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SociobiologyandGender.pptxNATURE, NURTURE, AND SOCIOBIOLOGY
Biological Theories/Medical Models of Gender
Differences in hormones are the cause of gender difference
Observable gender differences arise from the differences between sperm and egg.
Differences in “reproductive success”
Male and female behavior is governed by different halves of the brain.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
Psychological Theories: Freud, Erikson, others
Psychological distancing from the mother is the precondition for independence and autonomy.
The capacity for abstract reasoning is the developmental stage beyond relational reasoning.
SOCIOBIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
EXAMPLES:
Primate harems (to explain human harems)
Ducks who “rape” (to explain rape)
Hummingbirds who “prostitute” (to explain the natural tendencies for societies to foster prostitution)
Scorpion flies and “rape adaptive clamps” to explain rape adaptation in men’s psyches.
Why are these explanations problematic??
They are cultural constructions
Examples are taken selectively: in primate world alone there are a myriad of social-sexual arrangements (some male hierarchy, some female hierarchy).
Distorts animal behavior as well as human behavior.
QUESTION OF CAUSALITY: does an “unchanging” biology always shape culture? Could it be the other way around?
HISTORICAL AND CROSS-CULTURAL STUDIES
Changes in medical beliefs about male and female bodies (how reproductive systems work) and natural inclinations (e.g. factory labor).
GENDER ARRANGEMENTS VARY BY CULTURE/POLITICAL ECONOMY:
Scheper-Hughes reading “Cultural Scarcity and Maternal Thinking”
Hijras or Xaniths: live, work, and dress as members of “opposite sex” though they may specialize in tasks associated with both sexes. Revered in A:shiwi (Zuni) culture. “two spirit” people.
Cross-cultural examples of gender, continued
“Raw” vs. “Cooked” people as a salient category among A:shiwi (Zuni).
Hua and Sambia of New Guinea: Gender is salient, but it changes over one’s lifetime:
Both women and men possess varying degrees of masculinity and femininity. Children are mostly “feminine people” and Hua and Sambian men lose their masculinity through rituals. GENDER IS ONLY TANGENTIALLY RELATED TO SEX DIFFERENCES: it is changeable and flows from person to person.
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/content/two-spirits_map-html/
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“Believing is Seeing”- Judith Lorber
IF WE ARE STARTING FROM THE PREMISE THAT THERE ARE TWO SEPARATE SEXES PRODUCING TWO DIFFERENT GENDERS, THEN THAT IS WHAT WE’LL FIND.
The categories “men & women” and “male & female” contain so much variation that any study starting with the premise that these constitute discernable, fundamentally different, categories will produce spurious results.
THE CASE OF SPORTS
In cases of chromosomal ambiguity, women must undergo a battery of gynecological physical exams, while men are not tested.
This is assuming that all men are similar in size & strength. AND YET, in boxing & wrestling, men are matched within weight classes.
Women used to be barred from participating in marathons….but now, women are catching up to men in terms of their speed.
Most research designs do not investigate whether physical skills or physical abilities are really more or less common in women and men. Instead, researchers start out with an assumption that there are two social categories that are fundamentally biologically different—even if they find more variation within groups than between groups.
WHAT WOULD THE MEASURE OF SPORTS EXCELLENCE BE IF WOMEN WERE THE DOMINANT GENDER GROUP?
Example of West Point test of leadership.
What is “Nurture” about gender? Course readings….
“The Five Sexes”- Fausto-Sterling
What does the practice of fixing intersexed babies tell us about how we actively maintain a rigid gender dichotomy?
The importance of recognizing sexual diversity and developing nomenclature for this.
“Culture, Scarcity, and Maternal Thinking”- Scheper Hughes
Social and economic context shapes the expression of maternal sentiments and the cultural meaning of mother love and child death.
Social Construction of Sexualities (other notable works in sociology not on syllabus)
“Becoming 100% Straight”- Messner
Fluidity of sexual desire changes over the life course (Kinsey Study).
Compulsory heterosexuality (especially in institutions like sports).
Hegemonic masculinity.
Heterosexuality is not just “sexual acts:” it is a series of performances, a constructed identity, something we “do” both in the context of sexual activity and outside of it.
“Capitalism and Gay Identity”- D’Emilio
Sexual identity is historically situated.
Capitalism has led to the separation of sexuality from procreation (followed the shift from household production/family to free laborers and factory work).
