lesson 1

• Sex

  • Physical
  • Universal
  • Congenital
  • Unchangin
• Gender

  • Social (Socially-determined; culturally-defined)
  • Cultural
  • Learned Behavior
  • Changes over time
• Sex (biological dimension) – Refers to the biological and physiological differences between males and females as determined by nature.
• Male

  • Chromosomes - XY
  • Gonads - Testes
  • Hormones - Testosterone
  • Internal Reproductive Structures - Wolffian ducts
  • External Sex Structures - Penis and Scrotal Sac
• Female

  • Chromosomes - XX
  • Gonads - Ovaries
  • Hormones - Estrogen
  • Internal Reproductive Structures - Mullerian Duct System
  • External Sex Structures - Clitoris and Vagina
• Gender – Distinctive qualities of men and women, the masculinity and the femininity of an individual that are culturally created. Socially and culturally constructed differences between men and women. Differentiating people based on perceptions, roles, and social expectations; concerned with femininity and masculinity. 
• Male

  • Logical
  • Leader/Achiever
  • Sexually aggresive
  • Independent
  • "Can do anything, anytime, anywhere"
• Female

  • Emotional
  • Follower/supporter
  • Sexually submissive
  • Dependent
• HETERONORMATIVITY – The phenomenon of determining the normality of a behavior based on whether it conforms or not to the  expectations relative to one’s biological sex. 
• Gender Identity – Referring to the sense of who we are and how we see and experience ourselves.
• Transgender – Cases when a person’s biological sex does not align with one’s gender identity.
• Sexual Orientation – Pertains to our emotional and sexual attraction to a person: 

  − Heterosexuals or “straight” – attracted to the opposite sex 

  − Homosexual (gay or lesbian) – attracted to people of the same sex 

  − Bisexual – attracted to both sexes, male or female 
• IDENTITY – Mind/thinking 

  ORIENTATION - Feeling 

  EXPRESSION – Physical appearance 

  SEX – biological (genitalia/reproductive system)
• • Distant past (dawn of civilizations) – human societies have high regard for women. Concept of  divine feminine (the sacredness of woman due to her ability to conceive children) has prevailed. Treated women equally with men.
• • Egalitarian societies – men and women have equitable power and roles
•  Agricultural era (presumably) – humans’ discovery of paternity (fatherhood/role of the father in conception) 

  • Began to establish communities and tame rear cattle and stocks 

  • Changed how societies viewed women and men therefrom 

  • Longest time thereafter – societies have privileged men over other genders 

  • Preferential given to the men in the productive sphere (world of public work)

  • Women were viewed as solely capable only of reproductive affairs (world of home and related tasks:  suckling the young, child rearing, home management) 
• • Industrial era – gender disparity was intensified 

  • Factories were built – men were preferred because they did not have to bear children and because of their  perceived strength.
• PATRIARCHY 

  • A system based on the control and oppression of women wherein they are perceived to be weaker sex

  • From the Greek word, Patriarkhes (“the rule of the father”) 

  • A social system where men primarily holds power in the political and the private spheres 

  • Society is organized and maintained in a way that men rule over women and their children 

  • Men are expected to lead in the social, legal, political, and economic spheres 

  • Women are expected to obey and are relegated to house chores, child rearing, and child care
•  Patrilineal society – only men can inherit property and family name 

  • Women are left with no inheritance and are expected to marry men who could support them economically 

  • Women were not allowed to go to schools, to vote, to not concern themselves in learning science or politics 
• Patriarchy is viewed as a social construct and not as a biological phenomenon 

  • History suggests an egalitarian system (prehistoric hunters-gatherers) rather than patriarchal system – men  and women contribute to society and enjoy the same social status. 

  • Came about when people started having private property instead of a communal living (F. Engels)

  • Development of agriculture – led to creating product surplus which allows people to have private property 

  • Male dominance was asserted over women so only the male heir can inherit the family wealth. 
• Historical views on GENDER 

  GREEK 

  • Aristotle, Plato, and other Greek philosophers viewed women as inferior sex and are properties of men whose  only job was to obey their husbands, bear children, and take care of the household. 

  • Women are forbidden to learn philosophy, politics, and science. 
• EGYPT 

  • Egyptian women enjoyed higher social status than Greek women because they can inherit property and  engage in trade (Herodotus) 

  • However, Greek influence quickly spread in Egypt through the conquests of Alexander the Great across Asia  and Africa. 
• CHINA 

  • Confucianism's written rules – dictate how women should conduct themselves 

  • “Three obedience’s and four virtues” and “Precepts of women” states that women should obey their  father, when married she is to obey her husband, and when widowed she is to obey her son 
• • Gendered biases in ancient patriarchal societies were very strict, heavily enforced, and often violent. • Patriarchy has taken on subtle forms of oppression: 

  • Sexism – prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination based on sex; 

  • Gender pay gap – men earn more than women 

  • Underrepresentation in politics, military, executive positions, etc.; 

  • Rape on women and the stigma making women ashamed to report the crime;
• Women Empowerment 

  Women’s liberation movement, women’s movement, or feminism – continuing series of social movements that  aim to challenge the patriarchal society that creates the oppressive political structures, beliefs, and practices against  women. The waves of feminism are not a linear progression and consensus  of progress, even though they roughly follow a linear timeline. Instead, there are intense changes of perspective among different generations of women. 
• FIRST WAVE FEMINISMLate 19th century (1848-1920) – primarily characterized by the women’s suffrage  movement and their championing of the woman’s right to vote. While many continue to celebrate feminist leaders  like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the women’s suffrage movement largely excluded and  discriminated against women of color including suffragettes such as Ida B. Wells, Ellen Watkins Harper and  Sojourner Truth. 
• 1920 – White women were guaranteed the right to vote under the 19th amendment.  

  Women of color wouldn’t have the universal right to vote until 45 years later with the Voting Rights Act of 1965,  when all people of color were guaranteed the right to vote. 
• SECOND WAVE FEMINISM1963-1986 – encompassed far more issues such as pay equality, reproductive rights, female sexuality, and domestic violence. While the second wave movement made some attempts to encompass racial justice, it remained a lesser priority than gender. Class and  race were viewed as secondary issues. 
• Mid 1990’s – challenging female heteronormativity. Third wavers  sought to redefine femininity and sought to celebrate differences across race, class, and sexual orientations.  They reject many stereotypes of the feminine ideal, sometimes even  rejecting the word “feminism” itself. The  development of intersectionality began to take form. The term intersectionality was coined by lawyer and activist  Kimberlé Crenshaw “to describe how race, class, gender, and other individual characteristics ‘intersect’ with one  another and overlap.” 
• FOURTH WAVE FEMINISMNewly emerging over the last decade or so, therefore it’s difficult to define. Seen as characterized by action-based viral campaigns, protests, and movements. Also characterized as “queer, sex-positive, trans-inclusive, body-positive, and digitally driven.” It seeks to further deconstruct gender norms. Fourth wavers believe there is no feminism without an understanding of comprehensive justice that deconstructs  systems of power and includes emphasis on racial justice as well as examinations of class, disability, and other  issues.

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• • Social research – the process of investigating social realities 

  • Research approach – the orientation on understanding social realities: can be qualitative (interpretive),  quantitative (deductive), or both 

  • Ethics in research – considerations in conducting research to make sure that the well-being of the  participants are ensured, and that the outcome of the study is sound without being undue harm to people  involved 
• Gender role or sex role  

  • are “sets of culturally defined behaviors such as masculinity and femininity” 

  • Not fixed; vary in terms of time and country or tribe 

  • Binary system – men as masculine (matipuno/matapang); women as feminine (mahinhin) 
• Gender studies 

  • a field of study concerned about how reproductive roles are interpreted and negotiated in the society through  gender 

  • As an area of knowledge, is about looking into, analyzing, and examining society so that we notice power  relations in the seemingly “simple things” 

  • Came about in the mid 1970’s after the 2nd – wave of feminism as a way to challenge the male-defined and male-centered knowledge 
• Gender roles are socially constructed, not ”born with”. Society, through a lifelong process of normalization,  encourages or reprimands behaviors to make a child adapt to these social expectations 
• Gender Studies (GS) and Research 

  • GS utilizes a systematic approach in identifying problems, making hypotheses and assumptions, gathering  data, and making conclusions – research process 

  • Approaches in Research: 

  1. QUALITATIVE  

  2) QUANTITATIVE 
• QUALITATIVE approach 

  • Focuses more on meanings created and interpretations made by people about their own personal or vicarious  (observed) experiences 

  • Used when you want to know how women, men, or LGBTQ+ live their lives on a daily basis and how they  make sense of their lived experiences 
• Qualitative methods: 

  • Phenomenology – conducting intensive interviews with individuals who have experienced a particular event  and understanding their “lived experience” 

  • Hermeneutics – understanding the meaning of texts (literary/art works) and what they convey about human  realities 

  • Ethnography and ethnomethodology – immersing in a community and taking note of their experiences,  beliefs, attitudes, & practices 
• QUANTITATIVE approach 

  • Focuses more on characterizing a population (total number of individuals in a group) or a sample ( a sub group within the population), making generalizations about the population based on the behavior of the  sample 

  • Used when you want to know how many Filipino adolescents engaged into a romantic relationship, how many still believe in marriage 
• Quantitative methods:  

  • Survey – collecting information from a sample 

  • Experiment – creating actual set-ups to observe behavior of people in an experimental group (receives  treatment like training or new experience) and comparing it to the behavior of people in control group (without  any treatment) 

  MIXED METHODS – combining qualitative and quantitative methods to derive data from multiple sources.  
• Ethics in Gender and Sexuality Research: 

  • Ethical principles – making sure that people involved in the research are protected from harm