gender; people's theories

• Connel (1987): there is no scientific evidence that backs the claim of a link between biological factors and complex social behaviour.
• Mead (1935): a study called “sex and temperament”

  -> Mead compares 3 tribes; Arapesh, Mundugumor, and Tchambuli – in the Tchambuli, women were considered as dominant. In the Arapesh, both men and women fit the feminine stereotype by western standards. In the Mundugumor, men and women are considered aggressive and like masculine stereotype in the west. so if all three groups have similar essentialist and genetic makeup, this is dependent on the society.
• David Barash – tries to draw a link between women’s and men’s sexual behaviour with society and biology. He says that there is a biological argument, men produce millions of sperm in a lifetime while women produce only a few hundred eggs. And pregnancy lasts 9 months -> less potential to produce offspring than men. As a result, women tend to be less promiscuous and focus more on caring behaviour than men. This claim has been debated – animal studies show that men do it more than women too. Learned behaviour tends to predominate in humans – less governed by instinct than other animals.
• Elias (1939): in complex modern societies, learning to participate in society has become essential – we are socialised to live with others. One is not born already equipped with such skills
• Kinsey reports(1940s – 50s): a big study metaphorically looking at Americans’ bedrooms and what happens behind doors. Before these times, we did not know much about sexual behaviour as it wasn’t talked about as it was considered to be a private matter with a lot of stigma surrounding the subject. They showed a huge distinction between dominant ideas and actual behaviour. E.g. people are all waiting till marriage for sex -> finding out they all aren’t behind closed doors
• Kinsey reports cont.: he collected data from thousands of white Americans. The studies show that pre-marital sex, same-sex experiences, masturbation, sex with sex workers, and oral sex were much more wide-spread than they were thought to be. Attitudes about the virginity of women had also changed and sexuality and children had also changed. 40% of men still expected women to be virgins when they married them.
• the Kinsey reports happened after world war 2 and reflected a time of sexual liberation, freedom from restrictions etc
• Kinsey developed what is know as the Kinsey scale; scaled from 0 to 6.0 = exclusively heterosexual,6 = exclusively homosexual.In between this there are variations. This is to map people’s sexual preferences. x= is asexual/non-sexual (not attracted to people sexually). People didn’t immediately appreciate this because this was spoken in a time that being gay was considered a mental illness but his findings left a great impact on our understanding of society. the Kinsey research institute was directed by him and till this day still does search on sexuality, gender and more.
• Laqueur  (1990); until the middle of the 18th century, western cultures believed that only one sex existed, there were only men, and female bodies were a broken version of the male.  They were considered an inversion of the male body (inside out). The notion that there were two sexes different from each other is quite recent according to Laqueur, in the medieval times, the idea of femininity and masculinity was not only about their genitalia but other factors
• Smith and Cook (2008): found a lot of differences in the way men and women were represented in the media. They examined a lot of films between 1990 and 2005 and they also assessed G rated films (general). They found that women made up of 28% of movie time into their roles and 85% had male narrators.
• Smith and Cook cont.: They also reported that from their analysis of 400 films with different rating, women are represented in 2 roles; traditional mother and committed wife, or sexy lady with unrealistic body. However, a sexual image of a woman was more seen in children’s movies and cartoons than in films depicting real life. (even more a problem as children are absorbing that image). Men were also portrayed with a wide chest and small waist (overly muscled). Such media representations gives bad impressions to children as it is making them see one image of what is desirable.
• Stanley and Wise (1993, 2002): individuals may react in different ways than they learned through socialisation. They may accept, reject or experiment with social expectations
• Connel (1987): argued that gender is not necessarily determined by socialisation – children may resist the pressure to conform and may prefer to mix aspects of both masculinity and femininity. They may prefer to play with their brothers or sisters toys and this is because people aren’t robots – cannot be programmed without question. Very often people want to shape their own identity.
• Le Vau (1993): published a book and conducts research comparing the brains of gay men, straight men and women. he claimed that one of the physical places in the brain is smaller in gay men and similar to that of women, and at the time the study was ground-breaking (a biological explanation for why some people are gay or straight). Some gay rights groups received it positively and saw it as evidence to use for their fight for equality.
• However, there is a bit of criticism for this study, as the way we even think about homosexuality has changed dramatically
• Rahman & Jackson(2010); this study only makes sense if people can either be straight or gay (based on a binary). Apart from this, how people identified themselves is if they are gay or straight even when using medical records. The researchers did not spend their lives walking next to people and asking about their sexual preferences, wishes and sex life.
• The big crux of the study, is that the brains came from real life brains of dead people, unfortunately the brains of the gay men examined were of people who died of aids so we don’t know whether the brain differences were naturally occurring before aids or if they were changed because of having aids (the shrinkage)
• Humphreys theory (1970): the tearoom trade, it was seen that a lot of the men that presented as straight maybe also had activities on the side with people of the same sex (even men with children)
• Mary Macintosh (1968): one of the first scholars to say that homosexuality is not an illness but rather a social role, in England, the homosexual role did not exist before the 1600s. [the idea wasn’t around – it wasn’t something you were, but rather what you did]. She also argues that from the Kinsey studies, it is clear that the distinction between being gay and straight is not so clear cut.
• Michiel Foucault (1978): argues that the concept of being gay did not exist in Europe before the 18th century. Any form of sex that was considered unnatural was illegal -> sodomy. (the action was illegal and not being gay). E.g. oral, anal, and animals.
• Forms of sexuality;

  Judith Lorber (1994): identifies 10 sexual identities and orientations;

  1.     Straight man

  2.     Straight woman

  3.     Lesbian woman

  4.     Gay man

  5.     Bisexual woman

  6.     Bisexual man

  7.     Transvestite woman

  8.     Transvestite man

  9.     Transexual woman

  10. Transexual man
• Ford and Beach (1951): examined anthropological evidence through out 200 societies -> studies humanity. They found variations in what is considered normal sexual behaviour and attractiveness. They challenged the perception that homosexuality is a perversion. They studied pattern of sexual behaviour of a 190 different societies. They found that they had reliable data for 79 of them – 49 of them considered homosexuality behaviour to be normal. In 17 societies there were clear references to female sexuality.
• Foucault (1976): wrote extensively on human sexuality and talked about surveillance and bodily empowerment. Here there is the element of religious confession (to a religious leader).

  in the past, it was not enough to say “….” It had to be a lot more detailed with how, when, etc during sexual activities -> brings a strong element of surveillance. the power of the confessional then also extended to other fields of society (power of talking about your sexuality in an environment of power over your sexuality).
• Plummer (1975): looks at 4 types of homosexuality in modern western societies;

  1. Casual homosexuality - refers to passing encounters e.g. a crush at school or sexual experimentation in adolescence or something you tried once etc.

  2. Situated activities -refers to finding interest in sexual activities with someone of your own gender as you don’t have the original gender you were attracted to around you, this is because of the context e.g. prison, military camps, etc.
• Plummer (1975): looks at 4 types of homosexuality in modern western societies;

  3.  Personalised homosexuality - refers to as ‘being in the closet’, experiencing same sex actions, being engaged in relationships or activities with people of the same sex but keep in a secret because of safety or other reasons

  4. Homosexuality as a way of life - refers to people who are openly gay and associated with others who live a certain lifestyle e.g. friends who are part of the community, parties aimed for the LGBTQ+ community etc.
• Seidman (2017):A group of lesbians saw that the gay rights groups were focused on gay men’s rights and therefore created lesbian feminism which was about being more than their sexual attraction but a political statement as a commitment to womanity, and solidarity with other women in a social, emotional and personal way. (obviously with attraction but with importance to be together physically)
• Theories of gender:

  Connell: develops a really influential theory of gender (a huge name in gender). Established the “gender order”. Speaks about how masculinity and how society sees it, relates to gender in equality and speaks a lot about the patriarchy – this refers to the idea that society was designed for men by men (benefits masculinity) with things like authority, assertiveness etc. a lot of things that are related to authority like clothes etc are usually linked to men and masculinity.
• Evidence shows that social practices and relations are designed and organised in such a way that women are kept in subordinate positions (what patriarchy theory will say). In the west, gender is still defined by the patriarchy.
• Within the patriarchal system there are different expressions of masculinity and femininity and are organised into a hierarchy, a triangle, going from most hegemonic male to least.
• CONNELL’S HIERARCHY OF MASCULINITY:

  From the top; hegemonic masculinity -> complicit masculinity -> marginalized masculinity -> subordinate masculinity -> emphasised femininity, etc.
• Hegemonic masculinity = includes qualities like heterosexuality, white (Connell was writing in a US model so it would not be a black man as the ideal), having physical strength, supressing emotions such as sadness (the macho man)
• Complicit masculinity = refers to men who might not have all the qualities of a hegemonic one. They are complicit because they are still benefiting from the patriarchy and aren’t going against it…. “I’m a feminist but…” the refusal to share/ give up power, maintains masculine privilege, this is done by patriarchal dividends. While in theory they might be against masculinity, they still benefit from the fact that they are men.
• Marginalized masculinity = follow the cultural norm but there is something from preventing them from accessing it fully - physical disability, skin colour, etc. they cant reach the top of the pyramid.
• Subordinate masculinity = men who subvert the cultural norm -> go against it. They display oppositional qualities e.g. men who are effeminate and choose to embrace a feminine side or gay men (especially outwardly so).
• Emphasised femininity = (NOT PART OF THE PYRAMID) the opposite of the hegemonic masculine. (one of the most important) this is in the gender order rather than the higher order of masculinities as it only fits into the wider idea (masculinity).
• Emphasised femininity is underneath all of this. All femininities are considered subordinate to masculinity. However, we can also see emphasised femininity in e.g. barbie and ken (they compliment each other – blue and pink etc) the idea that women compliment men. This is seen as complimentary to hegemonic masculine men.
• What is emphasised femininity? Refers to femininity that is aimed to accommodate the wishes of hegemonic males and characterised by obedience, nurturance and empathy. In younger women, it is about being sexually attractive and small and pretty but in older women it is more associated with  motherhood. It is still advertised in marketing and media, that a perfect girl of a certain age is pretty and sexy but as she is older she is less pretty and more of a mother.
• The concept of emphasised femininity has been challenged by women who have different ideas of what it means to be feminine. Their answers are probably going to be subjective and based on their experiences as women. the sort of women were feminists, lesbians, witches, sex workers, unmarried women, and manual workers. The experiences of these women was not given much voice in a society which emphasised and encouraged femininity.
• Connell: the gender regime. Refers to the interactions like these but in a smaller level so rather than the gender order of society, the gender regime would be this on a smaller scale e.g. in a specific school or a specific family
• Even though Connell organises the 2 gendered roles nicely and seem to put things into clear boxes, she specifies that these are not set in stone. The gender order was seen as a process of change for her, as these change, so will the wider society. (as all 3 will shift, the gender order does to) our relationships, sexual interactions etc all look different cause of this. People have opportunities to change these things and so will individual people.