Download Gender

Chapter 10
Sexuality and Gender
Chapter Outline
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Sex Versus Gender
Theories of Gender
Homosexuality
Gender Inequality
Toward 2050
The Women’s Movement
Sex Versus Gender
• Sociologists distinguish biological sex from
sociological gender.
– Gender is the feelings, attitudes, and
behaviors associated with being male or
female.
– Gender identity is identification with a
particular sex.
– When you behave according to
expectations about how males or females
are supposed to act, you adopt a gender
role.
Polling Question
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Do you approve or disapprove of a
married woman earning money in
business or industry if she has a
husband capable of supporting her?
A. Approve
B. Disapprove
C. No opinion
Theories of Gender
• Essentialism - gender differences
reflect naturally evolved dispositions.
• Social constructionism - gender
differences reflect the different social
positions occupied by women and men.
Essentialist Theories
• Freud - differences in anatomy account for
the development of distinct masculine and
feminine gender roles.
• Sociobiology and Evolutionary
Psychology
– Gender differences in behavior are based
in biological differences between men and
women.
– These differences evolved to ensure the
survival of the species.
4 Criticisms of Essentialism
1. They ignore historical and cultural variability
of gender and sexuality.
2. They generalize from the average, ignoring
variations within gender groups.
3. No evidence directly supports their major
claims.
4. Their explanations for gender differences
ignore the role of power.
Distribution of Aggressiveness
among Men and Women
Leading Occupations of Employed
Women 16 Years and Older
Occupation
%
Median Weekly
Women
Earnings
Managers and
administrators
31.0
762
Secretaries
98.4
475
Cashiers
76.9
292
Registered nurses
93.1
820
Sales supervisors and
proprietors
41.1
502
Leading Occupations of Employed
Women 16 Years and Older
Occupation
%
Women
Median
Weekly
Earnings
Nursing aides and orderlies,
Elementary teachers
Bookkeepers, accounting clerks
90.0
82.5
92.9
356
731
474
Waitresses
76.4
317
Sales workers, retail and
personal services
44.3
n.c.
Body Dissatisfaction
Influence of Fashion Models on
Feelings about Appearance
I always or often:
Compare myself to
models in magazines
Carefully study the
shape of models
Men Women
Extremely
Dissatisfied
Women
12
27
43
19
28
47
Influence of Fashion Models on
Feelings about Appearance
Extremely
Women Dissatisfied
Women
Very thin or muscular
models make me:
Men
Feel insecure about my
weight
15
29
67
Want to lose weight
18
30
67
Polling Question
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How comfortable are you with the gender
roles our society defines as appropriate for
males and females?
A. Very comfortable
B. Somewhat comfortable
C. Unsure
D. Somewhat uncomfortable
E. Very uncomfortable
Transgender and
Transsexual
• Transgendered people defy gender norms
and blur accepted gender roles.
– 1 in every 5000 to 10,000 people.
• Transsexuals want to alter their gender by
changing their appearance or medical
intervention.
– 1 in every 30,000 people.
Homosexuality
• Homosexuals prefer sexual partners of the
same sex.
• Bisexuals enjoy sexual partners of either
sex.
– Approximately 2.8% of American men and
1.4% of American women think of
themselves as homosexual or bisexual.
Homosexuality In the U.S.
Men
Women
Identified as homosexual or
bisexual.
2.8
1.4
Had sex with person of same sex in
past 12 months.
3.4
0.6
Had sex with person of same sex at
least once since puberty.
5.3
3.5
Homosexuality In the U.S.
Men
Women
Felt desire for sex with person of
same sex.
7.7
7.5
Had some same-sex desire or
experience or identified as
homosexual or bisexual.
10.1
8.6
Aggression to Homosexuals
• 1998 study of 500 young adults in the San
Francisco Bay area found:
– 1 in 10 admitted attacking or threatening
people they believed were homosexuals.
– 1/3 of those who had not engaged in
antigay aggression said they would do so if
a homosexual flirted with, or
propositioned, them.
Homophobia
• Research suggests that some antigay crimes
may result from repressed homosexual urges
on the part of the aggressor.
– Aggressors are homophobic, or afraid of
homosexuals, because they cannot cope
with their own, possibly subconscious,
homosexual impulses.
Social Policy:
What Do You Think?
Hate Crime Law
and Homophobia
The Earnings Gap
• In 2001, women over the age of 15
working full-time in the paid labor force
earned 76% of what men earned.
The Earnings Gap:
Four Factors
1. Gender discrimination.
2. Heavy domestic responsibilities reduce
women’s earnings.
3. Women tend to be concentrated in low-wage
occupations and industries.
4. Work done by women is commonly
considered less valuable than work done by
men because it is viewed as involving fewer
skills.
Male Aggression against
Women
• The majority of acts of aggression
between men and women are
committed by men against women.
• In 2001, 90,491 rapes of women were
reported to the police in the U.S.
Male Aggression against
Women
• In a survey of acquaintance and date rape in
American colleges, 7% of men admitted they
attempted or committed rape in the past year.
• 11% percent of women said they were victims
of attempted or successful rape.
Labor Force Participation Rate
U.S. and Top and Bottom Five
Countries Ranked by Gender
Empowerment Measure
Attitudes To Women’s
Issues, U.S.
1972– 1983–
1996 1998
82
87
Women suited for
politics
Women’s rights issue
one of the most
important
Think of self as a
feminist
54
63
78
77
—
58
64
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22
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Eliminating the Gender gap
• Among major reforms that could help
eliminate the gender gap in earnings and
reduce overall gender inequality are:
– Development of an affordable, accessible
system of high-quality day care.
– Remuneration of men and women on the
basis of their work’s actual worth.
Quick Quiz
1. Which of the following is not a determinant
of one's sex?
a. whether one is born with male or female
genitalia
b. feelings and attitudes associated with
being a man or a woman
c. behaviors associated with being a man or
a woman
d. the feelings and attitudes associated with
being a man or a woman, and the
behaviors associated with being a man or
a woman
Answer: d
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The feelings and attitudes
associated with being a man or a
woman, and the behaviors
associated with being a man or a
woman are not a determinant of
one's sex.
2. Essentialism is a school of thought that sees
gender differences:
a. as a reflection of the different social
positions occupied by women and men
b. resulting from widely shared expectations
about how males or females are
expected to act
c. resulting from identification with, or a
sense of belonging to, a particular sex
d. as a reflection of biological differences
between women and men
Answer: d
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Essentialism is a school of thought
that sees gender differences as a
reflection of biological differences
between women and men.
3. Social constructionism is a school of thought
that sees gender differences:
a. as a reflection of the different social
positions occupied by women and men
b. as a reflection of the different strategies
men and women use to achieve
reproductive success
c. resulting from identification with, or a
sense of belonging to, a particular sex
d. as a reflection of biological differences
between women and men
Answer: a
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Social constructionism is a school of
thought that sees gender differences
as a reflection of the different social
positions occupied by women and
men.
4. Sociobiologists and evolutionary
psychologists argue that male-female
differences are rooted in:
a. different reproductive strategies that
women and men use to maximize the
chance that their offspring will survive
b. differences between men and women
regarding physical strength
c. anatomical differences between women
and men
d. hormonal differences between women
and men
Answer: a
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Sociobiologists and evolutionary
psychologists argue that male-female
differences are rooted in different
reproductive strategies that women
and men use to maximize the
chance that their offspring will
survive.
5. Surveys of body image show that:
a. a great majority of people who are
dissatisfied with their weight - both men
and women - want to lose weight
b. men are more concerned about their
stomachs than women are
c. women are more concerned about their
breasts than men are about their chests
d. all of these choices
Answer: a
5, Surveys of body image show that a
great majority of people who are
dissatisfied with their weight - both
men and women - want to lose
weigh.
6. Transgendered people are:
a. people who prefer sexual partners of both
sexes
b. people who identify with, and want to live
fully as, members of the "opposite" sex,
and who resort to medical intervention
c. people who break society's gender norms
by defying the rigid distinction between
male and female
d. people born with ambiguous genitals
Answer: c
• Transgendered people are people who
break society's gender norms by
defying the rigid distinction between
male and female.
7. American women do between twothirds and three-quarters of all unpaid
childcare, housework, and care for the
elderly.
a. True
b. False
Answer: a
• American women do between twothirds and three-quarters of all
unpaid childcare, housework, and
care for the elderly.