Gender and Society Exam 1 (finished)

Research on gender comes from which fields

Anthropology

History

Neuroscience

Philosophy

Psychology

Sociology

Women’s studies

Critical research methods

Identifies and critiques how power relations are created or challenged

Example: how an organization can create work environments that women perceive as unwelcoming

Essentializing

Reducing something or someone to certain characteristics that are assumed to be central to its nature and present in every member of their group

Culture

The structures and practices, especially those relating to communication, through which a particular social order is produced

Communication

A process in which meanings are created and reflected in human interaction with symbols

Communication has two levels of meaning

Content level - Its literal meaning

The relationship level- defines the relationship between communicators - reflects and influences how people feel about each other - tells us how to interpret the literal message

Who is Fausto-Sterling

Professor of Medical Sciences

Her research found there are actually five distinct sexes based on biological differences

One of the earliest challenges to the sex–gender binary

Theories of gender development and behavior can be classified into four broad types

Biological

Interpersonal

Cultural

Critical

Biological Theory of Gender Development

Biological characteristics explain differences in women’s and men’s thinking, communicating, and feeling

Chromosomes, hormonal activities, and brain specialization account for gender differences

Sex chromosomes

One focus of biological theories of gender development

X and Y chromosomes are distinct

The Y chromosome’s function is determining that a fertilized egg will evolve into a male

The X chromosome influences intelligence, some hereditary conditions, and sociability

Hormonal Activity

One focus of biological theories of gender development

Estrogen plays a role in bone and cardiovascular health, as well as cognitive functions

Estrogen strengthens the immune system

Testosterone affects bone and muscle mass, red blood cell production, and impacts sex drive

3 Interpersonal Theories of Gender

Psychodynamic theory, social learning theory, and cognitive development theory

Psychodynamic Theory of Gender Development

An Interpersonal Theory

Family relationships, especially between mother and child during the formative years of life, have impact on the development of self

Psychodynamic Theory asserts that …

Mothers are more nurturing with daughters than with sons

Girls grow into their gender identity in relation to their mothers

Infant boys recognize that they differ from their mothers

Mothers encourage more independence in sons than daughters

Mothers talk less with sons about emotional and relationship matters

Social Learning Theory of Gender Development

An Interpersonal Theory

Children learn gender through observation and imitation, and by reacting to rewards and punishments others offer in response

Social Learning Theory asserts that …

Children imitate the communication they see on television, online, and in the people around them

Parents reward girls for feminine behaviour and discourage masculine behaviour and vise versa

Cognitive Development theory

An Interpersonal Theory

Children play active roles in developing their gender identities by seeking out gender models that help them to sculpt their own femininity or masculinity

A key point for this is gender constancy

Gender constancy

A person’s understanding that their sex is permanent and accompanied by gendered expectations

Occurs by age 6

Gender Schema Theory

Related to cognitive development theory

Before reaching their first birthday, an infant distinguishes between male and female faces and voices and begins to organize information about gender into categories—masculine and feminine

A Gender Schema

An internal mental framework that organizes knowledge related to gender.

Using gender schemata, children organize clothes, activities, toys, traits, and roles into those appropriate for boys girls

They use gender schemata to guide their choices of activities, roles, clothes, etc.

Cultural Theories of Gender

Anthropological and Symbolic Interactionism

Anthropological Theory of Gender Development

A cultural theory

Focuses on the range of ways that societies define gender

Variations in cultural attitudes produces very different societies and experiences of gender

Many societies consider gender in ways that are much different from North America

Symbolic Interactionism Theory of Gender Development

A cultural theory

Individuals develop self-identity through interactions with others

Parents often echo cultural views of gender in the words they use to describe children—big or little, dainty or strong

Critical Theories of Gender Development

Standpoint Theory and Queer Theory

Standpoint Theory of Gender Development

A critical theory

Societies are made of groups that have different amounts of power

Focuses on the influence of social location on one’s experience and perspective

Argues that voices from the margins are critical to understanding society

What does Standpoint Theory Claim

1. all perspectives on social life are partial

2. some perspectives are more partial than others

3. a standpoint is earned by developing a political awareness of power differences among social groups

Queer theory of Gender Development

Critique of conventional categories of identity

Argues identities are not fixed but fluid

What was the initial focus of Queer theory

Heteronormativity

What two ideas are central to queer theory

1. terms such as women, men, gay, and straight are not useful, as they cannot tell us much about any individual person

2. identities are not fixed but are relatively fluid. Our individual sense of our own gender identity might change over time and across contexts

Queer theory has been enhanced by two other subsidiary theories

Performative Theory and Queer and trans of color critique

Performative theory

An extra theory that aided in the development of queer theory

We perform conventional gender through everyday practices

We resist conventional views of gender if we act in ways that challenge the gender assigned to us

Our performances are not solo acts, they are always collaborative

Queer and trans of color critique

An extra theory that aided in the development of queer theory

Offers intersectional, decolonial analysis of how race, gender, and sexuality define eachother

Seven total theories of Gender Development

biological, psychodynamic, social learning, cognitive development, anthropological, standpoint, and queer theory

Brain Structure and Development

One focus of biological theory

Older studies suggested that males have more developed left lobes and females have more developed right lobes, which led to the assumption that men are more analytically minded, and women are more creatively mindedl

3 challenges to the sex-gender binary

1. Some scientists believe there are five distinct sexes

2. There is more variation within a sex than there is between the sexes

3. Exists an enormous variation of sex, gender, and sexuality

Social Location

A group to which an individual belongs; it is not a standpoint

Standpoint

Constructing a stance through reflection on power relations and engaging in struggle

First Wave of Feminism in the US includes movements like:

From 1840 to 1925

The Women’s Rights Movement

The Cult of Domesticity

The Women’s Rights Movement

In the first wave

Liberal ideology

Lucretia Coffin Mott and Elizabeth Cady organized the Seneca Falls Convention (The first women’s rights convention)

Link between abolitionists and women’s rights movement

Initially there were strong links between abolitionists efforts and women’s rights

This alliance was strained when suffrage was given to black men but not to women, as it was supported among Black feminists, but not white feminists

Black women then formed their own groups such as the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) to focus on race-based inequalities as well as suffrage

The Cult of Domesticity

In the first wave

Cultural Ideology

Most women in the 1800s did not believe that women and men were alike and equal

The idea that women were more suited to the domestic sphere because they were more moral and nurturing than men

The Impact of World War II on Feminism

Within the first wave still

Between 1940 and 1944, while men were at war, 6 million women went to work

The federal government funded childcare centers

When soldiers came home, more than 2 million women were fired and their positions returned to men

The Second Wave of Feminism in the US includes movements like:

Radical Feminism, Mainstream Second-Wave Feminism, Second Wave Liberal Feminism, Separatism, and Revalorism

Radical Feminism

In the second wave

Liberal Ideology

Emerged from college campuses and interest in New Left politics

Women were treated as subordinates in the New Left so they formed their own organizations and their new radical feminism

They used high-profile public events to call attention to oppression

Mainstream Second-Wave Feminism

Liberal Ideology

Ignited in 1963 with the publication of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan

Many white middle class women felt unfulfilled because they had limited opportunities beyond home and family

“Mainstream” because it focused on middle class white women

Second Wave Liberal Feminism

LIberal Ideology

Is embodied in NOW, the National Organization for Women

Separatism

Cultural Ideology

Developed to provide communities for women to live independent of men

The forming of all-women communities where feminine values flourished

Revalorism

Cultural Ideology

Highlights women’s traditional roles and contributions

The broad goal is to increase the value that society places on women and their traditional roles

Third wave (contemporary) feminism

A new generation of feminist activism emerged in the late 1980s

Mainstream Third Wave Feminism includes women of different ethnicities, abilities, classes, and orientations and focuses on intersectionality

Fourth Wave of Feminism

Began emerging around 2010 to 2012

Fights forms of gendered discrimination that persist, like the wage gap, unpaid maternal leave, and a lack of access to reproductive health care

Liberal feminism perspectives

A form of feminism that maintains that women and men are alike in important respects and advocates women’s social, economic, educational, and political equality

Cultural feminism perspectives

The viewpoint that women and men differ in fundamental ways, including biology, having different abilities and skills, and being entitled to different rights

Black feminist leaders of the first wave

Mary Church Terrell, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Anna Julia Cooper

Second-wave liberal feminists of colour

Flo Kennedy, Pauli Murray, and Bell Hooks

Backlash

A countermovement that argues two contradictory claims: that women have never had it so good, so there is no longer any need for feminism; and that feminism has caused serious problems in women’s lives and family relationships. Also called antifeminism.

Womanism

Liberal Ideology

Activism started by Black women to define oppression as resulting from both race and sex. Womanism, also called Black feminism, is rooted in a long tradition of intersectional activism and analysis that dates back to the first wave of feminism, rooted in Crenshaw’s term ‘intersectionality’

Million Woman March

Liberal Ideology

A grassroots gathering of African-American women launched in Philadelphia to celebrate and foster solidarity among Black women

Multiracial feminism

Liberal Ideology

A branch of the women’s movement that is characterized by global perspective, builds on women of colour feminisms and emphasizes multiple systems of domination that shape women’s lives. The 1980s and 1990s were decades in which multiracial feminism flourished

Ecofeminism

Liberal Ideology

A movement that integrates ecological philosophy

Violence and domination of women and children are connceted to the dominatino of animals, and the Earth

Asserts there is a connection between the effort to control and subordinate women and the struggle to dominate nature

Riot Grrrl

Contemporary or third wave feminism

An underground movement that began in the late 1980s and aligned with punk music, radical politics, and DIY ethics

Riot Grrrls created their own music, art, and zines to tackle a range of feminist issues

Women were allowed to vote federally in Canada in:

1918

#BlackLivesMatter:

In 2013, Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Cullors created it

Postfeminism

Assumes that feminism is no longer relevant because sexism has been fully eradicated

Profeminist Men’s Groups

Also called progressive men and male feminists

Emerged in the 1960s

Men who believe that women and men are alike and the sexes should enjoy the same privileges,

Some male feminists seek to rid themselves of what they regard as toxic masculinity and promote openness for other men

Traitorous identity

One strategy used by some profeminist men. When a group member criticizes attitudes or actions that are common and accepted among members of that group

NOMAS

One of the most prominent and long-lasting male feminist organizations

They sponsor workshops to expand men’s awareness of emotional development and being expressive

NOMAS condemns aggression, violence, and emotional insensitivity

ACT UP

The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power

Was a global grassroots movement that used street-based direct action and civil disobedience to advocate for people living with HIV and AIDS

Originally founded in 1987 in New York, at the height of the U.S. AIDS crisis.

3 Men’s Antiviolence Groups

White Ribbon Campaign (WRC), Walk a Mile in Her Shoes, Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) 

White Ribbon Campaign (WRC)

An international group of men who work to end men’s violence against women. Formed in 1991, the WRC is the largest men’s antiviolence group in the world. The group formed in response to the Montreal Massacre.

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes

An organization that works to end men’s violence against women through community awareness and fundraising

Frank Baird founded the organization in 2001 in California

Each year in cities across the world, men involved with Walk a Mile in Her Shoes establish teams, don high heels, and participate in a one-mile march through local streets

Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP)

A male anti-violence program that educates men about socialization that links masculinity to violence and aggression; motivates men to reject violence in themselves and in other men; and emphasizes the role of a bystander.

5 Men’s Groups (Anti-feminist)

Masculinist, Men’s rights activists, Free Men, Incels, Mythopoetic movement, 

Masculinist Group

A category of men’s movement that sees men as oppressed and seeks to preserve men’s freedom from women and feminization

Men’s Rights Activists

Members of a men’s movement whose goal is to restore traditional roles for men and women and, with that, the privileges men have historically enjoyed

Free Men Group

Aims to restore men’s pride in being “real men”. A branch of the men’s movement that seeks to restore the traditional image of men by celebrating and encouraging the qualities of competitiveness, independence, and ruggedness in men

Mythopoetic movement

Ideal manhood existed prior to and during the Middle Ages

Mythopoetics urge men to reclaim courage, aggression, and virility as masculine birthrights.

Father hunger

Men’s yearning to be close to other men

Based on the mythopoetic belief that most young boys have distant relationships with fathers

Fathers 4 Justice

The highest-profile fathers’ rights group. A British group that relies on humour and dramatic stunts to raise public awareness about the custody rights of separated and divorced fathers.

Promise Keepers

A Christian branch of the men’s movement that calls men together to pray and commit to Christ-centered living

Urges men to be the leaders of their families because Promise Keepers believe that doing so reflects what their religion regards as the proper relationship between husbands and wives

Million Man March

A branch of the men’s movement that began with a march in Washington, DC, in 1995, in which Black men atoned for sins and committed themselves to spiritual transformation and political action.

Their goal was for Black men to fill the mall of the nation’s capital.

The Good Men Project

A multifaceted effort to stimulate a national conversation about what it means to be a good man today

Tom Matlack created it

He published a book documenting stories of men where they are vulnerable

Langer (Gendered Speech Communities)

Argues that acollective culture is possible where people share a symbol system and the meanings encapsulated in it

Labov (Gendered Speech Communities)

extended Langer’s ideas by defining a speech community as a groups of people who share norms about communication

Speech communities

share norms, patterns, and behaviours about communications and they share the understandings for the goals of communication and the strategies to enact those goals

Maltz and Borker

Studied the importance of children’s play in shaping patterns of communication

They say young children usually play in sex-segregated groups

Boys and girls play different kinds of games

Boys games

involve large groups, are competitive, have clear goals, involve physical or rough play

Boys to use communication to:

Assert ideas, opinions, and identity

Achieve something, such as solving problems

To attract and maintain others’ attention

Girls use communication to:

Create relationships, include others, and show sensitivity

Feminine Communication

Regards talk as a way to establish and maintain relationships

Uses language to foster connections, closeness and understanding, and establish equality, and provide support

Shows more responsiveness (eye contact or nodding)

Masculine Communication

Regards talk as a way to accomplish goals, exert control, and enhance status

Characteristics: Direct and assertive &

Instrumentality (showing your problem-solving abilities)