1. Culture and Identity AS Gender
AS Sociology
Unit 1 Culture and Identity
Gender
Essential notes and workbook
Boy or Girl?
One of the first questions people ask when a baby is born is “Is it a boy or girl?” The sex and
gender of a person is one of the first things we notice about a person when we meet them
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2. Culture and Identity AS Gender
for the first time. Stratification by sex is a feature found in most societies with men generally
holding a more dominant position than women. Our sex has major influences on how we
think about ourselves and how others react to us. Our sex can also influence our life chances
and the opportunities open to us.
Define sex
Define gender
Activity
Mead (2001) conducted a study of a tribe in New Guinea – Summarise this study. What does
Mead say about gender and biological differences between men and women?
Gender as a Source of Identity
Why are gender identities important?
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3. Culture and Identity AS Gender
Activity
1. List some of the ways that men and women are expected to and not expected to
behave in contemporary Britain.
2. Suggest ways that these expectations might be beginning to change.
Hegemonic Masculinity (and Femininity)
Connell 1995
Key words
Hegemonic
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Stereotype
Hegemonic masculine characteristics Hegemonic Feminine Characteristics
Task
To what extent do you think these characteristics give an accurate impression of gender
characteristics in Britain today?
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Suggest ways that these stereotypes may be changing in modern Britain – draw evidence
from areas such as work, the media and education to support your view.
The Beauty Myth Naomi Wolfe 1991
Research activity
Read this quote from by Naomi Wolfe
The more legal and material hindrances women have broken through, the more strictly and heavily
and cruelly images of female beauty have come to weigh upon us... During the past decade, women
breached the power structure; meanwhile, eating disorders rose exponentially and cosmetic surgery
became the fastest-growing specialty... Pornography became the main media category, ahead of
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6. Culture and Identity AS Gender
legitimate films and records combined, and thirty-three thousand American women told researchers
that they would rather lose ten to fifteen pounds than achieve any other goal...More women have
more money and power and scope and legal recognition than we have ever had before; but in terms
of how we feel about ourselves physically, we may actually be worse off than our unliberated
grandmothers.
How would you define the Beauty Myth?
What does Wolfe mean by “women have breached the power structure”?
What changes have occurred in the past 100 years to give women “more money and power
and scope and legal recognition than we have ever had before”?
What do you think Wolfe means when she says we may be worse off than our unliberated
grandmothers?
Social construction of hegemonic gender identities through socialization
How do the following agencies of primary and secondary socialization contribute to this
process?
Family Media
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Peer group School
Changing Gender Identities
How are gender identities changing?
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Changing male identities Changing female identities
Activity
1. Suggest two ways that men and women may use gender representations in the
media as a source of personal identity and meaning.
2. Try to find three examples of men being used as “sex objects” in the contemporary
mass media.
3. From your own experience of the mass media discuss examples of the ways that new
masculine and feminine identities may be emerging in contemporary society.
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Is there a crisis of masculinity?
Explain what is meant by a crisis of masculinity.
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10. Culture and Identity AS Gender
Suggest three arguments for and against the view that there is a “new man” emerging in
contemporary British society
Is gender still an important source of
identity?
Arguments for… Arguments against…
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Essay Title:
Examine the extent to which traditional gender identities are changing.
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