Collage Assignment/ Sociology of Gender
Pe0512
Lecture2-SocialConstructionistPerspectivesonGender1.pptxSocial Constructionist Perspectives on Gender
Sex and/or Gender?
There is no firm consensus on the appropriate use of the terms “Sex” and “Gender” among gender scholars.
Some reject the term “sex” altogether and refer only to “gender.”
Others use the terms almost interchangeably
Others employ both concepts and recognize a clear distinction between them.
Most social and biological scientists now agree that the biological or genetic aspects of maleness and femaleness cannot be understood as fully separate and distinct from the social processes and practices that give meaning to these characteristics.
But researchers disagree over exactly how this interaction should be understood, especially on the degree to which they see sex as socially constructed.
Some believe that gender is not grounded in any biological or genetic reality.
The body is “more or less neutral surface or landscape on which a social symbolism is painted.”
Many believe that, first we have social understandings of what men and women are, or should be, and then we perceive sex differences.
The Social Construction of Sex & Sex Category
Males and females share many characteristics
Both normally have 23 pairs of chromosomes and they are warm-blooded; they develop from the same undifferentiated stem cells; each has the same hormones as the other
In other respects male and female bodies differ
Chromosomal differences
External and internal sexual structures
Hormonal production
Other physiological differences
Secondary sex characteristics
The claim that sex marks a distinction between two physically and genetically discrete categories of people is called sexual dimorphism.
Sociologists also use the terms sex assignment or sex category to describe the processes by which social meanings are attached to biological sex.
Sex assignment refers to the process – occurring at birth or even prenatally – by which people are identified as male or female (their sex category)
The “Natural” Attitude Toward Gender
Hawkesworth (1997) identified several taken for granted assumptions about sex category, which form the foundation of what he calls the “natural attitude toward gender.”
The beliefs that there are 2 and only 2 sexes/genders
The belief that sex/gender is invariant
The belief that genitals are the essential signs of sex/gender
That the male/female dichotomy is natural
That being masculine or feminine is not a matter of choice
That all individuals can and must be classified as masculine or feminine
Intersexed Persons: The Ultimate Sex/Gender Conundrum
Researchers estimate that about 2% of live births are to infants that cannot easily be categorized as male or female. These individuals are called intersexuals.
Intersexuality has come to be defined as a conditional needing medical intervention – as a “correctable birth defect.”
In these cases, doctors perform complicated surgery to provide an infant with “normal” genitals (ones that match a particular sex category)
Some intersexed persons have spoken out against this practice.
Members of the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA)believe that surgery should be a choice made when the intersexed person is old enough to give informed consent.
ISNA also advocates for people’s right to remain intersexed and to gain social acceptance for this status
They reject the belief that everyone must fall into 2 sex categories, and they envision a society where genital variation is accepted.
Sex Assignment, Sex Category, & Gender: How do they work?
Kessler and McKenna (1978)
Suggest that, while assignment to a sex category occurs first at birth (even prenatally), people continue to categorize one another as males or females throughout life.
However, adults typically lack the kind of information about others’ bodies that is used to assign sex category at birth. In particular, since clothing usually hides people’s genitals from the view of others, people rely on other “markers,” such as hair, body type, voice, dress, mannerisms, and behavior.
What counts as markers depends heavily upon cultural circumstances and thus varies across time, place, and social group. As views on what are acceptable ways to express oneself as male or female change, so do markers of sex category.
The use of markers, and their cultural relativity, underscores the idea that assignment to sex categories relies heavily on social criteria.
Yet, regardless of what criteria are used to assign sex category, there is none that works in every circumstance to distinguish males from females. If you consider a list of markers, there are none that always and without exception differentiate males from females.
This implies that sex distinctions are not based on any fully “objective” characteristics of human beings; rather, they are themselves social constructions. This means that it is impossible to conceive of sex apart from gender because, rather than sex being the basis for gender distinctions; this view claims that gender is the basis for distinctions based on sex.
