even have to

process that. We’ve seen it so many times in our lives, we know exactly what that means.” In

contrast, the sight of a Black man with a violin would give us pause and lead to questions:

How did he get the violin? Does he know how to play it? His point is that some images and

definitions of Black masculinity are easily defined, while others are not immediately grasped.42

Kimberlè Crenshaw developed the idea of intersectionality.

(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

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Consider Barack Obama’s relatively quick rise to become America’s first Black

president. To do so, he had to make America comfortable with the idea of a Black man being

president. Part of what made that possible, Neal argues, is that Obama represented an

exceptional Black man who stood in contrast to longstanding stereotypes of African-American

men as lazy and irresponsible. He describes Obama’s performance of masculinity as nearly

flawless. The only stronger performance of a Black man as commander-in-chief we might

imagine is Will Smith portraying an American president in a blockbuster movie.43

With an intersectional lens, we must consider the mistreatment and dangers that Black

men face in public space. In New York City’s Central Park, a White woman recently called the

police on Christian Cooper after saying to him "I'm going to tell them there's an African

American man threatening my life” – which video footage clearly shows was not true. George

Floyd died after a White police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. Ahmaud

Arbery was shot to death after being pursued by two White men while he was jogging.44

Sociologist Rashawn Ray offered this analysis in an interview about Arbery: “Blackness

becomes weaponized; a Black man doesn’t necessarily have to have a weapon on him, but

instead his physical body becomes perceived as a weapon that could do bodily harm onto

others. This is primarily linked to stereotypes that people have about Black men as being more

aggressive, having a higher propensity to commit crimes, or being emotionally unstable. You

put these together and it leads to Black men being threatened by others. And it leads to

others, like in the case of Ahmaud, enacting physical violence onto Black men when they’re

simply doing something like going for a jog.”45

President Obama with a staff member’s daughter in the White House. (Source: Wikipedia Commons)

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Sociological research also shows how femininity intersects with ethnicity, religion, and

nationality. In “We Don’t Sleep Around Like White Girls Do,” sociologist Yen Le Espiritu examines

how immigrant families from the Philippines “claim through gender the power denied them by

racism.”46 Espiritu’s Filipino subjects rarely identified themselves as Americans because they

equated American-ness with Whiteness. Feeling marginalized and not fully American, they

noted differences in gender norms between cultures. They argued that Americans – especially

American women – lack sexual morality: “In America… sex is nothing.”47 The “ideal Filipina”

was constructed to be “everything American women were not: she is sexually modest and

dedicated to her family; they are sexually promiscuous and uncaring.”48 This created a lot of

restrictions on and expectations about young Filipina-American women, who struggled

between their parents’ ways and American ways. (Of course, restrictions on and expectations

for young women’s sexuality is not unique to Filipino families; research on the topic spans the

globe, through many generations.) These families held up these gender norms as a means to

regain the power they’d been denied because of their race. The young women were

expected to uphold the image of a “good Filipino girl.” In doing this, the young women

weren’t only keepers of the home; they were protectors of cultural authenticity. They were

expected to maintain gendered norms and ethnocultural ones (cultural influences of the

ethnic groups to which we belong).

Espiritu’s work is a great example of an intersectional lens on gender. To understand

people’s experiences, we can’t separate out gender relations and remove race or ethnicity

from the equation. We can’t eliminate the generational divide between immigrant parents

and their American-born children, or forget to account for geography, language, or time

period. All of these factors together intersect to create our everyday gendered reality. The

same is true for you, whatever your story.

REVIEW SHEET: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES OF GENDER

CLICK THE LINK FOR:

LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY QUESTIONS

AUDIO KEY POINTS

PRACTICE QUIZ KEY PEOPLE

VOCABULARY CROSSWORD PUZZLES KEY TERMS

Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

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INEQUALITIES AND PROGRESS

 What are examples of feminist principles? What is intersectional feminism?

 How is inequality entrenched in social institutions like the workplace?

 What progress has been made toward gender equality? What else can we do?

Feminism

We’ve discussed how gender is a social construction that may change over time or

context. Because gender divides people into categories, people who fall into those

categories can experience the world differently, with tangible consequences for their lives

and life chances.

The most notable consequence is persistent gender inequality, where individuals or

groups are treated and perceived differently based upon their gender. Because of persistent

inequality in social, political, economic, and interpersonal status, feminism has a long history.

Feminism is usually used in the singular form, but it refers to a collection of movements that

advocate for equality for all sexes and genders. In the U.S., these movements stem from a

broad coalition of women who fought for the right to vote, receive an education, have

custody of their children, own property, get married and divorced when they wished, and

have the same career choices as men. Today there are multiple feminisms, and people of all

genders call themselves feminist.

The term also often comes with negative associations. In Bad Feminist, Roxane Gay

recalls an argument with a man she was dating in which he said to her, “Don’t raise your voice

to me,” before continuing by giving his opinion about how women should talk to men. This

confused Gay because she hadn’t raised her voice, nor had anyone said something like that

to her before. The man concluded by asking, “You’re some kind of feminist, aren’t you?”

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His “accusation” reflects the stereotypical idea that

feminists are simply angry women, rather than passionate

individuals or activists who are concerned with achieving

equality between all genders. Some fundamental feminist

principles are equal pay for equal work, reproductive

freedom, reducing all forms of harassment and violence

against women, and improving the treatment and status of

women throughout the world.

But these principles don’t encompass all of feminism.

Intersectional feminists like bell hooks remind us that we

can’t divorce gender from other social relations. In her

book Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, hooks is

critical of feminist ideas that became popular in the 1960s,

such as the work of Betty Friedan.49 Friedan spoke of “the

problem that has no name” in her 1963 book The Feminine

Mystique.50 The problem was being dissatisfied with the life of a stay-at-home wife. There was a

yearning for something more, a longing to have a career. But this feminism focused on White

women of the middle and upper classes. As hooks pointed out, it ignored poor White women

and women who weren’t White; these women often had to work to help support the family,

even if they would have loved the opportunity to stay home with their children. Middle-class

and upper-class women have more choices, advantages, and opportunities than do poor

White women and women of color. And the choices and opportunities for women of color are

constrained not only by sexism but also racism.

Feminists of color note that reproductive rights in the U.S. are usually discussed in terms

of being able to prevent pregnancy. However, the U.S. also has a long history of coerced and

forcing sterilization and contraception on Native American and African American women.51

Some women were sterilized without their knowledge

or consent while having other surgical procedures.

These forced sterilizations during other procedures or

for unnecessary reasons were so common that civil

rights legend Fannie Lou Hamer dubbed them

“Mississippi Appendectomies.”52

Another example of intersectional feminism is

LGBTQ feminists noting that the discourse on coming

out typically encourages people to openly

acknowledge their sexuality to spread awareness

and “refuse to hide.” But for some people, coming

out is not only difficult, but dangerous. Alan Pelaez

Intersectionality means that we should

understand people as more than one

thing-even conflicting things-at the

same time. (Source)

(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

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Lopez explains that some undocumented LGBTQ people feel they can’t come out – being

undocumented is stressful enough on its own. Some LGBTQ folks live in areas where they don’t

have a community they can turn to when they feel alone. Others have families with religious or

cultural traditions that mean choosing between coming out and having a place to live and

food to eat.53 Intersectional feminism stresses the importance of taking all social relations into

consideration, so we don’t erase the full set of people’s experiences. An inclusive feminism

takes into account the needs of all women and their differences along lines of race,

nationality, social class, religion, gender expression, body type, and (dis)ability.54

Institutional inequality

Imagine you’re in a meeting at work. You make a suggestion, but no one really

responds. A few minutes later, Sam from accounting makes the same suggestion and your

boss says, “That’s a great idea. Good work, Sam.” You begin to wonder: Did the boss like

Sam’s suggestion because he phrased it better? Or because Sam is a man and you’re a

woman? Later in the meeting, someone notices the coffee pot is empty and asks you to refill

it. You wonder: Is your coworker asking you because you’re sitting close to the coffee? Or

does the person think it’s your job? At the end of the meeting, as you get up to leave, the boss

tells you that you’re doing a good job and rests his hand on your lower back as he tells the

room that he’s proud of you. Again, you wonder: Is he just being friendly? Would he make the

same kind of physical contact with Sam from accounting?

This description of a work meeting might sound far-fetched, but sociologists have

documented extensive work-based gender inequality. For women in corporate environments,

it’s not uncommon to have their authority questioned, be interrupted in meetings, face

expectations that they be nice and never complain, and experience unwanted sexual

advances.

An article on gender in the technology industry, “Why Is Silicon Valley So Awful to

Women?”, described women who had dealt with all of these issues.55 Regarding the

expectation to be nice and not complain, software engineer Tracy Chou’s experience was

that men who worked as engineers were not held to the same standard; excuses were made

for male engineers who were difficult co-workers. The tech industry is male-dominated, and

gender norms have been slow to change. “I am angry that things are no better for a 22-year-

old at the beginning of her career than they were for me 25 years ago when I was just starting

out,” says Bethanye Blount, one of the women mentioned in the article.

Results from a survey of 210 women in the technology industry (specifically Silicon

Valley) indicate that the experiences of the women in the article aren’t uncommon:56

 47% reported being asked to do lower-level tasks that male colleagues were not asked

to do, such as taking notes and ordering food;

 87% experienced demeaning comments from male colleagues;

Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

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 66% felt excluded from networking opportunities because of their gender;

 60% reported unwanted sexual advances (many coming from a superior).

With experiences like this, it’s not surprising that women leave the tech industry at more

than twice the rate men do. Women hold approximately 25% of computing and

mathematical jobs in the U.S., and the percentage of computer and information science

majors who are women is lower now (18%) than at its peak in 1984 (37%).57

Another workplace environment where women encounter inequality is the restaurant

industry. Sexual harassment from owners, coworkers, and customers is a common experience

for women workers, including sexualized jokes, unwanted touching, and comments on their

appearance. In their research, Deborah Harris and Patti Giuffre found that a culture of

harassment is a barrier to women’s success in the culinary industry. They point out that there

isn’t always a process in place for restaurant workers to report harassment; some restaurants

don’t even have a Human Resources department. Moreover, women are often pressured to

not report harassment. As Harris and Giuffre point out: “Such conditions make it difficult to

prove when someone has a history of harassment and misbehavior. Women then have to rely

on informal networks to learn if a workplace is safe. This can be especially difficult for less

advantaged women, such as interns new to the industry or undocumented workers who make

up a large portion of the lower ranks of the restaurant industry. These women may feel they

have little recourse from harassment.”58

Women are not only treated differently than men, they’re also paid less. For full-time

and part-time workers in the U.S., women earned 84% as much as men in 2020.59 This disparity

in pay is amplified when we consider race and ethnicity as well. White men have higher hourly

wages than women of all races, but the highest earners of all groups are Asian-American men.

The wage gap has narrowed significantly in recent decades, but some groups of women

The tech industry is male-dominated, which can present challenges

for women. (Source)

Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

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have made much more progress than others. For example, White women earned 60 cents for

every dollar earned by White men in 1980; it’s now 82 cents. In comparison, Black women

earned 56 cents for every dollar earned by White men in 1980; this has only increased to 65

cents.60

Figure 1: Ratio of Women’s to Men’s Earnings, 1980-2009

(Source: Wikipedia Commons)

One reason for this wage gap is that many jobs in the U.S. economy are low-paying

and more likely to be held by women. The low-wage jobs that women mostly do – food

preparation, restaurant servers, cosmetology, cleaning, housekeeping, teaching assistants,

child care, elderly care, home care aides, office work, cashiers – are projected to increase.

Women of color are heavily represented in these low-wage jobs.

There are fewer low-wage jobs “for men,” and they pay more. Examples include carpet

installers, construction laborers, drywall installers, janitors, painters, roofers, stock clerks, taxi

drivers, butchers, head cooks, equipment cleaners, maintenance workers, and security

guards.61

As Jessica Schieder and Elise Gould point out, the sorting of men and women into

different occupations is partly shaped by discrimination and social norms. Ideas and

expectations about what constitutes “men's work” and “women's work” impact our choices to

pursue particular careers. Family members, peers, and mentors encourage or discourage our

job interests. And when women enter a profession in greater numbers, the pay in that field

tends to decline; when greater numbers of men enter a profession, wages go up. For

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example, computer programming, a set of jobs initially held primarily by women, became

more lucrative as it became more male-dominated.62

During the COVID-19 pandemic, women have been more likely than men to leave the

labor force. A key reason is that women took on additional childcare responsibilities due to

schools and daycare facilities closing or moving to remote instruction. Another important

factor is that women are more likely to have the types of jobs affected by closures caused by

COVID-19 health measures (personal care services and food preparation, for example, which

generally could not be performed remotely), making women more likely to experience

unemployment. Occupations that have been less impacted by layoffs during the pandemic

are more likely to be held by men (engineering and management, for example).63

Sociologists’ work shows us that inequalities are more complicated than we often

assume. Take the motherhood penalty, the systematic disadvantages in wages, benefits, and

other career factors that are associated with motherhood. Studies of mothers who work show

that the costs of raising a child are disproportionately felt by women.64 Michelle Budig and

Paula England showed that the wage penalty increases with the number of children, with a

7% wage penalty per child.65 Further, Shelley J. Correll, Stephen Benard, and In Paik’s work

shows that not only were mothers perceived as less competent at their jobs, but fathers were

sometimes seen as more competent. Fathers’ paychecks sometimes even increased from

being a parent. This benefit in wages and perceived competence is called the fatherhood

bonus. Look back at Figure 2: there isn’t a single state where mothers, on average, make as

much as fathers.66

Class interacts with the motherhood penalty and fatherhood bonus. The bias is

strongest at the extremes. High-income men enjoy the biggest wage bump, while poor

women suffer the biggest penalty. In other words, as Michelle Budig puts it, “[f]amilies with

lower resources are bearing more of the economic costs of raising kids.”67

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Figure 2: Mothers’ Earnings Compared to Fathers’ Earnings, by State

Race matters, too. Rebecca Glauber’s research suggests that for married White and

Latino men, having a child is associated with increased wages. But married Black men get a

smaller fatherhood bonus, on average, than White and Latino men do.68 Glauber also found

no motherhood wage penalty for Hispanic women, and a wage penalty for Black women

only after they have at least two children. However, all White mothers experienced a wage

penalty. One reason for these racial differences might be that motherhood and work haven’t

historically been separate in Black and Hispanic families, which might increase overall

motivation to work. Glauber also suggests that there might be a “floor” to the motherhood

Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

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wage penalty. That is, African-American and Hispanic/Latino women already earn less than

White women; there may not be much room for their wages to fall even more.69 Overall,

Glauber’s work indicates that race and gender intersect with workplace experiences to

create and support gendered inequalities.

There are indicators of American women's progress. For instance, women are more

likely to enroll in college than men are.70 Women now graduate from college at higher rates

than men and are more likely to attend graduate school.71 But despite this progress, gender

inequality persists in our institutions, and perhaps nowhere is this clearer than in politics.

On June 7, 2008, Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a speech after ending her campaign for

the Democratic presidential nomination. She endorsed her competitor, then-Senator Barack

Obama. The theme of equality was a key component of her speech. The most memorable

part involved her vision of the future:

As we gather here today in this historic, magnificent building, the 50th woman to leave

this Earth is orbiting overhead. If we can blast 50 women into space, we will someday launch a

woman into the White House. Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass

ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it…and the light is shining

through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will

be a little easier next time.72

The glass ceiling is a metaphor to describe barriers that women face in the workplace

that prevent them from reaching higher positions. The phrase reportedly originated in 1979

from a conversation between two women who worked for Hewlett-Packard. One of those

women, Katherine Lawrence, recalled a presentation she gave that year about corporate

culture: "I presented the concept of how in corporate America, the official policy is one way—

the sky's the limit—but in actuality, the sky had a glass ceiling for women.”73

The term became popular after it was used in a 1986 special report in the Wall Street

Journal that focused on obstacles women encountered in corporate America.74 The report

mentioned several problems: being excluded from an important meeting or informal

networking session that takes place between men on a golf course, not being offered an

executive position even after a series of promotions, blatant stereotypes about women being

unfit for management, and assumptions that women would prioritize family over career.

Clinton came close again to breaking through the glass ceiling when most polls

indicated she was going to beat Donald Trump in the 2016 election to become the first female

president of the United States. Love him or hate him, consider this: Trump won the presidency

despite it coming to light that he said that fame enabled him to treat women any way he

wanted. In 2005, when he was nearly 60 years old, he was recorded saying: “You know I’m

automatically attracted to beautiful…I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. I just kiss. I don’t

even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything… Grab them by

Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

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the pussy. You can do anything.” Trump released a statement describing his words as locker-

room banter, saying “I apologize if anyone was offended.”75

Put all of your powers of imagination to use for a moment to consider how the

American public would have reacted had Hillary Clinton been recording saying “You know

I’m automatically attracted to handsome…I just

start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. I just kiss. I

don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let

you do it. You can do anything… Grab them by

the dick. You can do anything.” We write this not

for shock value, but rather to seriously

contemplate how voters would react to a

woman saying this. This thought exercise reveals

just how salient gender relations are in our

political system.

Raw statistics reinforce the point. At the

state level, just 44 women have served as

governors in the United States. In 2011, Nikki

Haley and Susana Martinez became the first women of color to serve as governors, in South

Carolina and New Mexico, respectively.76 There hasn’t yet been an African American woman

governor.

A strong presence on the Supreme Court is an indicator of impressive progress for

women in America. Three of the 9 current Supreme Court justices are women: Sonia

Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Amy Coney Barrett. Sotomayor is the first Latina to serve on the

Supreme Court. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the first Jewish woman – and only the second

woman ever – to be appointed to the Supreme Court, in 1993. She served as a justice until her

death in 2020. Yet even on the most prestigious court in the nation, women are treated

differently. A recent examination of transcripts of oral arguments before the Court showed

that male justices interrupt the female justices nearly three times as often as they interrupt

other male judges.77 During the process of being confirmed for a seat on the Supreme Court in

2020, Barrett was asked by Senator John Cornyn “How do you and your husband manage two

full-time professional careers and, at the same time, take care of your large family?” Senator

Dianne Feinstein asked Barrett if she had a “magic formula” for handling her parenting and

career. Such questions highlighted her family life and offered praise for balancing family and

career, even though these are not direct qualifications for the job of being a Supreme Court

justice. Moreover, these are not the kinds of questions typically asked of men.78

Kamala Harris made history in the 2020 election by becoming the first woman Vice

President of the United States. As Rebecca Traister observes, Harris is a historical anomaly,

given that she is a Black woman, of Indian descent, and in 2017 was only the second Black

Former South Carolina governor and UN

Ambassador Nikki Haley. (Source: Wikipedia

Commons)

Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

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woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate (the first being Carol Moseley Braun in 1993). As Traister

notes, voters passed over the six women who ran for president--Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten

Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Tulsi Gabbard, and Marianne Williamson. Harris then was presented

to voters as Joe Biden’s right-hand woman.79

Social inequalities also affect our bodies. Take the example of life expectancy: there

are well-documented differences by gender and race. First, women overall live longer than

men. And second, Whites live longer than Blacks or Latinos.80

Think about Figure 3. On many measures, women in the U.S. and elsewhere experience

social inequalities. Women have higher rates of chronic disease, as well as higher rates of

depression and anxiety.81 And they’re more likely to be victims of violence.82 Women also

generally earn less than men. So if women are systematically socially disadvantaged in

multiple ways, why do they live longer than men? This is simplifying things a bit; if you look at

the graph, you can see that Hispanic men have a longer life expectancy than Black women.

But in general, women live longer than men. Why?

Figure 3: Life Expectancy at Birth, by Hispanic Origin, Race, and Sex, 2006–201283

(Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Vital Statistics Reports)

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), there may be multiple reasons. First,

there could be sex-based biological reasons. For example, women’s higher levels of estrogen

may protect them against high cholesterol; men’s higher rates of testosterone may leave

Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

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them vulnerable to cholesterol-related disease.84 But WEF also notes that women tend to be

more “health-aware”; that is, women are, on average, more in tune with physical and mental

symptoms and may be more able to communicate their issues with healthcare providers.

Women are also more likely to go to the doctor when something is wrong.85 Men may feel

pressure to act in “masculine” ways, which might mean holding in problems and not reaching

out for help, trying to “tough it out.” It’s perhaps partly due to these reasons that men are also

more likely to die by suicide.86 As with all things human, gender inequality is complex and

multi-faceted.

Gender inequality, though, isn’t the result of physiology, anatomy, or hormones. It is

produced, maintained, and embedded in our institutions.87 If nature caused gender

inequality, then that inequality would be the same at all times and in all places. But it isn’t. We

don’t all experience gender the same way. This is cause for hope. If we build inequality, we

can dismantle it, too.

Gender and violence

In July 2017, author and

transgender rights activist Janet

Mock appeared on The Breakfast

Club, a syndicated radio show that

calls itself “the world’s most

dangerous morning show.”88 Mock,

a transgender woman, went on the

show to talk about her new book.

The conversation on the show,

which also featured comedian Lil

Duval and radio personality

Charlamagne Tha God, reveals something troubling about gender and violence:

[host] DJ Envy poses a hypothetical question to his guest about dating and sleeping

with a woman who discloses that she’s trans after four months of courtship.

“This might sound messed up and I don’t care,” Duval says. “She dying. I can’t deal

with that.”

“That’s a hate crime,” Charlamagne says. “You can’t do that.”

“You manipulated me to believe in this thing,” Duval says, before continuing, “If one

did that to me, and they didn’t tell me, I’mma be so mad I’m probably going to want

to kill them.”89

This conversation exists within a context in which violence and assault are

disproportionately experienced by transgender people. In a national study of 1,876 students in

grades K-12 who identify as transgender or gender non-conforming, respondents reported

Janet Mock. (Source)

Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

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high rates of harassment (78%), physical assault (35%), and sexual assault (12%). The

harassment and violence experienced by these K-12 students comes not only from other

students but also teachers and staff.90 In fact, the Bureau of Justice Statistics Office for Victims

of Crime reports that one-half to two-thirds of trans people are sexually abused or assaulted at

some point in their lives.91 According to the Human Rights Campaign, “…it is clear that fatal

violence disproportionately affects transgender women of color, and that the intersections of

racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia conspire to deprive them of employment,

housing, healthcare, and other necessities, barriers that make them vulnerable.”92 Sadly, the

HRC reports that “advocates tracked at least 27 deaths of transgender or gender non-

conforming people in the U.S. due to fatal violence, the majority of whom were Black

transgender women.” 93 HRC notes that this high rate of violence reflects anti-transgender bias

as well as the social circumstances faced by a higher number of transgender people than the

general population, including poverty, homelessness, and being forced into sex work.

The statistics on gender and violence are eye-opening and disturbing. As reported by

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 1 in 5 women in the

United States experiences rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. Among women who report

experiencing a rape, 40% were first victimized before age 18, with more than 28% indicating

they were first raped between the ages of 11 and 17. Other forms of sexual violence also

occur at high rates; 12.5% of women have experienced sexual coercion (verbal, non-physical

pressure that results in unwanted penetration), 27.3% have experienced unwanted sexual

contact (such as fondling), and 32.1% have experienced unwanted sexual experiences that

didn’t involve physical contact (for example, verbal harassment). 94

(Source: CDC data)

Young women grow up hearing advice about staying safe from sexual violence. We

are told to carry pepper spray in our purses, not to walk alone at night, and to carefully watch

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our drinks at parties to make sure they aren’t tampered with. Advice like this assumes that

people are at highest risk of being victimized by a stranger, but in fact it is estimated that 80%

of such crimes fall under the category of acquaintance rape, a rape or sexual assault that

occurs between people who already know each other.95 Survivors of sexual violence,

especially those who know their assailants, are often hesitant to speak out about their

experience; only about 34% of all rapes or sexual assaults are ever reported to the police.96

Some survivors don’t speak out because they worry about retaliation; others struggle

with feelings of guilt, shame, or the fear that they will not be believed. Unfortunately, those

who do disclose may become targets of victim-blaming, when survivors are viewed as

responsible for their own assaults. The tendency to blame survivors is one example of what

sociologists refer to as a rape myth. Rape myths are stereotyped or false beliefs about sexual

violence that may excuse or naturalize the perpetrator’s behavior (for example, arguing that

a man who is sexually aroused might “not be able to control himself”) while shifting

responsibility to the victim (“what did she think would happen if she dressed like that?” or “they

shouldn’t have drunk so much”).

Although rape and sexual assault are often framed as “women’s issues,” both

cisgender and transgender men also experience sexual violence. About 2.6% of men report

experiencing rape or attempted rape in their lifetimes, and 17.9% report experiencing some

kind of unwanted sexual contact.97 Because one common rape myth assumes that men

“must” always want sex or sexual attention, male survivors of sexual assault may worry that

they won’t be believed if they disclose their experience. “Becoming a victim” is also

incompatible with the gendered expectations our society places on boys and men, who are

often taught that being masculine means being strong, dominant, and in control.

Our homes, families, and intimate relationships should be a place of safety and support

for us, but unfortunately this is not always the case. Intimate partner violence (IPV) (also

sometimes referred to as domestic violence) is usually defined as abuse occurring between

current or former spouses, someone they are dating, or romantic partners. According to the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 36% of American women reported

experiencing “sexual violence (such as rape, attempted rape or sexual coercion), physical

violence, or stalking” at the hands of an intimate partner at least once in their lives. Men

reported only a slightly lower rate of such victimization (33.6%), though the experience of

“severe physical violence” (such as being punched, choked or attacked with a weapon) still

seems to be more common for women (21.4%) than men (14.9%).98

One common question that students often have about IPV and family violence is “why

doesn’t the victim just leave?” The reasons are varied, but one factor is that such relationships

often involve elements of power and coercion that go beyond the types of violence already

addressed. For example, some abusers will use proxy violence, harming or threatening to

harm someone else, like a child, other loved one, or even a pet, if the victim tries to leave. In

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fact, threats to harm household pets are so common, some domestic violence shelters now

allow victims to bring them along. Reproductive coercion involves forcing parenthood on an

unwilling partner through means ranging from violence to contraceptive sabotage (for

example, by tampering with birth control to make it less effective); the resulting parenthood

can increase the victim’s dependence on the abuser. Finally, abusers may consolidate power

through tactics like financial abuse—preventing the victim

from working or restricting their access to money they’ve

earned. Such tactics can be found in other kinds of coercive,

controlling relationships as well. In 2021, global media reported

on allegations made by pop star Britney Spears that her father

had abused his position as her legal conservator. A

conservatorship may be granted by a court when an

individual is deemed unable to make their own decisions due

to an issue like mental illness or dementia (in Spears’s case, her

father’s conservatorship dates from two temporary psychiatric

hospitalizations in 2008). Spears, now 38, has petitioned the

court to remove her father from this position, testifying that he

has used it to gain control of her finances, coerce her to

perform, restrict who she dated, and even to force her to stay

on contraceptives against her will.

Gender is also a key factor in school shootings. When you hear the phrase “school

shooting,” what comes to mind? Maybe you think of December 14, 2012, the day 20-year-old

Adam Lanza shot and killed twenty children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School

before shooting himself. Or maybe you’re reminded of April 16, 2007, the date of one of the

deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history;99 23-year old Seung-Hui Cho walked onto the

Virginia Tech campus and opened fire, killing 32 people and injuring 17 before killing himself.

You might even think back to April 20, 1999, when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold stormed into

Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, killing twelve students and a teacher. Then they,

too, killed themselves.

Sociologist Katherine Newman argues that gender plays a significant role in these

shootings. Her data show that a complex mix of social factors, such as rigid social

enforcement of masculine stereotypes and being rejected and ridiculed by peers and desired

romantic partners, contribute to boys’ feelings of emasculation. These shooters lash out in

anger and humiliation through violence, which they use to reframe themselves as powerful

and masculine.100 School shootings are overwhelmingly a male phenomenon. In fact, there

are so few cases of female mass shooters that they haven’t even been studied.101 But what

does that mean for our understandings of why violence occurs?

Britney Spears (Source)

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Feminist sociology of deviance is a diverse area, but scholars share the perspective that

traditional understandings of crime and violence are androcentric—they focus mainly on the

experiences of men. As sociologist Sally Simpson explains, the field “…is shaped by male

experiences and understandings of the social world. Such studied realities form the core of

‘general’ theories of crime/deviance without taking female experience, as crime participant

or victim, into account.”102 So feminist work on crime and violence attempts to include

women.

For example, Meda Chesney-Lind’s work focuses on the experiences of young women.

She argues that juvenile justice systems can criminalize the survival behaviors of young

women.103 Girls are more likely than boys to suffer child sexual abuse. Chesney-Lind shows that

some of the delinquent behavior common to young girls is survival behavior associated with

sexual abuse trauma, like “running away from home, difficulties in school, truancy… early

marriage,” and promiscuity.104 Ultimately, Chesney-Lind argues that a feminist perspective on

deviance provides a fuller explanation of the causes and context of delinquency.105

Did you know that one of the first modern-day school shooters was a teenage girl? On

January 29, 1979, 16-year old Brenda Spencer went to Grover Cleveland Elementary School

near her San Diego home armed with a .22 rifle and shot across the street, killing the principal

and the custodian. Spencer also wounded eight children and a police officer. When the

police asked Spencer why she did it, she replied, “I don’t like Mondays.”106 In 2014, school

administrators at Radnor High School in Wayne, Pennsylvania, found a notebook from a 17-

year-old girl. She wrote that she wanted to be the first female “mass” shooter. From her

notebook: “But imagine the power…The bullets leaving the gun with a loud bang, piercing

kids around me, the way they collapse, their blood splattering the floor...the screams.”107 And

in March 2017, 18-year-old Nicole Cevario was pulled out of her high school class by her

father. He was worried about her strange behavior and read her diary. In it, she revealed plans

to bomb her school and shoot teachers and students. Cevario wrote about her admiration for

the Columbine and Sandy Hook shootings.108 When the police investigated, they found that

Cevario had a stockpile of bomb-making materials and a gun.109 Her father called the school

in the nick of time; she was pulled out of class on March 23rd, and had planned the attack for

April 5th.

The prevailing stereotype is that school shooters are men – especially White men. But

young women are also capable of planning and carrying out violence. Yet when female

shooters commit violence, often these women and girls aren’t recognized as school

shooters.110 Since our collective ideas about school shooters overlook those who aren’t White

males, our models of prevention and detection might not be as good as they could be; we risk

missing important red flags for women-led mass violence.111 And that has the potential to be

devastating.

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We also see gender differences in how we understand violence perpetrated on

women. Often, these differences are intersectional as well. Take the example of Breonna

Taylor, who was killed in her home by police officers after they burst into her apartment as she

slept in the spring of 2020. Andrea Ritchie, a police misconduct attorney, was shocked that

Taylor’s name wasn’t voiced along with George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, and

others at the protests demanding justice for Black people killed by police that began in early

summer. In her work, Ritchie argues that a lot of our understanding and discourse of the victims

of police brutality center around Black (mostly cisgender and heterosexual) men. Ritchie

argues that Black women and LGBTQ people have often faced multiple forms of

discrimination with less representation in the national conversation. Ritchie’s work

contextualizes cases of women who have suffered police violence and mass incarceration,

such as Taylor, Sandra Bland, Rekia Boyd, Dajerria Becton, Monica Jones, Mya Hall, Eleanor

Bumpurs, and Kayla Moore.112 She tells the New York Times, “We’re not trying to compete with

Floyd’s story, we’re trying to complete the story.”113

Black women have also been at the forefront of violence prevention: the Black Lives

Matter movement was begun by three Black women, Opal Tometi, Patrisse Cullors, and Alicia

Garza. Since its creation in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer, the

campaign has grown into a national entity, with chapters across the United States;

additionally, the phrase and hashtag #BlackLivesMatter has become the rallying cry of racial

justice used by people across races and backgrounds. It remains important to consider and

reconsider the ways in which gender intersects with race, class, sexuality, dis/ability,

geography, and more, to affect people’s experiences as victims, witnesses, and agents of

change.

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Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

Page 31

SEXUALITIES

 How is sexuality a social construction?

 Do our experiences of race, gender, and other social relations affect how we experience

and understand sexuality?

 How do we socially regulate sexual expression?

The creation of sexuality

“I was born this way.” This is the refrain of Lady Gaga’s hugely popular 2011 hit, which

asserted that the performer’s sexuality was with her from birth. Americans sang along, but did

we agree with her?

For the past 40 years, the Gallup polling organization has asked Americans whether gay

and lesbian people are “born that way” or whether their sexual preferences are due to factors

such as their upbringing and environment. When Gallup first collected data on this question in

1977, 13% of Americans selected “born with it” and 56% selected “upbringing/environment”

(the rest answered “both,” “neither,” or “no opinion”). In 2018, 50% of Americans thought gay

and lesbians were born that way, while 30% selected “upbringing/environment.” Only 10%

answered “both.”114

The data are clear—more and more Americans agree

with Lady Gaga. But are they right? Increasingly, scholars

have noted issues with the “nature over nurture” idea of

sexual orientation. For example, the problem with the “born

this way” idea, according to sociologist Shamus Khan, is that it

overstates the significance of biology.115 Khan doesn’t claim

that biology has no influence on sexual behavior, but argues

that it’s impossible to understand our sexuality without paying

more attention to our culture. The 10% of Americans who

answered “both” to the Gallup poll probably got it right:

sexuality is influenced by both biology and environment.

Let’s redirect our focus to ponder other questions

about sexuality: What kinds of sexual behaviors are

appropriate? Who is an acceptable sexual partner, and at

what age? Is there a “right” age to have sex for the first time?

The answers to these kinds of questions are shaped by society.

“Appropriate” sexual behavior varies historically and culturally. Khan gives the example

of pederasty, in which adult men form sexual relationships with boys; it was practiced in

Lady Gaga. (Source: Wikimedia

Commons)

Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

Page 32

ancient Greece. This seems shocking in our society today, but sexual behaviors and

expressions, like gender, change over time and are not the same across cultures. Our

understanding of sex, sexuality, and gender has always been in a state of evolution, and will

continue to change.

Like gender, sociologists think of sexuality as a social construction. Rather than seeing

sexuality as “natural,” Ruth Hubbard encourages us to understand it as something we’re

taught to express in socially acceptable ways.116 Parents may teach their children that sex is

about becoming mothers and fathers, or they might teach their kids about “responsible”

sexual conduct. But what does being sexually responsible actually mean? We may learn that

we should avoid sexually transmitted infections, or shouldn’t get pregnant “too young.” But

who – or what – determines “too young?” These ideas can be driven by religion, tradition,

scientific and technological advancements, local culture, or practical health concerns.

Consider the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has affected sexual behavior. During a

pandemic with stay-at-home orders and mandated social distancing, some activities may be

deemed too risky for strangers and acquaintances to engage in together. On the other hand,

for people already living together, sexual activity may (or may not) be increasing. Data are still

being collected, but one thing is for sure: our society guides (and often limits) our ideas about

sexual behavior.

During adolescence, we’re introduced to different ideas about sex from our peers.

Popular culture soaks us with images about sex and reinforces notions of what being sexy

supposedly means. People who consume pornography are presented with a set of ideas

about what sexual activity looks like. All of this information constructs our beliefs about what it

means to be a sexual person in our society.

Together we construct the meaning of labels such as “gay,” “lesbian,” “homosexual,”

“heterosexual,” “bisexual,” and “pansexual,” and create distinctions between sexually

acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. Heterosexuality itself was invented, as there was a

time that men and women weren’t thought to be sexual beings, or heterosexuals. In the first

half of the 1800s, sexual activity between men and women was supposed to serve the

purpose of creating children; sex was for reproduction, not pleasure. This period was

characterized by a production economy, focused on manufacturing and otherwise

producing items to sell. In this economy, the body was viewed as an instrument of work, and

sex was a means for reproduction. Erotic desire and a “healthy” interest in sex didn’t exist as

we know them today. As Jonathan Ned Katz explains, ideas of men and women as erotic

beings emerged in the second half of the 1800s, as the economy shifted to one based on

consumption of goods and services.117 The body began to be seen differently. By the late 19th

century, medical professionals believed men and women naturally had a healthy libido

(sexual desire) and sexual pleasure was considered normal, even necessary. A shift away from

believing sex was primarily for reproduction and toward viewing sex as pleasurable mirrored

Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

Page 33

the economic shift from a production-based economy to a consumer-based economy. In a

consumer society, pleasure is valued. We seek pleasure from what we buy. This value extends

to our bodies; we see our bodies as avenues to experience pleasure.

As Hanne Blank explains, there’s “a

difference between simply being and being

known.” In other words, acknowledgement

and written documentation from authority

figures changes something from simply existing

into something that is socially understood to be

“a real thing.”118 The word “heterosexual” first

appeared in the United States in an 1892

medical article by Dr. James G. Kiernan. But his

conception of “heterosexual” was different

from how we think of it today. Kiernan, who still

viewed procreation as the proper purpose of

sex, regarded heterosexuals as perverted

because they weren’t exclusively having sex in

order to get pregnant. He deemed their sexual desires to be abnormal because of their

interest in sexual pleasure.119 Kiernan’s article was also one of the earliest to use the word

“homosexual,” a group he also believed were deviant. Whereas heterosexuals were deviant

because they didn’t always have sex for the purpose of reproduction, Kiernan considered

homosexuals deviant because their sexual desire diverged from gender norms.

In the first section of the chapter, we explained how individuals “do gender” in

everyday life. Just as gender can be seen as a routine, daily set of activities, so can our sexual

identity. For instance, we may act in ways to deliberately project our sexual identity and let

others know we are heterosexual or homosexual. Think back to the example of Donald Trump

boasting about doing whatever he wants to women. It’s impossible to know why a prominent

individual would make that statement, but one interpretation is that bragging to another man

about his behavior with women reinforced his identity as a heterosexual man.

In some cases, people deliberately distance themselves from homosexuality to cement

their heterosexual status.120 Perhaps you’ve used the phrase “no homo” or heard someone

else say it. One use of this expression is as a follow-up to a compliment that one man gives to

another. After saying something nice about what a friend is wearing, a man might

immediately say “no homo” to make it clear that he has no homosexual feelings. The phrase

serves the dual purpose of projecting heterosexuality while designating homosexuality as a

second-class status. It’s an everyday example of doing sexuality.

Olivia Chow, a former Toronto mayoral candidate, at a

Pride Parade. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

Page 34

Intersectional sexualities

Sara “Saartjie” Baartman was one of the most famous women of the 1800s. A member

of the Khoikhoi (an indigenous group from southwestern Africa), and sold into slavery by

Europeans as a teenager, Baartman was taken to Europe from her home in Capetown, South

Africa, to be part of the “human freak show circuit” in England. Her body was displayed

mainly for White Europeans of the time, who saw her as exotic and inferior.121 Half-naked and

displayed in a cage that was only five feet tall, Baartman was subjected to “the gaze and

prodding of strangers” and was used by her captors and the public to hold up stereotypes of

the inferiority and hypersexuality (extreme in sexual appearance or desire) of Africans.122 She

was labeled as hypersexual and “exotic” and objectified to such a degree that her genitalia

and buttocks were preserved and kept on display in Paris after she died in 1816. They

remained on display for more than 150 years; her body was only returned to South Africa for a

proper burial in 2002. Baartman may be gone, but the lore surrounding her life became a

leading stereotype of Black female sexuality and an enduring example of colonialism, in

which one country politically and economically controls the people and resources of another

geographic area.

Notions of sexuality rooted in culture have political consequences that continue for

generations. One example is the way that Black sexualities, often like the kind used to exploit

Sara Baartman, have been used to justify racism. The Jezebel caricature portrayed Black

women as highly sexual and “lusty.”123 Similarly, the Brute caricature portrayed Black men as

savage sexual predators.124 These sexualized caricatures were used to justify slavery and later

the Jim Crow system of discrimination, which legally enforced segregation between Blacks

and Whites in the southern U.S. Since Black women were convincingly portrayed as over-

sexualized and tempting, their continued rape by slave owners could be justified.125 Once

Black men were convincingly portrayed as dangerous predators, then lynching or murdering

Black men for even looking at a White

woman could be justified.126 Scholars like

bell hooks and Patricia Hill Collins stress

that these extremely sexualized images

still exist, though in softer or subtler forms.

Modern images, instead of being

mobilized to justify colonialism, are used

to justify capitalism: we use racialized

bodies to sell stuff. 127

We see racialized sexual

stereotypes of all sorts. Take this beer ad,

for example, which plays on the idea of

Latinas as “hot.” A recent study shows

(Source)

Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

Page 35

that the predominant image of Latinas in American media is highly sexualized, or “hot,”128

while Latino men are overwhelmingly portrayed as dominant and “macho.”129 Since Latinos

are the most underrepresented group in American film, even a single portrayal can make a

big impact.130

Or take the example below of a commercial for Mountain Dew. In the commercial, a

goat assaults a waitress when they run out of Mountain Dew. Later, the White waitress is asked

to pick her assailant in a police lineup. All of the suspects are Black men.

(Source)

These images and stereotypes help rationalize and reproduce social inequalities. Think

about what stereotypes do: they oversimplify things. They reduce the world’s complexity and

make social relations more straightforward. The trouble is, stereotypes are distorted, one-sided,

and exaggerated. The more we’re surrounded by these distorted images, the more they

become part of our everyday understanding. And the more they’re part of our landscape, the

more likely we are to believe them. So breaking through harmful social stereotypes is an

important part of creating a fairer world for everyone.

The social control of sexuality

Puberty, the process of becoming a sexually mature individual, is a biological event.

Once we go through it, we’re theoretically capable of sexual reproduction (though

sometimes not entirely). But in the U.S., it’s now typical for people to wait to have children until

years after they are biologically able to do so. Among U.S. women who have ever had a child,

their average age at first childbirth is 23; among men who ever have children, it’s almost 26.131

And that’s only the average. We see wide variation by race, class, education level, and

region. The average age has been increasing over time, as well.

Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

Page 36

For good or ill, a number of demographic, economic, and cultural factors help

determine when our potential fertility is expressed. In sociological terms, we say that social and

cultural institutions exert social control over sexuality. Social control refers to the way we

enforce normative behaviors through social interaction, values and worldviews, and laws.

In the case of sexuality, institutional social control exerts itself in multiple areas of life,

many of which we don’t even realize. Consider the example of erectile dysfunction (ED), a

condition in which men have trouble achieving or maintaining a penile erection. Sounds

pretty medical, doesn’t it? But scholars like Leonore Tiefer argue that our sexuality has been

medicalized, a process in which society understands or defines a problem in medical terms.

This usually means that we use medical language to describe it and rely on medicine to treat

it.132 Alcoholism, pregnancy, attention-deficit disorder, and even baldness were all initially

understood as social problems, but became understood as medical disorders.

Figure 4: Average Age of First-Time Moms by Race

Tiefer argues that the medicalization of ED was helpful for some men because it led to

the development and marketing of drugs that can help men get and keep a reliable erection.

But medicalization also creates problems. The medicalization of erections (or lack of them)

reinforces the idea that there is an ideal erection that all men should have. Additionally, all the

(Source: CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System)

Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

Page 37

attention given to ED continues to stress phallocentrism, or a worldview that centers the

phallus (the symbolic ideal of the penis) in sexual acts and society more broadly. The

medicalization of ED draws our attention toward it, so much so that penile-vaginal intercourse

is understood as the only sex act worth our attention.133 Medicalization provide us with a

framework of medical intervention and a framework of understanding: What’s important to

us? What’s normal or abnormal? Who or what is responsible? What’s the best way to solve it?

These collective understandings are a form of social control: they enforce certain sexual

behaviors and sexuality-related worldviews.

Let’s take another example: sex education. An article about individuals’ memories of

sex ed contains the following anecdote:

…I do not remember learning much about actual “safe sex.” I do remember,

however… my teacher passing a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup around class, telling us to

“do whatever we wanted to it.” After people had licked it, thrown it on the ground,

stuck their pencil into it, etc., she claimed that “having sex with more than one person is

exactly the same. No one wants to eat this peanut butter cup, so why would someone

want to have sex with you if you have been ‘passed around.’”134

This lesson, and variations of it, are taught in schools across the United States. It raises a

question: what is the purpose of sex education? And what does it have to do with the social

control of sexuality?

In abstinence-only sex education,

students are taught that abstinence is expected

of them. It has an eight-point legal definition

outlined in Section 510(b) of Title V of the Social

Security Act, but the main characteristic is that

abstinence-only education “has as its exclusive

purpose teaching the social, psychological, and

health gains to be realized by abstaining from

sexual activity.”135 Note the word “exclusive”;

these programs are forbidden from including

certain information. For example, they are

generally not allowed to provide students with

information about contraception (like condoms),

other than to note failure rates.136

Comprehensive sex education generally “stresses the importance of waiting to have

sex” while offering information about how contraception works, so students can avoid

unwanted pregnancies and sexually-transmitted infections (STIs).137 Information about STIs is

critical; in 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that rates of

gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis had increased for five straight years, hitting an all-time high

(Source)

Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

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in 2018.138 Comprehensive sex ed programs typically include a wider variety of information for

students and a range of ethical perspectives on sexuality.

In the case of abstinence-only education, we can see how social control works. An

institution (the school system) attempts to socialize a population (kids and teens) to adopt

specific behaviors. Comprehensive sex education may not stress behavioral changes up front,

but it too attempts to enforce certain behaviors, like using condoms. As Émile Durkheim taught

us, this type of social control exists in every society (though in different forms) as a way for

societies to regulate themselves.139 But there are struggles and disagreements over what or

who needs controlling. Sexuality may be inextricably linked to our bodies, but cultural factors

have a lot to do with the ways in which we express that sexuality.

As we conclude this chapter, our hope is that you’ve begun to think about the ways in

which gender and sexuality are not simply unchanging facts of biology, but social relations

that we actively construct, experience, and express. Sociologist Sam Richards once said, “My

students often ask me, ‘What is sociology?’ And I tell them, ‘It's the study of the ways in which

human beings are shaped by things that they don't see’.”140 While we all experience gender

and sexuality, we can’t fully understand them unless we examine intersections between the

smallest and largest aspects of social life. From our individual personal histories to historical

power relations, from everyday interactions to large-scale institutions, our job is to study how a

wide range of social forces shape us. As you continue to think about the sociology of gender

and sexuality, we hope you will keep digging to discover all those factors we don’t see.

REVIEW SHEET: SEXUALITIES

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Gender and Sexuality (Fall 2021)

Page 39

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