1. Social Construction of Gender

2. Social Construction of Gender
Night to His Day – Judith Lorber
Social Construction of Gender

3. Social Construction of Gender
One way of choosing people for the different tasks of society is on the basis of their talents, motivations and competence – their demonstrated achievements. The other way is on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity – ascribed membership in a category of people.
Social Construction of Gender

4. When social scientists talk of society, we’re not (usually) talking about people
When social scientists talk of society, we’re referring to the relationships between people (or more accurately, the patterns of relationships)
The relationship of the father to the child
The relationship of the mother to the child
Roles in Society

5. Now think of the relationship of the father to the child to the relationship of the mother to the child – it can get even more complicated
Relationships in societies can influence (and sometimes create) each other
Roles in Society

6. Status – position one person has in the relationship (between people, groups, institutions, etc.)
Role – expected behavior of a person of a particular status
A father is a status in the father/child relationship
The same man might be a customer in the customer/clerk relationship
Roles in Society

7. Roles are often based on ritual (regular, repeated and predictable action)
The use of ritual here is decidedly meant for secular life (although ritual in religious practices serves the same purpose)
While many of these roles seem inconsequential, they are often important for a smoothly operating society
Roles in Society

8. When people break their roles, although it may appear to have no importance, it can upset society (remember, society is patterns of relationships)
Roles in Society

9. Roles in Society Ritual is also the basis for “rites of passage”
Rites of passage move us from one status to another (from unmarried woman to married woman, for example)
These rites of passage are based on regular, repeated, predictable actions
Roles in Society

10. Again, if something changes, and it’s no longer “predictable,” then society can become upset
Roles in Society

11. 1980s Androgyny and Pop Music

12. 1980s Androgyny and Pop Music

13. Gender Differences Between Cultures
In many East African cultures, men wear make-up, rather than women
Some groups of Native American men traditionally wore make-up
In Elizabethan England, clothing was modeled after what was worn by the Queen
The acknowledgement of (physical) pain is much less acceptable in Japanese culture than in American (although in both cultures, men are more likely to acknowledge pain than women)
Sweden is the developed nation with the highest out-of-wedlock birthrate
Gender Differences Between Cultures

14. How are people viewed that do not fit gender roles in a very obvious visual way?
Transgendered

15. Five Genders of the Bugis (Indonesia)
Five Genders of the Bugis (Indonesia)

16. The Social Construction of Sexuality
The Social Construction of Sexuality – Ruth Hubbard
The Social Construction of Sexuality

17. The Social Construction of Sexuality
Western thinking about sexuality is based on the Christian equation of sexuality with sin, which must be redeemed through making babies
Sexuality must be intended for procreation
The Social Construction of Sexuality

18. Intersexed People

19. The Gold Rush