Sociology of gender
Encyclopedia
Sociology of gender is a prominent subfield of sociology
. Since 1950 an increasing part of the academic literature, and of the public discourse uses gender for the perceived or projected (self-identified
) masculinity
or femininity
of a person. The term was introduced by Money (1955):
A person's gender
is complex, encompassing countless characteristics of appearance, speech, movement and other factors not solely limited to biological sex.
Societies tend to have binary gender systems
in which everyone is categorized as male
or female
. Some societies include a third gender role; for instance, the Native American Two-Spirit
people and the hijra
s of India.
There is debate over the extent to which gender is a social construct or a biological construct.
, use the same word Geschlecht to refer both to grammatical gender and to biological sex, making the distinction between sex and gender advocated by some anthropologists difficult. In some contexts, German has adopted the English loan-word gender to achieve this distinction. Sometimes 'Geschlechtsidentitaet' is used as gender (although it literally means gender identity) and 'Geschlecht' as sex (translation of Judith Butler
's Gender Trouble
). More common is the use of modifiers: biologisches Geschlecht for sex, Geschlechtsidentität for gender identity and Geschlechterrolle for gender role etc.
as discussed in Naomi Wolf
’s book, The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women, which refers to unrealistic standards of beauty for women. The media perpetuates the idea of heteromasculinity by portraying men as dominant. Men and women in the United States are influenced by the media which objectifies and oppresses women, and men who don’t fall into the heteronormative category.
Both men and women are oppressed in the media. Women are oppressed in the media through musical lyrics that discuss violence, distrust, and overall inferiority to men. Through the media, men are taught to be ultra-masculine by being desensitized, violent, and physically strong. Other forms of media that often portray the ultra-masculine figure are advertisements, specifically beer commercials. These forms encourage men to oppress other men if they do not fit the ideals of heteromasculinity.
Women are often objectified and portrayed as objects. This is shown through advertisements where women become the object. There are many repercussions, such as low self-esteem and eating disorders, this encourages the idea of women being subordinate to men in the sense that women are disposable and controllable.
, an invisible barrier that prevents them from moving up the corporate ladder. Men in jobs traditionally held by women, such as nursing, elementary school teaching, and social work, experience a “glass escalator” effect in which they are able to quickly ascend the job hierarchy to become managers and principals. Also there tends to be a gender pay gap between men and women, with women only earning 77% as much as men.
One cause of the gender pay gap may be due to occupational segregation
, which pushes men and women towards gender-specific forms of employment, rather than pay discrimination. Another cause is the double burden
, a phenomenon in which women perform most of the unpaid childcare and household work despite being otherwise employed for pay. A third cause is occupational sexism
, one part of which favors men for promotions due to their traditional breadwinner status . The 2001 class action lawsuit, Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
, charged Wal-Mart with sexist hiring and promotion practices.
Another issue in the workplace is parental leave
. The United States is currently one of only four countries that do not mandate paid paternal leave for new parents. However, among countries that do offer paid parental leave, almost all of them offer few or no benefits for fathers.
In addition, the emergence of transgender
individuals in the workplace have begun to disrupt the gender binary of male and female. By creating a hybrid gender identity, the transgender community suggests notions of movement toward postgenderism
.
suggests that forms of inequality, oppression, and privilege shaped by interconnected axes of identity are mutually reinforced by social interactions and by social, political, and economic structures, such as capitalism, patriarchy, and institutionalized heternormativity. Intersectionality emphasizes that race, class, gender, and other markers of identity are social constructions. This theory disassembles the assumption that systems of power relations are normative and can hold individuals accountable for their own character and efforts.
West & Fenstermaker in their 1995 article Doing Difference
offer that models that conceive gender, race and class as distinct axes are highly limiting in their understanding of the whole experience or identity of an individual. For example, they critique the additive model, in which the whole will never be greater (or lesser) than the sum of it parts. By analyzing each identity marker as an individual characteristic, we ignore the effect of the interconnection of these markers.
Additional sociologists have written about the intersectionality of class, race, and gender. Joan Acker outlines four gendered processes of intersectionality. The first includes procedures that create hierarchies based on gender and race. Another is the process in which social images and ideas condone gendered institutions. The third is a process of interaction between individuals and groups that, through communication, creates gender. The fourth is the internal labeling of the self and others to gendered personas. Evelyn Nakano Glenn
critiques both the patriarchy model of gender, which ignores racial differences among oppressed women, and the internal colonialism model, which focuses on minority populations in general, ignoring gender differences.
practices in Chinese culture, neck rings in African and Asian cultures, and corsets in Western cultures. Another interesting phenomenon has been the practice of wearing high heels, which shifted from a masculine fashion to a feminine fashion over time. In the United States, the ideal body image and dimensions have changed for both women and men, with the body ideal female body shape
becoming progressively slimmer and the body ideal for men becoming progressively larger. These differences are epitomized in the example of children’s toys; G.I. Joe
dolls depict the physical ideals for boys and Barbie
dolls embody the ideals for girls. The Beauty Myth
, as discussed in Naomi Wolf
’s book The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women, refers to the unattainable standard of beauty for women, which sustains consumer culture. In contrast, men’s bodies are also “dictated” by cultural ideals of gender, as is evident in consumer culture—especially beer commercials—in which men are portrayed as outdoorsy, tough, strong, and “manly.”
, Gender identity
and expression, and Sexual orientation
. Sexuality encompasses both sexual behavior and sexual desire. However, Heteronormativity
structures social life so that Heterosexuality
is always assumed, expected, ordinary and privileged. Its pervasiveness makes it difficult for people to imagine other ways of life. Mass media works to glorify heterosexuality, which in turn lends to its pervasiveness and to its power. Both ordinary and exceptional constructions of heterosexuality work to normalize heterosexuality; thus, it becomes difficult to imagine anything other than this form of social relationship or anyone outside of these bonds. There is a common perception of heterosexuality as the “natural” emotional and sensual inclination for Human sexuality
. Furthermore, marital heterosexuality occupies the largely invisible core of normative and desirable sexuality, while all other sexualities are marginalized and considered perverse and unnatural. Alfred Kinsey
created a Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale called the Kinsey Scale
, which challenges the common perception of Human sexuality
as strictly binary and directly linked to Gender
. Drag queens are an example of “troubling” gender, complicating the understanding of sexuality in our society by causing people to think outside the binary of male/female.
is a performed gender identity. Contrary to popular perception, it is not the same as sex
or sexual orientation
. The contents and practices of masculinity are socially constructed and reproduced through daily interaction, especially on a more micro scale. Theorists West & Zimmerman emphasized that gender is maintained through accountability. Men are expected to perform masculinity to the point that it is naturalized. Thus, a man’s status depends on his performance. It is important to note, however, that masculinity can be performed by any sex.
The dominant form of masculinity in a society is known as hegemonic masculinity
. Men are constantly performing this to prove their status as men. It is not really possible to reach it, especially as peers are in constant surveillance of each other, looking for flaws in their performance. Hegemonic masculinity is constructed in opposition to femininity
and is dominant to all other gender identities (including alternative masculinities). Men are socialized
from birth to perform it, especially through behavior and symbolism. One of the prominent behaviors is aggression in order to protect one’s reputation. An example of symbols used would be clothing.
Sociologist Michael Kimmel describes three cultures that support masculinity (especially in young men) in his 2008 book, Guyland:
Some of the prominent attitudes and behaviors of western hegemonic masculinity are: power, sexual dominance and activity, wealth, aggression, independence, and lack of emotion. Rape and murder are extreme forms of masculinity. However, even in mainstream masculinity, women’s bodies become a “currency” with which to demonstrate one’s sexual prowess. Less extreme sexual harassment is often seen as normal behavior. Exemplifying control theory
, the norms of masculinity are so rigidly ingrained that men find little room to escape and end up constantly reproducing them.
Hegemonic masculinity is often reproduced and reinforced through media and culture. “Media representations of men…often glorify men’s use of physical force, a daring demeanor, virility, and emotional distance.” Contemporary rap music is a striking example of masculinity on display. Rappers boast about their sexual conquests of women (emphasizing heterosexuality
as well), wealth, power and violence. 11
is the physical, sexual or emotional harm or suffering enacted upon an individual as contextualized by societal gender
norms. Violence affects the lives of millions worldwide, in all socio-economic and educational classes. It cuts across cultural and religious barriers, impeding the right of many to participate fully in society. Violence is about power, control, and domination. Systems of inequality and oppression
interact positioning certain groups as particularly vulnerable to violence. Gendered violence takes place within a socially constructed power dynamic in which one ideology (masculinity
) dominates another (femininity
). What it means to be a woman in society is influenced and ascribed by the media, which acts a “powerful educational force”. The media glamorizes violence against women
cultivating a “toxic cultural environment” in which women are institutionally positioned as inferior and worthy objects of violence . Men are disproportionally the offenders, and women disproportionally the victims. Those that commit violent crimes are overwhelmingly male—rape
(98%), armed robbery
(92%), drunk driving (90%), murder
(88%), aggregated assault (87%), arson (86%), and family violence (83%). According to Michael Kimmel, hegemonic masculinity
creates a culture of entitlement, silence, and protection, which effectively normalizes violence against women and silences victims of violence. The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence defines three social arenas in which violence commonly takes place (1) in the family—including domestic violence
, infanticide
, and traditional practices such as female genital mutilation, foot binding
, and bride burning
; (2) in the community—including rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment
, and commercialized violence such as sexual slavery
, labor exploitation, female migrant workers; and (3) by the State—including violence against women in detention, and in situations of armed conflict such as systematic war rape . In order to address and end gendered violence, solutions must address both the root causes and interpersonal manifestations of gender roles and power relations in order to ensure a balance of power at all levels of society.
refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. It impacts female equality on a large and international scale, both negatively and positively. With continuous changes in international relations, the perception of feminism
in Western and Nonwestern societies is frequently revised. It is important to be wary of Western bias in sociological accounts of global feminism, as Modern Western society is not always due credit for feminist reform in other cultures and countries Feminist sentiments – or a push for gender equality – emerge as a result of the nation-specific circumstances, not according to the exported beliefs of Western society. Advances in female equality and status are often the result of individuals and small groups, not national groups or corporations.
One of the results of globalization is the increased use of female factory workers in nonwestern countries. In Mexico, the female worker is ideal because she is seen as docile and inexpensive labor. Stereotypical feminine traits such as beauty, domesticity, and docility are exaggerated and exploited for the production of goods . These gender traits then frame the behavior of the women beyond the occupational realm. Despite increasing feminism, the lack of economic and social mobility
prevents women in many nations from having equal status in society.
One of the solutions to erasing gender inequalities globally, is to provide resources and funds to impoverished women who will in turn use them for education
as well as business ventures. The global economy could benefit drastically from incorporating educated women into the workforce, New York Times.
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
. Since 1950 an increasing part of the academic literature, and of the public discourse uses gender for the perceived or projected (self-identified
Identity (social science)
Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...
) masculinity
Masculinity
Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...
or femininity
Femininity
Femininity is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with girls and women. Though socially constructed, femininity is made up of both socially defined and biologically created factors...
of a person. The term was introduced by Money (1955):
- “The term gender role is used to signify all those things that a person says or does to disclose himself/herself as having the status of boy or man, girl or woman, respectively. It includes, but is not restricted to, sexuality in the sense of eroticism.”
A person's gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
is complex, encompassing countless characteristics of appearance, speech, movement and other factors not solely limited to biological sex.
Societies tend to have binary gender systems
Gender systems
Gender systems are systems of gender roles in societies. A gender role is "everything that a person says and does to indicate to others or to the self the degree that one is either male, female, or androgynous...
in which everyone is categorized as male
Male
Male refers to the biological sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilization...
or female
Female
Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...
. Some societies include a third gender role; for instance, the Native American Two-Spirit
Two-Spirit
Two-Spirit People , is an English term that emerged in 1990 out of the third annual inter-tribal Native American/First Nations gay/lesbian American conference in Winnipeg. It describes Indigenous North Americans who fulfill one of many mixed gender roles found traditionally among many Native...
people and the hijra
Hijra (South Asia)
In the culture of South Asia, hijras or chakka in Kannada, khusra in Punjabi and kojja in Telugu are physiological males who have feminine gender identity, women's clothing and other feminine gender roles. Hijras have a long recorded history in the Indian subcontinent, from the antiquity, as...
s of India.
There is debate over the extent to which gender is a social construct or a biological construct.
In feminist theory
During the 1970s, there was no consensus about how the terms were to be applied. In the 1974 edition of Masculine/Feminine or Human, the author uses “innate gender” and “learned sex roles“, but in the 1978 edition, the use of sex and gender is reversed. By 1980, most feminist writings had agreed on using gender only for socioculturally adapted traits.Other languages
In English, both sex and gender are used in contexts where they could not be substituted (sexual intercourse; anal sex; safe sex; sex worker; sex slave). Other languages, like GermanGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, use the same word Geschlecht to refer both to grammatical gender and to biological sex, making the distinction between sex and gender advocated by some anthropologists difficult. In some contexts, German has adopted the English loan-word gender to achieve this distinction. Sometimes 'Geschlechtsidentitaet' is used as gender (although it literally means gender identity) and 'Geschlecht' as sex (translation of Judith Butler
Judith Butler
Judith Butler is an American post-structuralist philosopher, who has contributed to the fields of feminism, queer theory, political philosophy, and ethics. She is a professor in the Rhetoric and Comparative Literature departments at the University of California, Berkeley.Butler received her Ph.D...
's Gender Trouble
Gender Trouble
Gender Trouble by Judith Butler is a highly influential book in academic feminism and queer theory. It is also the book credited with creating the seminal notion of gender performativity. It is considered to be one of the canonical texts of queer theory and postmodern/poststructural feminism.-...
). More common is the use of modifiers: biologisches Geschlecht for sex, Geschlechtsidentität for gender identity and Geschlechterrolle for gender role etc.
U.S. Media
Media criticism is a reflection of the gender inequality in society through print, advertisements, television and music. Media influences and reinforces the idea of The Beauty MythThe Beauty Myth
The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women is a nonfiction book by Naomi Wolf, published in 1991 by William Morrow and Company...
as discussed in Naomi Wolf
Naomi Wolf
Naomi Wolf is an American author and political consultant. With the publication of The Beauty Myth, she became a leading spokesperson of what was later described as the third wave of the feminist movement.-Biography:...
’s book, The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women, which refers to unrealistic standards of beauty for women. The media perpetuates the idea of heteromasculinity by portraying men as dominant. Men and women in the United States are influenced by the media which objectifies and oppresses women, and men who don’t fall into the heteronormative category.
Oppression
Both men and women are oppressed in the media. Women are oppressed in the media through musical lyrics that discuss violence, distrust, and overall inferiority to men. Through the media, men are taught to be ultra-masculine by being desensitized, violent, and physically strong. Other forms of media that often portray the ultra-masculine figure are advertisements, specifically beer commercials. These forms encourage men to oppress other men if they do not fit the ideals of heteromasculinity.
Objectification of Women
Women are often objectified and portrayed as objects. This is shown through advertisements where women become the object. There are many repercussions, such as low self-esteem and eating disorders, this encourages the idea of women being subordinate to men in the sense that women are disposable and controllable.
Gender in the Workplace
Women and men experience different types of mobility within the workplace. Women tend to experience a glass ceilingGlass ceiling
In economics, the term glass ceiling refers to "the unseen, yet unbreachable barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements." Initially, the metaphor applied to barriers in the careers of women but...
, an invisible barrier that prevents them from moving up the corporate ladder. Men in jobs traditionally held by women, such as nursing, elementary school teaching, and social work, experience a “glass escalator” effect in which they are able to quickly ascend the job hierarchy to become managers and principals. Also there tends to be a gender pay gap between men and women, with women only earning 77% as much as men.
One cause of the gender pay gap may be due to occupational segregation
Occupational segregation
Occupational segregation is the distribution of groups defined by ascribed characteristics, mostly gender, across occupations. More basically, it is the concentration of a similar group of people in a job. Occupational segregation levels differ on a basis of perfect segregation and integration...
, which pushes men and women towards gender-specific forms of employment, rather than pay discrimination. Another cause is the double burden
Double burden
Double burden is a term describing the workload of men and women who work to earn money, but also have responsibility for unpaid, domestic labor. According to studies done dealing with a stressful environment chronically, such as a stressful job or household due to overwhelming responsibilities, is...
, a phenomenon in which women perform most of the unpaid childcare and household work despite being otherwise employed for pay. A third cause is occupational sexism
Occupational sexism
Occupational sexism refers to any discriminatory practices, statements, actions, etc. based on a person's sex that are present or occur in a place of employment...
, one part of which favors men for promotions due to their traditional breadwinner status . The 2001 class action lawsuit, Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., a sexual discrimination lawsuit, was the largest civil rights class action suit in United States history. It charged Wal-Mart with discriminating against women in promotions, pay, and job assignments in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.The case...
, charged Wal-Mart with sexist hiring and promotion practices.
Another issue in the workplace is parental leave
Parental leave
Parental leave is an employee benefit that provides paid or unpaid time off work to care for a child or make arrangements for the child's welfare. Often, the term parental leave includes maternity, paternity, and adoption leave...
. The United States is currently one of only four countries that do not mandate paid paternal leave for new parents. However, among countries that do offer paid parental leave, almost all of them offer few or no benefits for fathers.
In addition, the emergence of transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
individuals in the workplace have begun to disrupt the gender binary of male and female. By creating a hybrid gender identity, the transgender community suggests notions of movement toward postgenderism
Postgenderism
Postgenderism is a diverse social, political and cultural movement whose adherents affirm the voluntary elimination of gender in the human species through the application of advanced biotechnology and assistive reproductive technologies....
.
Intersectionality
IntersectionalityIntersectionality
Intersectionality is a feminist sociological theory first highlighted by Kimberlé Crenshaw . Intersectionality is a methodology of studying "the relationships among multiple dimensions and modalities of social relationships and subject formations"...
suggests that forms of inequality, oppression, and privilege shaped by interconnected axes of identity are mutually reinforced by social interactions and by social, political, and economic structures, such as capitalism, patriarchy, and institutionalized heternormativity. Intersectionality emphasizes that race, class, gender, and other markers of identity are social constructions. This theory disassembles the assumption that systems of power relations are normative and can hold individuals accountable for their own character and efforts.
West & Fenstermaker in their 1995 article Doing Difference
Doing Difference
Doing Difference is a landmark concept that grew out of the authors' earlier idea of "doing gender", first presented at the American Sociological Association in 1977 by Candace West and Don Zimmerman and published in an early issue of Gender and Society in 1987...
offer that models that conceive gender, race and class as distinct axes are highly limiting in their understanding of the whole experience or identity of an individual. For example, they critique the additive model, in which the whole will never be greater (or lesser) than the sum of it parts. By analyzing each identity marker as an individual characteristic, we ignore the effect of the interconnection of these markers.
Additional sociologists have written about the intersectionality of class, race, and gender. Joan Acker outlines four gendered processes of intersectionality. The first includes procedures that create hierarchies based on gender and race. Another is the process in which social images and ideas condone gendered institutions. The third is a process of interaction between individuals and groups that, through communication, creates gender. The fourth is the internal labeling of the self and others to gendered personas. Evelyn Nakano Glenn
Evelyn Nakano Glenn
Evelyn Nakano Glenn is a Professor of Gender & Women's Studies and of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. In addition to her teaching and research responsibilities she serves as Founding Director of the University's Center for Race and Gender . The CRG is a leading U.S...
critiques both the patriarchy model of gender, which ignores racial differences among oppressed women, and the internal colonialism model, which focuses on minority populations in general, ignoring gender differences.
Embodiment
Embodiment may be defined as the ways in which cultural ideals of gender in a given society create expectations for and influence the form of our bodies. There is a bidirectional relationship between biology and culture; by embodying societally determined gender roles we reinforce cultural ideals and simultaneously shape, both temporarily and permanently, our bodies, which then perpetuates the cultural ideal. While there is actually more variation in body type within the male and female sexes than there is between the two sexes, embodiment exaggerates the perceived bodily differences between gender categories. Social embodiment, for both men and women, is variable across cultures and over time. Examples of women embodying gender norms across cultures include foot bindingFoot binding
Foot binding was the custom of binding the feet of young girls painfully tight to prevent further growth. The practice probably originated among court dancers in the early Song dynasty, but spread to upper class families and eventually became common among all classes. The tiny narrow feet were...
practices in Chinese culture, neck rings in African and Asian cultures, and corsets in Western cultures. Another interesting phenomenon has been the practice of wearing high heels, which shifted from a masculine fashion to a feminine fashion over time. In the United States, the ideal body image and dimensions have changed for both women and men, with the body ideal female body shape
Female body shape
Female body shape or figure is the cumulative product of a woman's skeletal structure and the quantity and distribution of muscle and fat on the body. There are, and have been, wide differences on what should be considered an ideal or preferred body shape, both for attractiveness and for health...
becoming progressively slimmer and the body ideal for men becoming progressively larger. These differences are epitomized in the example of children’s toys; G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe is a line of action figures produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier , Action Sailor , Action Pilot , Action Marine and later on, the Action Nurse...
dolls depict the physical ideals for boys and Barbie
Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....
dolls embody the ideals for girls. The Beauty Myth
The Beauty Myth
The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women is a nonfiction book by Naomi Wolf, published in 1991 by William Morrow and Company...
, as discussed in Naomi Wolf
Naomi Wolf
Naomi Wolf is an American author and political consultant. With the publication of The Beauty Myth, she became a leading spokesperson of what was later described as the third wave of the feminist movement.-Biography:...
’s book The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women, refers to the unattainable standard of beauty for women, which sustains consumer culture. In contrast, men’s bodies are also “dictated” by cultural ideals of gender, as is evident in consumer culture—especially beer commercials—in which men are portrayed as outdoorsy, tough, strong, and “manly.”
Sexuality
Sexuality is related to a variety of factors, including an individual’s SexSex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
, Gender identity
Gender identity
A gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to...
and expression, and Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
. Sexuality encompasses both sexual behavior and sexual desire. However, Heteronormativity
Heteronormativity
Heteronormativity is a term invented in 1991 to describe any of a set of lifestyle norms that hold that people fall into distinct and complementary genders with natural roles in life. It also holds that heterosexuality is the normal sexual orientation, and states that sexual and marital relations...
structures social life so that Heterosexuality
Heterosexuality
Heterosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, physical or romantic attractions to persons of the opposite sex";...
is always assumed, expected, ordinary and privileged. Its pervasiveness makes it difficult for people to imagine other ways of life. Mass media works to glorify heterosexuality, which in turn lends to its pervasiveness and to its power. Both ordinary and exceptional constructions of heterosexuality work to normalize heterosexuality; thus, it becomes difficult to imagine anything other than this form of social relationship or anyone outside of these bonds. There is a common perception of heterosexuality as the “natural” emotional and sensual inclination for Human sexuality
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
. Furthermore, marital heterosexuality occupies the largely invisible core of normative and desirable sexuality, while all other sexualities are marginalized and considered perverse and unnatural. Alfred Kinsey
Alfred Kinsey
Alfred Charles Kinsey was an American biologist and professor of entomology and zoology, who in 1947 founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, now known as the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, as well as producing the Kinsey Reports and the Kinsey...
created a Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale called the Kinsey Scale
Kinsey scale
The Kinsey scale, also called the Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale, attempts to describe a person's sexual history or episodes of his or her sexual activity at a given time. It uses a scale from 0, meaning exclusively heterosexual, to 6, meaning exclusively homosexual...
, which challenges the common perception of Human sexuality
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
as strictly binary and directly linked to Gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
. Drag queens are an example of “troubling” gender, complicating the understanding of sexuality in our society by causing people to think outside the binary of male/female.
Masculinity
MasculinityMasculinity
Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...
is a performed gender identity. Contrary to popular perception, it is not the same as sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
or sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
. The contents and practices of masculinity are socially constructed and reproduced through daily interaction, especially on a more micro scale. Theorists West & Zimmerman emphasized that gender is maintained through accountability. Men are expected to perform masculinity to the point that it is naturalized. Thus, a man’s status depends on his performance. It is important to note, however, that masculinity can be performed by any sex.
The dominant form of masculinity in a society is known as hegemonic masculinity
Hegemonic masculinity
In gender studies, hegemonic masculinity refers to the belief in the existence of a culturally normative ideal of male behavior. Hegemonic masculinity posits that society strongly encourages men to embody this kind of masculinity. Hegemonic masculinity is said to be marked by a tendency for the...
. Men are constantly performing this to prove their status as men. It is not really possible to reach it, especially as peers are in constant surveillance of each other, looking for flaws in their performance. Hegemonic masculinity is constructed in opposition to femininity
Femininity
Femininity is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with girls and women. Though socially constructed, femininity is made up of both socially defined and biologically created factors...
and is dominant to all other gender identities (including alternative masculinities). Men are socialized
Socialization
Socialization is a term used by sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists, political scientists and educationalists to refer to the process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs and ideologies...
from birth to perform it, especially through behavior and symbolism. One of the prominent behaviors is aggression in order to protect one’s reputation. An example of symbols used would be clothing.
Sociologist Michael Kimmel describes three cultures that support masculinity (especially in young men) in his 2008 book, Guyland:
- The Culture of Entitlement: Men are raised to feel they deserve something. They feel entitled to power, sex and women.
- The Culture of Silence: Men are not to talk to outsiders (those not embedded in the cultures of masculinity) about drinking, bullying, rape, or any performance of masculinity by their peers that they may get in trouble for. If they do talk, they will be seen as unmanly traitors.
- The Culture of Protection: Communities do not hold men responsible for questionable and illegal actions. Many turn a blind eye, assuming their boys would never do that. Others write off dangerous acts as “boys will be boys”.
Some of the prominent attitudes and behaviors of western hegemonic masculinity are: power, sexual dominance and activity, wealth, aggression, independence, and lack of emotion. Rape and murder are extreme forms of masculinity. However, even in mainstream masculinity, women’s bodies become a “currency” with which to demonstrate one’s sexual prowess. Less extreme sexual harassment is often seen as normal behavior. Exemplifying control theory
Control theory
Control theory is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering and mathematics that deals with the behavior of dynamical systems. The desired output of a system is called the reference...
, the norms of masculinity are so rigidly ingrained that men find little room to escape and end up constantly reproducing them.
Hegemonic masculinity is often reproduced and reinforced through media and culture. “Media representations of men…often glorify men’s use of physical force, a daring demeanor, virility, and emotional distance.” Contemporary rap music is a striking example of masculinity on display. Rappers boast about their sexual conquests of women (emphasizing heterosexuality
Heterosexuality
Heterosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, physical or romantic attractions to persons of the opposite sex";...
as well), wealth, power and violence. 11
Gender and Violence
Gender-based violenceViolence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
is the physical, sexual or emotional harm or suffering enacted upon an individual as contextualized by societal gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
norms. Violence affects the lives of millions worldwide, in all socio-economic and educational classes. It cuts across cultural and religious barriers, impeding the right of many to participate fully in society. Violence is about power, control, and domination. Systems of inequality and oppression
Oppression
Oppression is the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. It can also be defined as an act or instance of oppressing, the state of being oppressed, and the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, and...
interact positioning certain groups as particularly vulnerable to violence. Gendered violence takes place within a socially constructed power dynamic in which one ideology (masculinity
Masculinity
Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...
) dominates another (femininity
Femininity
Femininity is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with girls and women. Though socially constructed, femininity is made up of both socially defined and biologically created factors...
). What it means to be a woman in society is influenced and ascribed by the media, which acts a “powerful educational force”. The media glamorizes violence against women
Violence against women
Violence against women is a technical term used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women...
cultivating a “toxic cultural environment” in which women are institutionally positioned as inferior and worthy objects of violence . Men are disproportionally the offenders, and women disproportionally the victims. Those that commit violent crimes are overwhelmingly male—rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
(98%), armed robbery
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
(92%), drunk driving (90%), murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
(88%), aggregated assault (87%), arson (86%), and family violence (83%). According to Michael Kimmel, hegemonic masculinity
Hegemonic masculinity
In gender studies, hegemonic masculinity refers to the belief in the existence of a culturally normative ideal of male behavior. Hegemonic masculinity posits that society strongly encourages men to embody this kind of masculinity. Hegemonic masculinity is said to be marked by a tendency for the...
creates a culture of entitlement, silence, and protection, which effectively normalizes violence against women and silences victims of violence. The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence defines three social arenas in which violence commonly takes place (1) in the family—including domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
, infanticide
Infanticide
Infanticide or infant homicide is the killing of a human infant. Neonaticide, a killing within 24 hours of a baby's birth, is most commonly done by the mother.In many past societies, certain forms of infanticide were considered permissible...
, and traditional practices such as female genital mutilation, foot binding
Foot binding
Foot binding was the custom of binding the feet of young girls painfully tight to prevent further growth. The practice probably originated among court dancers in the early Song dynasty, but spread to upper class families and eventually became common among all classes. The tiny narrow feet were...
, and bride burning
Bride burning
Bride-burning is a form of domestic violence practiced in India and Pakistan. It is not the same as ancient and long abolished custom of Sati, where widowed women were forcefully placed on a burning pyre of the dead husband and burnt to death.This has been treated as culpable homicide and if...
; (2) in the community—including rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
, and commercialized violence such as sexual slavery
Sexual slavery
Sexual slavery is when unwilling people are coerced into slavery for sexual exploitation. The incidence of sexual slavery by country has been studied and tabulated by UNESCO, with the cooperation of various international agencies...
, labor exploitation, female migrant workers; and (3) by the State—including violence against women in detention, and in situations of armed conflict such as systematic war rape . In order to address and end gendered violence, solutions must address both the root causes and interpersonal manifestations of gender roles and power relations in order to ensure a balance of power at all levels of society.
Globalization and Gender
GlobalizationGlobalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. It impacts female equality on a large and international scale, both negatively and positively. With continuous changes in international relations, the perception of feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
in Western and Nonwestern societies is frequently revised. It is important to be wary of Western bias in sociological accounts of global feminism, as Modern Western society is not always due credit for feminist reform in other cultures and countries Feminist sentiments – or a push for gender equality – emerge as a result of the nation-specific circumstances, not according to the exported beliefs of Western society. Advances in female equality and status are often the result of individuals and small groups, not national groups or corporations.
One of the results of globalization is the increased use of female factory workers in nonwestern countries. In Mexico, the female worker is ideal because she is seen as docile and inexpensive labor. Stereotypical feminine traits such as beauty, domesticity, and docility are exaggerated and exploited for the production of goods . These gender traits then frame the behavior of the women beyond the occupational realm. Despite increasing feminism, the lack of economic and social mobility
Social mobility
Social mobility refers to the movement of people in a population from one social class or economic level to another. It typically refers to vertical mobility -- movement of individuals or groups up from one socio-economic level to another, often by changing jobs or marrying; but can also refer to...
prevents women in many nations from having equal status in society.
One of the solutions to erasing gender inequalities globally, is to provide resources and funds to impoverished women who will in turn use them for education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
as well as business ventures. The global economy could benefit drastically from incorporating educated women into the workforce, New York Times.
See also
- Atypical gender roleAtypical gender roleGender role is a term used in the social sciences and humanities to denote a set of behavioral norms associated with a given gendered status in a given social group or system...
- Feminization (sociology)Feminization (sociology)In sociology, feminization is the shift in gender roles and sex roles in a society, group, or organization towards a focus upon the feminine. This is the opposite of a cultural focus upon masculinity....
- Sex differences in humansSex differences in humansA sex difference is a distinction of biological and/or physiological characteristics associated with either males or females of a species. These can be of several types, including direct and indirect. Direct being the direct result of differences prescribed by the Y-chromosome, and indirect being...
- Gender roleGender roleGender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture, which differ widely between cultures and over time...
- Sex segregationSex segregationSex segregation is the separation of people according to their sex.The term gender apartheid also has been applied to segregation of people by gender, implying that it is sexual discrimination...
- SexismSexismSexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...