Title: Is gender socially constructed or is it something that we do
1Is gender socially constructed or is it
something that we do?
2last week summary
- historical studies e.g. medical texts
- more similarities than differences between men
and women? - why focus on differences?
- the sexes may not be as distinct as we might
think five sexes?
3continued
- idea of biological facts as determining
behaviour recent - debates about what really defines sex
- see examples and discussions about intersex case
studies in -
- Kessler McKenna (1978) Butler (1990) Harrison
Hood-Williams (2002) Garfinkel (1967) and Hird
(2000) - intersex cases can help us understand gender as a
constant achievement is gender something we
do?
4lecture outline (1)
- gender as a term
- social construction of gender and gender
socialisation - critique of essentialism
- problems with sex-gender distinction?
- constructing masculinities (Connell)
5lecture outline (2)
- crisis in gender order? (Connell)
- gender display? (Goffman)
- doing gender? (West Zimmerman)
- gender attribution (Kessler McKenna)
- summary
6gender Gatens in Gunew 1991 Oakley 1997
Jackson in Jackson Jones 1998
- Freud (1905) psychological research 1930s
- Robert Stoller published Sex and Gender in 1968
- hermaphrodite/ adrenogenital syndrome
7social construction of gender (1) Jackson in
Jackson Jones 1998 Pilcher Whelehan 2004
- gender and sex commonly used by feminists
1970s - e.g. Ann Oakley (1972)
- Sex, Gender and Society
- gender stereotypes
8gender stereotypes e.g.
Masculinity assertive rational strong active compe
titive unemotional (culture)
Femininity submissive intuitive weak passive coope
rative emotional (nature)
9gender power and inequality
- not just about differences
- hierarchically organised and valued
- e.g. men and masculinity privileged over women
and femininity? - POWER and INEQUALITY?
- (patriarchy)
10Simone de Beauvoir (1949 295)
- One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman
- gender differences in hierarchical opposition
women as Other ? - feminists challenge the idea that biology is
destiny
11social construction of gender (2)
- gender learned through socialisation
- (Oakley 174-176) 4 processes
- 1. manipulation- e.g. fuss over appearance
- 2. canalisation e.g. sex-typed objects - toys
- 3. verbal appellation e.g. bad boy
- 4. activity exposure e.g. domestic chores
- operates through social institutions
- e.g. school, work, especially the family
12social construction of gender (3)Jackson in
Jackson Jones 1998 Howson 2004
- critique of essentialism
- disputes that social roles naturally determined
and fixed - masculinity and femininity historically and
culturally variable - e.g. Mead and berdache
13problematising the sex-gender distinctionJackso
n 1998 Gatens 1991 Butler 1990 Harrison
Hood-Williams 2002 Howson 2004
- assume sex is biological and ahistorical?
- gender mapped onto neutral bodies?
- does female feminine/male masculine?
- role of the body in the social construction of
gender disrupt and /or maintain boundaries
between femininity and masculinity?
14constructing masculinities? (1)Connell 1987,
1995 Pilcher Whelehan 2004 Howson 2004
- since 1980s research into this area
- gender as a structure of social practice
gender projects - masculinity constructed in relation to what it is
not, especially but not only femininity - life course, discourses and institutions
intersect?
15constructing masculinities? (2)Connell 1987,
1995 Pilcher Whelehan 2004 Howson 2004
- hierarchy of masculinities (and femininities)
- hegemonic masculinity - dominant cultural ideal
-
- complicit masculinity gain advantages from
cultural ideal - subordinated masculinity homosexual men
- femininities bottom of the gender hierarchy
16crisis tendencies in current gender
order?Connell 1995
- challenges to hegemonic masculinity?
- - unemployed working class young men
breadwinner - - middle class new technical occupations
lack authority - - men in the environmental movement
pro-feminist - - gay men not heterosexual
-
-
17gender display (1)Goffman 1979 Harrison
Hood-Williams 2002 West Zimmerman 19981987
Smith 1996
- body idiom
- if gender be defined as the culturally
established correlates of sex (whether in
consequence of biology or learning), then gender
display refers to conventionalized portrayals of
these correlates - (Goffman 1979 1)
18gender display (2)Goffman 1979 Harrison
Hood-Williams 2002 West Zimmerman 1998 1987
Smith 1996
- gender is not a reflection of essential nature
but is made to appear so? - gender differentiation produced and reproduced
in interaction? - enact culturally appropriate idealised
performances of femininity and masculinity? - gender socially scripted?
19doing gender? (1)West Zimmerman 1998 1987
Garfinkel 1967 Kessler McKenna 1978
- critical of Goffman for them gender is a
routine done in everyday interaction - ethnomethodological approach
- gender as an accomplishment and situated
doing?
20doing gender? (2)West Zimmerman 1998 1987
Garfinkel 1967 Kessler McKenna 1978
- need to distinguish between
- sex (biological criteria) cant see
- sex category (what classified as)
- look the part
- gender (how manage classification)
acting the part
21doing gender(3)see e.g. Kessler and McKenna
(1978)
- gender construction in everyday life
transsexualism - natural attitude in terms of gender
- gender attribution
- genitals essential sign?
22doing gender? (4)West Zimmerman 1998 1987
Garfinkel 1967 Kessler McKenna 1978 Tyler
Abbott 1998
- refer to Agnes passing?
- sex category and gender are managed
properties? - gender assessment accountability
- e.g. female flight attendants doing gender
weight, make-up, emotional labour
23summary (1)
- socialisation emphasis on nurture not nature
- what happens to bodies?
- contradictory gender meanings?
- how does diversity amongst women/men occur?
Connell tries to account for these?
24summary (2)
- gender display do we follow scripts?
- is gender something we do?
- is it simply a display in interaction?
- does it involve work? more for women?
- how do we know the routine? conscious?
- is it possible not to do gender?
25next week
- outline key theoretical approaches to
understanding gender. - map the theoretical shift from material aspects
of gender to cultural representations of gender