Fall SOC 1001: Social Construction Of Gender

Olivia Tabor
Fall SOC 1001- Intro to Sociology
Section 18
TA: Monica Saralampi
Do you “Do” gender too?
“Gender”, as thought of by many people as simply being either “male” or “female”, refers to the social statuses and cultural attributes associated with being male or female (Soc 1001 Lecture 24, Social Construction of Sexuality) and not strictly the different biological distinction. “Sex” is the biological distinction which includes physical differences in the process of reproduction (Soc 1001 Lecture 22, The Social Construction of Gender). Gender is a process that starts even before a child is born and is constantly changed by societal demands and pressures of acting and dressing in one way or the other depending on what gender one defines
them as. Human interaction at home done by parents onto a child, interaction between classmates at school, and even the interactions people encounter on a day-to-day basis at work and sports practices can influence the way one “does” (Soc 1001 Lecture 22, The Social Construction of Gender) gender.
Often the terms “gender” and “sex” are used side-by-side and frequently misunderstood because of the ways society uses them to describe or talk about people and/or themselves.
A person’s sex is determined by their physical aspects, whether they have a penis or a vagina, and by their chromosomes which they have at birth (Soc 1001 Lecture 22, The Social Construction of Gender). Sometimes, though, people may fall outside of the two “main” sexes and be born as an intersex person, then given the choice to identify as male, female or neither (Psy 3666 Human Sexuality Lecture 10, Sex Education and Sexual Orientation), but are typically assigned a sex at birth via surgery and/or hormonal intervention (Soc 1001 Lecture 22, The Social Construction of Gender). Not only do intersex individuals have the choice to identify themselves as they please, everyone has a choice as to what they want to be identified as no matter if a surgery had taken place or
not.
The term gender is different from sex in that it is socially constructed, meaning it refers to the social statuses and cultural attributes associated with being male or female, or even the traits associated with masculinity and femininity that are manifested in physical appearance, in ways of occupying space and how people interact with others (Soc 1001 Lecture 22, The Social Construction of Gender). Right when a child is born, if the parents did not know already, one of the first things they want to know is if their baby is a girl or a boy, but why does that matter so much? It matters simply because society says it should. The process of gender starts at infancy and it never stops because society is constantly changing. For example, baby girls’ rooms may have flowers and bows on the walls or decorated around the room and of course, the walls painted pink. For baby boys, there may be a lot of toy trucks and “Bob the Builder” themed objects throughout the room and the walls painted a baby blue color. Gender is also a way of structuring society and social interactions which is very closely related to structural functionalism (Soc 1001 Lecture 22, The Social Construction of Gender). Interactions are regulated and organized depending on what gender an individual associates themselves with. Girls unconsciously tend to talk about their “crushes” on boys together during adolescents and boys stereotypically gather and talk about sports.
Throughout social interactions between individuals and groups of people, gender is being “done” and is everywhere. It is so engrained in people’s head’s that it seems so natural to just “do” your specific gender (Soc 1001 Lecture 22, The Social Construction of Gender). “Doing” gender specifically means that there are certain actions, gestures and “cues” in individuals mannerisms that males and females do differently that puts them in the certain gender identity category of being male or female. For example, women tend to walk more upright than men and swing their arms more with each step they take while men may walk with more of a “swag” and have more of a slouch or hunch in their back. According to Judith Lorber’s “Night to His Day”, in an African society men were supposed to eat with their whole mouths and women with just their lips. Women are supposed to be more delicate while men can get away with being more reckless and sloppy. Once a gender is ascribed, individuals are held to an expectation that they follow the gendered norms and expectations of what society constructs (Lorber 58). The gendered norms are constantly created and re-created in the course of human interaction (Soc 1001 Lecture 22, The Social Construction of Gender) and we tend to feel uncomfortable when someone steps outside of those norms. Common everyday sanctions are placed upon individuals who violate the norms such as receiving strange and/or weird looks, name-calling and even violence, and in extreme cases there may be even worse sanctions such as murder of transgender youth (Soc 1001 Lecture 22, The Social Construction of Gender). All the negative sanctions, gendered norms and the “doing” of a certain gender are all stemmed from gender being a component of society’s socialization process.
Family, the media, schools and peers are four primary agents of socialization, without them there would be nothing to carry out how gender is defined (Soc 1001 Lecture 22, The Social Construction of Gender). When a mother is expecting a child she does many things to prepare for its arrival; the process of gender socialization of that baby begins at that point even before it is born. Parents can decide if they want to know their baby’s sex or not before it is born and will often publically announce the sex of the baby with either pink or blue balloons, cards, and streamers depending on if it’s a girl or boy. At a young age children learn to walk, talk and gesture the way their social group says they should, but the gender displays are needed because humans are constantly looking for specific groups to categorize themselves into (Lorber 57). Once a child becomes an adolescent they tend to live by their gendered scripts which are assisted by the primary agents of socialization (Lorber 57). Lastly, adults are still being socially constructed to act a specific way depending on what gender they associate with, whether it is from work, being a mother or father and/or through the other agents of socialization. For example, mothers have been socially constructed to be the caregivers of the family and take care of the children, but in recent years there has been more of a change and less expectation from society of having strictly the mother take care of a child. Lorber talks about and gives examples of the increasing number of men taking care of small children in public and defying the stereotypical father norms. “Today, on the subway, I saw a well-dressed man with a year-old child in a stroller. Yesterday, on a bus, I saw a man with a tiny baby in a carrier on his chest” (Lorber 54). Not only were the fathers defying gender roles, but their babies as well. One of them was wearing a baseball cap, a dark blue t-shirt and dark pants, yet the baby had its ears pierced and had on flowered sneakers and lacy socks – a girl she decided. Gender truly is a lifelong process of learning roles and norms associated with those roles, and it’s agents of socialization do play a huge role.
Gender must not get confused with the biological sex of an individual; just because someone may walk with a certain “swag” that is commonly associated with a male’s walk does not mean they are sexed as a male.
Most people, though, do naturally and unconsciously “do” the gender they associate themselves with, and negative sanctions should not be imposed on those who do not follow the societal gender norms of acting and/or behaving tough and “manly” as males are socialized to do and putting on makeup and having more of a gentle tough as females are told by society to do. The men Judith Lorber saw carrying infants on the bus and subway both received approving smiles from other citizens who were also “doing” gender, but they noticed
the

Works Cited
Althaus, Linde. “Sex Education and Sexual Orientation.” Psychology 3666 Human Sexuality. University of Minnesota. Minnesota. Lecture 10.
Logan, Enid. “The Social Construction of Gender.” Introduction to Sociology 1001. University of Minnesota. Minnesota. Lecture 22. Logan, Enid. “The Social Construction of Sexuality.” Introduction to Sociology 1001. University of Minnesota. Minnesota. Lecture 24.
Judith Lorber, “Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender.” In Paradoxes of Gender. 1994, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.