Sociolinguistics lecture 7: Sex and gender

Lecture 7

SOCIOLINGUISTICS L.7
Sex and gender



S EX AND GENDER
• Sex: a biological categor
- Chromosome
- Reproductive organ
- Hormone
- Anatom
• Gender: a social category, a set of behaviors that jointly
contribute to constructing an identity as masculine or feminine
or any combination of these features. These behaviors include
- Dres
- Postur
- Body languag
- Activities
- Product preference
- Speec

G ENDER
Sex and gender do not necessarily go hand in hand


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, Lecture 7

An example are transgenders
1. Someone who is transitioning or has transitioned from one
sex category to anothe
2. Someone whose gender identity or expression does not
match the sex category assigned at birt
Cisgender: used to describe someone whose gender identity
matches the sex category assigned at birth
• Most of people can shift between feminine and feminine
• The construction of gender can be constructed in different
ways An example is women’s directness in Malagasy and men’s
“politeness”, that goes against the general idea that women are
more polite (stereotype). The balance or power is however
still in favor of men


H ETERONORMATIVITY
Discourses: conventional ways of talking which are created by,
and in turn create, conventional ways of thinking (ideologies).
Discourses can be thought of as the verbal expressions of
ideologies
Discourse of heteronormativity: The assumption that
heterosexuality is normal and better than other gender
identi cations, prioritizing gender roles etc


G ENDER AND LANGUAGE
Studies can document how women and men use language, but it’
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