SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER
Gender
o Personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to
being female and male
Gender identity
o "extent to which one identifies as being either masculine or feminine"
o Transgender, transsexual
o Personal gender identity vs. how other people see you
Sex
o Biological distinction between females and males
Sexual Orientation
o "emotional and sexual attraction to a particular sex"
We don't really know people's sex, we only can tell by their gender identification
o In social situations social scientists talk about gender and not sex
o Not males and females but masculine and feminine or man and woman
Socially we've naturalized gender
o Believe that differences are caused by nature
o Because someone's male they're competitive, aggressive, dominant
o Because someone's female they're emotional, nurturing, submissive
These are not male and female things biologically- they are
socially constructed
Gender varies from culture to culture
Some of these ideas are really old fashioned but we still carry
them and believe some of them a little bit
o Dividing characteristics of gender make people be only half a woman
Men can't cry and women can't compete
o Old fashioned notions of gender persist, especially when we talk about
what is masculine and feminine
Ideals still effect of us today even though for the most part we
disregard it
Maquiladora- factories that are right on the boarder where they hire usually young
women
o Do crazy cheap major to make clothes and sports etc.
o People would work really long hours for a couple dollars a day
o Want timid, compliant people
Grammys, award ceremonies
o Ideal masculine and feminine people
o Men- covered up; women are usually more exposed in terms of skin and
tightness of outfit
o Part of sexy and feminine is being vulnerable, exposed, and dependent
Old fashioned ideals that have stayed with us
Gender and Sex and Dynamic Concepts
o Both sex and gender are fluid, dynamic, socially constructed concepts
, Certain percentage of births are neither male or female or a
little bit of both
Intersex
We have to forget about the 3% or 4% of births that are not
male and female to see sex as only two
Notions of sex have changed overtime and therefore they are
socially constructed
Understood differently in different cultures
o Culture and society influence gender and gender roles, the attitudes and
behaviors considered appropriately "masculine" or "feminine" in a
particular culture
o Whether we act more masculine or feminine has less to do with our
biological sex than with the societal gender roles associated with our
gender
A lot of what we think about sex is actually gender
Gender and sexuality used to be seen as much more connected
than it is today
Certain Jobs are seen to be more masculine because men are generally stronger
o But women are also strong
o "policemen" and "firemen"
o Physical test to be a firefighter is often aimed at what men are better at
Social Construction of Gender
o Societies do not consistently classify things as masculine and feminine
Gender and Socialization
o What does it mean to be a man? A woman?
o How does one act in masculine ways? Feminine
o Gender shapes
Interaction and behavior
Identity and Bodily experiences
Ambitions/Goals
Personalities
Opportunities
o Socialization starts before birth
Pick out a room with certain colors
Talk to the baby in different ways if they know the sex
o Studies of putting baby in pink and see how the adults interact with it vs.
the baby dressed in blue
She's so cute vs. he's so handsome
Boys are handled more roughly and once they're able to crawl
they can go farther from their parents
Given toys that allow them to develop spatial abilities
Girls are protected and held more, talked to more
Girls speak sooner than boys but boys have better
spatial and math abilities than girls
Baby in yellow or green- adults freak out because they NEED
to know
Gender
o Personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to
being female and male
Gender identity
o "extent to which one identifies as being either masculine or feminine"
o Transgender, transsexual
o Personal gender identity vs. how other people see you
Sex
o Biological distinction between females and males
Sexual Orientation
o "emotional and sexual attraction to a particular sex"
We don't really know people's sex, we only can tell by their gender identification
o In social situations social scientists talk about gender and not sex
o Not males and females but masculine and feminine or man and woman
Socially we've naturalized gender
o Believe that differences are caused by nature
o Because someone's male they're competitive, aggressive, dominant
o Because someone's female they're emotional, nurturing, submissive
These are not male and female things biologically- they are
socially constructed
Gender varies from culture to culture
Some of these ideas are really old fashioned but we still carry
them and believe some of them a little bit
o Dividing characteristics of gender make people be only half a woman
Men can't cry and women can't compete
o Old fashioned notions of gender persist, especially when we talk about
what is masculine and feminine
Ideals still effect of us today even though for the most part we
disregard it
Maquiladora- factories that are right on the boarder where they hire usually young
women
o Do crazy cheap major to make clothes and sports etc.
o People would work really long hours for a couple dollars a day
o Want timid, compliant people
Grammys, award ceremonies
o Ideal masculine and feminine people
o Men- covered up; women are usually more exposed in terms of skin and
tightness of outfit
o Part of sexy and feminine is being vulnerable, exposed, and dependent
Old fashioned ideals that have stayed with us
Gender and Sex and Dynamic Concepts
o Both sex and gender are fluid, dynamic, socially constructed concepts
, Certain percentage of births are neither male or female or a
little bit of both
Intersex
We have to forget about the 3% or 4% of births that are not
male and female to see sex as only two
Notions of sex have changed overtime and therefore they are
socially constructed
Understood differently in different cultures
o Culture and society influence gender and gender roles, the attitudes and
behaviors considered appropriately "masculine" or "feminine" in a
particular culture
o Whether we act more masculine or feminine has less to do with our
biological sex than with the societal gender roles associated with our
gender
A lot of what we think about sex is actually gender
Gender and sexuality used to be seen as much more connected
than it is today
Certain Jobs are seen to be more masculine because men are generally stronger
o But women are also strong
o "policemen" and "firemen"
o Physical test to be a firefighter is often aimed at what men are better at
Social Construction of Gender
o Societies do not consistently classify things as masculine and feminine
Gender and Socialization
o What does it mean to be a man? A woman?
o How does one act in masculine ways? Feminine
o Gender shapes
Interaction and behavior
Identity and Bodily experiences
Ambitions/Goals
Personalities
Opportunities
o Socialization starts before birth
Pick out a room with certain colors
Talk to the baby in different ways if they know the sex
o Studies of putting baby in pink and see how the adults interact with it vs.
the baby dressed in blue
She's so cute vs. he's so handsome
Boys are handled more roughly and once they're able to crawl
they can go farther from their parents
Given toys that allow them to develop spatial abilities
Girls are protected and held more, talked to more
Girls speak sooner than boys but boys have better
spatial and math abilities than girls
Baby in yellow or green- adults freak out because they NEED
to know
