Class: Sex and Gender

Class Notes

Sex is a physical trait; gender is a social trait.  Both are social constructions, both medically and physically.  In the pre-modern world, people were only thought of as having "one-sex."  The current binary sex system ignores the intersexed, those who are born with sexual organs that don't completely fit into one category. Experts estimate that about 1% of all babies are born with some form of intersexuality (Newman 121). Many of these children are turned into girls because it "is easier to make a hole than build a pole."

Sex and Gender are everywhere-- all social institutions and practices-- education, marriage, law, the economy, health care, even baby names-- are in some way tied up with gender norms and expectations.

Hegemonic masculinity-- the dominant and privileged category of men that is often invisible.

"Doing Gender"-- the process of acting and performing like the gender you are assigned.  Gender role socialization, the process by which people learn to act as a woman or man, occurs throughout the life.  People also "do gender" by looking like a given gender ideal, leading to eating disorders and plastic surgery.

Required Reading: 

"You've Come a Long Way, Baby," Ruane and Cerulo (Second Thoughts, pp. 139-156)

"Cheerleading and the Gendered Politics of Sport," Grindstaff and West (Sociology Reader, pp. 314-323)

Recommended Reading: 

"The Architecture of Inequality: Sex and Gender," Newman (Sociology, pp. 376-403)

Keywords: sex, gender, intersexed, gender essentialism, biological determinism, transgendered, gender norms and expectations, hegemonic masculinity, doing gender, gender role socialization, gender ideals.