Gender Introduction

Gender Introduction

1. Gender is one of the most vital aspects of an individual's identity.

   • Gender identity is fluid and always changing.
   • The ways males and females are seen due to appearance/roles have changed over the past 100 years.
   • Modern day societies say it makes more sense to talk about 'femininities' and 'masculinities'.

2. The Biological View - Wilson 1975 (CS)

   • A sociobiologist who argues that if men want to have children they need to be more sexually active and "spread the seed".
   • He says that women need to nurture one child and stay faithful to the father of their child to ensure he plays a role in its upbringing.

3. Sex and Temperament in 3 Primitive Societies - Mead 1935 (CS)

   • She studied male and female behaviour and gender roles/expectations in different tribes in the world.
   • In the Arapesh tribe - both male and female were gentle and co-operative.
   • In the Mundugamor tribe - both male and female were violent and aggressive.
   • In the Chambri tribe - the females were dominant/aggressive compared to the men who were timid, emotionally dependent and spent time decorating themselves. Aggressive men were seen as 'abnormal'.
     • The roles she found in this tribe were almost opposite of those expected in the United Kingdom or United States of America.

4. Feminism (T)

   • Feminists argue that gender identity is socially constructed by patriarchal society - male dominated society reinforces stereotypes of how males and females should be.
     • They say that other agencies of socialisation reinforce stereotypical expectations for gender roles.
   • They also believe it isn't only family that contributes to the social construction of gender.

5. Hey 1997 (CS)

   • Studied groups amongst teenage girls and looked at the power the female peer group has over girls behaviour.
   • She also looked at how norms of the female peer group are deeply routed in patriarchy and expectations of how girls should be.

6. The Functionalist View - Parsons 1955 (T)

   • These roles are functional for the family and for society.
   • Females have an 'expressive role' in the family. EG: create home comfort and take care of other family members.
     • Takes part in unpaid domestic labour - cooking/cleaning etc.
       • Natural based upon role of childbearing but is reinforced by society.
   • Males have an 'instrumental role' in the family. EG: breadwinner and protector.
     • Natural based on physical strength but is also reinforced by socialisation.