Download Lesson 2 – Studying Marriages and Families

Lesson 5 – Sex, Gender
and Sexuality
Robert Wonser
What is sex? What is gender?
Although the terms “sex” and “gender” are
often used interchangeably, sociologists
differentiate between the two.
Sex refers to an individual’s membership in
one of two biologically distinct categories —
male or female.
Gender refers to the physical, behavioral, and
personality traits that a group considers
normal for its male and female members.
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Babies are Genderless
 Social
Constructio
n of Reality
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Intersex
 About 1 babies in 1,000 are born
intersexed, or hermaphroditic,
which means having an abnormal
chromosomal makeup and mixed
or indeterminate male and
female sex characteristics.
 This is a function of biological
sex.
 Gender is different because it
relates to the way that a person
behaves based on their biological
sex.
 In other words, we learn how to
act manly or womanly based on
the sex that we’re born into and
Hijras embracing at a
wedding.
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As nature made him
 David Reimer
was subjected
to gender
reassignment
surgery at 18
months old.
What does his
story tell us
about the
relationship
between
biological sex
and gender
identity?
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Gender Inequality
 Gender inequality can be found in all past and
present societies.
 The activities that women could participate in
were limited because they had less physical
strength and because of the demands of bearing
and raising children.
 Men delivered the most important resources to
the group, such as food from hunting or land
from warfare, and became powerful by
controlling the distribution of these resources.
 There are several sociological theories that
attempt to explain why this inequality has
persisted in contemporary societies. We’re going
to discuss several of these theories now.
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Theories on Gender
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Gender Role Socialization
Gender role socialization
is the lifelong process of
learning to be masculine
or feminine, primarily
through four main agents
of socialization: families,
schools, peers, and the
media.
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Gender Role Socialization
(cont’d)
Families are usually the primary source of
socialization and greatly impact gender role
socialization.
Social learning theory suggests that the
babies and children learn behaviors and
meanings through social interaction and
internalize the expectations of those around
them.
remember: we learn gender, we are not born
knowing who wears pink
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Gender Role Socialization
(cont’d)
 Schools also socialize children into their gender roles.
 For instance, research shows that teachers treat boys and
girls dif ferently.
 This may teach children that there are dif ferent expectations
of them, based on their sex.
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Gender Role Socialization
(cont’d)
In Western societies, peer groups are an
important agent of socialization.
Teens are rewarded by peers when they
conform to gender norms and stigmatized
when they do not.
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Gender Role Socialization
(cont’d)
Finally, there is no question that sex-role
behavior is portrayed in a highly stereotypical
manner in all forms of the media: television,
movies, magazines, books, video games, and
so on.
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A 1975 survey of
children’s books found
that boys played active
roles but girls were
frequently passive.
What messages about
gender roles might
readers learn from this
Dick and Jane book?
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Sex, Gender, and Life Chances
( c ont ’ d )
Sex and gender affect almost every significant
aspect of our lives.
Even lifespan is different by gender!
Women are disadvantaged in institutional
settings in our society. Women tend to:
Do a disproportionate amount of housework
Earn less on average than their male peers at
work
Remain more likely to live in poverty
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U.S. Life Expectancy by Gender, 1900–2007
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College Enrollment by Gender, 1965–2006
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Male and Female Median Earnings, 1959 –
2008
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Sex, Gender, and Life Chances
( c ont ’ d )
This has led to a situation called the
feminization of poverty, which is the economic
trend showing that women are more likely
than men to live in poverty, due in part to the
gendered gap in wages, the higher proportion
of single mothers compared to single fathers,
and the increasing cost of childcare.
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Sex, Gender, and Life Chances
( c ont ’ d )
Even our language and vocabulary tend to
reflect a hierarchal system of gender
inequality.
What’s the difference between a stud and
slut?
Mankind, mailman, guys
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Feminism and the Women’s Movement
Who considers themselves to be a feminist?
Do you know what feminism is?
Feminism is the belief in the social, political,
and economic equality of the sexes and the
social movements organized around that
belief.
In the United States, the history of the
women’s movement can be divided into three
historical waves.
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The Women’s Movement
(cont’d)
The first wave was the earliest period of
feminist activism and included the period
from the mid-nineteenth century until
American women won the right to vote in
1920. The campaign organized around gaining
voting rights for women was called the
suffrage movement.
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The Women’s Movement
(cont’d)
The second wave was the period of feminist
activity during the 1960s and 1970s often
associated with the issues of women’s equal
access to employment and education.
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The Women’s Movement
(cont’d)
The third wave is the most recent period of
feminist activity and focuses on issues of
diversity and the variety of identities that
women can possess.
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The Men’s Movement
The men’s movement, called male
liberationism, was a movement that
originated in the 1970s to discuss the
challenges of masculinity.
Although originally broadly sympathetic with
feminism, the men’s movement has now split
into the men’s rights movement (a group that
feels that feminism creates disadvantages for
men) and the pro-feminist men’s movement (a
group that feels that sexism harms both men
and women and wants to fundamentally
change society’s ideas about gender).
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Sexual Orientation
Sexual orientation is the inclination to be
heterosexual (attracted to the opposite
sex), homosexual (attracted to the same
sex), or bisexual (attracted to either sex).
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Sexual Orientation (cont’d)
Is sexual orientation a continuum rather
than a few simple categories?
Those who are asexual may simply reject
any sexual identity at all.
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Homophobia
Homophobia is a fear of or discrimination
toward homosexuals or toward individuals
who display purportedly genderinappropriate behavior.
Some argue that the term “homophobia”
represents a biased attitude because the
term “phobia” implies a psychological
condition, thus excusing intolerance.
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Heterosexism
Homophobia refers to individual beliefs and
behaviors, not institutionalized
discrimination.
Heterosexism refers to the antihomosexual
beliefs and practices embedded in social
institutions.
Similar to “white privilege”; we’re not
taught to see how racism puts some in a
position of privilege but rather view it as
something that puts racial ethnic
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Examples of Heterosexism
 Hospitals do not recognize spousal rights for same sex partners sick or dying or for same -sex parents
with children in the hospital
 Gay, bisexual and lesbian issues are not included in
school curricula
 School rules about name-calling, harassment or
bullying are not enforced for anti -gay incidents
 Student rights laws or policies do not include sexual
orientation as a protected category
 School social events are organized around
assumptions of heterosexuality (dances, dating)
 Same-sex displays of affection in school are not
tolerated
 Lesbians and gay men are assumed to be a threat to
children in some professions: teaching, coaching, 29
pediatric medicine
Examples of Heterosexual Privilege
 You can go wherever you want and know that you will not
be harassed, beaten, or killed because of your sexuality
 You do not have to worry about being mistreated by the
police or victimized by the criminal justice system
because of your sexuality
 You can express affection (kissing, hugging, and holding
hands) in most social situations and not expect hostile or
violent reactions from others
 You are more likely to see sexually -explicit images of
people of your sexuality without these images provoking
public consternation or censorship
 You can discuss your relationships and publicly
acknowledge your partner (such as by having a picture of
your lover on your desk) without fearing that people will
automatically disapprove or think that you are being
“blatant”
 You can legally marry the person whom you love in all 50
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states