Reading in Culture
Spring 2021
Prof. Bouziane
Understanding Gender
Brainstorming
1- What do men do in your society?
2- What do women do in your
society?
*Only list activities, not professions
(jobs).
Definition of Gender
• According to the WHO:
- Gender refers to the characteristics of women, men, girls and
boys that are socially constructed. This includes norms,
behaviors and roles associated with being a woman, man, girl or
boy, as well as relationships with each other. As a social
construct, gender varies from society to society and can change
over time.
Gender Discrimination
• Gender is hierarchical and produces inequalities that intersect
with other social and economic inequalities. Gender-based
discrimination intersects with other factors of discrimination,
such as ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability, age,
geographic location, gender identity and sexual orientation,
among others. This is referred to as intersectionality.
What is sex?
• In general terms, “sex” refers to the biological differences between
males and females, such as the genitalia and genetic differences.
• Genetic factors define the sex of an individual. Women have 46
chromosomes including two Xs and men have 46 including an X and a Y.
The Y chromosome is dominant and carries the signal for the embryo to
begin growing testes.
• Both men and women have testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone.
However, women have higher levels of estrogen and progesterone, and
men have higher levels of testosterone.
Note!!!!!!
• The male/female split is often seen as binary, but this is
not entirely true. For instance, some men are born with
two or three X chromosomes, just as some women are
born with a Y chromosome.
• In some cases, a child is born with a mix between
female and male genitalia. They are sometimes termed
intersex or hermaphrodite.
Hermaphrodite: the son\daughter of
Hermes and Aphrodite
Gender and Sex
• Gender interacts with but is different from sex, which refers to
the different biological and physiological characteristics of
females, males and intersex persons, such as chromosomes,
hormones and reproductive organs. Gender and sex are related
to but different from gender identity. Gender identity refers to a
person’s deeply felt, internal and individual experience of
gender, which may or may not correspond to the person’s
physiology or designated sex at birth.
Gender Norms
• Gender norms are ideas about how women and men
should be and act. Internalized early in life, gender
norms can establish a life cycle of gender socialization
and stereotyping.
• Rigid gender norms negatively affect people with diverse
gender identities, who often face violence, stigma and
discrimination as a result, including in healthcare settings.
Consequently, they are at higher risk of HIV and mental health
problems, including suicide.
Gender Stereotypes
• A gender stereotype is a generalized view or preconception
about attributes or characteristics, or the roles that are or ought to
be possessed by, or performed by women and men. A gender
stereotype is harmful when it limits women’s and men’s capacity
to develop their personal abilities, pursue their professional
careers and make choices about their lives.
• e.g: the stereotype that women should protect themselves from
sexual violence by dressing and behaving modestly.
Gender Stereotype Examples
• Who wears the high heels?
• High-heeled shoes, now
considered feminine
throughout much of the world,
were initially designed for
upper-class men to use when
hunting on horseback.
• As women began wearing
high heels, male heels slowly
became shorter and fatter as
female heels grew taller and
thinner.
Pink for boys, blue for girls.
• Infants were dressed in • “The generally accepted
white until colored rule is pink for the boys
garments for babies were and blue for the girls. The
introduced in the middle reason is that pink, being
of the 19th century. a more decided and
• The following quote stronger color, is more
comes from a trade suitable for the boy, while
publication blue, which is more
called Earnshaw’s Infants’ delicate and dainty, is
Department, published in prettier for the girl.”
1918:
Practice
Who is in the picture?
What is wrong with this parking lot?
Handy much?
What do feminists look like?
A 2012 Advertising
Has this mentality changed?
Riddle
• A boy and his father are in a car accident.
• The father is taken to one hospital.
• The boy is taken to another hospital.
• The surgeon says, "I can't operate on this boy. He is my son!“
• Who is the surgeon?
Bibliography
1. Udry, J. Richard (November 1994). "The Nature of Gender" (PDF). Demography. 31 (4): 561–573. doi:
10.2307/2061790. JSTOR 2061790. PMID 7890091. S2CID 38476067. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2
September 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
2. Haig, David (April 2004).
"The Inexorable Rise of Gender and the Decline of Sex: Social Change in Academic Titles, 1945–2001"
(PDF). Archives of Sexual Behavior. 33 (2): 87–96. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.359.9143. doi:
10.1023/B:ASEB.0000014323.56281.0d. PMID 15146141. S2CID 7005542. Archived from the original
(PDF) on 15 June 2012.
3. "What do we mean by "sex" and "gender"?". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on 30
January 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
4. Kevin L. Nadal, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Psychology and Gender (2017, ISBN 1483384276), page 401:
"Most cultures currently construct their societies based on the understanding of gender binary—the two
gender categorizations (male and female). Such societies divide their population based on biological sex
assigned to individuals at birth to begin the process of gender socialization."
5. "GENDER". Social Science Dictionary. Archived from the original on 2 February 2011. Retrieved 20
March 2015.
6. Lindsey, Linda L. (2010). "Ch. 1. The Sociology of gender" (PDF). Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective.
Pearson. ISBN 978-0-13-244830-7. Archived from the original(PDF) on 5 April 2015.
Than
k You!
