Sexuality and Gender

Chris got up and went to the bathroom. Leaving

pyjamas on the floor and turning on the
shower, Chris stepped into the water. It was
not a hair-washing day, so after a quick rub
with the soap it was time to get out and dry
off. After towelling and hair putty to the new
short haircut, Chris dabbed on some
moisturizing lotion and went to get dressed.
Nothing special was happening today so jeans
and a T-shirt would be fine. The only choice
really to be made was between sneakers or
sandals.
Mary Holmes, What is Gender
• How are biology and culture
expressed in human sex/gender
systems?
 How do gender, gender roles,
and gender stratification
correlate with other social,
economic, and political variables?
 What is sexual orientation, and how do
sexual practices vary cross-culturally?
◦ Sexual dimorphism: marked differences in
male and female biology besides the primary
and secondary sexual features.

◦ Sex differences are biological.

◦ Gender is a cultural construction

of male and female characteristics.
 Sambia of Papua New Guinea
 Malawi rite of passage – initiation camps
 Ancient Greeks
“Pink or Blue?”
The Infants’ Department, June 1918, page 161.
 Sex: biological differences between males
and females
 Gender: socially produced differences
between being feminine and being
masculine
 Sexual orientation: the direction of one’s
sexual or romantic attraction
 Sexual identity: how one thinks of oneself
in terms of being male or female
 Is sexual orientation inborn or learned?
 Complex interplay of biological and social factors

 Michel Foucault, “History of Sexuality”

◦ Homosexuality as a term coined in 1860s with
medicalization of sexuality, from then on homosexuals
regarded as a separate type of people with a
particular sexual aberration
 In 1973, the American Psychiatric
Association declassified homosexuality as a
mental disorder.
 The American Psychological Association
followed in 1975 and World Health
Organization in 1990.
 Current research and clinical literature
demonstrate that same-sex sexual and
romantic attractions, feelings, and behaviors
are normal and positive variations of human
sexuality (reflecting the official positions of
the American Psychiatric Association and the
American Psychological Association).
 Homophobia
 Transphobia
◦ Avcılar Meis Sitesi
◦ Ülker Sokak
 The biological nature of men and women
(should be seen) not as a narrow
enclosure limiting the human organism,
but rather as a broad base upon which a
variety of structures can be built. (Friedl
1975)

 Fluidity of sex and gender. (Judith Butler)

• Gender roles: tasks and activities
that a culture assigns to the sexes

 Gender stereotypes:
oversimplified, strongly held ideas
of characteristics of men and women
 Gender stratification: unequal
distribution of rewards between men and
women, reflecting their different positions
in a social hierarchy
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November 2015.
Gender Differences
 Contrasting positions on interpretation of
gender differences
◦ Biological basis to behavioral differences
between men and women
◦ Socialization and the learning of gender roles
◦ Both gender and sex are socially constructed
Gender and biology: natural
differences?
 How far are the differences in the
behavior of women and men result of sex
rather than gender? Meaning, how much
are they the result of biological
differences?
 Some argue that aspects of human
biology (hormones, chromosomes, brain
size, genetics) are responsible for innate
differences between women and men.
Gender and biology
 Also claim that these differences can be
seen in some form across all cultures 
natural factors are responsible for the
inequalities between genders which
characterize most societies.
◦ How about slavery than, also natural??
Gender and biology: Critique
 Theories of natural difference grounded
in data on animal behavior rather than in
anthropological or historical evidence on
human behavior. (human behavior varies
over time and place!)
 Because a trait is more or less universal, it
does not mean that it is biological in
origin.
Gender and biology: critique
 There is no evidence of the mechanisms
that link biological forces with the
complex social behavior exhibited by
women and men.
 Theories that see individuals as complying
with some innate predisposition neglect
the vital role of social interaction in
shaping human behavior.
Gender socialization
 Gender socialization: the learning of gender
roles with the help of social agencies such as
the family and the media.
 Distinction between biological sex and social
gender
◦ An infant is born with the first and develops the
second
 Through contact with agencies of
socialization, children gradually internalize
social norms and expectations that
correspond with their sex.
Gender socialization
 Gender differences are not biologically
determined, they are culturally produced
 gender inequalities result because
women and men are socialized into
different roles.
 Functionalists favored gender socialization
theory claiming boys and girls learn “sex
roles” and accompanying male and female
identities (masculinity and femininity).
Gender socialization
 Social learning is guided by positive and
negative sanctions (socially applied forces
which reward or restrain behavior).
 If an individual develops gender practices
that do not correspond to his/her biological
sex  inadequate or irregular socialization.
 Functionalist view: socializing agencies
contribute to the maintenance of social
order by overseeing the smooth gender
socialization of new generations.
Gender socialization: critique
 Rigid interpretation of sex roles and
socialization
 Not a smooth process, different agencies
(family, schools, peer groups, media etc.)
may conflict with each other.
 Socialization theory ignores the ability of
individuals to reject or modify social
expectations surrounding sex roles.
Gender socialization: critique
 Humans are not passive objects or
unquestioning recipients of gender
programming.
 People are active agents who create and
modify roles for themselves.
◦ Drag
◦ Young girls in competitive sports
* Patterns of gender learning are difficult to
combat. Not only through formal instruction,
but also everyday activities.
Social construction of gender and
sex
 Both sex and gender are socially
constructed products.
 Gender is a social creation that lacks a
fixed essense.
 Human body is subject to social forces
that shape it in different ways.
 Individuals construct and reconstruct
their bodies as they please
◦ Exercise, dieting, plastic surgery, tatoos,
piercing, sex-change
Social construction of gender and
sex
 Human body and biology are not givens
but are subject to human agency and
personal choice within different social
contexts.
 Gender identities emerge in relation to
perceived sex differences in society and in
turn help shape those differences.
 Gender relations: societally patterned
interactions between men and women.
Gender order
 R.W. Connell
 Masculinities are a critical part of the
gender order and cannot be understood
separate from it or the femininities that
accompany them.
 How social power held by men creates
and sustains gender inequality.
 Gender relations are defined by
patriarchal power. From the individual to
the institutional level various types of
masculinity and femininity are arranged to
sustain the dominance of men over
women.
 Gender regime: gender relations in
smaller settings, a specific institution.
Gender hierarchy
 Hegemonic masculinity
◦ Complicit masculinity
◦ Subordinated masculinities
 Homosexual masculinity
 Subordinated femininities
◦ Emphasized femininity
◦ Resistant femininity
Recurrent Gender Patterns
 The subsistence contributions of men
and women are roughly equal cross-
culturally.
◦ In domestic activities,
female labor dominates.
◦ In extradomestic activities,
male labor dominates.
◦ Women are the primary caregivers,
but men often play a role.
• Differences in male and
female reproductive strategies
◦ Men mate, within and outside
marriage, more than women do.
◦ Double standards restrict women more than
men and illustrate gender stratification.
 Gender stratification is lower when men
and women make roughly equal
contributions to subsistence.
Generalities in the Division of Labor by Gender,
Based on Data from 185 Societies
Earnings in the U.S. by Gender and Job Type for
Year-Round Full-Time Workers, 2006
 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-
2776959/Boys-BE-superheroes-girls-
aspire-date-Walmart-Target-fire-selling-
kids-clothing-sexist-message.html
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-
CU040Hqbas
Feminist Theories of Gender 1
Starts from a series of observations:
 Men earn more than women, even when they
do essentially the same work
 The labour market is segregated by gender: jobs
largely and traditionally done by women are
paid less well and have less status than jobs
largely and traditionally done by men
 Men are more likely to gain promotion to
higher levels in organizations than women
Feminist Theories of Gender 2

 Men hold many more positions of authority and

decision-making in public life than women
 Women take primary responsibility for childcare
and unpaid care of the sick and the elderly
 Women – even those in full time employment –
do more housework than men
 Domestic and sexualized violence is largely
perpetrated by men upon women and children
Feminist Theories of Gender 3
 Sexualized violence and harassment, and
the fear of it, is an ever-present
characteristic of women’s lives
 These observations derive from modern
Western societies but find their
corollaries in (nearly) all societies
 There is nothing natural or inevitable
about this situation
Gender Based Violence
 http://sendika7.org/2015/11/kadin-
cinayetleri-haritasi-5-yilda-en-az-1134-
kadin-olduruldu/

 http://kadincinayetleri.org/