Social Construction of Gender

Night to His Day – Judith Lorber

Social Construction of Gender

One way of choosing people for the different tasks of society is on the basis of their talents, motivations and competence – their demonstrated achievements. The other way is on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity – ascribed membership in a category of people.

Social Construction of Gender

When social scientists talk of society, we’re not (usually) talking about people

When social scientists talk of society, we’re referring to the relationships between people (or more accurately, the patterns of relationships) The relationship of the father to the child The relationship of the mother to the child

Roles in Society

Now think of the relationship of the father to the child to the relationship of the mother to the child – it can get even more complicated

Relationships in societies can influence (and sometimes create) each other

Roles in Society

Status – position one person has in the relationship (between people, groups, institutions, etc.)

Role – expected behavior of a person of a particular status A father is a status in the father/child

relationship The same man might be a customer in the

customer/clerk relationship

Roles in Society

Roles are often based on ritual (regular, repeated and predictable action)

The use of ritual here is decidedly meant for secular life (although ritual in religious practices serves the same purpose)

While many of these roles seem inconsequential, they are often important for a smoothly operating society

Roles in Society

When people break their roles, although it may appear to have no importance, it can upset society (remember, society is patterns of relationships)

Roles in Society

Ritual is also the basis for “rites of passage” Rites of passage move us from one status

to another (from unmarried woman to married woman, for example)

These rites of passage are based on regular, repeated, predictable actions

Roles in Society

Again, if something changes, and it’s no longer “predictable,” then society can become upset

Roles in Society

1980s Androgyny and Pop Music

1980s Androgyny and Pop Music

In many East African cultures, men wear make-up, rather than women

Some groups of Native American men traditionally wore make-up

In Elizabethan England, clothing was modeled after what was worn by the Queen

The acknowledgement of (physical) pain is much less acceptable in Japanese culture than in American (although in both cultures, men are more likely to acknowledge pain than women)

Sweden is the developed nation with the highest out-of-wedlock birthrate

Gender Differences Between Cultures

How are people viewed that do not fit gender roles in a very obvious visual way?

Transgendered

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=45022153

Five Genders of the Bugis (Indonesia)

The Social Construction of Sexuality – Ruth Hubbard

The Social Construction of Sexuality

Western thinking about sexuality is based on the Christian equation of sexuality with sin, which must be redeemed through making babies

Sexuality must be intended for procreation

The Social Construction of Sexuality

Intersexed People

The Gold Rush