Social construction of gender Flashcards
What do the categories ‘male’ and ‘female’ refer to?
The categories ‘male’ and ‘female’ are not used solely to describe the biological features of human bodies. Their use often also involves the identification of what are essentially social characteristics.
In order to be able to distinguish between the biological fact of ‘sex’, and the social and cultural characteristics associated with being male or female, the term ‘gender’ is utilised. Describe the relationship between ‘sex’ and ‘gender’.
Gender refers to the social and cultural perceptions associated with ‘sex’ differences - socially constructed as ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’.
The dichotomy between biological sex and gender is further complicated by the existence of individuals who are not easily categorized by their external (biological) genitalia, and by others who feel their anatomical body is out of line with their subjective sense of being male or female.
What are ‘gendered’ social practices and what negative impact do they have?
‘Gendered’ social practices are those which shape women’s and men’s bodies in ways that reinforce particular cultural images of ‘femininity’ and ‘masculinity’.
Such socially constructed gender identities can result in negation or distortion of biology.
Where does gender construction start for an individual?
For the individual, gender construction starts with assignment to a sex category on the basis of what the genitalia look like at birth.
Describe the development of gender construction among children
Young children have gender identities imposed on them long before they are capable of reproducing or engaging in any other social tasks which may be attributed to the ‘sex’ of their bodies.
Reinforced through naming, dress + use of other gender markers. Eg. sex-typing of clothes (blue for boys, pink for girls).
Once a child’s gender is socially ascribed, they are treated differently from children ascribed to the other gender. Children respond to this different treatment by feeling different and behaving differently.
As soon as they can talk, children start referring to themselves as members of their gender.
How is parenting and work roles gendered?
Parenting is gendered, with different expectations for mothers and for fathers.
Work roles also have traditionally reflected these gendered differences.
The concept of transcendence is utilised to signify the ways in which biology can be transformed by gendered social practices. How is this so?
Exclusive gender identities, far from being an expression of biological difference, can result from the social suppression of bodily similarities and the exaggeration of bodily differences.
Culturally, girls are frequently portrayed as physically weaker than boys even though at early developmental stage they may well be taller + stronger than their male peers.
This socially constructed gender difference is reinforced through traditional encouragement of boys (but not girls) to engage in strenuous exercise. This can have long term effects on the bodies of both groups.
The historical prod of women and men as separete and unequal social categories, operates by converting average differences into absolute differences. Such socially constructed conceptualisations of masculinity + feminiity can become ‘self-fulfilling prophecies’ as they are embodied in social practices. The physique of women (+ men) can change to support the validity of these gendered images + practices.
What correlations and links can be drawn from the data on the gendering of physical activity?
- Boys more active than girls, difference increasing with age group. As the decline in activity levels with age starts earlier in girls. However, gender difference does not appear until 8-10 age group.
- Significant decline in activity in both boys + girls in period of 4 years.
- This gender difference in activity levels cuts across social class
- Boys reflected their father’s but not mother’s activity levels
What interpretation/conclusion can be drawn from the data regarding the gendering of physical activity?
- One interp of these findings would be that they appear to demonstrate the limited influence of parents activity levels / behaviour example on the activity levels of boys, but particularly on girls.
- This probably reflects wider influence of socio-cultural factors on the physical activity levels of girls that go beyond individual parental influence + social class difference.
Describe the relationship of morbidity and mortality among women and men
While within the UK women have lower levels of mortality than men, they have higher levels of morbidity.
The diff between life exp and health exp (a measure of morbidity) can be regarded as an estimate of the number of years a person can expect to live in poor health or with a limiting illness or disability.
Women can expect to live longer in poor health than men
Annandale and Hunt’s (1990) research into gender differences in health status utilises the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) psychological measure. What is this?
The BSRI does not assume that sex and gender (the biological + the social) are coincidental. It requires participants to endorse a series of characteristics which have been judged to be stereotypical of men (masculine) or women (feminine).
From these endorsements, it becomes possible to derive two separate masculinity and femininity scores for each individual participant.
Why was the BRSI measure used?
The measure was used to explore whether observed male and female differences in health status might mask an association of a ‘feminine’ gender role orientation with relatively poor health + a ‘masculine’ gender role orientation with relatively good heatlh, in both men and women.
A multivariate analysis assessed the relative importance of ‘sex’ (male/female) and high/low ‘masculinity’ and high/low ‘femininity’ for the self-reported health of a sample of 35 year olds living in Scotland. What were the findings?
It was found that when measures of masculinity and femininity were included in the analysis, the significance of ‘sex’ difference disappeared.
High ‘masculinity’ scores were associated w/ better health, conversely, high ‘femininity’ scores w/ poorer health, for both men and women.
This result was interpreted as reflecting the high social value + related benefits that accrue from a more ‘masculine’ gender-role orientation.
Naturalism
The concept of essence is the philosophical position that objects have certain natural and unchanging properties which make them one kind of thing rather than any other.
But how durable must an essential quality be, and how big a range of behaviours must it enable, before we can call it an ‘essence’?
The criticism of biological reductionist explanations of human behaviour, as a form of essentialism, is that it fails to account for the complexities of the social context of behaviour that varies across cultures over time.
However, while it is problematic to conceive all behaviour as biologically determined, so it is also mistaken to argue that sexuality or gender difference is not in any way natural. For quire clearly sexuality presupposes biological powers.
