Sociology Notes on Sex, Gender, and Sexuality

Sex, Gender, and Sexuality

Part 1: Exploring Sociological Perspectives of Gender

  • Defining Sex and Gender:

    • Sex: Biological and physiological categories (e.g., male, female, intersex).
    • Gender: Social, cultural, and psychological qualities projected onto human bodies (e.g., masculinity, femininity).

  • Why Study Gender?

    • To understand how gendered identities structure interactions within communities and society.
    • To understand how gender shapes perceptions of others and ourselves.
    • To understand how gendered structures form the basis of power and resource allocation, often unequally.
    • To understand how these structures create gender roles, rules, and normative constructions.

  • Sociology of Sex and Gender:

    • Challenges taken-for-granted views of being female and male.
    • Emphasizes that gender is socially constructed in relation to social structure and cultural context.
    • Recognizes that gender does not intrinsically belong to ostensibly male and female bodies.
    • Identifies patriarchy as central to the experience of being male or female.

  • Comparison of Three Theoretical Perspectives on Gender Inequality:

    • Functionalism:
      • Sees gender inequality as an orderly mechanism for dividing labor and allocating rewards.
      • Key concepts: Expressive tasks (typically for women), instrumental tasks (typically for men).
    • Conflict Theory:
      • Sees gender inequality as a form of social stratification in which men dominate women.
      • Key concepts: Subordination, false consciousness.
    • Symbolic Interactionism:
      • Sees gender inequality as transmitted from generation to generation through gender-role socialization.
      • Key concepts: Gender stereotypes, self-definitions.

  • Functionalism and Gender:

    • Draws attention to the 'roles' individuals play in society.
    • Talcott Parsons' idea of the nuclear family.
      • Men are constructed as better suited for an instrumental role (providing material support, earning money, being an authority figure).
      • Women are constructed as better suited for an expressive role (providing emotional support, nurturing, aesthetic).

  • Conflict Theory and Gender:

    • Conflict theorists believe that historically, men have had access to most of society’s resources and privilege.
    • It would be in the interests of men to maintain their dominant position and to resist trends toward gender equality.

  • Symbolic Interactionism:

    • Highlights the processes by which gender is socially constructed, maintained, and reproduced in everyday life.
    • Demonstrates this using the concept of sex role socialization.

Part 2: Introducing Gender Theory

  • Gender Stereotypes:

    • Masculinity: Strong and protective, assertive and competitive, does not care about appearance, intellectually rational and logical, unemotional, high libido, preoccupied with sex.
    • Femininity: Soft, understanding, caring and nurturing, vain, preoccupied with appearance, intellectually limited, emotional and irrational, useless at practical activities, largely asexual, more concerned with romantic love.

  • Gender Stereotypes Explained:

    • The above are stereotypes; nobody truly fits either perfectly.
    • They are dominant traits assigned based on perceived gender.
    • People strive to match these characteristics even if uncomfortable.

  • Gender and 'Natural' Complementarity:

    • Examples: Night and day, Yin and yang, positive and negative, man and woman.

  • How Do We Develop Gender?

    • Socio-biologists argue for biologically determined traits. However, sociologists largely agree that gender is a socially learned behavior.
    • The most prominent theoretical perspective is socialization into gender roles from an early age.

  • Key Concepts: Gender Socialization:

    • From birth, individuals are socialized along gendered lines.
      • Girls: Pink, dolls, princess or domestic play.
      • Boys: Blue, trucks, violent or practical, career-based play.

  • Gender Socialization (Continued):

    • In addition to gender roles and conformity, individuals are socialized into heterosexuality.
    • Socialization is done by parents, siblings, peers, schools, and mass media.
    • Gender socialization continues into adulthood.

  • Methods of Gender Socialization:

    • Physical sanctions and rewards.
    • Verbal encouragement or discouragement.
    • Imitating behaviors, mannerisms, or speech from adults and media.

  • Sites of Socialization:

    • Primary: The family.
    • Secondary: Child-care center, school.
    • Tertiary: Peers, strangers, role models, and the media.

  • Gender Socialization and the Media:

    • Masculine and feminine behavior is portrayed in a highly stereotypical manner in all forms of media.
    • Further material: See Feminist Frequency’s ‘Tropes vs Women in Video Games’ on YouTube.

  • Social Construction of Gender:

    • ‘Doing Gender’ – concept of West & Zimmerman (1987).
    • Gender is accomplished in interaction with others by providing cues consistent with normative expectations for masculinity and femininity.
    • ‘Doing’ gender involves:
      • Assuming and creating difference between women and men that are not physiological.
      • Using these assumptions and socially constructed differences to reinforce the notion that gender is natural or essentially derived.

Part 3: Exploring Social Change, Masculinities, and Patriarchy

  • The Evolution of Gender:

    • Gender socialization directs men and women towards the performance of particular roles and jobs in society.
    • In the past, women were often ‘house-wives’ and men were ‘breadwinners.’
    • This has changed overtime in some social contexts due to changes in the economy and society.

  • Reasons for Change:

    • Greater access to higher education and evolving labor market trending toward white-collar work.
    • Expansion of the middle class.
    • Declining full-time work and increased casualization.
    • Rise in the cost of living, housing and education.
    • Access to birth control and family planning.
    • Feminism.

  • Women’s Work:

    • Women’s full-time wages are still around only 80% of men’s wages.
    • Women workers are concentrated in sales, service, clerical sectors, and also nursing and teaching.
    • These sectors are generally lower paid than the sectors in which men are concentrated and often have few or limited career opportunities.
    • Very few women occupy senior managerial positions compared to men.

  • Gender Segregation:

    • Australia has high levels of gender segregation in work and leisure compared to other similar countries.
    • Australians tend to believe this is a natural and are shocked to visit other countries where this segregation is not as profound.
    • The work and leisure of men and women is valued differently in Australia.

  • Gendered Division of Labor:

    • Despite their relative educational success, women often end up in jobs that are insecure, low-paid, and low-status.
    • Women often take such jobs so they can juggle family responsibilities and paid work.
    • In Australia, men are not expected to make such sacrifices and adjustments.
    • Relatively speaking, Australian men do very little housework and not much child-care.
    • Women do 21 hours more unpaid work than men a week, according to a national survey.

  • Masculinities:

    • Masculinities “come into existence at particular times and places and are always subject to change” (Connell, 1995).
    • Dominant definitions of masculinity are embedded in social institutions such as the state, education, and the family.
    • Studying masculinities sociologically demands a focus on images, texts and practices rather than on personality and behaviour.

  • Key Concepts: Hegemonic Masculinity:

    • Male power is institutionalized in social structures and ideologies that support the gender order in favor of men in general; however not ALL men directly benefit from the ideals of hegemonic masculinity
    • Hegemony is not the same as dominance; different definitions and practices of masculinity may co-exist as hegemonic – think CEOs, sport stars, supreme court judges – all different but all broadly masculine.
    • Masculinity is always contested – it is fluid and responsive to trends and social movements.
    • Very few men actually occupy the hegemonic positions celebrated in a particular culture.
    • Through the ideals of hegemonic masculinity, men are not only organised hierarchically in relation to women, in relations of marginalisation and subordination but also to each other.
    • Men who are read as effeminate or whose gender and sexuality differ from hegemonic standards often experience marginalisation.
    • Yet all men receive some measure of the patriarchal dividend, even if they are implicitly excluded from the ideals of hegemonic masculinity.

  • Key Concepts: Patriarchal Dividend:

    • The modern gender order is based on the ‘patriarchal dividend’ in which women remain subordinate to men.
    • For example, in relation to the gender division of labour, men collectively receive the bulk of income in the money economy and occupy most of the managerial positions.
    • Worldwide, men hold nine out of ten cabinet-level positions in national governments, nearly as many of the parliamentary seats, and most top positions in international agencies.
    • Men also receive the benefits of a great deal of unpaid household labour and emotional support from women (in the case of heterosexual relationships).

  • Key Concepts: Patriarchy:

    • Patriarchy is not exclusively defined as relations between individual men and women, and patriarchy does not always act in the interests of the majority of men.
    • Sociologists look at symbols, language and patterns, not necessarily at individuals.
    • Gendered socialisation, hegemonic masculinity, essentialist views of biological gender traits contribute to the overall dominance of patriarchy.
    • Some women may gain power in a patriarchal system by their association with, or inheritance from, powerful males.
    • While it is a useful concept, ‘patriarchy’ has been challenged for a perceived failure to consider intersectionality of oppression.

Part 4: Feminist Theory, Sexuality & Gender

  • Feminism:

    • Feminism advocates social equality for the sexes in opposition to patriarchy and sexism.
    • Feminism does not advocate for female supremacy!
    • Basic feminist ideas:
      • We should work to increase equality.
      • We should seek to expand human choices and opportunities.
      • We should eliminate gender stratification.
      • We should eliminate sexual coercion and violence.
      • We should all enjoy sexual freedom.

  • Feminism as a Political Movement:

    • First-wave feminism: Emerged in the 19th and early 20th Century, focused on the broad civic inequalities that faced women. This wave of feminism was largely concerned with women’s suffrage.
    • Second-wave feminism: Began in the 1960s and continued into the ‘Sexual Revolution’. It sought to bring change to issues such as divorce, custody, marital rape, domestic violence and reproductive rights.
    • Third-wave feminism: Began in the 1990s and is characterized by intersectional activism, early transfeminism, Riot Grrl punk scenes, as well as contemporary representation and economic gender equality.
    • Fourth-wave feminism: Some argue that a new, fourth wave of feminism has emerged as recently as 2012. This fourth wave focuses on contemporary issues such as street harassment, workplace sexual harassment, rape culture, identity politics. Intersectionality is a key feature, providing a platform for marginalised voices. It is notable for its use of social media to educate, organise and engage in activism.

  • Political Branches of Feminism:

    • Liberal feminism: Offers a critique of patriarchy. It follows on from the reformers in the first wave of feminism. Liberal feminists agree broadly with the value system of modern culture but argue that women are disadvantaged within it. They seek equal access to, and representation of, women in all the spheres of public life. Liberal feminists aim for reform, for a level playing field for both sexes in society, but they do not find society itself at fault.
    • Socialist feminism: Argues that social class position is significant for women’s status and function in society. Monogamous marriage is about private property; men ‘own’ women and children like they own wealth and possessions. The family is a microcosm of society’s larger class relations; the father rules the family, the man rules society. Both patriarchy and capitalism must be analysed together.
    • Radical feminists: Argue not only that women are disadvantaged, but that something is wrong with the way societies work. They argue that patriarchy creates a system in which hierarchy and competition prevail, so that even if women get into the public sphere, they have to play the “boys’” game on their terms. Radical feminists also focus on the private sphere – emphasising sexual assault and domestic violence against women as central to the preservation of patriarchy.

  • Sex ≠ Gender ≠ Sexuality:

    • Sexuality is not the same as sex or gender. Sexuality describes sexual orientation, desire, sexual identity and sexual practice.
    • Sexuality continues to be regulated by a variety of legal and policing mechanisms.
    • Some cultures in our society attempt to regulate all aspects of sexuality, and restrict it just to events between husbands and wives in marriage and for reproductive purposes.

  • Queer Theory – Gender Performativity:

    • Male and female behaviour and norms are not the result of biology but are constructed, reinforced, and maintained by continuous performance in society and culture – and by us, ourselves.
    • Explores and challenges the ways ‘heterosexuality’ is constructed as normal; and the power relationships which keep this is place.
    • Queer theory challenges the traditional divide between gay and heterosexual; suggesting sexual identity is fluid across different stages of life and sex/gender.
    • In Gender Trouble (1993), Judith Butler argues we should challenge and ‘trouble’ these traditional views on gender and sexuality because of the harms they cause.

  • Political Shifts – Acceptance/Assimilation:

    • Political shifts have occurred that have allowed people of diverse sexuality and gender to be embraced by existing social structures and institutions (the economy, social welfare, marriage, politics and the community).
    • This sense of ‘assimilation’ is the subject of heated debate in queer circles, as the ability to ‘blend in’ is less likely to be extended to queer people of colour and transgender people without ‘passing privilege’.
    • Many queer people insist that they aren’t ‘just like’ heterosexual, gender conforming people, and for true liberation, it is the sense of what is normal that needs to be broken down.

  • Foucault and the History of Sexuality:

    • Michel Foucault published a very influential series of volumes on the History of Sexuality (1976, 1984, ‘lost’ fourth edition published in 2018).
    • Sexuality as a ‘vector of oppression’ only came about in the early 20th Century. Before then, it was not a concept used to classify human beings.
    • Foucault argued that our contemporary understandings of sexuality are reductive and ahistorical.

  • Kinsey Scale of Sexual Orientation (1948-53):

    • Note: This chart still works on binary notions of sex: Heterosexuality (‘opposite sex’ attraction between cis-gendered women and men) Homosexuality (‘same sex’ attraction, ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’)

  • Gender Diversity:

    • The links between sex, sexuality and gender are arbitrary.
    • By saying this link is arbitrary, we are saying that there are no intrinsic gendered qualities. The roles and expectations we place on people based on their assigned gender are socially constructed and are not based on indisputable physical, hormonal or biological differences.
    • If gender and sex are not intrinsically linked, then a broader range of expressions must be possible.
    • Terms we use to describe some gender identities include cisgender, transgender, non-binary.
    • Gender identity – An individual’s personal sense of their own gender – the way they define themselves in the context of their social environment.
    • Romantic attraction – The platonic, romantic and/or sexual attraction that one has (or does not have).
    • Physical sex characteristics – Chromosomal and physical variations between bodies.
    • Gender presentation – The way a person chooses to express themselves in a way that reflects their gender.
    • Gender identity constantly shifts around, it is unstable and subject to re-invention and re-development as we age and change.
    • Notably, gender re-assignment, either physical or cultural, is present in virtually all human societies.

  • Sexuality and Gender in Other Cultures:

    • Some ‘men’ socially defined as ‘women’ or other categories altogether in many cultures.
    • The absence of “the homosexual” prior to the eighteenth century.
    • Homosexual acts did not indicate a personality type in Medieval Europe.
    • No monogamous marriage, no double standard and no sexual jealousy in many cultures.
    • Institutionalized homosexuality as an aspect of patriarchal masculinity in many societies.

  • In Summary:

    • Socialisation creates and reinforces gender, but gender pathways are also chosen.
    • Patriarchy and patriarchal dividend refer to male dominance and the benefits men receive from the subjugation of women.
    • Hegemonic masculinity refers to the various masculine ideals that link masculinity with traits associated with power and success, and how these are defined in opposition to femininity.
    • For many people, gender identities seem ‘natural’ – but as sociologists we critique this notion.
    • Gender is more complicated than ‘man’ and ‘woman’, and it is something we ‘do’ rather than something we ‘are.’