GENDER SOCIALIZATION Jess MacDonald

The Historical Context of the Study of Gender  Feminism:  The belief that women and men are or should be equal  3 Waves of Feminism:  1 st Wave: (political rights) Seneca Falls Convention “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal” 19 th Amendment  2 nd Wave: 1960s-1970s (social/civil rights)  3 rd Wave: 1980s-present (economic rights)

Feminist Theory and the Study of Gender  Broad wide ranging theories that look at social phenomena and ask:  What about the women?  Why are the structures set up the way they are?  How can we change it?

Sex vs. Gender  Sex  The biological characteristics that differentiate women and men (XX or XY Chromosome)  Gender  The socially constructed patterning of masculinity and femininity, and of relations between women and men

“Doing Gender”: Socializing Gender in Society  Doing Gender:  (West and Zimmerman, 1987) the ongoing process through which people create gender for themselves and others by acting and appearing the way we “should” as men and women.  Gender as a social construction  Symbolic interaction

Significant Others  Birth  Parents  Mead: Play stage  Education System/ Teachers

Women and Men

Women and Men?

Socialization: The Importance of Peers and Others in Society  Cognitive categorization into one group of the other  Gender expectations for women and for men  Sanctions for not behaving the way a man or woman is supposed to behave

Socialization: The Media  Film, TV, advertising  Reinforce men’s and women’s roles  Jean Kilbourne: Killing Us Softly Jean Kilbourne: Killing Us Softly

Implications of Gender and Gender Inequality  Violence against women  Around 18% of American Women have been raped But only 26%-37% of rapes are reported  1 in 4 college women will survive an attempted or completed rape  A woman is battered every 15 seconds in America

Implications of Gender and Gender Inequality  Disordered Eating  50% of girls feel that they are overweight  8 million people in the US have an eating disorder 7 million women 1 million men  1 in 200 women in the US have anorexia nervosa  Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate out of any mental illness

Implications of Gender and Gender Inequality  Prohibits gender equality:  Family and Home relations  Work and economic opportunity