Social construction of gender identities Flashcards
What doe Social Construction of Gender Identities mean?
Social construction means that gender identities are a product of society, it’s expectations, it’s values, it’s beliefs about behaviour and NOT a product of the natural world (i.e biology).
Therefore, this implies that men/women’s expectations about their gender identity and behaviour is learned through our culture and is NOT natural.
The social construction of gender identities is through socialisation.
Margaret Mead 1935-2001 carried out research into Gender Identity. What do you know?
Margaret Mead carried out research in 3 different tribes. After a field trip to Nebraska in 1930 to study the Omaha Native Americans, she and her husband, Reo Fortune, next headed to the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea for two years. While there Mead did pioneering work on gender consciousness. She sought to discover to what extent temperamental differences between the sexes were culturally determined rather than innate.
Mead found a different pattern of male and female behaviour in each of the cultures she studied, all different from gender role expectations in the United States at that time.
List the three cultures she studied and her findings on their Gender Identity.
• She found among the Arapesh a temperament for both males and females that was gentle, responsive, and cooperative.
• Among the Mundugumor (now Biwat), both males and females were violent and aggressive, seeking power and position.
• For the Tchambuli (now Chambri), male and female temperaments were distinct from each other, the woman being dominant, impersonal, and managerial and the male less responsible and more emotionally dependent.
What was the criticism of Margaret Mead’s study into Gender Identity?
While Mead’s contribution in separating biologically-based sex from socially-constructed gender was groundbreaking, she was criticized for reporting findings that seemed custom-made for her theory. For Mead, each culture represented a different type within her theory, and she downplayed or disregarded information that may have made her simple classifications untenable.
What do Feminists argue about the inequalities that exist between men and women?
Feminists argue that inequalities that exist between men and women have been socially constructed.
Do both radical and liberal feminists believe that ‘patriarchy’ is a construction that puts men in a dominant position and women in a subordinate one?
Yes.
Both radical and liberal feminists believe that ‘patriarchy’ is a construction that puts men in a dominant position and women in a subordinate one.
What does Patriarchy mean?
Patriarchy means ‘Rule By Father’ in its original form and means male domination in contemporary society.
Do radical feminists believe that gender inequalities that exist are the most significant forms of exploitation that exists in society?
Yes.
Radical feminists believe that gender inequalities that exist are the most significant forms of exploitation that exists in society.
Are radical feminists or liberal feminists more positive about changes in society regarding Gender Identity?
Liberal Feminists
Whilst there have been changes in society and expectations regarding gender identity, radical feminists believe that these changes are superficial and the structure of society is still governed by a patriarchy.
Liberal feminists are more positive about the changes regarding gender equality in contemporary society and have argued that socialisation and education are key in achieving equality.
What does Judith Butler argue about Gender Identity?
But first what was her study called?
The Theory of Performativity by Judith Butler 1999
In recent decades there has been an increase in the choice around gender identity. Judith Butler (1999) argues that gender is a ‘performance’.
We ‘practice’ our gender roles and repetition of our masculine or feminine role become to be programmed into our behaviour, just like walking or talking.
Butler does believe that people can undermine their gender identity by ‘subversive body acts’. These are acting in ways that are not seen as ‘normal’ for a particular sex, such as men dressing up in dresses or wearing make-up.
‘Socialisation into gender roles’ leads to…
Continue this sentence.
Socialisation into ‘hegemonic’ forms of masculinity and femininity
‘Socialisation into gender roles’ leads to stereotypes being created regarding the expected behaviours according to gender. This leads to ‘ideal’ or ‘expected’ behaviours.
Do Hegemonic identities exist?
Yes.
Hegemonic, or dominant identities exist amongst men and women (Browne)
What labels are applied to children if they fail to conform to their hegemonic ideals?
Failure for girls to conform to these hegemonic feminine ideals leads them to be labelled as a tomboy, whereas for boys they will be seen as wimps or sissys. (stigmatisation)
Does conformity to hegemonic form lead to dominance of one gender?
Yes.
In the same way, conformity to hegemonic forms of identity leads to male dominance and control over women. (Feminism)
