Soc Gender lesson2 questions
Pe0512
Lecture4-BiosocialPerspectivesonGender.pptxBiosocial Perspectives on Gender
These views treat sex as objectively, identifiable “real” distinctions between females and males that are rooted in human physiology, anatomy, and genetics.
These distinctions become the raw material from which gender is constructed.
Sociobiology
Sociobiologists propose that certain behaviors are inherited through one’s genes. The reason certain behaviors have a genetic link is simply because these behaviors proved advantageous to the species’ survival throughout the evolutionary period.
An evolutionary interpretation of sexuality
Fact: Universally, males initiate sexual activity more than females
Why?
While a woman incubates and nurses one infant at a time and for only a segment of her life, men can spread their genes through numerous females. This is our genes’ way of reproducing themselves – one sex assures many births, while the other assures the offspring’s survival
Fact: men tend to prefer women with a youthful appearance, smooth skin, with a waist that is much smaller than her hips; Women tend to prefer healthy-looking men, too, but are especially attracted to mature, dominant, bold, affluent men.
You can see this in how each sex advertises the qualities that make it more attractive to the opposite sex—e.g. women spending time and money on makeup, plastic surgery, clothing and men trying to establish their status and dominance (usually through work)
Why?
A woman who is young and healthy is prime for fertility; a man with the qualities listed above is primed to support and protect a family.
Criticisms of this perspective
The genes responsible for sex-specific behaviors haven’t been identified yet.
There is an extreme difference in terms of time when we compare biological evolution to cultural evolution. While biological evolution takes thousands of years, social customs and rituals are changing all the time.
For example, take the contention that women, by virtue of their biological and evolutionary makeup, make better parents. While the “distant father” syndrome might have been true even 30 years ago, but now:
Researchers have identified a strong bond that forms between fathers and their newborns, which psychologists call engrossment.
Research has shown that, increasingly, fathers do, in fact, give considerable attention to and show affection for their newborn infants
Outside western cultures, sex-specific behaviors are expressed differently.
Some also fear that sociobiology opens the door to justifying the oppression of one group by another on the basis of biological inferiority (a pattern humanity, unfortunately, has followed in the past)
Individualist Perspectives
An assumption of this perspective is that we must see gender in operation, rather than viewing it through the lens of social situations or institutions.
Individualists also believe that the differences between women and men as groups are greater than the differences within each sex category. Sex imposes limits or constraints on gender. These constraints come primarily from the different reproductive roles of women and men. Hence, those who view gender as an attribute of individuals tend to believe that there are some differences between the sexes that are relatively stable across situations.
Researchers in this framework generally pay less attention to differences among women (or men) with respect to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, etc. than do researchers adopting other frameworks.
Individualists believe that sex distinctions are the most powerful organizers of human capabilities and behavior.
Example: Sex difference research
Sex difference research has been especially popular among psychologists, who are generally more interested than sociologists in individual attributes.
It assumes a perspective that views gender as a set of individual traits, abilities, or behavioral dispositions and attempts to understand how women and men differ in those areas.
Researchers in this area are especially interested in challenging negative cultural stereotypes about women by demonstrating the essential similarities between men’s and women’s personalities and behavioral dispositions.
They believed that scientific research on women and sex differences would help eliminate damaging stereotypes and cultural views that assumed women were inferior to men.
If research showed that the 2 groups were not really that different, according to this logic, it would be more difficult for societies to defend gender inequality.
So, they studied EVERYTHING, including but not limited to:
Nurturing interest and ability among women
Aggression among men
Sex differences in personality traits
Assertiveness
Self-esteem
Cognitive abilities, such as language use
Attitudes, such as those related to sexuality
What is the significance of these differences?
Magnitude – For many of the characteristics examined by sex difference researchers, women and men are much more similar than different.
Consistency (their relative stability across samples of people) –
Studies of a particular sex difference are rarely perfectly consistent;
the same magnitude and even the direction (e.g. favoring females, favoring males, no difference) of effect may vary from study to study.
So, researchers must be able to identify the reasons the results vary – disentangling those that are a result of sex difference and those that are the result of something else.
Also, most of this research is descriptive in nature (ascertaining if there is a difference, then describing it) and there has been less of an attempt to integrate and synthesize findings.
So, with the exception of a few differences that have been studied extensively, there is little cumulative scientific knowledge about the ways that men and women differ.
Criticisms of this perspective
Others point out that differences are rarely just differences. Instead, they reflect an imbalance of power between the sexes. “Difference” almost always means unequal.
Some argue that focus on differences may act as self-fulfilling prophecies.
Some suggest that denying differences is no more compatible with equality than acknowledging them, and dispute the claim that differences must necessarily be seen as deficiencies on the part of one group. Equality is best served by having accurate knowledge about women and men. Differences don’t imply inequality any more than similarity guarantees equal treatment.
“Becoming gendered”
How do children come to understand themselves as male or female? How is it that people take on characteristics seen as socially appropriate for their gender? From an individualist perspective, there are 2 general answers to these:
Biological and genetic contributions to sex differences
Researchers from this perspective argue that accepting the possibility that biological or genetic factors may influence human personality and behavior doesn’t imply that personality and behavior can be reduced to these factors.
Instead, understanding how biology, genetics, and culture interact to shape personality and behavior, rather than examining each factor separately, is the best way to proceed as we explore these issues.
Interest in precisely how sex differences may develop focuses on 2 general areas:
Epigenic research on sex differences is based on the notion that “both genes and environment, acting together at all times, determine the structure and function of brain cells and thus the behavior of the organism.”
For example: Women exposed to high doses of prenatal androgens are found to be less receptive to traditional female socialization than girls who did not have this exposure. In contrast, among women exposed to low levels of prenatal androgens, traditional female socialization had a strong effect on their adult gendered behavior. [However, this perspective is criticized for focusing more on the biological than the environmental.]
Evolutionary psychology is another field that may yield knowledge about sex differences.
evolutionary psychologists believe that sex differences stem from differences in the adaptive problems each sex confronts during evolution. They argue that humans develop through their attempts to effectively respond to their surroundings.
they argue that sex selection is the key domain in which women and men confront different kinds of challenges. [see sociobiological perspective above]
they have been criticized for ignoring learning and experience as important factors in human and animal behavior. Sociologists and other psychologists suggest that the sex differences evolutionary psychologists try to explain could just as easily be explained by social factors.
