Gender and Society
On the topic:
• Traditionally Christianity teaches that men and women were created
differently by God + they have unique but complimentary features
• Taught men and women should live together in marriage and raise kids,
also in this traditional marriage, the man should be in charge and wife
should respect him.
“Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its
endless repetition: the clean becomes soiled, the soiled is made clean, over
and over, day after day. The housewife wears herself out marking time: she
makes nothing, simply perpetuates the present… Eating, sleeping, cleaning -
the years no longer rise up towards heaven, they lie spread out ahead, grey
and identical. The battle against dust and dirt is never won.” - Simone de
Beauvoir
Feminism:
• First/Second Wave Feminists have argued women should have same
rights/freedoms as men and object to idea that women should be naturally
subservient to men.
• Christianity has been blamed to a degree as the continual historic reason
for perpetuating injustice towards women.
Secularism:
• Christianity has also been fighting the growing tide of secularism.
• Challenges to tradition, e.g. Children born out of wedlock, Gay Marriage,
Rise in Divorce
• Not just a rejection of Christian beliefs, a rejection of deep-rooted
practices.
Christianity Reacts:
1) Defend the Christian values of marriage and gender roles.
2) Reconsider different types of marriages and make it more inclusive of
gender.
3) Reject Christianity altogether as contemporary views of equality of
gender are incompatible and inconsistent with teachings.
• Biological Sex and Gender
Gender: A Nuanced Relationship between…
• Someone’s physical qualities (gender biology) e.g XX vs XY, testosterone
etc.
, • Someone’s perception of themselves (gender identification) e.g man,
woman, no gender, both etc.
• Someone’s chosen behaviour (gender expression) e.g. masc/fem, skirt
vs trousers, crying etc.
- Gender can be related to sexuality but does not determine what
sexuality you are:
A biological female, identifying as female, expressing herself in a
traditionally feminine way does not have to be heterosexual.
- For most, their gender aligns with their biological sex. Most of the
time when born with physical characteristics, one feels a certain way and
identifies to match them, behaving for whatever gender they are.
- However, one might have biologically male characteristics, but not
identify as female or male + express gender in differing ways.
Biological Sex:
• Most born with a distinctive sex.
• 1 in 4000 approx are born without a characterisable sex -
ambiguous characteristics. In this case, parents assign a sex and treat as
they would normally.
• Some assign sex but try to provide gender-neutral upbringings.
• Germany thought to be the first European country that recognises
“indeterminate” sex on birth certificates (absence of any gender
marker) since Nov 2013.
• Report by German Ethics Council stated that the law was passed
because “Many people who were subjected to a ‘normalising’ operation in
their childhood have later felt it to have been a mutilation and would never
have agreed to it as adults.”
• Deutsche Welle reported an “indeterminate” ‘option’ was made
available for the birth certificates of intersex infants on 1st Nov 2013.
Acquiring Gender:
• People from young age learn about expectations of gender + develop their
identification of themselves + expression through this.
• Called socialisation - process of learning how to behave + how expected
to behave
• Boys + girls are manipulated by being spoken to differently: ‘man
up’, ‘like a girl’…
• They also feel socialisation through canalisation: given different things to
fit in with stereotype e.g, pink, footballs, skirts etc.
Simone de Beauvoir:
• 9 Jan 1908 - 14 April 1986 (aged 78)
• Involved with Sartre, both disagreed with marriage, open relationship.
On the topic:
• Traditionally Christianity teaches that men and women were created
differently by God + they have unique but complimentary features
• Taught men and women should live together in marriage and raise kids,
also in this traditional marriage, the man should be in charge and wife
should respect him.
“Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its
endless repetition: the clean becomes soiled, the soiled is made clean, over
and over, day after day. The housewife wears herself out marking time: she
makes nothing, simply perpetuates the present… Eating, sleeping, cleaning -
the years no longer rise up towards heaven, they lie spread out ahead, grey
and identical. The battle against dust and dirt is never won.” - Simone de
Beauvoir
Feminism:
• First/Second Wave Feminists have argued women should have same
rights/freedoms as men and object to idea that women should be naturally
subservient to men.
• Christianity has been blamed to a degree as the continual historic reason
for perpetuating injustice towards women.
Secularism:
• Christianity has also been fighting the growing tide of secularism.
• Challenges to tradition, e.g. Children born out of wedlock, Gay Marriage,
Rise in Divorce
• Not just a rejection of Christian beliefs, a rejection of deep-rooted
practices.
Christianity Reacts:
1) Defend the Christian values of marriage and gender roles.
2) Reconsider different types of marriages and make it more inclusive of
gender.
3) Reject Christianity altogether as contemporary views of equality of
gender are incompatible and inconsistent with teachings.
• Biological Sex and Gender
Gender: A Nuanced Relationship between…
• Someone’s physical qualities (gender biology) e.g XX vs XY, testosterone
etc.
, • Someone’s perception of themselves (gender identification) e.g man,
woman, no gender, both etc.
• Someone’s chosen behaviour (gender expression) e.g. masc/fem, skirt
vs trousers, crying etc.
- Gender can be related to sexuality but does not determine what
sexuality you are:
A biological female, identifying as female, expressing herself in a
traditionally feminine way does not have to be heterosexual.
- For most, their gender aligns with their biological sex. Most of the
time when born with physical characteristics, one feels a certain way and
identifies to match them, behaving for whatever gender they are.
- However, one might have biologically male characteristics, but not
identify as female or male + express gender in differing ways.
Biological Sex:
• Most born with a distinctive sex.
• 1 in 4000 approx are born without a characterisable sex -
ambiguous characteristics. In this case, parents assign a sex and treat as
they would normally.
• Some assign sex but try to provide gender-neutral upbringings.
• Germany thought to be the first European country that recognises
“indeterminate” sex on birth certificates (absence of any gender
marker) since Nov 2013.
• Report by German Ethics Council stated that the law was passed
because “Many people who were subjected to a ‘normalising’ operation in
their childhood have later felt it to have been a mutilation and would never
have agreed to it as adults.”
• Deutsche Welle reported an “indeterminate” ‘option’ was made
available for the birth certificates of intersex infants on 1st Nov 2013.
Acquiring Gender:
• People from young age learn about expectations of gender + develop their
identification of themselves + expression through this.
• Called socialisation - process of learning how to behave + how expected
to behave
• Boys + girls are manipulated by being spoken to differently: ‘man
up’, ‘like a girl’…
• They also feel socialisation through canalisation: given different things to
fit in with stereotype e.g, pink, footballs, skirts etc.
Simone de Beauvoir:
• 9 Jan 1908 - 14 April 1986 (aged 78)
• Involved with Sartre, both disagreed with marriage, open relationship.
