1. What is feminism?

2. - Pat Robertson at the GOP Convention (1992)
"The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians"
- Pat Robertson at the GOP Convention (1992)
Challenging the natural order…leading to destruction.

3. Feminism is…
The belief that we are individuals before we are men and women.
That there are differences among males and females.
That these differences should not be the foundation for inequality in society.

4. Gendered Society: The Intersection of Power and Difference
Lecture One
Gendered Society: The Intersection of Power and Difference
Theories of gender outline the major processes and social structures that create differences and inequalities between men and women.
People often take gender for granted as biological, but it is socially constructed.
The biological characteristics of men and women are called “sex;” the social statuses and meanings assigned to men and women are called “gender.”
Essentialist theory on gender suggests that biological sex differences create the behavioral differences in men and women.
Social Constructionist theories on gender assert that differences in men’s and women’s behaviors are cultural and vary among societies.
Although most social scientists see gender as socially constructed, it has real consequences for everyday life.
Therefore gender is both a myth and a reality
This construction of gender is affected by race, class, sexuality, and nationality.

5. Understanding Gender
Gender is a social construct; sex is a biological concept
No clear dividing line between sex either, biological sex is not a clear cut category
How do you know if a person is male or female?
Can’t see a persons chromosomes or gentiles.
What if a man has he penis cut off? Or woman has her breast removed?
Gender: social differences assigned to people of different sexes
Gender is the social, psychological, and cultural aspects of masculinity and femininity
Idealized Gender -Masculinity and Femininity: physical, behavioral and emotional traits assigned to gender
Gender: social differences assigned to people of different sexes
Idealized Gender: the physical, emotional, and behavioral traits assigned to gender categories
Masculinity and Femininity

6. Looking at Sex Sex: biological differences between people
Chromosomes (XX vs. XY)
Sex glands
Hormones
Reproductive capacity
Secondary physical characteristics
But is sex that clear cut?
2% of babies are born intersexed
Transgender individuals do not feel that their sex and gender match
Gender is a social construct; sex is a biological concept
Sex: biological differences between people
Chromosomes (XX vs. XY = males)
Sex glands
Hormones
Reproductive capacity
Secondary physical characteristics
No clear dividing line between sex either, biological sex is not a clear cut category
Intersexed
Children born with a mixture of male and female characteristics
Sex chromosomes don’t always match anatomy…female athletes are often genetically tested to make sure that their chromosomes are not male
Why no intersex category? Parents usually push toward one sex…
Idea that children will have a better life – why?
Intersex challenged the sexual dichotomy – the idea that there are two sex categories
In the reading “The medical construction of Gender”, Kessler proposes that even biological sex distinctions between men and women are socially constructed.
By looking at the medical community’s and parents’ treatment of intersexed children, she demonstrates that decisions about sex depend, for the most part, on social factors.
Despite the existence of a variety of intersex categories, physicians promote the socially constructed idea that there are two distinct sexes by altering the bodies of intersex children.
Doctors act as though they can determine the “real sex” of the child and subject the child to various medical tests during the initial months of the child’s life.
Physicians decide which sex the child will be made to fit largely based on penis size at birth, and whether this organ responds to testosterone.
It is also easier to make a vagina than a penis…
Physicians normalize the existence of the intersex child to their parents by:
(1) teaching parents about fetal development;
(2) stressing the “normal” aspects of the baby;
(3) insisting that it is not the gender of the child that is ambiguous but the genetics that are ambiguous; and (4) stressing the social over the biological nature of gender.
Imagining Intersex Children:
imagine that they have just had a baby. What will be the first thing the doctor will tell you?
Now ask them to imagine the baby has intersex characteristics. What would they want to do about this?
Imagine you are intersexed young adults whose bodies have been put through many surgeries and hormone treatments in order to fit into a rigid sex category. How do you feel about your body, the doctors, and your parents?
Transsexuals
Primary sex characteristics do not match the sex/gender that they feel.
Lorber suggests that gender bending and passing between genders preserves gender boundaries.
Do you agree?
How might the gender bending of transsexuals and people who are transgender challenge society’s ideas about gender?

7. Sexual Dichotomy
We have a belief in the essential reality of sexual dichotomy
Natural, normal, unquestioned
Defines human reality
Division of sex into two categories: Male & Female
Biologically determined –
Permanent - you are what you are born with
Universal – same meaning across time and space
Exhaustive – every one can be placed in one category
Mutually exclusive – can’t be in both categories
Our culture is built around the sexual dichotomy
Clothing
Separate public bathrooms
Different hygiene products
Assumed to be the nature of things…
Sexual dichotomy starts to break down when we really examine it:
Transsexuals challenge the idea that sex is biological and permanent
Cross cultural examination challenges the idea that it is universal and mutually exclusive
Navajo have a third category for people who are born with ambiguous sex characteristics, but physically normal individuals can also choose to be in the category
Intersexuals challenges all of the ideas about the sexual dichotomy
However in the US intersexuals are altered at birth to fit into male or female categories…
Almost 2% of American babies a year are born intersexed
90% become females because it is easier to create a vagina surgically…
Not altering intersexuals would challenge our cultures understanding of sexuality and what we consider to be biological “truths” and “facts”
We have a belief in the essential reality of sexual dichotomy
Division of gender and sex into two categories: M/F
Biologically determined
Permanent
Universal
Exhaustive
Mutually exclusive

8. Commercialization of Sex Dichotomy
In the effort to create new markets and reach new consumers, companies are looking to marketing products in new ways…
For example, skin care
Skin care products are generally associated with women and marketed to women, but in the last decade that has changed
Women’s market for skin care products is nearly saturated…need to make feminine products masculine…
Skin care is associated with women – why?
Need to make skin care masculine…to “do gender”
Process of introducing new products onto the market that promise consumers will achieve male/female ideals…
Old products are being relabeled…
What is different about these two skin care products?
Color
Langauge
Men protect & Women defend themselves
The men’s product says “Men” on it…
What about how the products are advertised?
Fashion and beauty models advertise for the women’s products
NFL player Jason Taylor does a commercial for men’s products
Women “defend”
Men “protect”

9. Gender Polarization
This sexual dichotomy leads into a gender polarization…
We often hear that “women are from Venus and men are from mars” or that men and women are complete opposites…
Although there is nothing innate about male and female differences, we do see that social life is organized around the idea that men and women are complete opposites…
Gender Polarization: organization of social life around male/female distinctions
Idea that a person’s sex is connected to virtually every other aspect of their life
Social life for most individuals is organized around the masculine and feminine
It is omnipresent and permeates all aspects of our life
Social roles
How we should behave, what we should be
For example, women are always associated with motherhood
Nuture, caring…assumed this is natural and biological
Sexual decisions and partners
Hetero sexuality dominates…men w/ women etc.
Intercourse as penetration…
Emotional expression
Women are seen to express a whole range of emotions…
Men can only express and anger an rage
Gender-schematic: decisions are based upon a society’s polarized definitions of masculinity and femininity
Personal decisions are often based on a a gender schematic, instead of personal fulfillment, interest, or ability
For example…college majors or jobs
Which disciplines are considered more feminine or masculine?
SS and literature = caring, nurturing…don’t need to make money
Biological sciences, mathematics, engineering = reason based, non-emotional, need to make money
What about jobs?
Gender Polarization: organization of social life around male/female distinctions
Social roles
Sexual decisions and partners
Emotional expression
Gender-schematic: decisions are based upon a society’s polarized definitions of masculinity and femininity

10. The Gendered Individual
Gender as a social position – a place in society
Constrains what we think our choices are and how others think about who we are and how we should act
Social positions come with an inherent set of advantages and disadvantages
What are they for men? For women?

11. Power and Privilege
Gender, as well as race, class, and sexuality are one of the primary ways that power and privilege are exercised in American society
Privilege: one’s social position in society is seen as “normal” and objective
Privilege emerges from the social positions we occupy and not from innate qualities of individuals
Diversity vs Difference?

12. Structures of privilege are often invisible and unearned
What does Kimmel mean when he says: “I enjoyed the privilege of invisibility? (pg 7)?
Male Dominance is:
An unrecognized set of privileges
A set of unnamed practices – the cultural norm
A standpoint from which all people are judged

13. Invisible Privileges
“As a white person, I realized I had been taught about racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage.”
Types of Privileges according to McIntosh:
positive advantage: one that all individuals in society should have
negative advantage: one that can only be gained at the expense of others

14. Understanding Privilege
Individuals with privilege are not responsible for the circumstances that brought them privilege, but they are responsible in how they respond to it.
What does Kimmel mean when he says: We have to make men visible when we talk about gender (pg 5)?

15. A Gendered Society Gender is about difference and it is about power
Structures of Privilege
Male Dominance
Women are not only disadvantaged by structures of gender, but men are also over-privileged; at the same time whites gain dominance from racism while minorities are underprivileged.
Denial of the privilege males and whites receive protects this privilege maintaining sexism and racism. These privileges must be acknowledged so that people will work to change the social systems that maintain oppressions.
White privilege and male privilege are not earned, but people are made to feel that it is their right because they are part of the mainstream culture.
We think of white culture as the norm…
Just like we think of a male-dominated culture as the norm – Sports example
Example: Professional Sports
Do you think women are as good as men at sports? Why or why not?
There are other hierarchical systems of privilege, like sexuality, that also need to be better understood. It is important to understand how the various systems of oppression operate and how they work together.
Heteronormativity: culture where heterosexuality is accepted as the “normal” mode of sexual expression
Social institutions and social policies reinforce the belief that heterosexuality is the natural/normal sexual orientation…
Heterosexuals in this context are privileged
Not made conscious of their privilege and take it for granted.
What are some of these Invisible set of privileges:
Positive media images
Not having to lie about who you are
Not worrying about losing your job
Can marry and adopt children
Religious validation
Join the military or Boy Scouts openly…
Gender is about difference and it is about power
In a patriarchal society gender is about the power men as a group have over women as a group
Power: ability to influence important decisions and exert one’s will
Not the possession of individuals, but property of group life

16. But, what if I don’t feel powerful?
Power is exercised through:
Institutions – what resources are available to us
Ideology – what we think should be
Culture – what we value
Heteronormativity: culture where heterosexuality is accepted as the “normal” mode of sexual expression
You may not discriminate against homosexuals, but if you are heterosexual you have an inherent set of privileges…

17. Intersectionality
We need to understand the experience of individuals at the intersection of:
Gender: social differences to people of different sexes
Sexuality: sexual identity and sexual orientation
Race: classification of individuals based on their physical characteristics
Class: social and economic standing in society
Gender: social differences to people of different sexes
Patriarchy
Sexuality: sexual identity and sexual orientation
Heteronormativity
Class
Social and economic standing in society

18. Macroscopic Perspective
Audre Lorde – appreciate the differences among women as well as the their common position in society
Birdcage Metaphor