Lecture 13: ReviewSummary, Key Slides

Eric C. Thompson

Overview of the Course• Weeks 1-2: Introduction to Gender Studies• Weeks 3-4: Biology, Sex, and Gender• Weeks 5-6: Cultural Constructions of Gender• Weeks 7-9: Social Dynamics of Gender• Weeks 10-12: Gender, Social Relations and Social

Structure• Week 13: Review

Yeah… I remember

some of that.

I. INTRODUCTION TO COURSE AND GENDER STUDIES

Sex / Gender / Sexuality• Sex refers to the bodies we have as a result of biological

processes (e.g. genetics); Genitalia, Hormones, Baldness, Facial Hair, Breasts, etc.

• Gender refers to social-cultural elaborations of sex; social practices and cultural roles associated with sex characteristics.

• Sexuality refers to social-cultural elaborations (especially identities) related to sexual behavior; activities (ways of ‘having sex’), desires, relational identities (gay, straight, boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, husband, etc.)

Sociology of Women

Feminist Sociology

Sociology of Gender

Franklin pp. xiv & xxvii

“Additive”… sought to make women ‘visible’ in sociology; Research about women’s experience.

Reconceptualization of society; Focus on patriarchy and gendering of all aspects of social life; Explicitly political

Deconstruction of the category “women”; Focus on gender rather than women; Including men, masculinities, intersexed, and sexualities.

Up to 1970s

1970s-1990s

1990s-present

From “Women” to “Gender”

Waves of Feminism*• First Wave: 19th – early 20th C.– Women’s Suffrage (voting rights)

• Second Wave: 1960s – 1980s– Equality in all things: Education,

Work, Pay, Dishwashing, etc.

• Third Wave: 1990s – present– Diverse Responses to “Second

Wave” Feminism (including but not limited to “Girl Power”)

*All based mainly on American history;Similar “waves” have been constructed for Singapore.

II. BIOLOGY, SEX, AND GENDER

Human Heterosexuality shapes Gender

• If we were asexual we would have no basis for “gender” at all.

• If we were clownfish, gender would be an aspirational concept (men would aspire to one day become female).

• Because humans are “fixed” (unchanging) as male or female from birth, we think of gender as a fixed attribute determined by our biology (even though it is not).

But Biology Does Not Determine Gender.

• Different cultures create many different interpretations of our biology (for example, two, three or more genders).

• Different societies deal with biology differently (they put male and female bodies to use in different ways).

• Gender is our cultural interpretations of and social practices associated with our biological system of sexual reproduction.

“Gender” involves Three Systems: Biological, Social and Cultural

• Biological system: a product and process of biochemical interactions.

• Social system: a product and process of relationships and exchanges among individuals (and groups of people).

• Cultural system: a product and process of relationships among ideas and beliefs expressed though language, images, etc.

• Commonly in Gender Studies the first is classified as “sex” and the second two as “gender”.

CULTURALSYSTEMS

SOCIALSYSTEMS

BIOLOGICALSYSTEMS

DIAGRAM 1:Human Systems,General Integration

Each system has some relationship to the other systems.

BIOLOGICAL

SYSTEMS

Socio-Cultural

SYSTEMS

DIAGRAM 6:Gender Systems

Example 3: Gender Systems.Interaction between socio-cultural systems and biological systems with respect to gender and sex is substantial.(But this does not mean biology “explains” gender systems.)

III. CULTURAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF GENDER

Gender Socialization:How We Learn Gender (3 Models)

Model 1:Direct Teaching/

Rewards & Punishment

Model 2:Indirect Teaching/

Identification & Modeling Behavior

Adults set the agenda, provide rewards or punishment

Children identify with adults/parents of same sex and imitate their behavior

Gender SocializationModel 3 (Maccoby):

Peer-to-Peer Socialization

Children learn gender roles & behavior from

each other

Socialization InvolvesComplex, Multiple Influences

3. PEER SOCIALIZATION

1. DIRECT TEACHING

2. MODELING BEHAVIOR

TV4. GENERALCULTURALINFLUENCES

“Unpacking” the Gender System(Ridgeway and Correll 2004)

• Gender is a System of:• Gender Beliefs• Institutionalized Social

Practices

• “Unpacking” the Gender System means Critically* examining these Beliefs and Practices

*”Critical” Social and Cultural theory does not mean “criticizing” or bashing; it means carefully and reflectively examining.

A Few Things We “Unpacked”

• Hegemonic Masculinity; Masculinity “in Crisis”• Women in Advertising and Popular Culture• Transitions through Time; Differences from

Place to Place (Gender changes over time in every society and is different everywhere.)

• Images of Beauty – how they vary across time and in different places; implications for “objectification” (esp. of women)

IV. SOCIAL DYNAMICS OF GENDER

Patri- and Matri-(Some Terminology)

Patri-(male)

Matri-(female)

-archy(rule, govern)

-lineal(in the line of)

-local(residence,location)

Patriarchy: society in which power is disproportionately held by men

Examples:

Matrilineal: society in which property, names, status, etc. is inherited through women

Patrilocal: society in which married couples live with the man’s side of the family

*These are all different things; a society can be matrilineal but patriarchal

Patrilineal, Patrilocal Rules produce Patriarchal Relationships

• Women are dependent on men. Their social status (and livelihood) depends on marrying a husband and producing sons.

• Girls are of little value to their families; they are “married off” and join husband’s family.

• Structurally and functionally, the system provides an incentive for women to support it (becoming a mother-in-law); even though it is systemically oppressive to women.

Matrilineal, Matrilocal Rules produce Egalitarian Relationships

• Women are not dependent on husbands or sons – they own property in their own right. Girls are of value to their parents.

• Men are not dependent on women; they must “make their fortune” to be eligible husbands – but that wealth is “theirs”.

• Mother’s-brothers (uncles) are more important figures of authority than fathers.

Range of Matriarchy/PatriarchyAll things being equal, we would expect a range of societies – from

Highly Matriarchal to Highly Patriarchal.

In fact, we find a range of societies from more-or-less Egalitarian to Highly Patriarchal.

Societies That Do Not Exist Societies That Do ExistEgal

itaria

nEg

alita

rian

Very

Mat

riarc

hal

Very

Mat

riarc

hal

Very

Pat

riarc

hal

Very

Pat

riarc

hal

WHY?

Conditions of Patriarchy(Summarized)

• #1 Childcare & Investment in Offspring:– Human, mammalian offspring create a “baby burden”

for women.• #2 Sexual Exchange (Baumeister, et al.)– Intrinsically valuable female sexuality is exchanged

with men for extrinsic resources.• #3 Socioeconomic Conditions (Huber)– The consequences of sexual exchange vary under

different socioeconomic conditions• The patriarchal tendency results from the

combination of these conditions.

Additional Hypotheses

• Superior Talents of Men (Strength, Intelligence)

• Jealousy and Mate Guarding• Patriarchy is a result of Capitalism• Coercion and Use-of-Force• Testosterone Competition• Culture and Ideology (Patriarchy as a

Conceptual Trap).

Human Relationships Forged On…

• Affective (“Emotional”) Bonds– Bio-chemical; conditioned by positive neuro-chemical

feedback (“feelings of love”)• Exchange Relationships– You have something I want. I have something you

want. Let’s make a deal… (“sexual-exchange”)• Cultural Imperatives– Learned rules and categories provide us with models

of how to act vis-à-vis others. (“rules of marriage, dating, etc.”)

“Socio-sexual System”• Human Infant Care – Need for investment of a lot

of resources to raise children

• Sexual Exchange – Social bonding of males (fathers) to females (mothers), which channels resources from males to children (unusual among mammals).

• This is biologically driven (e.g. by hormones) and culturally shaped (e.g. by rules of marriage). But it is primarily social (relationships of exchange).

Sex Object, Success ObjectSame? Different?

• Sexual Exchange implies that Women are “Sex Objects” and Men are “Success Objects”

• Similarities:– The person becomes a “means to an

end” (sexual gratification, emotional gratification, wealth/resource accumulation)

• Differences:– Embodied objectification (sex object)

vs. “Disembodied” (externalized?) objectification

– Being “success objects” leads men in general into activities that may be empowering (for some of them); Being a “sex object” does not.

V. GENDER, SOCIAL RELATIONS AND STRUCTURES

Issues in Gender at Work

• The Double Shift– Women working a “double shift”– Domestic marginalization of Men

• The Gender Gap in Wages– Choice Theory (women choose to ‘opt out’)– Gendered Organization Theory– Overt Discrimination

“Flight from Marriage,” Foreign Brides and Transnational Patriarchy

• Singaporean women, in large numbers, ‘opt out’ of marriage or leverage their education and employment resources for a “better deal” (professional working women; more than ‘traditional wives’).

• Singaporean men, in large numbers, look to foreign brides as a means of maintaining “patriarchal privileges” (i.e. having a ‘traditional wife’).

Some Final Points…(that we didn’t have time for last week)

Commodification of “Women’s Work”:The Logic of “Neoliberalism” (Markets)• Women’s work is commodified and subject to

substantial rationalization and specialization.• Traditionally, one woman (wife) provides sex, babies

and domestic work for men (husband).• With commodification and specialization:– Wives (mothers) provide babies.– Maids provide domestic work.– Sex workers (prostitution; pornography) provide sexual

services.– Of course, not always in all cases! But, this follows from

the “logic” of commodification and specialization.• This frees women to pursue their own careers; but also

makes marital relationships more tenuous.

“Classic” (Kandiyoti 1988) and Transnational Forms of Patriarchy

• Classic: Patriarchal privilege maintained by –– Patrilineal inheritance: Men (sons) inherit property; women

do not.– Patrilocal residence: Women (wives) leave their natal

families, live with their husband’s family (cut off from natal family and social network support).

• Transnational: Patriarchy maintained by –– Territorial state sovereignty: nation states control borders;

create zones of relative wealth and relative deprivation (“First” and “Third” Worlds)

– “Flexible citizenship” – Men from the First World can leverage citizenship (PR and other status) as a resource to negotiate a “patriarchal bargain” with Third World women.**First world women can and occasionally do leverage citizenship as well in relationships with Third world men (see cases in the Carribean; Allen 2007); but generally, women do not. Why? Refer to “sexual exchange theory”.

Is Singapore a “Patriachal Society”?• Yes… and No• Generalized “male-biased” policies; but more powerful

“human resource” policies that provide a lot of support for women (provided that they are Singaporean citizens… and especially if ‘highly educated’).

• Confucian ideology of patrilocal, patrilineal ‘classic’ patriarchy; BUT… no longer (never was!) an agricultural society. (Disconnect between culture and economy.)

• Substantial emergence of “transnational patriarchy” (foreign brides, not to mention maids!)

• Female citizens are ‘freed’ (to a substantial degree; not fully) from patriarchy; imported “third world” women take their place to maintain “patriarchal privileges”.