Gender Biologically Determined
“Is Gender Biologically Determined?”- Drawing upon ethnographic examples from 2-3 societies.
Gender being ‘biologically determined’ means that whether gender is inherited or passed down by genetics. If a person is a man or woman, (which is usually called ‘The Sex’), that is biologically determined because they inherit the chromosomes to be born a man, or to be born as a woman. In the early 1970’s sex was described by “biology as: anatomy, hormones, and physiology” (West and Zimmerman 1987). Apart from gender being a biological factor, there are other things which are not biologically determined; “Gender was an achieved status, which was constructed through psychological, cultural and social means” (West and Zimmerman1987). Hence the answer to the question “is gender biologically determined?”Is no, Gender is a socially constructed phenomenon. Gender refers to a set of roles people perform in their communities, which are their values and attitudes that people have toward man and woman (Bonvillain 2006). In this essay, the topics which would be discussed to support this argument are Gender Identity with examples of how men and women are expected to act, walk, talk and dress in a certain manner which is suitable in their society, Gender and Sexuality with the examples of culturally in-built norms of sexual behaviour, along with existing issues surrounding sexuality, and finally Gender and Status with an example of male dominance in Traditional Chinese society.
Gender identity is defined in terms of how people (i.e. men and women) are supposed to behave in the social category. Their attitudes and the way the dress, talk and carry themselves in the public are encoded “in a set of cultural assumptions” which are based on the culture’s values and roles and people are expected to learn these as they are a part of that society (Bonvillain 2006). Each culture has certain ‘norms’ for gender and these ‘norms’ vary from culture to culture, most of these norms have a
Gender being ‘biologically determined’ means that whether gender is inherited or passed down by genetics. If a person is a man or woman, (which is usually called ‘The Sex’), that is biologically determined because they inherit the chromosomes to be born a man, or to be born as a woman. In the early 1970’s sex was described by “biology as: anatomy, hormones, and physiology” (West and Zimmerman 1987). Apart from gender being a biological factor, there are other things which are not biologically determined; “Gender was an achieved status, which was constructed through psychological, cultural and social means” (West and Zimmerman1987). Hence the answer to the question “is gender biologically determined?”Is no, Gender is a socially constructed phenomenon. Gender refers to a set of roles people perform in their communities, which are their values and attitudes that people have toward man and woman (Bonvillain 2006). In this essay, the topics which would be discussed to support this argument are Gender Identity with examples of how men and women are expected to act, walk, talk and dress in a certain manner which is suitable in their society, Gender and Sexuality with the examples of culturally in-built norms of sexual behaviour, along with existing issues surrounding sexuality, and finally Gender and Status with an example of male dominance in Traditional Chinese society.
Gender identity is defined in terms of how people (i.e. men and women) are supposed to behave in the social category. Their attitudes and the way the dress, talk and carry themselves in the public are encoded “in a set of cultural assumptions” which are based on the culture’s values and roles and people are expected to learn these as they are a part of that society (Bonvillain 2006). Each culture has certain ‘norms’ for gender and these ‘norms’ vary from culture to culture, most of these norms have a
References: West,C and Zimmerman, Don. 1987. Doing Gender. Sociologists for Women in Society 1(2): 125-155 Herek, Gregory. 1986.on Heterosexual Masculinity. American Behavioural Scientist 29(5): 563-577 Brandth, Berit. 2002. Gender Identity in European Family Farming: A Literature Review. European Society for Rural Sociology 42(3): 181-200 Kimmel, Michael. Masculinity as homophobia: Fear, Shame and Silence in the Constructions of Gender Identity. Bonvillain, Nancy. 2006. Chapter 10, “Gender” from Cultural Anthropology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Pp. 251-282. ISBN: 0-13-045545-8