1 Gender Outlines Carolyn R. Fallahi, Ph. D. Based on a lecture by Cindy White, Ph. D.

2 Do you have Gender?  Is sex and gender the same thing?  What do they have in common?  How do we distinguish ourselves?  There are social ideas about our bodies = social construction.

3 What is sex?  What is sex?  What are all the possibilities? We could be man, woman, or combination?  Nature makes it possible.  Social discourse makes it impossible.

4 Xx or xy  If we are born with xx or xy or something else == don’t we have sex?  What is the role of societies and culture?  Why are we forced into 1 sex or another?  Some diversity we can handle …. Some we cannot.  Does nature make mistakes?

5 Sex and Gender are not the same  Sex and gender are not the same thing.  The role of social discourses.  Are social discourses changing?  Would it violate the social peace if a woman were to act like a man?

6 How are women defined?  Based on their reproductive ability?  This was popular in the 19 th C  But what about African American women?  Let’s construct a woman & then a man via social construct.  Who is more closely associated with their bodies? Men or women?

7 The role of race  It is easier to talk about women than men.  When we talk about race – assume black people.  Gender is tied to the body.  Gender is a cultural construction.  How quickly has that changed? The KV Switzer example. The Katherine Deraba example.

8 How has Gender changed?  How has gender changed over the past 30 years?  Has sex changed?  What happens when the social constructions of femininity change?  Race is an issue = marked.  The feminine body.

9 The feminist movement  1970s feminists were ugly  Women were thought to be defying nature  Pressure on men and women.  The role of advertisement  The ideal body.

10 Rosemary Betterton  Discourse in femininity – language is put together in specific ways.  Discourse is prescriptive (sanctioned) = femininity is prescriptive.  Selling woman.  What is feminine? What about breasts?  The male gaze.

11 Women & Advertisement  A profitable relationship.  Consuming the breast.  Weight.  Is weight only a white woman’s issue?

12 Do parent’s influence gender stereotypes?  Jacobs et al: stereotypes related to mathematics, sports, and social ability.  Parents communicate to their children their self-perceptions.  Are there real differences between boys and girls?

13 Sex Differences in self-evaluation  Pomerantz & Ruble – 91 mothers.  Mothers used different methods for controlling their children.

14 Non-traditional Family & sex-role development  Patterson (1992): development of gender identity, gender role behavior, & sexual preference.  Panel on Gender Identity Issues—A program for Faculty, Staff, & Students Thursday, April 20, from 11:00-12:15 p.m., in Torp Theater, Davidson Hall.

15 The Father Absence Literature  Father absence and sex typing?  Meta-analysis of 67 studies = Stevenson & Black (1988).