Gender is a Social Construction
1. Before you begin, please answer this question in as many ways as you can (brainstorm):
Besides being different physically, how would your life be different if you were born a different sex?
Today's Lesson:
Besides social class and race, another area of inequality that sociologists frequently examine is gender. Similar to race, our society often uses the term gender erroneously. Because of that, society makes assumptions about gender and biology that are more a social construct than biology.
Operationalizing terms: What is gender and why is it confusing?
Oftentimes, gender is confused and misunderstood because we are limited by our language. We use the terms "male" and "female" to refer to both sex and gender. Then, to add to the confusion, oftentimes sexuality is genderized. Many people use the term "gay" or other pejoratives to mean that someone or something is not masculine. So all three of these terms are confused with each other. But, sex, sexuality, and gender are different terms that technically refer to different aspects of who we are as individuals.
Oftentimes, gender is confused and misunderstood because we are limited by our language. We use the terms "male" and "female" to refer to both sex and gender. Then, to add to the confusion, oftentimes sexuality is genderized. Many people use the term "gay" or other pejoratives to mean that someone or something is not masculine. So all three of these terms are confused with each other. But, sex, sexuality, and gender are different terms that technically refer to different aspects of who we are as individuals.
Professionals like doctors, psychologists, sociologists, social workers, and others who study people have written and researched about the differences of these terms extensively. Sex is the biology that someone is born with. Most often, a person's sex is assigned based on their reproductive parts. People are also born with an aptitude for a sexuality. As they get older, the sexuality becomes sexual attraction such as heterosexual or homosexual attraction. These are part of our biological makeup, our nature. Most researchers have concluded that these can't be changed. "Gender" however, is not biological. It is a social construction that we learn from an early age and we often take it for granted. Gender is how we think we should act based on our sex and sexuality. In sum:
Because gender is a social construct, it can be examined with a sociological imagination to show that it is different depending on where or when you examine it.
And from the Smithonian, checkout this article about children's clothing becoming genderized:
4. How has our notion of gender changed over time? Use your sociological imagination to explain how one of the examples above is evidence for gender being a social construction.
For more information:
Scene On Radio did an excellent 10-part series podcast is about gender from the
Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University distributed by PRX. The series attempts to answer: What’s up with this male-dominated world? How did we get sexism, patriarchy, misogyny in the first place? How can we get better at seeing it, and what can we do about it? Co-hosts John Biewen and Celeste Headlee explore those questions and more. This is an excellent podcast about the social construction of gender:
- Sex is the biology individuals are born with and often assigned at birth.
- Sexuality is the biological aptitude an individual is born with for attraction.
- Gender is how an individual reacts to these two. This is not biological but instead a social construct.
- Gender can be an inner identity/feeling or an outward expression
2. Do you understand the difference between the terms "sex", "sexuality" and "gender" and why these differences create confusion?
What does it mean that gender is a social construction?
While sex and sexuality are determined (at least in part by biology), gender is a social construction. Think about how you answered that question at the top of this post. Most of the ways your life would have been different are examples of society treating people differently based on their sex (and sexuality). This constructs a certain way of being. So, for example, if I am a heterosexual male, how should I act? What colors should I like? What clothes should I wear? How should I talk? What sports should I play? Is it okay for me to cry? To be rough? To like violence? To be sensitive? And so on... These are all our gender and they are all learned reactions.
Gender reveal parties are one example of how our language uses male/female to refer to both sex and gender - do these parties really reveal a child's gender? Will the child be masculine/feminine? How do we know?
What does it mean that gender is a social construction?
While sex and sexuality are determined (at least in part by biology), gender is a social construction. Think about how you answered that question at the top of this post. Most of the ways your life would have been different are examples of society treating people differently based on their sex (and sexuality). This constructs a certain way of being. So, for example, if I am a heterosexual male, how should I act? What colors should I like? What clothes should I wear? How should I talk? What sports should I play? Is it okay for me to cry? To be rough? To like violence? To be sensitive? And so on... These are all our gender and they are all learned reactions.
Gender reveal parties are one example of how our language uses male/female to refer to both sex and gender - do these parties really reveal a child's gender? Will the child be masculine/feminine? How do we know?
"Nature has no edges. It is not binary."
What is a binary and how does it contribute to the confusion?
Humans tend to be dualistic in their understanding of the world (and thus, their language). So much of our understanding is oversimplified into dualism: light and dark, wet and dry, tall and short, etc... But the reality is that there is so much in between these concepts. The same is true in terms of "gender". Our culture pushes people to the edges of the continuum below. This creates a duality for sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. This duality is often referred to as a "gender" binary.
Humans tend to be dualistic in their understanding of the world (and thus, their language). So much of our understanding is oversimplified into dualism: light and dark, wet and dry, tall and short, etc... But the reality is that there is so much in between these concepts. The same is true in terms of "gender". Our culture pushes people to the edges of the continuum below. This creates a duality for sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. This duality is often referred to as a "gender" binary.
Evidence for the continuum
Evidence that gender is a social construction - change over place and time- Sex - Scientific American explains the continuum here. And they provide a useful graphic here or here.
- Sex - One example of the spectrum of sex is the IAAF's 2018 proposal of new rules that would exclude some female runners from competing in women's Olympic events. Guardian article here.
- Gender - The Gender Spectrum website also provides resources and an explanation.
- The Gender Revolution - A documentary from National Geographic and Katie Couric that is in-depth explanation of transgender as well as some of the latest science about sex and gender.
- Here is a Guardian article about shattering the myth of the gendered brain.
- For more info, this is a great blog from Dr. Zevallos, an Australian sociologist from a Latin-Australian background.
- It's pronounced metrosexual, a free online resource for learning & teaching about gender, sexuality, & social justice created by Sam Killermann.
- From the BBC, this article details the changes in pitch for women's voices and the dynamic effects of nature and nurture on each other.
Because gender is a social construct, it can be examined with a sociological imagination to show that it is different depending on where or when you examine it.
Where
Some cultures have acknowledged a non-binary gender for centuries such as India's Hijra, Japan's Wakashu, Mexico's Muxe and two-spirit people from American Indians.
Transgender individuals
Although the rest of this lesson and the next two lessons this class will focus on the way that gender affects how we think about masculinity and femininity and how that puts cis gendered males and females at risk, see this post for more about the ways that sociologists are understanding transgender individuals and the risks that they face.
When
"The Manly Origins of Cheerleading" from Soc Images shows how cheerleading has changed from being considered very masculine to feminine to something in between:
There was a time when Loyola had male cheerleaders. In fact two of my very close friends were stunting partners and they got married after undergrad!
And from the Smithonian, checkout this article about children's clothing becoming genderized:
First dresses then pink and blue
“It’s really a story of what happened to neutral clothing,” says Paoletti, who has explored the meaning of children’s clothing for 30 years. For centuries, she says, children wore dainty white dresses up to age 6. “What was once a matter of practicality—you dress your baby in white dresses and diapers; white cotton can be bleached—became a matter of ‘Oh my God, if I dress my baby in the wrong thing, they’ll grow up perverted,’ ” Paoletti says.The march toward gender-specific clothes was neither linear nor rapid. Pink and blue arrived, along with other pastels, as colors for babies in the mid-19th century, yet the two colors were not promoted as gender signifiers until just before World War I—and even then, it took time for popular culture to sort things out. For example, a June 1918 article from the trade publication Earnshaw’s Infants’ Department said, “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.”
For a more detailed explanation of the genderization of colors, see this 9 minute video from PBS
A third example of the changing social construct is heels for men, explained here in Teen Vogue:
For more information:
Scene On Radio did an excellent 10-part series podcast is about gender from the
Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University distributed by PRX. The series attempts to answer: What’s up with this male-dominated world? How did we get sexism, patriarchy, misogyny in the first place? How can we get better at seeing it, and what can we do about it? Co-hosts John Biewen and Celeste Headlee explore those questions and more. This is an excellent podcast about the social construction of gender:
This 2018 episode of Hidden Brain explains how the differences between men and women are created by society.
What does society construct for gender?
Take a moment to think about if you have heard the various phrases and where you might have heard them:Man up!
Boys will be boys.You play like a girl.Someday you'll meet Prince Charming/Mr. Right.You need to cook and clean so that you can be a good wife.That's not lady-like.
5. Which of the messages have you heard before?
Mark all the messages that you have heard - even if the message was not directed at you.
Mark all the messages that you have heard - even if the message was not directed at you.
6. What agents of socialization have you heard say those phrases from the link above?
List all the categories of people where you have heard these. Were they: parents, siblings, friends, peers, teachers, coaches, actors/actresses, tik-tok stars, somewhere else?
7. List the messages that the phrases convey for males. For example, for "Boys will be boys," you might write, "There's only one way to be a boy," You can't change boys," or, "It's ok for boys to be rough."
8. List the messages that the phrases convey for females.
This activity should reveal that even though people actually exist on a continuum (lesson 1), our culture constantly promotes a binary. We hear these binary messages from all of the agents of socialization. The messages start even before you are born. So the idea of a binary is very strong and we are pushed to the ends of the binary from the moment we are born.
The boxes of the binary
Before going further, let me clarify about the biology of males and females. On average, categorically, men and women are indeed different. On average, males are taller, have more muscle mass and more testosterone and less estrogen than females. However, none of these are at the exclusivity of each other. Males and females both have testosterone and estrogen, they both have muscle mass. Females can be tall and have a lot of muscle mass. Males can be short and have little muscle mass. People are complex and we all exist along a continuum.
However, our society emphasizes the polar ends of the continuum. Males are pushed to be only masculine and females are pushed to be feminine. Society gives the appearance that there is only one way to be masculine or feminine. Below are some of the traditional traits that dominant US culture has pushed for each gender. Note that these are traditional in the sense that society has generally promoted them, even if they do not apply to you. To be clear, I am not saying that men and women should be these ways, I am saying that society has traditionally socialized men and women to be these ways:
9. Which of the traditional gender traits (above) are similar to the messages that you identified that are associated with he phrases above?
After you have tried your own search for words, or if the website was not working, click here to see my analysis of the RateMyProfessor data.
11. See how many words you can find that are completely gendered. Make a list.
Go to professor Schmidt's website, Gendered Language in Teacher Reviews. See how many words you can find that are genderized. What are the words? List them in number 7.
List all the categories of people where you have heard these. Were they: parents, siblings, friends, peers, teachers, coaches, actors/actresses, tik-tok stars, somewhere else?
7. List the messages that the phrases convey for males. For example, for "Boys will be boys," you might write, "There's only one way to be a boy," You can't change boys," or, "It's ok for boys to be rough."
8. List the messages that the phrases convey for females.
This activity should reveal that even though people actually exist on a continuum (lesson 1), our culture constantly promotes a binary. We hear these binary messages from all of the agents of socialization. The messages start even before you are born. So the idea of a binary is very strong and we are pushed to the ends of the binary from the moment we are born.
The boxes of the binary
Before going further, let me clarify about the biology of males and females. On average, categorically, men and women are indeed different. On average, males are taller, have more muscle mass and more testosterone and less estrogen than females. However, none of these are at the exclusivity of each other. Males and females both have testosterone and estrogen, they both have muscle mass. Females can be tall and have a lot of muscle mass. Males can be short and have little muscle mass. People are complex and we all exist along a continuum.
However, our society emphasizes the polar ends of the continuum. Males are pushed to be only masculine and females are pushed to be feminine. Society gives the appearance that there is only one way to be masculine or feminine. Below are some of the traditional traits that dominant US culture has pushed for each gender. Note that these are traditional in the sense that society has generally promoted them, even if they do not apply to you. To be clear, I am not saying that men and women should be these ways, I am saying that society has traditionally socialized men and women to be these ways:
Gendered traits are also listed with citations here:
PEW Research Center found similar gendered language in a 2017 study about gender expectations for men and women. Click through the follow up analysis (2018), and look for ways that gender is constructed.
How Americans describe what society values (and doesn’t) in each gender? What traits does society value most in men and in women? What traits does society say men and women should not have?
You can click on the link above to explore their findings. Here is a sample of their findings. Gold is for women and green is for men.
Examples of data/evidence for the binary.
Please look at each of the links below. Look for how the marketplace creates the binary between male and female - especially in ways that are unnecessary. When you are finished looking at each, answer question six.
Please look at each of the links below. Look for how the marketplace creates the binary between male and female - especially in ways that are unnecessary. When you are finished looking at each, answer question six.
- Gendered Products; See this post about products that are pointlessly gendered thus reifying the idea of traditional gender traits.
- Gendered Halloween costumes.
10. After reviewing the two links above (aren't those funny?), what product was the most pointlessly gendered? What costume was the most ridiculously gendered?
Finally, one last bit of evidence that society pushes us to the binary is in the gendered language of teacher reviews. This example shows how socialization shapes how American college students perceive their professors. Sociology professor Ben Schmidt has gathered the metadata from ratemyprofessor.com at his site, Gendered Language in Teacher Reviews. The interactive chart lets you explore the words used to describe male and female teachers in about 14 million reviews from RateMyProfessor.com. You can enter any word (or two-word phrase) into the box below to see how it is split across gender and discipline: the x-axis gives how many times your term is used per million words of text (normalized against gender and field). You can also limit to just negative or positive reviews (based on the numeric ratings on the site). For some more background, see here. Not all words have gender splits, but a surprising number do. Even things like pronouns are used quite differently by gender. For example, the word "funny" shows up in the chart below. Notice that orange is female and blue is male. For every single subject (in the column on the left) funny is mentioned more in reviews of male teachers. Every single subject!
After you have tried your own search for words, or if the website was not working, click here to see my analysis of the RateMyProfessor data.
11. See how many words you can find that are completely gendered. Make a list.
Go to professor Schmidt's website, Gendered Language in Teacher Reviews. See how many words you can find that are genderized. What are the words? List them in number 7.
