Gender and Society Exam 1

Research on gender comes from which fields

Anthropology, history, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and women’s studies.

Quantitative research methods

Used to gather and analyze data that can be quantified and counted

Common methods include surveys, experiments, and statistics

Qualitative research methods

Aims to understand meanings that cannot be quantified or counted

Common methods include study of oral, written, and nonverbal communications texts

Critical research methods

Identify and critique 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.

Essentializing Gender

Intersex

An umbrella term for variations in biological sex characteristics—including anatomy, organs, chromosomes, or hormones—that do not conform to the male-female binary.

Approximately 1 to 2 percent of the population

Gender:

A social, symbolic construction that includes an internal sense of identity, the external communication of that identity, as well as the cultural expectations assigned to biological sex.

Gender varies across…

cultures, over time within any given society, and in relation to other genders

cultures stipulate the social meaning and expectations of each sex

Gender Identity

One’s internal sense of self as a woman, man, both, neither, or somewhere in between

Gender Expression

The external communication of one’s gender identity through clothing, hairstyles, behaviour, and voice

Gender Role

the cultural expectations assigned to one’s sex

Nonbinary

Someone who resists and/or rejects binary sex and gender

Androgyny

Combination of qualities that society considers both masculine and feminine. Androgynous people tend to identify with and enact qualities socially ascribed both to women and men.

Gender-affirming health care

A wide range of medical care and mental health support services for trans and nonbinary people that are tailored to stage of life as well as individual needs and preferences

ex. hormone therapies or surgical care

Culture

The structures and practices, especially those relating to communication, through which a particular social order is produced and reproduced by legitimizing certain values, expectations, meanings, and patterns of behaviour

Communication

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

Communication has two levels of meaning

The content level of meaning is its literal meaning. The relationship level of meaning defines the relationship between communicators. The relationship level of meaning reflects and influences how people feel about each other. It tells us how to interpret the literal message.

3 Reasons to Learn about Communication, Gender and Culture

Enhances appreciation of complex ways in which cultural values and practices shape understandings

Deepens understanding of your personal gender in relation to cultural prescriptions

Understanding gender differences in communication will make you a more effective communicator

Western Culture assumes these links as “natural”

Male → man → masculinity → heterosexuality

Female→- woman → femininity → heterosexuality

Cisgender

Prefix ‘cis’ means “on the same side of”, describes people who stay on the side of gender assigned at birth

Queer

Signals a wide range of sexual and romantic desires and activities

Queer can refer to anything that departs from what society considers normal; can be a noun, adjective, or verb

Sex–gender binary

The division of humans into two sexes and two corresponding genders that are presumed to be opposite, distinct, natural, and enduring

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

Theory

A way to describe, explain, and predict relationships among phenomena

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

Biological, interpersonal, cultural, and critical.

Biological Theory of Gender Development

Biological characteristics of the sexes are the basis of differences in women’s and men’s thinking, communicating, feeling, and other functions.

Maintains that biological characteristics such as 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 X holds approximately 800 genes, whereas the Y holds only about 50–60 genes

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 as well as 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 a pivotal and continuing impact on the development of self, particularly gender identity

The first relationship (primary caregiver) influences how we define our identity, including gender

Developing research suggests that children in LGBTQ+ families have more expansive views of gender

Psychodynamic theories assert that …

Mothers interact more with daughters and are more nurturing with daughters than with sons, thus

Many 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

They learn to be more masculine and feminine by imitating others and getting consequent responses

Social Learning Theorists assert that …

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

Rewards from others teach boys and girls which behaviours are appropriate for 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

Can be influenced by an unconscious gender bias

A key point for this is gender constancy

Gender constancy

A person’s understanding that his/her/their assigned sex is stable or permanent and that it is accompanied by gendered expectations

Generally occurs by age 6

Trans kids can struggle with gender constancy; but if their gender is affirmed and allowed to be expressed, they experience less depression and anxiety

Gender Schema Theory

Related to cognitive development theory

Before reaching their first birthday, an infant distinguishes between male and female faces and voices.

By the age of 2, children begin to organize their understandings of gender into coherent wholes

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 and men and those appropriate for girls and women.

They use gender schemata to guide their choices of activities, roles, clothes, and so forth.

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 and an understanding of social life, values, and codes of conduct through communicative interactions with others in a society

Communication with others is the primary way we develop gender identity

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

Complements symbolic interactionism by noting that societies are made up of different groups that have different amounts of power and privilege

Focuses on the influence of social location (e.g., gender, race, and class) on one’s experience and perspective

Political consciousness about social location can generate a standpoint that affects perspective and action

Focuses on how membership in groups, such as those designated by gender, race, class, ability, and gender identity, shapes what individuals experience, know, feel, and do as well as how individuals understand social life as a whole

Argues that voices from the margins are critical to understanding how society works

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 and cultural views of “normal” and “abnormal,” particularly in relation to sexuality

Queer theory argues identities are not fixed but fluid

Queer theory challenges the ways that a culture defines and polices what is considered normal and abnormal

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

A subsidary (or extra) theory that aided in the development of queer theory

All of us perform gender in diverse ways

We perform conventional gender through everyday practices such as dominating or deferring in conversations and crossing our legs

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

Our performances are not solo acts, they are always collaborative, because however we express gender, we do so in a context of social meanings

Queer and trans of color critique

A subsidary (or extra) theory that aided in the development of queer theory

Offers intersectional, decolonial analysis of how race, gender, and sexuality are mutually constitutive.

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 minded

Other subtle differences in brain functioning are emerging, but research is still developing

The human brain is adaptive and continually changing, making it difficult to discern which differences are biological and which are social

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

Earned through critical reflection on power relations and through engaging in the struggle required to construct a stance that challenges the dominant one in a culture

Sharing a social location does not mean you share a standpoint