Gender and Sexuality

39 Pages·1.777 MB·English

by  Angela Barian, Todd Schoepflin

Gender and Sexuality
Gender and Sexuality
Angela Barian

Todd Schoepflin, Niagara University

Gender and Sexuality

ANGELA BARIAN
TODD SCHOEPFLIN, NIAGARA UNIVERSITY
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES OF GENDER
Nature, nurture, neither?
Social construction of gender
Intersectional perspectives of gender
INEQUALITIES AND PROGRESS
Feminism
Institutional inequality
Gender and violence
SEXUALITIES
The creation of sexuality
Intersectional sexualities
The social control of sexuality

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INTRODUCTION

In 2013, retired Army veteran Jamie Shupe changed their legal identity from male to female (Shupe's
preferred pronouns are their and they). Assigned male at birth, Shupe remembers their mother slapping them
as a child for being “a sissy.” Shupe was a married father when they decided they’d had enough: “I was in a
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deep, dark depression because I had boxed myself into this male identity that I couldn't stand anymore.”
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Shupe started taking hormones and for a while lived as a transgender woman. Transgender refers to people
whose gender identity and expression are different from what they were assigned at birth. But they didn’t
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feel “fully female” either. So in 2016, Jamie Shupe petitioned to be the first person in the history of the
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United States to be legally recognized as non-binary (that is, not exclusively masculine or feminine). They
won. Following that decision, Shupe’s home state of Oregon became the first state to officially offer gender-
neutral driver’s licenses. As of July 2017, residents can have an “X” in the gender box on their state-issued
ID. In court, Shupe said, “I can’t divorce my male side with my female side. And you’re just going to have
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to acknowledge that sex and gender is a spectrum, not two poles.”
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While societies have always seen gender expressions that move beyond the male-female binary, a
recent Time article notes that this gender flexibility has moved from being marginalized to being more
widely accepted. A survey from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) reports that
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“20% of millennials identify as something other than strictly straight and cisgender (someone whose gender
is in line with the sex they were assigned at birth).” This is compared to just 7% of baby boomers, the
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generation born between 1946 and 1964. Social understandings of gender and sexuality continue to evolve in
ways that have profound effects on our daily lives.
You could make a case that gender is the primary way people organize the social world. Before birth,
parents prepare nurseries in pink or blue and use social media for elaborate reveals of whether the baby will
be a boy or a girl. Elementary school teachers use gender to line students up and pit them against each other
in competitions. Kids are teased by each other and even adults with a song that contains a gender-based
script about marriage, family, and sexual orientation: “Rob and Mary sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First
comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage.” Fast-forward to high school, where
prom kings and queens are crowned; then to a baby shower, a space usually reserved for women, although
occasionally a couple allows men and women to attend in a “Jack and Jill” format. Gender matters before the
cradle and all the way to the grave.
In this chapter, we have two goals. First, we provide you with a sociological lens on gender and
sexuality. We consider how, despite being firmly rooted in minds and bodies, gender and sexuality are also

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profoundly social. Second, we explore how gender and sexuality intersect with other social relations to
create a multitude of experiences and unequal interactions and institutions.

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES OF GENDER

 What is sex? What is gender?
 What does it mean for gender to be a social construction?
 How do diverse bodies, identities, and expressions complicate social constructions of both gender and
sex?

Nature, nurture, neither?
In 2009, runner Caster Semenya won a gold medal in the women’s 800-meter race at the World
Championships. Semenya smashed the previous African record and improved her own personal best by eight
seconds in eight months, an almost unheard-of feat. But there were whispers: Semenya’s time was too fast.
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And just look at her, one of the other athletes said. The track & field governing body expressed suspicion
about whether she qualified to run with women. Later that year, Caster Semenya went through “gender
verification testing.” The purpose of the testing, said officials, was to determine if Semenya is “really” a
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woman. For almost a year, she was unable to compete while tests were administered and analyzed. While the
results of the so-called gender test were never revealed, Semenya was cleared to compete with other women.
She later won a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics. But why was her case so difficult? Why did it take so
long for the committee to affirm that, as she and her father maintained all along, she’s a woman? Let’s
consider some sociological concepts of gender
before returning to Caster Semenya.
We can start with a comment made by a
student in one of our classes: “You are what your
birth certificate says you are.” In the student’s
eyes, you’re either male or female, just as a birth
certificate indicates. End of story. But it’s not so
simple. The certificate tells us a biological fact. It
tells us nothing about society. Sex refers to the
different biological and physiological
characteristics of males and females, such as Sociologists focus on the way the social environment shapes
gender. (Source)

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reproductive organs, chromosomes, and hormones. Gender refers to the socially-constructed characteristics
of women and men – such as norms, roles, and relationships among and between groups of women and
men.
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You may be familiar with the terms nature and nurture, with nature referring to biological
influences and nurture referring to social ones. Both are crucial to understanding sex and gender, but the
sociological perspective focuses on how the social world impacts our gender development. In Biology 101,
you may spend a lot of time talking about the role that genes play in influencing our appearance or our
behavior. But in sociology, we devote much of our attention to how the social environment shapes every
aspect of us – including its impact on our genes and how they function.
Think of the phrase “boys will be boys.” The expression suggests that certain behaviors are
inevitable for boys. But it doesn’t account for how the traits we attribute to boys are learned. Through
socialization, we learn about gender from family, peers, teachers, coaches, and other influential people in
our lives. We also learn gender messages from media; commercials, TV shows, movies, songs, video games,
internet memes, and magazines all have something to say about gender.
Consider the link between girls and the color pink. We aren’t born with color preferences, we learn
them. Believe it or not, in the early 1900s, pink was considered a boy’s color and blue a girl’s color. It wasn’t
until the 1940s that the colors became gender-coded in the way we know them today. We now take the
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color scheme for granted because it’s in the fabric of society. Browse the toy aisles at Target and Wal-Mart
and you’ll see pink products marketed toward girls. Pink is a primary Victoria’s Secret color. You can buy a
pink and black Muddy Girl Compact Bolt-Action Rifle at Cabela’s. Meanwhile, clothes, bikes, and toys for
boys are awash in blue and gray. People have choices in what they buy, of course, and many of us stray from
the color norms, but the notion of boy colors and girl colors remains entrenched in American society.
Let’s think about the Caster Semenya case again.
Her situation reveals a lot about social expectations about
“what it means” to be a man or a woman: what you’re
supposed to look like, how you’re supposed to sound, how
strong you are, how emotional you are, what your interests
are. These are gender norms, or social definitions of
behavior assigned to particular sex categories. While gender
norms can and do change through time, place, and context,
the thing they have in common is that they are socially-
determined and socially-enforced. Most of us are treated
according to how we’re perceived. And these gender
perceptions are generally assumed to match our biological
sex.

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But perceptions can be deceiving. The Intersex Society of North America notes, “If you ask experts at
medical centers how often a child is born so noticeably
Caster Semenya. Source: Wikimedia Commons
atypical in terms of genitalia that a specialist in sex
differentiation is called in, the number comes out to about 1
in 1500 to 1 in 2000 births.” And genitals are only one of many ways that we determine sex differences. In
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Semenya’s case, though her test results weren’t revealed, there is speculation that she had higher levels of
testosterone, a hormone associated with muscular size and strength, aggression, and other traits, than most
women. Do you know your testosterone level? Most people don’t, and so wouldn’t know if they have
unusually high or low levels. Below is a table of the frequency of variations in sexual development. To put
the stats in perspective, consider that Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is estimated to occur in 0.2 to 1.5 infants for
every 1,000 live births in certain areas of the United States; about one in 3,500 babies is born with cystic
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fibrosis; about one in 1,574 babies is born with a cleft palate without a cleft lip; and Down Syndrome is
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estimated to occur in about one in every 700 births. The point? Intersex conditions are relatively rare – but
not as rare as we think they are.
Table 1: Frequencies of Sex Variations, by Number of Births
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Sex Variation Frequency
Not XX and not XY One in 1,666 births
Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome One in 13,000 births
Gonadal dysgenesis (abnormal growth or One in 150,000 births
development)
Vaginal agenesis (lack of development) One in 6,000 births
Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia One in 13,000 births
Klinefelter Syndrome One in 1,000 births
Ovotestes One in 83,000 births
Idiopathic (no discernable medical cause) One in 110,000 births
For Caster Semenya, social assumptions had severe consequences – she was unable to participate in
her sport for nearly a year. But there are everyday expectations for all of us, even if our identity matches
what society assumes about us.
The social construction of gender

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As the Semenya example illustrates, what is considered gender-appropriate is determined
collectively. In the language of sociology, we say that these notions are socially constructed. The social
construction of gender refers to how meanings of gender are created through social interaction and social
norms. Teaching, learning, performing, and policing gender behavior in light of expectations of appropriate
conduct are also part of the ongoing process of social construction. Giving a name to a baby is one way a sex
category becomes a gender status, and babies and children are then treated according to that gender status.
When children learn to talk, they refer to themselves by their gender. This is all part of the social
construction of gender.
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Here’s another example: have you ever heard someone speak and noticed that the person raises his or
her voice at the end of each sentence, making everything sound as if it were a question? Linguists call this
high-rising terminal; you may know it as “uptalk.” What about ending sentences with words spoken in a low,
almost croaky tone? That’s referred to as vocal fry. And if modern linguistic research is any indication, you
probably associate both vocal fry and uptalking with women, particularly young women.
These speech patterns have social consequences. People who use vocal fry are seen as less
trustworthy, less competent, and less educated than those who don’t, and their prospects for landing a job can
be affected by the way they talk. People who use both vocal fry and uptalking are even more disadvantaged
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due to stereotypes about the kind of people who use them.
This is an example of the social construction of gender, or the ways in which we create gendered
meaning through (in this case, literal) communication. Research shows that both men and women use uptalk
often, and there’s no evidence that women use vocal fry any more than men do. But what matters is that
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these ways of speaking are associated with women. The social construction of gender implies that these
vocal techniques have gendered meaning attached to them. Men talk like this; women talk like that. Whether
this and that are actually different in the overall population isn’t what matters; the important thing is that
vocal fry and uptalking are associated with women, affecting the way women and men who use these
techniques are perceived.
The example of speech patterns suggests that we shouldn’t think of gender as something that we are
(male or female). Instead, think of gender as something that we do, every single day. We do gender in the
way we talk, gesture, dress, and sit. Look at Instagram and see if you observe men and women posing in
different ways. Remember when the duckface selfie was popular? Girls and women more often used it. And
maybe you notice that a common pose for men in pictures is to cross their arms. As you go about your day,
look at how men and women take up space. You might see men with their legs extended from a couch or
chair, while women may sit in ways that make their bodies take up less space.
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Candace West and Don Zimmerman developed the idea that we do gender. They suggested that we
perform actions that produce gender; we do gender in interactions with others, and we take into consideration
what is believed to be appropriate for our gender.
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West and Zimmerman understood that we do gender knowing that we will be judged by others; we
are held accountable for our gender performances. A girl might be reprimanded for not crossing her legs
when wearing a dress. “That’s not ladylike,” a parent might say. Men are encouraged by their peers to “man
up” if they haven’t followed norms of masculinity. A boy who shows interest in a Barbie might be told
“Boys don’t play with dolls!” We’re evaluated for our gender behavior. In her research at a high school, C.J.
Pascoe found that boys frequently called each other “faggot” as a way of policing each other’s masculinity.
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If boys engaged in behavior that wasn’t regarded as masculine at this high school – dancing, caring about
clothing, being emotional – the insult was used against them.
Sociologists, then, don’t view gender as an innate, biologically-determined characteristic. We focus
on gender as socially and culturally influenced and as subject to change. Gender isn’t a fact, says Judith
Butler, author of Gender Trouble. Gender is produced. Think of gender as an unspoken agreement to
perform gender in socially acceptable ways, and our performances are so believable that gender behavior
appears to be natural. The way we act sustains and reinforces the ideas we have created about gender. Stray
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too far outside the lines and you risk being ostracized. We have words for those who perform gender out of
line with our expectations. Think of the dweeb, the wimp, the dork. Perhaps you picture a skinny, awkward
guy who isn’t cool, who dresses and walks in ways that make him stand out and invite ridicule. We have
more words for people who are thought to be doing masculinity wrong: douchebag, dick, prick, pussy,
asshole. These may be used as general insults, but often they’re applied specifically to men as gender insults.

A Google Image search for “masculine man.”
In contrast, a muscular, self-assured man may find himself being praised by others. But is this always
the case? Does a man have to look and act like Channing Tatum or Taye Diggs to be considered masculine?
Not always. A guy may find other types of masculinity that work for him, such as the class clown who gets
by on his comedic skills. Nerds aren’t normally celebrated as models of masculinity, but it helps to invent
something and become a billionaire, like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. Celebrities are more likely to

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stretch the boundaries of gender, perhaps because they feel more freedom to express gender with less fear of
backlash. For example, the musician Young Thug wore a long ruffled dress for the cover art of his album No,
My Name Is Jeffery. He also modeled women’s clothing for a Calvin Klein campaign, saying: "In my world,
of course, it don't matter, you know, you could be a gangster with a dress or you could be a gangster with
baggy pants. I feel like there’s no such thing as gender.” While we disagree with his assertion there’s no
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such thing as gender, he certainly resists gendered clothing norms. Another example is Jaden Smith, who
frequently dresses in ways that don’t conform with gender norms. Talking about his fashion choices, Smith
said: “So, you know, in five years when a kid goes to school wearing a skirt, he won’t get beat up and kids
won’t get mad at him.” These are examples of widening the ideas of what Black masculinity is, says writer
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Mikelle Street.
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Widening the boundaries of gender is one way of challenging the gender binary, the classification
system that allows for only two separate gender categories. The gender binary is just one of many gender
systems, and there’s ample evidence that even within this strict binary system, there has always been some
room for change, growth, and flexibility. Gender terms change over time to represent different ways of doing
gender: girly-girl, tomboy, emo, metrosexual. Within show business, we have particularly seen and
welcomed non-conforming expressions of gender and sexuality. Artists like David Bowie wore makeup and
dresses and wore an androgynous style, incorporating both feminine and masculine characteristics. In 1984,
Prince’s song “I Would Die 4 U” proclaimed, “I’m not a woman; I’m not a man. I am something that you’ll
never understand.” In 1981, his “Controversy” lyrics asked, “Am I Black or White? Am I straight or gay?”
Can you think of current examples of non-binary gender expression?

David Bowie. (Source: Wikipedia Commons)
Let’s return to the student who asserted that gender is what your birth certificate says you are. For
this student, gender is fixed, and gender is binary; you are either a man or a woman. The reality is that people
experience gender in complex, nuanced ways. For example, Mack Beggs is a transgender wrestler who won

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the Texas state high school girls’ wrestling championship in 2017. Although he identifies as male and wants
to wrestle boys, he competes against girls because Texas law requires students to wrestle in accordance with
the gender listed on birth certificates. He has endured slurs and insults, including being called “fag” and “it.”
When he was younger, Mack struggled with suicidal thoughts and engaged in self-harm. Reflecting back to
when he was younger, Mack says: “I was angry as in why I got made like this. Why do I have to feel this
way? I couldn’t figure out my identity.” His mother has been supportive: “I knew that something was
different when he was five he had asked why God gave him girl parts instead of boy parts,” she explained in
an interview. That Mack was legally required to wrestle opponents based on his birth gender illustrates the
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power of the gender binary system. However, his desire to wrestle opponents based on his identity (and his
family’s acceptance of him) represents a shift away from the gender binary.
Institutions and organizations are also acknowledging that not everyone fits into a strict gender
binary. Originally, Facebook had only two options for gender: male or female. In 2014, it expanded the
gender options to 58 different labels, including transgender and cisgender, the broad classifiers “neither,”
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“other,” and “non-binary,” and many more specific ones (for definitions of each, look at this explainer from
The Daily Beast). By 2015, Facebook opened up the list even more. The company’s diversity page states,
“Now, if you do not identify with the pre-populated list of gender identities, you are able to add your own.
As before, you can add up to ten gender terms and also have the ability to control the audience with whom
you would like to share your custom gender. We recognize that some people face challenges sharing their
true gender identity with others, and this setting gives people the ability to express themselves in an authentic
way.”
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Intersectional perspectives on gender
When actress Patricia Arquette won the Best Actress Oscar in 2015, she used her time on the podium
and backstage to highlight the wage gap between men and women, even in Hollywood. Arquette’s
statements became controversial, however, because of the way she talked about various marginalized groups
in America. She said:
It’s time for women. Equal means equal. The truth is the older women get, the less money they make.
The highest percentage of children living in poverty are in female-headed households. It’s
inexcusable that we go around the world and we talk about equal rights for women in other countries
and we don’t…. It’s time for all the women in America, and all the men that love women and all the
gay people and all the people of color that we’ve all fought for to fight for us now.
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Her comments seem like the type of earnest expression that would garner praise from the audience, so why
were they controversial? As feminist author Amanda Marcotte noted, “gay people and all the people of
color” are categories that also include women.
Arquette’s words suggested that all women find themselves in the same position. A different
perspective, called intersectionality, refers to the ways in which different types of social relations are linked
together in complex ways, creating very different experiences for different groups of people. Developed by

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