Slide 1“There she was just a-walkin’ down the street….”“Seeing Gender”“Seeing Gender”The Social Construction of RealityUnderstanding Social ConstructionHistorical ComparisonsSex or Gender: What’s the Difference?The Biosocial approachHow do we even distinguish sex?Biosocial vs. Social Constructivists on SexPerspective is keyEssentialism vs. ConstructionismSo, why study gender?Three Main Goals of the TextWhat is Gender and Why Should We Care About It?Chapter OneQuestioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration by Robyn Ryle © 2012 Pine Forge Press“There she was just a-walkin’ down the street….”•Throughout this course, we’ll learn to see gender in the world around usAnd we will come to recognize gender as a social factor that is collectively created and sustained; gender is not just an individual attribute•Think about when you walk down a street: Can you identify everyone’s gender?How do you know their gender?Has someone’s gender ever been unclear or ambiguous to you?Questioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration by Robyn Ryle © 2012 Pine Forge Press“Seeing Gender”•Seeing gender involves more than just identifying the gender of those around you•Think back to the people on the street ▫How does gender affect the way women and men are perceived and how they are treated?Occupation, income, family responsibilities?Treatment by persons of the opposite sex?Treatment by persons of the same sex?When someone doesn’t conform to gender norms, how are sanctions aimed at “correcting” the behavior often applied?Questioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration by Robyn Ryle © 2012 Pine Forge Press“Seeing Gender”•Research often reveals facets of gender that may otherwise remain invisible to us▫Uncovering the taken-for-granted aspects of gender can help us think more critically about gender, and can open up new opportunities•By learning to see gender, we can develop a special kind of vision▫How gender affects our lives on a deeper levelQuestioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration by Robyn Ryle © 2012 Pine Forge PressThe Social Construction of Reality•This idea gets at the historical process by which our experiences of the world become put into categories and treated as real things▫Eg: Consider the “reality” of race in the 19th and early 20th century. ▫ Slavery, science, and social policy sustained ideologies about the biological inferiority of African Americans (now rejected)•Thomas Principle: ?????Questioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration by Robyn Ryle © 2012 Pine Forge PressUnderstanding Social Construction•Once we understand the ways in which the world is socially constructed, we can begin to see show the world around us is shaped by those social constructions▫We can critically evaluate the cultural categories we use to make sense of the world in which live•To understand Social Construction we can take two approaches:▫Historical Comparison▫Cross-Cultural ComparisonQuestioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration by Robyn Ryle © 2012 Pine Forge PressHistorical Comparisons•Think back to race and the Census that most people filled out in 2010▫In the beginning of the Census, there was only “White and Non-White”▫Then it moved to “White, Black, and Other”▫And today, we have a diverse set of choices in terms of race and ethnicityQuestioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration by Robyn Ryle © 2012 Pine Forge PressSex or Gender: What’s the Difference?•Sex: the biological differences between people that we classify as “male” and “female” (biological focus)•Gender: the social meanings that are layered onto these sex differences (social / cultural focus)Questioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration by Robyn Ryle © 2012 Pine Forge PressThe Biosocial approach•A biosocial approach to the study of gender acknowledges that some elements of gender are socially constructed•But, biosocial scholars argue that there are limits to social construction imposed by the biological realities of male and female bodies•Biosocial focus on sexual dimorphism▫Sex marks a distinction between two physically and genetically discrete categories of people; can only be one or the other – male or femaleQuestioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration by Robyn Ryle © 2012 Pine Forge PressHow do we even distinguish sex?•Think back to the people on the street▫Do you look at their bodies to distinguish their sex?▫Or what about their facial characteristics?•Even if we look to genitalia, some people have both sets, or mixed reproductive organs▫Intersexed: Individuals who have any of a wide number of conditions that cause ambiguity in regard to sex categoryQuestioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration by Robyn Ryle © 2012 Pine Forge PressBiosocial vs. Social Constructivists on Sex•Biosocial scholars believe sexual dimorphism is true and therefore that sex by and large precedes and therefore causes gender▫…•Strong Social Constructivists believe the causal arrow is reversed▫…… believed in a one-sex modelQuestioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration by Robyn Ryle © 2012 Pine Forge PressPerspective is key•Scholars from both camps use the terms “sex” and “gender” but the distinctions between them is key•Biosocialists believe sex indicates the existence of two different kinds of people, male/female•Strong Social Constructivists believe sex infers a belief in two kind of people, male/femaleQuestioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration by Robyn Ryle © 2012 Pine Forge PressEssentialism vs. Constructionism•Essentialist perspective on sex and gender is similar to biosocial in that they believe there is an identifiable essence that makes people male or female•Constructionists see sex and gender as things that society has made; changing with timeQuestioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration by Robyn Ryle © 2012 Pine Forge PressSo, why study gender?•Gender Matters: Influences “life chances”•Can examine the social dimensions of gender, which is often (mistakenly) understood as a personal attribute•By looking at theoretical perspectives in regards to gender, we can start to question how gender affects society as we know it and how society affects gender as wellQuestioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration by Robyn Ryle © 2012 Pine Forge PressThree Main Goals of the Text1. Building an understanding of the ways in which gender is