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Introduction to Gender

Module 1_Topic 1: Introduction to Gender

Introduction to Gender

At the end of this topic, you will be able to: Define gender in different contexts Discuss the differences between masculinity and femininity in terms of private and public sphere, patriarchy and associated systems of power Define the complexity and terminology associated with sexuality Outline the differences in relation to biological determined and socially constructed gender roles Discuss the key aspects of critical terms such as Third Space of Gender, Intersex and Transgender

Journalism.org, The gender gap: Women are still missing as sources for journalists, http://www.journalism.org/node/141

In this presentation, you will be introduced to the key concepts in Gender Studies. The presentation is designed to provide you with an understanding of gender theory so that you can apply it to an analysis of gender representation in the media and to your own practice as a journalist.

Definition of Gender

Gender is a term which is used to describe the social roles and characteristics that are attributed to males and females based on their biological differences; in other words, the behaviours and

Introduction to Gender

competencies thought to be natural for men and women. The term Gender came into popular parlance in the 1970s when it was used by Second Wave feminists, such as Ann Oakley, to distinguish between socially determined gender differences and biological sex differences in order to explore the way in which women were/are treated unequally in society. Oakley et al were analyzing the construction of the gender categories masculinity and femininity, which have been built on the behaviours and competencies mentioned above. Since the 1970s, scholars have been interested in the social construction of both genders and many are interested in the way men conform (or otherwise) to dominant gender ideologies.

The term Gender is distinct from the term sex which relates to the biological differences between men and women e.g men have penises, women have vaginas. As Gender Studies theorist Anne FaustoSterling explains in her book Sexing the Body (2000: 4): Having a penis rather than a vagina is a sex difference. Boys performing better than girls on math exams is a gender difference.

Why have boys traditionally been better at maths than girls? Is it a matter of genetics or social conditioning?

It is important to bear in mind that gender identities are not fixed but change according to time, place and cultural context. Further, some scholars argue that not all societies are ordered along sex and gender lines.

Introduction to Gender

Masculinity and Femininity

What is masculinity? What are societies expectations of men? What is femininity? How are women expected to behave? Roles and expectations of men and women have traditionally revolved around reproduction: men provide for and physically defend the family unit; women bear and nurture children. As a result the social expectations attached to the two genders are tied, to a large extent, to the reproductive roles assigned to men and women. Connell writes: Gender is the structure of social relations that centres on the reproductive arena, and the set of practices that bring reproductive distinctions between bodies into social processes (2009: 11). What Connell means here is that society is built on the binary opposition of masculinity and femininity: men are expected to be tough, rational, unemotional and aggressive; women, on the other hand, are expected to be loving, caring, mothering, emotional and passive. Although these gender characteristics are stereotypes, they reflect roles men and women play in the social systems that are in place. If men and/or women do not live up to these expectations or if they actively perform their gender differently, they are socially sanctioned.

What are the social implications for a woman who doesnt want to have children? Is she seen as unnatural or is her choice supported in society?

Because women are biologically able to give birth to children, they have traditionally been associated with domestic duties, such as caring for the home and the family, and confined to the private sphere. Whereas men, traditionally associated with the role of breadwinner i.e the person responsible for providing financial support for the family unit, have dominated the public sphere. The term patriarchy is used to describe societies that are male-dominated i.e in which men occupy the positions of power. The home and family is sometimes referred to as a matriarchy because it is the sphere in which women have traditionally had the most control. The result of the social division of society along gender lines has been the creation of patriarchal systems of power which have worked to keep women subordinated and locked out of decision-making processes. It is the unequal treatment of women in society that has triggered the global womens and feminist movements which have fought for the rights of women to participate equally alongside their male counterparts.

Introduction to Gender

How can we see evidence of patriarchal systems of power in contemporary Pacific societies and in the wider world?

Sexuality Sexuality is also bound up with gender. Based on the reproductive roles for men and women discussed above, heterosexuality has been seen as the norm; homosexuality as an unnatural sexual preference. It is still considered normal that men and women will marry and have children. Further, men are constructed as the sexual aggressors; women, waiting to be caught. The intersections between gender roles and sexuality are such that men who under-perform sexually in a heterosexual relationship or who identify as gay are seen as feminine, as though they are not real men. Women, too, are seen as masculine or sexually promiscuous if they pursue men. If they enter into a sexual relationship with another woman, they are sometimes perceived as butch or as failed straights. Connell writes: Belief that gender distinction is natural makes it scandalous when people dont follow the pattern for instance, when people of the same gender fall in love with each other. So homosexuality is frequently declared unnatural and bad (2009: 5)

Gender Roles: Nature or Nurture? Over the decades, there has been much debate as to whether gender is biologically determined or if it is socially constructed. The biological determinist argument is predicated on significant differences in male and female hormones and in the make-up of the male and female brain, thus leading to different behavioural patterns, such as the propensity for boys to play with trucks and guns and girls to plays with dolls. The biological determinists argue that boys are naturally more aggressive than girls who are naturally maternal and nurturing, hence their choice of toys with which to play (See, for example, Simon Baron-Cohens The Essential Difference: the truth about the male and female brain 2003). This is an essentialist argument about gender identity.

The social constructionists, on the other hand, argue that gender is the result of socialisation, which is the way in which men and women are taught societies norms from birth, including the correct

Introduction to Gender

masculine and feminine behaviours and characteristics. One of the results of gender socialization has been sex-role stereotyping which defines men and women in opposition to each other in terms of their behaviours, competencies, interests, and vocations. Connell argues that sex-role stereotyping oppresses both women and men because they are expected to conform to masculine and feminine stereotypes (2000: 7-8). Connell further argues in her 2009 book Gender that men and women construct themselves as gendered subjects; gender is not something that is simply done to them (6).

The French feminist theorist and novelist Simone de Beauvoir is famous for the following quotation: One is not born, but rather becomes a woman. What does Simone de Beauvoir mean? How can the same be said of men One is not born, but rather becomes a man?

In fact, some feminist and queer scholars argue that biological difference is also socially constructed. McCredie writes: Because we believe there are two sexes, we are obliged to classify individuals as belonging to one or the other, remaining blind to the ways in which they we might not fit the categories (2007: 4).

The Third Space of Gender When we speak of gender we are not simply referring to masculinity and femininity but to a range of gender identities, some of which blur the traditional binaries of man/woman, masculine/feminine. We can speak of these gender identities, identities that are neither male nor female, that are gender ambiguous, as the third space of gender.

Inter-sex To take Beauvoirs epigram one is not born a woman and give it a new spin, let us say that one is not born a woman or a man but must become one and just one (Germon, 2009: 155) Intersex, also sometimes referred to as hermaphroditism, is the condition of being sexually dimorphic; that is, being born with both male and female genitalia or, at least, a mixed anatomy. In the so-called

Introduction to Gender

West, intersex babies are usually fixed at birth so that their bodies conform to the one-sex per person cultural norm.

How does the existence of intersex people challenge the sex/gender binary?

Transgender According to Elkins and King (2006: 16), transgender means going beyond the gender binary. Until recently it was used as an umbrella term that included both transvestites and transsexuals. Transvestites are people who choose to dress in the clothes of the opposite gender and transsexuals are people who change their physical sex and, by extension, take on the characteristics associated with the opposite gender. In the 21st century, there has been a move away from these categories to a preference for the term trans- or transperson which distances the term from the gender binary and from medicalised terms, such as transvestite and transsexual.

This lecture has given you an introduction to the key concepts in Gender Studies. It demonstrates that gender is a social construction that differs depending on time and place. There are many different types of gender identity, not merely the binary opposition man/woman. The lecture also discusses the way in which gender has been used to oppress women who have been constructed throughout histor y as the weaker sex. Viewing gender as a construction enables us to contest the naturalised gender hierarchies that exist in most societies.

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Introduction to Gender

Broverman, I., Vogel, S., Broverman, D., Clarkson, F., & Rosenkrantz, P. Sex -role stereotypes: A current appraisal, Journal of Social Issues, (1972) 28, 5978. R.W. Connell, The Men and the Boys, St Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 2000 ___________. Short Introductions: Gender, Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2009 Richard Elkins and Dave King, The Transgender Phenomenon, London: Sage, 2006 Cordelia Fine, Delusions of Gender: The Real Science Behind Sex Differences, London: Icon, 2010 Anne Fausto-Sterling, Sexing the Body: gender politics and the construction of sexuality, New York: Basic Books, 2000 Jennifer E. Germon, Gender: A Genealogy of an Idea, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 Ann Oakley (ed), The Ann Oakley Reader: gender, women and social science, Bristol, UK: Policy Press, 2005 Jane McCredie, Making Boys and Girls: Inside the Science of Sex, Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2011 Jane Pilcher, Fifty Key Concepts in Gender Studies, London: Sage, 2004 Thomas A. Widiger and Shirley A. Settle, Broverman et al. Revisited: An Artifactual Sex Bias, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 3 (1987): 463-469