It is a central organizing principle of societies, and often governs the processes of production and reproduction, consumption and distribution,” (FAO, 1997). Gender and sex are put into categories and they are not the same thing. Sex in biological and physiological terms refers to male and female and defines them in such ways as breasts, testicles, women’s menstruation cycle, and hormones. Gender also refers to socially constructed roles, activities and behaviors. How do gender and sex contribute to the concepts and constructions of masculinity and femininity?
Many of the authors covered in our texts discuss the intersections of race, class, and gender and how they are formed in society. For my essay I want to touch on what are the different races being discussed? What genders are we intersecting? How is each classes different and how does it differ with race? The pieces that will be mentioned touch on the fact that in society gender stereotypes are formed.
This includes our organs and genitalia. When we all were young the sex also defined the masculinity and femininity of the person. But in today's society no matter the actual sex or gender of the person. the dominating role is perceived as the masculine role and the weaker or more submissive person is perceived as the feminine role. Do our concepts of gender and sex contribute to the ways we embrace gender and sex in diversity?
For example, cultural feminists look to the different values associated with womanhood and femininity as a reason why men and women experience the social world differently. Other feminist theorists believe that the different roles assigned to women and men within institutions better explain gender difference, including the sexual division of labor in the household. Existential and phenomenological feminists focus on how women have been marginalized and defined as the “other” in patriarchal societies. Women are thus seen as objects and are denied the opportunity for self-realization. Gender Inequality: Gender-inequality theories recognize that women's location in, and experience of, social situations are not only different but also unequal to men's.
Widely shared gender stereotypes are in effect the “genetic code” of the gender system, since they constitute the cultural rules or schemas by which people perceive and enact gender difference and inequality. Expectation states theory argues that gender is deeply entwined with social hierarchy and leadership because the rules for the gender system that are encoded in gender stereotypes contain status beliefs at their core (Wagner & Berger, 1997). Status beliefs are shared cultural schemas about the status position in
Fair Pay Divided and Distributed Social distinctions between men and women make up what is known as gender. Gender is not the same as sex, which refers to the biological differences between males and females. Gender is an invention of society, learned over a period of years through interactions with family, friends, and other people. Both physical and social factors influence a person's gender identity. Gender affects a person's roles and position in society.
Lea Cherbaka February 17, 2010 Reaction Paper – The Social Construction of Gender “I am arguing that bodies differ in many ways physiologically, but they are completely transformed by social practices to fit into the salient categories of a society, the most pervasive of which are “female” and “male” and “women” and “men (Lorber 1990, 10).” The first thing that comes to people’s minds when they think of “the social construction of gender” is the characteristic that is normally associated with men and women. For example, men are strong and women are sensitive. In her article, Judith Lorber discusses the inequality between the genders and how society is the factor that has created such a divide between males and females. When reading this article I thought that Lorber provided a lot of examples for her argument, which allowed me to relate to many of them. For example, one of the main points she touched upon was the male dominance in sports.
Theory Summary Essay In this theory Gayle coveys how sex is used to display dominance and power. She breaks down today’s view on sexuality and the stereotypical and hypocritical categories placed on gender. She focuses on homosexuals, pedophiles, children, women, transvestites and more. She argues that sex shapes society’s social norms, in other words society no longer uses sex as only for reproduction. She references western culture in this argument to suggest our humanity is built solely upon the idea of sex as a natural force that is the basis of social structure.
A gender role is described by Conrad P Kottak as “The tasks and activities that a culture assigns to each sex” (2011:419). Kath Woodward has identified a gender role as being “The social attributes associated with being a woman or a man in a particular society” (2004:44). But what does that actually mean. From the day of our birth we are enculturated into a twofold identity classification that is reinforced not only by our
Gender Inequalities, Past and Present In current society, social divisions feature a lot on the prospects of people within each society. This essay will explain how the in such concepts as women being forced into unpaid labour, male dominance over females in employment, the sexualisation of women in the media as well as briefly looking into inequalities within violence. Through discussing each of these concepts, we can compare the historical context of gender inequalities to the present day to see if things have improved or deteriorated in modern society. Before looking into the concepts of gender inequalities, we must first explore gender itself which is the division into two groups - men and women. In sociological terms, it has been pointed out by transgender activist Leslie Feinberg that: ‘gender is a key factor that shapes social behaviour and social institutions.’ and ‘gender is ‘understood culturally and theoretically as a dualism.’ (Marsh et al, 216) Gender inequality is definitely something that we often take for granted; it is accepted and seems so normal in society.