1. Chapter 10

2. Outline
 Sex and Gender
 Essentialist and Constructionist Approaches
 Gender Inequality-Patriarchy
 Theoretical views-Functionalist, Conflict,
Interactionist
 Gender Role Socialization
 Life Chances
 Women’s Movement
 Men’s Movement
 Sexual Diversity

3. Sex and Gender
 Sex-an individual’s membership in one of two distinct
categories; male or female
 Based on biological factors (hormones, chromosomes, organs)
 Intersexed-(hermaphroditic)person whose chromosomes or
sex characteristics are neither exclusively male or female
 17 in 1,000 babies born intersexed
 Gender-the physical, behavioral, and personality traits that
a group considers normal for its male and female members
 Culturally transmitted or learned
 Masculine or feminine?

4. Essentialist and Constructionist
Approaches
 Gender identity-the roles and traits that a social
group assigns to a particular gender
 Essentialists- gender roles have a genetic or biological
origin, and therefore cannot be changed
 Culture plays no role
 Two category system
 Constructionists- notions of gender are socially
determined (Berdaches and Hijra)
 Systems of gender inequality that result from labels are
not natural or necessary

5. Gender Inequality
 Found in all societies, past and present
 Patriarchy- “rule of the father;” a male-dominated
society
 Traced back to biological differences-division of labor
 Men valued for physical strength-needed for hunting &
building
 Women faced demands of bearing and raising children-
relegated to home
 *Why does gender inequality continue?

6. Gender Inequality
 Functionalist-social roles are still better suited to one
gender or the other
 Instrumental role-position of family member who
provides material support; often authority figure
 Breadwinner
 Expressive role-position of the family member who
provides emotional support & nurturing
Gender segregation serves to uphold the traditional
family

7. Gender Inequality
 Conflict theorists-men have historically had access to
most of society’s material resources and privileges
 Gender is a manifestation of exploitation
 Women reproduce labor force-no compensation
 All men benefit from gender inequality
 Interactionists-focus on how gender is socially
constructed in our everyday lives
 Gender identity is so important-one of first things we
know when we interact with someone
 Transgendered-individual whose sense of gender
identity is at odds with her or his physical sex

8. Gender Role Socialization
 Gender role
socialization(GRS)-
lifelong process of learning
to be masculine or
feminine
 Occurs through family,
peers, school, media
(agents of socialization)
 Families-the primary
source of socialization
 Occurs before birth
 Clothes, rooms, toys differ
 Gender of baby affects way
others relate to it

9. Gender Role Socialization
Gendered Toys
What are the differences
between toys for boys and
toys for girls?

10. Gender Role Socialization
 Social learning-process of learning behaviors and
meanings through social interaction
 Schools-educational experiences of boys and girls will
differ
 Gender norms, same-sex groups on playground
 Boys receive more instructional time, given more praise
 Peers-same-sex peer groups can create gendered
behavior
 Boys-prestige from athletic ability, sense of humor
 Girls-prestige from social position and attractiveness

11. Gender Role Socialization
 Media-sex role behavior
portrayed in highly
stereotyped fashion
 Much of TV, video
games, popular music
and magazines aimed at
adolescents
 Shapes our images of
what is normal

12. Sex, Gender, and Life Chances
 Gender expectations shape our experiences in all areas
of our lives
 Family – women more likely to be single parent. Women
have “second shift”
 Crime – men more likely to be victims and die of violent
crime. Women are more likely to be victimized by rape or
intimate abuse.
 Education – women more likely to finish high school & go
to college. Men more likely to finish college. Men get more
money.

13. Sex, Gender, and Life Chances
 Work – single women work outside home than married
women – men work more than women –
 See Table 10.5 – page 263 – “Pink Collar Jobs” – secretary,
nurse, etc.
 Income & Poverty – 2004 – Men $40,798; Women $31,223
– 77 cents to the dollar men make
 Feminization of Poverty-economic trend showing that
women are more likely than men to live in poverty
 Due to gendered gap in wages, higher amount of single moms
taking on primary responsibility for kids, increasing costs of
child care
 Language-double standard in sexual behavior
“players” vs. “sluts”-men more likely to interrupt

14. The Women’s
Movement
 Feminism-the belief in the
social, political, and economic
equality of the sexes + social
movements organized around
that belief
 Women’s Movement split into 3
waves
 First wave-1848 Seneca Falls-
demanded right to vote
 Suffrage movement-
movement organized around
gaining voting rights for women
(achieved in 1920)

15. The Women’s Movement
 Second Wave-1960s-70s-associated with equal access
to education and employment
 Betty Friedan-The Feminine Mystique-described “the
problem that has no name”-women not being fulfilled
by their traditional roles because of cultural
restrictions-norms or laws
 Achieved equal opportunity laws and sexual
harassment legislation
 Third Wave-focus on diversity, include concerns of
women of color, lesbians, and working-class women

16. The Men’s Movement
 What does it mean to be a man in post-feminism
world?
 Is there a crisis of masculinity?
 Male liberationism-movement that originated in the
1970s to discuss the challenges of masculinity
 Greater stress, poorer health, shorter life expectancy
 Popular among middle-class heterosexual men
 Initially open to feminism, then later against it

17. The Men’s Movement
 Both movements are offshoots of male liberationism
 Men’s rights movement-because of feminism, men
are discriminated against
 New kind of sexism
 Pro-feminist men’s movement-members support
feminism and believe that sexism harms both men and
women
 Men need to share in child care and end violence against
women

18. Sexual Orientation
 Sexual orientation-inclination to be heterosexual,
homosexual, or bisexual
 homosexuality-sexual attraction towards members of
one’s own gender
 Is there a gay gene?
 Possessing a certain gene doesn’t guarantee that a
person will have a particular sexual orientation
 Environment? Bisexuality?

19.  Kinsey-we can best understand
sexual orientation as a fluid
continuum that can change over
Sexual diversity the course of a person’s lifetime
Kinsey-late  Bisexuals, transsexuals, and a-
1940s-people sexuals may reject such a model
not
 Queer Theory-theory about
necessarily gender identity and sexuality that
exclusively emphasizes the importance of
homosexual difference and rejects the idea of
innate sexual identity
or  About possibilities, importance of
heterosexual differences