From Sex to Gender

L. I. Hernandez

Sex From Latin secare, to divide.

Used to refer to:

Sexual intercourse Male/female

What is a biological

male?

What is a biological

female?

Is biological sex

just male &

female?

17 different chromosomal combinations XX XY XO - Turners syndrome XXY - Klinefelters syndrome Society labels many of these other

chromosomal combinations as intersex categories.

Gender: origins of the word

Gender: from Latin generare, to beget. Originally used as a linguistic term (e.g., in many European languages, words have gender, e.g., in Spanish el for male, la for female.

Gender: origins of the word

Gender redefined in the 1970s to refer to socially-constructed and socially-defined categories, roles, statuses.

Gender

Socially defined categories, roles and statuses for, as well as relations between and among people.

Think of the different categories in your country. Use the local terms. (Just write them down now, for further discussion.)

Tagalog gender categories

Lalake (male) Babae (female) Bakla, syoki (an effeminate male) Gay (homosexual) Tibo (a masculine female) Silahis (a bisexual) Bisexual, macho gay (a gay man who

is not effeminate)

Transgenders

Many societies have transgender categories, e.g., kathoey (Thai, Lao), waria (Indonesia), bakla (Philippines). These categories are often erroneously translated as “gay” or “homosexual”.

Gender is NOT sexual orientation alone

Anatomy Body movements Clothing Personality Occupations “Sexual attraction”

Gender is embodied

Because most people are male or female, societies tend to combine sex and gender into a dichotomy, based on genitals. We as individuals, also think of gender roles in that dichotomy: males penetrate, females are penetrated; males dominate, females submit.

Gender and society

We learn about gender categories, roles, statuses through social institutions: family, community, religion, etc.

Gender & socialization

We teach gender roles through many ways: Act like a man. Be more lady-like. Why are you crying? Are you a bakla? Oh men are like that. . .let the old goat

eat grass in the next field, as long as they don’t bring home the other goat.

Gender and the State

Laws, policies, all reinforce existing gender norms, e.g., anti-abortion laws are often more concerned about female chastity and family honor than fetal life.

Gender relations

Gender is relational: <male> would not be conceptualized if there were no <female>.

Relations among genders vary from one culture to another.

Gender relations & society

Gender relations interact with other social divisions, e.g., divisions by class, caste, religion, ethnicity, age. Thus, an upper-class Thai urban woman would be more powerful than the male mayor of a small Thai town. She would also become more powerful with age.

Gender & culture

Culture: beliefs and practices passed from one generation to another.

Culture uses gender attributes for language, food, architecture, etc.

Example from Thai language: kha (female); kop (male) in sentences, depending on the speaker.

Gender ideology

Society tells us what each gender SHOULD be and SHOULD NOT be.

Gender ideology is reinforced by society and culture, through language (chairman, businessman, etc.) religion (who can become priests or monks, who cannot), politics (Ah, enough of women presidents!), etc.

Gendered expressions of biology

Why is HIV more prevalent in younger females and older males?

Why do hospital-acquired infections of HIV affect more females than males?

In percentages, why do more women victims of intimate partner violence die, than men?

Differentiating sex and gender allows us to reflect on:

Nature (biology) and nurture (society)

Are there attributes that are essentially male/female? Or are these socially constructed?

Gender trouble (Judith Butler)

Gender “floats” – we are constantly redefining gender, in ourselves and in others. We renegotiate, reinvent gender.