Gender

• Sex 


  The physical and biological differences between males and female, such a different genes, hormones, and genitals.
• Gender


  The cultural expectations attached to a person's sex, such as masculine and feminine norms.
• Biological determinists 


  Gender is based on nature
• Social constructionists 


  Gender is based on socialisation
• Parsons


  • Women more suited for 'expressive' roles - domesticity
  • Men naturally suited to 'instrumental' roles - paid employment
• Mead - 3 tribes of New Guinea 


  1. Both masculine - rough, competitive, and aggressive
  2. Both feminine - gentle and submissive
  3. Reversed - women made sexual advances, men gossiped
• Oakley 


  • Canalisation - channelling interests into ones that are gender appropriate
  • Manipulation - smiling at girl doing feminine activities, frowning if she climbs a tree
  • Role modelling - girls watch mother, boys watch father
• McRobbie & Garber 


  • Girls are socialised into a 'bedroom culture' where it becomes the norm for them to stay indoors whilst boys play outside
  • Boys have more freedom, girls are closely controlled and receive more sanctions if they misbehave
• Jackson


  • Rise in girls involved in gangs, violence and anti-school subcultures
  • New types of assertive femininity emerging - studied the 'Ladettes' who rejected the traditional 'good girl' model
• Sharpe - longitudinal study 


  • 1970s women valued marriage, love, and children
  • 1990s women prioritised careers, money, and travel
• Hines


  • All of her transgender participants had transgendered feelings in childhood but their resistance to their ascribed gender was seen by family members as unacceptable
  • Found validation in their trans identity in the media, namely 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' and 'Lola' by the Kinks, or after breaking away from family.
  • Most only felt their identity was legitimate after seeking medical help
• Sewell 


  • Young black boys used rap stars to create a hypermasculinity
• Walter


  • Media has creates a hypersexual culture of femininity that teaches gender roles
• Connell 


  British men were socialised into hegemonic masculinity, expected to be financial providers and authority figures in the home, but there are now new types emerging:

  1. Complicit masculinity = sharing roles within families
  2. Subordinate masculinity = homosexual men
  3. Marginalised masculinity = response to the decline of traditional masculinity due to less manual work and more unemployment
• Mac an Ghaill


  • 'Crisis of masculinity' = insecurity of British working class men due to the loss of the strong sense of male pride that they gained through heavy manual work
  • Not comfortable with alternative male identities so may turn to depression, crime, or domestic abuse instead
• Wilkinson 


  • 'Genderquake' = fundamental shift in women under 35, grown assuming gender equality is their birthright
  • Profound change in the distribution of power between men and women
  • More women at work than ever before - feminisation of the workplace and a revolution in their ambitions
• Hey 


  • Middle-class girls felt powerful enough to reject traditional femininity but working-class girls did not
• Pinker 


  • A 'toxic masculinity' still exists and forces boys into hegemonic roles
  • Few men are allowed to move into a 'tender masculinity'