To be born a male or a female in society is a fact of the biological theory. On the other hand, from a social constructionist point of view, gender is a “set of activities that one does. When we do gender, we do it in front of other people; it is validated and legitimated by the evaluations of others” (Kimmel 2013, 139). Basically, Kimmel is saying that gender is something that we do and is developed based on our interactions and environment. Gender is accomplished through interactions with other individuals in institutions. That is to say, social constructionists “builds on the other social and behavioral sciences, adding specific dimensions to the exploration of gender” (Kimmel 2013, 115). In other words, Kimmel believes that gender identity …show more content…
On the other hand, the “difference theories” of gender rely on the works of scientific, biological, and endocrinological research on sex hormones, which tends to be problematic. Based on fetal hormonal research, “the secretion of sex hormones has a decisive effect on the development of gender identity and on the expressions of masculinity and femininity” (Kimmel 2013, 44). As a result, because men produce testosterone, they are naturally aggressive. Unfortunately, that is not true because both men and women produce testosterone, instead men “have higher levels of testosterone and higher rates of aggressive behavior than females do” (Kimmel 2013, 44). Neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky explains that “testosterone [does not cause] aggression. [Instead, it exaggerates] the aggression that is already there” (Kimmel 2013, 44). That is to say, both males and females can be aggressive and “much of the research on hormones and gender identity has been done by inference” (Kimmel 2013, 45). According to Sapolsky, “genes don’t cause behaviors” (Kimmel 2013, 29). For that purpose, social …show more content…
For instance, Kimmel explains that, “biological models assume that biological sex determines gender, that innate biological differences lead to behavioral differences, which in turn lead to social arrangements” (Kimmel 2013, 58). However, that is not true. According to anthropologist Margaret Mead, “sex differences are not ‘something deeply biological,’ but rather are learned and, once learned, become part of the ideology that continues to perpetuate them” (Kimmel 2013, 60). Basically, Mead is saying that sex roles and behavior vary from culture to culture. As a result, gender is developed primarily by socialization or based on one’s cultural environment. Therefore, the social constructionist theory argues that, “not only do gendered individuals negotiate their identities within gendered institutions, but also those institutions produce the very differences we assume are the properties of individuals” (Kimmel 2013, 127). Hence, gender is not something an individual is born with, instead, gender takes time to
The first main factor that is said to influence gender is biology. “Nature doesn’t give a flea’s hind leg for our social theories, fads, fashions, political ideologies and other nutty ideas with which people preoccupy themselves (*). This quote explains the argument on the side of biology. People who support this ideology believe that the major biological differences between males and females must most greatly influence our gender development because of their numerous studies.
Both Deborah Blum’s The Gender Blur: Where Does Biology End and Society Take Over? and Aaron Devor’s “Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes” challenges the concept of how gender behavior is socially constructed. Blum resides on the idea that gender behavior is developed mainly through adolescence and societal expectations of a gender. Based on reference from personal experiences to back her argument up, Blum explains that each individual develops their expected traits as they grow up, while she also claims that genes and testosterones also play a role into establishing the differentiation of gender behavior. Whereas, Devor focuses mainly on the idea that gender behavior is portrayed mainly among two different categories: masculinity and femininity, the expectation that society has put upon male and female disregarding any biological traits. Furthermore, both could agree with the idea that society has an effect on how an individual should act based on their gender. Yet, additionally Devor would most likely disagree with Blum regarding the assumption that a biological factor is involved in this following case, but I reside on Blum’s case. Although society is indeed one of the major contributions as to how one should act, as Devor states, biology is somewhat like a foundation that leads to how one should behave as they grow and acknowledge their gender difference as well, residing on Blum’s argument.
Enter into any café on the UCSC campus for a prolonged period of time and you are likely to hear the words “gender is a social construct”. Initially you’ll think to yourself, “what a load of granola” this is an expected reaction because for most people the concept of “gender” is natural. Its not until you are able to see how the idea of gender is constructed from physiological differences between males and females as discussed by researcher Miller AE and his team of scientists. Or how men possess great privilege because of gender roles, and women are seen as objects, that you will truly be able to understand that gender is nothing but a social contract. Authors Gloria Anzaldúa, Marjane Satrapi, and Virginia Woolf discuss in their novels Borderlands,
In “The Gender Blur: Where Does Biology End and Society Take Over?” Deborah Blum states that “gender roles of our culture reflect an underlying biology” (Blum 679). Maasik and Solomon argue that gender codes and behavior “are not the result of some sort of natural or biological destiny, but are instead politically motivated cultural constructions,” (620) raising the question whether gender behavior begins in culture or genetics. Although one may argue that gender roles begin in either nature or nurture, many believe that both culture and biology have an influence on the behavior.
In simpler terms sex is the anatomy you are born with while gender is learned through socialization. To say that gender is socially constructed means that because you are born a certain sex you have to act a certain way. For example there are many socially constructed gender roles that males and females both follow. One example of this is how males are given toys that represent weapons to play with while females are given baby dolls and play kitchens. In my view I feel that sex is most central to the identity of an individual because if you are born male or female you are going identify with that sex which then leads to the social construction of gender. An example of an in-group I know I belong to is an athlete. Being an athlete my concept of gender and gender roles have been impacted by the comparison of physical ability between males and
There is an ongoing debate on the issue of gender and some scholars, present gender as being similar to sex. However, according to Butler (270) defines sex as the state of being either biologically female or male; with this definition, Butler refutes the traditional binary opposition amid biological sexes, holding that the conception of binary biological sex is a product of social construction. On the other hand, gender is defined as the behavioral, psychological, cultural traits that are traditionally associated with the binary conception of biological sexes that is either male or female. In the traditional setting, gender or rather gender identity was believed to be a direct expression of an individual’s biological sex, but Butler refuted this assumption
The reading also discussed the difference between sex and gender. While sex is biological, gender is socio-cultural, meaning it is a social construct. These constructs create stereotypes enforced by the culture. Gender roles are formed and become the "social roles that a person is expected to fulfill based upon his
In reality, gender is not based on one’s genetic make-up or their reproductive organs. Expanding on this, an individual does not have any control over their assigned gender, but everyone has a gender identity, which is one’s internal sense of being male or female. From a sociocultural perspective, gender roles have the greatest influence on gender as a social construction. Gender roles are the attitudes, behaviors, rights, and responsibilities that particular cultural groups associate with each sex. In regards to gender, the social construction theory acknowledges the connection the topic has with power and meaning, and states that social interaction, or “language” controls how these things are portrayed to individuals. Similarly, sexuality is socially constructed in a sense that, one’s sexual orientation depends on what they are taught to be “socially acceptable”. For example, a person who is raised by homophobic parents would most likely be taught that every aspect of homosexuality is wrong, and therefore they would be influenced to be heterosexual. While many would like to believe that people are born with their sexual orientation, that is far from the truth. All in all, when looking at the big picture, it is clear that race, gender,
In both males and females an increase in testosterone induces more aggressive behaviours. However testosterone is negatively related to externalising behaviours in females and positively related to such a behaviour in males (Booth et al, 2003). There is little research at the moment to actively account for gender differences shown in behaviours caused by testosterone.
Gender specialist might argue that biological aspect didn’t really contribute to a person’s identity except for people’s sexulaity. Which others may agree that social influences contribute to people's behavior and how they define themselves based on the surrounding around them. I acknowledge that gender roles does influence a person personalities. But it takes more than just socially influences to determine one's identities. According to Harris, “Considering the case of the opposite sex identical twin: he was told he was a girl but he didn’t feel like a girl”(208). The boys felt that he was never himself. Harris is saying that children understand who they are without being taught. Depending on the situation, biological or social factor will impact a person's identity more than the other. From what I see , social construct is only part of a story. For example, CeCe Mcdonald transformation story of her transforming into a women, socially constructed her identity as a female. The way McDonald present herself as a child growing up and enjoying do girly thing is the result of what she define as later in life. Although Cece identified as a woman her biological sex is use to determine which prison cell they put her in. In this situation her biological sex was use to determine her sexuality. And Mcdonald was put in
view holds that gender is not biologically based, but rather it is a cultural construct that is
In order to grasp the concept of social construction of gender, it is essential to understand the difference between sex and gender. Biologically, there are only two reproductive genital organs that are determinants of sex: the vagina and the penis. Sex is established solely through biological structures; in other words, genitalia are the basis of sex. Once a sex category is determined, gender, a human categorization socially attached to sex, is assigned based on anatomy. Gender typically references social or cultural differen...
Sex denotes to the bodily and birth features of men and women. Sex is the categorization of people into male and female groups based in biological characteristics. While gender is the cultural or social interpretation of sex; putting people into male behavioral and female expectations groups based on association with biological being a socially characteristics appropriate man or woman. In “The Social Construction of Gender”, “When sociologist refer to the social construction of gender, they are referring to the many different process by which the expectations associated with being a boy or girl are passed through society”. (p.22)
Sex and gender are terms that are mixed up from day to day and seen as similarities rather than differences. Sex is what distinguishes people from being either male or female. It is the natural or biological variations between males and females (Browne, 1998). Some of these variations are genitals, body hair and internal and external organs. It is the make-up of chromosomes, men have one X and one Y chromosome and women have two X chromosomes, these are responsible for primary characteristics (Fulcher and Scott, 2003). Gender on the other hand refers to the sociological differences between male and female. This is teaching males and females to behave in various ways due to socialisation (Browne, 1998). Example: masculinity and femininity. Girls are supposed to show their femininity by being non-competitive, sensitive, dependent, attractive and placid. If and when some girls don’t succeed in keeping this image they will be referred to as a tomboy. On the other hand, boys show their masculinity through aggression, physical strength...
An important topic in psychology is gender and relationships and how they basically go hand in hand, with each other. Gender is a set of traits that are given to a male or female. Many people use the words masculine and feminine to characterize male and females. Relationships are a close association between two or more people that can last from a short period to a long period of time. There are different types of relationships as, well. A few of them are loved based, business, friendships, and more. This paper will analyze how gender effects relationships.