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Intro to Sociology Ch 8 Notes
Introduction to Sociology (SOC 110)
Des Moines Area Community College
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Chapter 8: Constructing Gender,
Sex, and Sexuality
8 Defining Sex, Gender, Intersex, and Transgender
Sex is a biological construct that is defined by our external genitalia, chromosomes, and internal reproductive organs. Our gender, however, is a social concept, and we learn to be a woman or a man from interacting with others. Intersex people are not clearly biologically male or female. In our culture, we are often very uncomfortable if our child is intersex, and some parents use surgery to assign their child to one sex or the other, usually female. Transgender is not a biological characteristic but rather an identity, a social construct. Transgender people see themselves as a gender other than the one assigned to them at birth and may or may not choose to have surgery.
8 Key Terms
cisgender: Identifying gender consistent with the sex assigned at birth sex: A biological construct that is defined by external genitalia, chromosomes, and internal reproductive organs intersex: Not clearly biologically male or female transgender: People who identify as a gender other than the one assigned to them at birth gender: A social concept associated with being male or female that is taught to us and continually created by us through interaction with others
8 Using Theory to Understand Gender
Structural functionalists typically equate sex and gender and see men and women as essentially different and complementary. Men play instrumental roles in society,
being leaders and breadwinners, and women play expressive roles, supporting men and providing nurturance for children and the elderly. This perspective ignores that assigning these roles results in gender inequality. Conflict theorists focus the unequal distribution of resources between men and women and the inequality that results. Symbolic interactionists emphasize the social construction of gender and point out that gender is fluid and that we create and re-create our genders throughout our lifetimes. Gender as social structure theorists remind us that to understand gender, we should not simply pick and choose perspectives; rather, we must understand socialization, social interactions, and inequalities embedded within organizational structures. Gender reflects all of these dimensions of social life.
8 Key Terms
gender as social structure: Emphasizes that gender incorporates socialization, social interactions, and organizational structures and that these are all dimensions of every society’s gender structure
8 Creating Gender and Sexual Identities, Recognizing
Sexualities
We learn our gender and develop our sexual identities from the environment around us as we interact with others. We learn from the clothes we are given to wear, the toys that are chosen for us, the lessons taught by our teachers, our peers, and the media representations of men and women and we see and hear. Gender socialization is the process by which we learn to be a man or a woman in our particular place and time. Gender scripts are the expectations for behavior cultures assign to genders. Boys and men tend to have more narrowly defined gender scripts and face harsher reactions when they violate them.
sexual harassment: Verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature when the harassment creates a hostile work environment or when the victim’s advancement at work is affected
8 Gender and Intimate Relationships
Between the 1950s and 1980s, the percentages of eighteen- year-old men and women who reported having sex jumped from 30 percent for women and 40 percent for men to 50 percent for both men and women. Recent data, however, indicate that today’s young adults are less likely to be sexually active today than those in the 1980s. Whereas in 1986, 94 percent of men and women eighteen to thirty-four years of age said that they had had sex during the past year, that percentage had dropped to 77 percent by 2018.
8 Key Terms
hooking up: Generally means getting together at the end of an evening for the purpose of an intimate, no-strings- attached encounter
Intro to Sociology Ch 8 Notes
Course: Introduction to Sociology (SOC 110)
University: Des Moines Area Community College
