Week 2

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Week 2

• Gender and Sex Exposed

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Things

• Course Registration If Ive performed an
  Override for you, it is up to you to Register I
  cant do that part.
• Paper Topic You will choose your paper topic
  Ill provide examples of ones done before.
• A S Readings on my Personal Webpage These
  readings are meant to boost your knowledge of
  sociological theory, sort of a review of Intro
  stuff. You will receive handouts regarding each
  of those theorists, from which exam questions
  will be drawn. Concentrate on at least the first
  reading for each class.

• 4. Bells Text on Reserve Again, this text,
  which can be signed out for a day or two, is for
  supplementary reading only. You have received a
  handout on Bells ecological dialogue, from which
  exam questions will be drawn.
• Class Presentations These begin on January 21.
  You will be issued an artifact to present on one
  week from the date you received it 1-3 hours of
  preparation for the presentation is a fair
  expectation any format 1-2 students will
  present at the beginning of each class until the
  end of term
• Print off online readings if you wish I just
  wanted to save you money and a few hundred trees

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Last class,

• Remember this month will be spent on looking at
  the IDEAL part of ecological dialogue on our
  topic and we cannot exclude sociologys own
  ideals.

• I did a short sociology of sociology to help
  test the fitness of our discipline for an
  application on gender, sex, and nature.

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Today

• Ill do a sample Fieldwork Artifact Presentation
  and assign next weeks artifacts
• Finish MacNaghten and Urry 1995
• Review sex and gender definitions (handouts)
• Readings Discussion
• (1) CP Doing gender. http//web.clas.ufl.edu/use
  rs/kjoos/spring03/ syg2000/0226_doinggendernotes.h
  tml
• (2) SMUO Dozier, R. (2005). Beards,
  breasts, and bodies Doing sex in a gendered
  world. Gender and Society, 19 (3), 297-316.
• Group Work moved to Wednesday if not enough time
  today.

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Last class MacNaghten and Urry 1995 Towards a
Sociology of NatureSociology has not always
done a good job on including nature and concepts
of nature in its applications. But, like most
disciplines today, sociology is becoming more
inclusive, and is now turning its attention to
the environmental situation, adding to debating
dialogue on the problem of nature from five main
areas of study1. Sustainability 2. More
inclusive of nature-related variables (of special
interest to this course)3. More inclusive of
perspectives of nature other than relying on
science alone4. Embraces not only the negative
effects of modernity, but the positive ones as
well5. How social practices affect natural
environments, including our bodies (also of
special interest to this course)
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(No Transcript)
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Okayenough sociology bashing. On to exposing
social constructions of gender and sexhow do we
do them?and, note that at least for now, we
are not attempting to clearly delineate between
the two for reasons which will become more clear

• Consider

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Diamond Ring Ideology West imposed in 1215 by
Pope Innocent III

• Can we do gender and do ethical
  environmentalism at the same time?

• Pressure for men/women to do gender?

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And,

• Consider the doing gender in this video clip
• What are some social forces at play?
• Are the gender differences natural?

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• Next few slides include information from
  Roughgarden, J. (2004). Evolution's rainbow
  Diversity, gender, and sexuality in nature and
  people (pp. 13-29). Berkely, CA University of
  California Press.

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Primary and Secondary Sex Characteristics
Refresher (http//www.ftmguide.org/hormonebasics.h
tmlsexcharacteristics)

• "Primary sex characteristics" refer to physical
  characteristics present in the human body that
  are directly involved in reproductive function
  namely the gonads and their accessory structures.
  The development of primary sex characteristics
  happens to the fetus in the womb.
• "Secondary sex characteristics" refer to physical
  characteristics that are typically associated
  with "males"/"men" and "females"/"women" but are
  not necessarily related to reproductive function.
  Examples would include facial hair growth and
  deepening of the voice in men, and growth of
  breasts and increased fat deposits around the
  hips in women. The development of secondary sex
  characteristics usually begins at puberty, as the
  levels and patterns of secretion of the sex
  hormones in the body begins to change at that
  time.

• The androgen testosterone (and its derivative
  dihydrotestosterone DHT) is responsible for
  producing masculine secondary sex characteristics
  such as facial hair growth, deepening of the
  voice, increased body hair growth, and increased
  muscle development.
• Estrogen and progesterone play a vital role in
  the menstrual cycle in females. Estrogen is also
  mainly responsible for producing feminine
  secondary sex characteristics such as breast
  development, and increased body fat deposits
  around the hip and thigh areas.

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Roughgarden Sex and Diversity She sets the
stage for us on when we received/gave official
labeling

• All species have genetic diversity their
  biological rainbow (Roughgarden, 2004, p. 13).
• Darwin founded evolutionary biology On the
  Origin of Species. Remember Darwin had to be
  careful in how far he contradicted the church
  (and his devout wife!) which believed that God
  had pre-destined the species on the earth in
  contrast, Darwin was beginning to understand the
  evolution of species. Initially, he called this
  descent with modification.
• At that time, in the 1800s, empirical science was
  developing the Linnaean system of classification
  Anyone remember it?
• (photo http//darwin-online.org.uk)

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Carl Linnaeus classification of living things

• Domain
• Kingdom (?doing gender?)
• Phylum
• Subphylum
• Class
• Subclass
• Order
• Family
• Genus
• Species

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Roughgarden says that, when we classify things,
we are always aware of those which do not meet
the official criteria of that class.

• She notes that Darwin viewed females as shopping
  around for mates with desirable genes while
  rejecting those with inferior genes (p. 15).

• So, she asks how evolutionary biologists classify
  those which are impure or freaks in this
  rainbow of diversity.

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How does scientific evidence hold up to this
example

• How male must a male mouse be?

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Diversity and Sex

• Roughgarden raises these points
• Geckoes are an all-female species they clone
  themselves, and need no male counterpart (but,
  the gecko doing the Geiko commercial has a male
  voice!? or is it a female with a male secondary
  sex characteristic? - - - see how muddy the
  waters become!!!!?)
• (photo http//www.repticzone.com/photogallery/Gec
  kos1.html)
• So, why arent all species female? sexual
  reproduction (Male Female) cuts the population
  growth rate in half. This way, the ecology does
  not become oversaturated with certain species
  one theory.
• Clonally (all-female) species originated from
  sexual species
• Two theories as to why sex works
• Diversity-Affirming Theory diversity is good and
  sex keeps propelling that diversity along.
  Environments change over time, and
  interests/reasons for choosing a mate change
  right along with the environment.
• Diversity-Repressing Theory diversity is bad and
  sex keeps the population cut back when families
  containing bad mutations die off.

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So, how does this relate to humans?

• Roughgarden notes
• It is difficult for many societies to
  affirm/support diversity.
• Both terms sex and gender imply male and
  female according to biological or natural
  terms

• But, wait?? We use these as social terms as well.
• To challenge the universality of labels of
  male/female and sex/gender, Roughgarden urges us
  to problematize the taken for granted divisions
  of sex and gender.

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• As Roughgarden has pointed out, sex and gender
  are not necessarily divisions of inherent
  features of species there is a case for how sex
  and gender happen within society interaction!
• Remember social facts?

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Dozier, R. (2005). Beards, breasts, and bodies
Doing sex in a gendered world. Gender and
Society, 19 (3), 297-316.

• Dozier Sex, gender, and sexuality, then, are
  all to varying degrees socially interpreted, and
  all contribute to an overarching concept of
  gender that relies on both perceived sex and
  behaviors and their attribution as masculine or
  feminine (p. 300).
• What does this mean?

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The study

• On the changing behaviors and interactions of
  Female-To-Male (FTM) transitioners and how those
  are perceived by others
• To show that masculinity and femininity are not
  necessarily innately linked to male and female,
  respectively
• To emphasize the importance to include the body
  in transgender interaction studies.

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Main findings

• The more the FTMs were recognized socially
  physically and behaviorally as male, the more
  comfortable they were with expressions of
  traditionally female behaviour, such as putting
  on nail polish. This macro-level indication meant
  a reduction in the hypervigilance at a
  micro-level over time
• Informant, Pete It was very apparent how
  masculine a woman I wasand now its like Ive
  turned into this flaming queen like 90 percent of
  the time (p. 305).

• These transmen why is this a spelling error in
  MS PowerPoint? felt that being perceived a man
  was enlightening
• Informant, Joe I remember one time walking up
  the hill it was like nine oclock, and this
  woman was walking in front of me, and she kept
  looking back, and I thought, What the hell is
  wrong with that girl? And then I stopped in my
  tracks. When I looked at her face clearly under
  the light, she was afraid. So I crossed the
  street (p. 307).
• BUT, there are more pressures once judged as
  male pressure to conform to misogyny at work,
  for example. This is compounded by homosexuality,
  effemininity, race or ethnicity.
• What ideals are at play here?

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West and Zimmerman 1987

• Wrote landmark article on Doing Gender

• Here, the key concept is that of accountability
  people come to be required to be accountable for
  every action they perform to be appropriate to
  ones sex category. Any type of social
  interaction and activity are potentially
  subject to doing gender reinforcing the
  notion of essential difference between females
  and males. Gender differences are made to
  appear natural and essential through doing
  gender.

• Gender is not so much as a set of traits
  residing within individuals, but as something
  people do in their social interactions. It is
  embedded in every aspect of everyday interactions
  that ones actions in doing gender simultaneously
  produces, reproduces, sustains and legitimates
  the social meanings accorded to gender.

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See handout
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Feminism is said to be closely anchored in
Marxism because of the variable oppression (from
Marx and Smith reading on Personal Webpage)

• Marxs analysis assumed that women were
  subordinate to men due to their absence from the
  production line in general, though they did
  figure prominently in the textile industry. The
  home was not counted as gross national/domestic
  product, and is still not counted in GNP/GDP.
• Until only about 50 years ago, Marxists believed
  gender equality would occur when women had the
  same foothold in production as men.
• Feminists of the 1970s finally challenged with
  their claim that the woman question of Marxists
  was anchored in how women related to the economy
  versus the feminist question of how women related
  to men.

• But, many feminists still looked to the Marxist
  analysis to understand oppression, despite its
  deep flaws ---- just like psychologists still
  study and apply Freuds theories, we must be
  careful of the babes we throw out with the
  bathwater.
• So, feminism took a woman-centered approach,
  questioned not only Marxism but sociology in
  general --- one of those feminists is Dorothy
  Smith ---- whose main question is
• How can we affect social change to produce a
  more humane social world (p. 210)?

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Dorothy Smith - Her central theories She wanted
to develop a sociology FOR women, rather than
about women. Until the 1970s, and still existing
in some camps today, women were not included or
used in sociological language!

• SOCIETY IS WHERE PEOPLE MAY BE UNDERSTOOD AS
  EXPERT PRACTITIONERS OF THEIR OWN LIVES (P.
  216). WE CANNOT ASSUME THAT WE KNOW THEIR
  CONCRETE EXPERIENCES.
• BIFURCATED CONSCIOUSNESS TWO WAYS OF KNOWING HOW
  TO BE IN THIS WORLD 1. IN THE BODY AND SPACE
  THAT YOUR BODY OCCUPIES (THE MATERIAL AND LOCAL)
  2. ALL SPACE BEYOND YOUR BODY (ABSTRACTED BY
  OTHERS). THIS IS SIMILAR TO PSYCHOLOGICAL SELF
  MONITORING DURING WHICH PEOPLE ARE CONTRADICTED
  BY HOW THEY FEEL ON THE INSIDE AND THAT WHICH
  OTHERS EXPECT FROM THEM TO WHICH THEY FEEL THEY
  MUST BE ACCOUNTABLE TO, OR PAY A HIGH PRICE.
• STANDPOINT OF WOMEN (AND OTHERS) (p. 214) THE
  ONLY WAY TO ENTER THE ABSTRACTED CONCEPTUAL MODE
  OF WORKING IS TO PASS THROUGH, AND MAKE USE OF,
  THE CONCRETELY AND IMMEDIATELY EXPERIENCED A
  FACT THAT OFFICIAL SOCIOLOGY OBSCURES AND
  IGNORES. THIS MEANS THAT WE CANNOT ASSUME
  ANYONES EXPERIENCE AT LEAST COMPLETELY, THOUGH
  WE CAN FEEL SYMPATHETIC AND EMPATHIC.

• RELATIONS OF RULING TEXT IS HOW THE RULING
  APPARATUS ORGANIZES, REGULATES AND DIRECTS
  SOCIETY WE NEED TO GUARD AGAINST THAT IN
  SOCIOLOGY ITSELF. FOR MOST OF RECORDED WESTERN
  AND SIMILAR HISTORIES, WOMEN AND OTHER GENDERS
  HAVE BEEN EXCLUDED FROM TEXT, MISREPRESENTED AND
  UNDERPRESENTED IN TEXT, AND EXCLUDED FROM USING
  AND PRODUCING TEXT.
• KNOWLEDGE SMITH BELIEVED THAT FEMININITY AND
  MASCULINITY WERE SOCIAL PRODUCTIONS OF TEXTUAL
  AND SYMBOLIC DISCOURSE. KNOWLEDGE IS LOCATED BOTH
  LOCAL TO THE INDIVIDUAL AND BEYOND.
• CLASS, RELIGION, AND RACE THESE VARIABLES
  COMPOUND GENDER RELATIONS MARGINALITY,
  PREJUDICE, RACISM, AGISM, STEREOTYPING,
  EXCLUSION

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Make the Familiar Strange

• Using sociological concepts from Marx and Smith
  to understand whats going on with sex and gender
  in society respond to these questions
• (Last slide will be put up during group work.)

• 1. If we un-do gender, will we all be the same?
  Will we undo gender differences? Will there be
  neither men nor women? Is that good or bad for
  society?
• 2. Does transexuality undo gender, or transform
  it doing gender? Should it be paid for with
  public tax monies?
• 3. If female humans did not need males to
  reproduce, what would society look like? What
  would have to change? What would stay the same?
• 4. What, if anything, is the difference between
  sex change surgery and breast implant surgery or
  penile enhancement implants?

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Next class reading

• SMUO Deutsch, F. (2007). Undoing gender. Gender
  and Society, 21 (1), 106-127.
• Group work on Wednesday on all three readings
  this week