topic 3: gender and sexuality

• sex; biological characteristics, physiological and atomical which distinguish males from female (as a binary so one or the other physical and sexual components)
• there exists variation as people can be born intersexual (their genitalia doesn't work in a typical way for either a female or a male)
• sex can also refer to the activity
• gender; refers to the psychological, social and cultural differences between men and women (a more abstract area)
• cis gender; identity with the sex you are assigned to at birth
• socially contrasted ideas of masculinity and femininity (what society says about each) and are constantly changing.
• very often people confuse sex and gender because biological sex and expression have become very intertwined
• nature - it is almost impossible that people of either sex are naturally something, because you cannot prove that men are more e.g. brave or women e.g. caring. how do we prove that this is not a result of socialisation?
• it was the feminist liberation movement in the 70s whether the differences are natural or social
• regarding sex, everyday life is full of images and examples between men and women that make people create connections with biological sex, gender expression and what they mean -> this with time changes
• many younger straight women don't tend to look at people like Harry Styles and say they don't like him as the idea of a man being comfortable with femininity, to many women, is attractive. people are moving away from the idea of masculinity
• even the way we establish masculinity in our heads is starting to change from before e.g. seeing a male nurse
• in different societies and different times in history has different definitions of what it means to be masculine and feminine - now different than the past
• women and men are stereotyped as being opposites, either in a bad way e.g. always clash, or in a complimentary way e.g. flowing together
• seen with gender stereotypes, even in the modern day, but maybe not as distinct as e.g. the 1950s. there's been a lot of success in the modern day for awareness from feminism and other movements
• differences in innate factors like hormones, biological aspects etc. make women and men different
• the majority of people fit into one category or the other because of physical aspects like bone structure
• essentialism - refers to the belief that certain social categories like gender, race or ethnicity have an unchangeable essence that defines the people of these categories. this suggests that these characteristics are natural and biologically determined. also implies that individuals within a given category share traits or behaviours which can lead to stereotyping and a lack of recognition of diversity and individuality within groups
• One cannot explain complex gender issues without considering culture differences.
• Many sociologists believe that we are socialised into gender roles
• Arguments by sociologists that because in many societies it is women that take care of their young while men go out to hunt -> is it because of biological reasons or cause of social roles given?
• Gender; may not be directly linked to one sex, could make changes like surgeries, makeup, etc. these changes are sometimes made to distance themselves from the societal ways
• There are people through out the world who are part of a 3rd gender, media being something that is making it out to seem like a new thing. People who live outside of the gender they were assigned to at birth, have existed for a very long time. E.g. Hendra’s of India
• For a long time, research about sexuality was conducting by sexologists not by society, they often turned to the animal world to try to understand sexual behaviour.
• There are many arguments that animals and humans cant be directly compared as humans are predominated by learned behaviour and socialisation
• Sociology in general is quite critical of essentialism and say there is no control group being made – how can we say that a gender is objectively something when ignoring socialisation, humans being prone to being rational etc
• Theories tend to move away from essentialism although it can still be found in some functionalist arguments. There are those who have questioned if men and women have always existed as men and women – as there is evidence going against this.
• Humans were considered to have the same features to each other physically, but for one half they are external and the other half they are internal. Having internal organs was not considered to be the opposite of external but a sign of incompleteness. If we could go from men and broken men to men and women in society like we are now, we can say that the way we define who is one thing and who is not is social according to Laqueur.
• Considering cultural variation, in sociology we tend to look at sex and gender to being socially constructed. What is means to be male, female etc is often considered learned and not determined solely by nature. This changes a lot and depends on our social and cultural environment and what we learn during socialisation.
• gender socialisation -> How we learn to act according to the gender roles assigned to us and that we learn from our primary socialisation (colours, toys, jobs, hobbies etc.). it is a process of children learning the cultural norms and expectations attached to their assigned sex.
• Even in terms of physical genitalia, there is a good amount of people who are intersex or cannot be neatly categorized into one or the other. this counts with internal genitalia as well as there are people born with externally male genitalia and then might have a womb inside etc.
• We learn the masculine or feminine according to the dominant ideas of our society.
• Therefore the theories of gender socialisation assume that gender is learned, and culturally produced. The theories that have to do with gender inequality say that this is something that is learned like women are weak and men are strong. These can be taught differently.
• Boys and girls, (similar to Oakley), they are trained for when they become men and women when they are children through socialisation.
• It is reenforced by sanctions; positive (praise, popularity etc)  or negative (ridicule, exclusion etc) it is how people in society say “I approve/disapprove of…”
• When we perform gender “incorrectly” or not in the way that society expects us to, there are negative sanctions. Society helps to engrain stereotypes by sanctions.
• Social order – the functionalists believe that society has a balance that you cant shake too much or else there will be chaos.
• Functionalists see gender socialisation as a way to keep balance in society and social order
• Gender policing – judging people’s gender practices and reminding them the rules of doing gender.
• The child self-concept is not allowed to happen alone and this is with Oakley’s theory