Social Construction (of Gender)
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Transcript of Social Construction (of Gender)
Social Construction (of Gender)Diversity Literacy Week 2 / Lecture 1
Prepared by Claire Kelly
1. Gender is “doing”Girls (Insert: stereotypical girl picture)
Pink Flower patterns Barbie Dolls Toy houses and household goods
Boys (Insert: stereotypical boy picture) Blue Camouflage patterns Military toys and cars Playing tough and rough
Prepared by Claire Kelly
1. Gender is “doing”We are born sexed, not gendered
“Doing” gender can shape biology
“Doing” gender is inscribed on our bodies
Gender is “doing” difference
Gender is ascribed and achieved
Gender has a material base, rendered in social and cultural practice
Prepared by Claire Kelly
2. Gender is normalisedGender is so obvious, we don't notice it until it
is “disrupted”: Third gender (Blackwood) – Institutionalised Transgendered/transsexual people – not
institutionalised
Implications for sexuality
Prepared by Claire Kelly
“Third” Gender Insert articles/headline on the “third” gender
recognized by the census of Nepal & India http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-31/world/nepal.ce
nsus.gender_1_gender-identity-citizenship-first-openly-gay-lawmaker?_s=PM:WORLD
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/05/31/nepalese-census-includes-category-for-third-gender/
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47408
Prepared by Claire Kelly
3. Gender is positioningGender is about more than the individual, it is
about the social institution
“Cult of the individual” – difficult to think of ourselves as positioned
Subjectivity
Individuals are not passive in these social structures, we challenge them or we rearticulate them (remember the moving train?)
Prepared by Claire Kelly
4. Gender can be bentWhat does “gender bending” tell us about
gender?
Shows us that boundaries: exist contain gender are breachable are social
Insert: Picture of someone “bending gender” like a drag queen or king or cross dresser
Prepared by Claire Kelly
5. Gender as process, stratification and structure
Process – doing, creates difference
Stratification – e.g. gendering of jobs nurse vs. doctor
Structure – division of labour, devaluing of “feminine” labour
Prepared by Claire Kelly
Social Construction of Difference“… is produced and maintained by identifiable
social processes and built into the general social structure and individual identities deliberately and purposefully” (Lorber, p. 35)
“The paradox of human nature is that it is always a manifestation of cultural meanings, social relationships and power politics” (Lorber, p. 35)
“For humans, the social is natural” (Lorber, p. 36)
Prepared by Claire Kelly