Chapter 2: Gender Identity

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Chapter 2 Gender Identity
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Please Note

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• These slides are meant to help students think
  about the material. They are not meant to replace
  reading the material or taking notes. Using
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  information could harm your ability to understand
  the content of this class.

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Sex/Gender System

• Organizing society in a way such that men and
  women are pressured to perceive themselves and
  act opposites and in which men as a group have
  more power than women as a group as a result.

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Sex/Gender System

• 1) If female/male were purely biological there
  wouldnt need such elaborate rituals and control
  mechanisms to ensure people stay appropriate.
• 2) Sex/Gender system is an organizing system that
  is created through a complex interaction between
  biology and ritual, rules, expectations and
  action.

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Theories of Gender Identity

• 1) What do we mean by the term identity?
• 2) Most theories are simplistic. They focus on
• One cause.
• Are static over time
• Dont allow for variation across cultures.

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Biological Theory of Gender Identity

• 1) Biological differences exist as do
  similarities. We tend to focus on the
  differences.
• A) Hormonal differences and gender identity
• B) Brain lateralization theory and gender
  identity theory

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Biological Theory Cont

• 2) Problems --
• Its hard to show cause/effect (non-spuriousness
  and temporal order).
• Often theories are reductionist and
  deterministic.
• Selective Perception affects what we observe.
• Third Genders exist.

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Gender and Social Institution and Gender Identity

• 1) Sex/Gender system, Sexuality, Race/Ethnicity
  are organizing principles which dictate rules and
  expectations and teaches people what is
  appropriate.
• Roles prescribed expectations, duties and
  rights.
• Gender is built into the rules of society. For
  examples, Monopoly. You have to have a
  winner/losers. With Gender, you can only have
  two genders in our society. When there are more,
  we make those others deviants or cheaters.

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Socialization Theory and Gender Identity

• 1) Peers, Parents, Teachers, Religious leaders
  teach us through sanctions and expectations what
  it means to be male/female of various
  races/ethnicities, ages, classes.
• 2) Tools of Socialization
• 1) Regulating Transgressions (punishments)
• 2) Hegemony Cultural tools which convince
  people that there is not other way or organizing
  except the present way. Thus, oppression is
  inevitable.
• Books, Movies, T.V shows. Parents protect their
  children.

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Socialization Theory

• 3) Problems
• Theory sees people as passive.

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Symbolic Interactionism and Gender Identity

• 1) What we become emerges through our
  relationship with others and interpreting the
  symbols of society which help us interpret and
  act upon reality.
• 2) Tools of SI A) Taking the role of the other
  Mead seeing yourself through others
• B) Doing Gender

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SI

• 1) Problems
• While sees people as active, does not take into
  account institutions and their affect on gender
  identity.

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Identification Theory and Gender Identity

• 1) Chodorow Psychoanalyst
• Mothering leads to attachment in girls and
  individuation in boys. Unconscious process in
  which boys learn to devalue connections and girls
  put premium on them.
• Tools Mothering

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Identification Theory

• Problems
• Too much focus on family
• Assumes family form is static and constant

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Cognitive Developmental Theory and Gender Identity

• 1) Stage theory that argues children interpret
  information about gender as it relates to their
  cognitive stage.
• Tools Schemas cognitive stage affects
  information and how it is interpreted
• They learn gender is dichotomous and they must
  fit in one category. Over time, they learn gender
  is NOT fluid.

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Cognitive Developmental Theory

• Problems
• They claim gender is fixed at a young age.
• Ignore Institutions.