II. Social Construction of Gender
The social
construction of gender is a theory in feminism and sociology about the
operation of gender and gender differences in societies. According to this
view, society and culture create gender roles, and these roles are prescribed as ideal or appropriate behavior
for a person of that specific sex.
Some supporters of this idea argue that the differences in behavior between men and women are entirely social conventions, whereas others believe that behavior is influenced by universal biological factors, with social conventions having a major effect on gendered behavior.
Theories of
Social construction of gender
Gender Performativity: Judith Butler is one of the most prominent social theorists currently working on issues pertaining to the social construction of gender. Butler’s most known work is Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, published in 1991, which argues for gender performativity. This means that gender is not an essential category. The repetitious performances of “male” and “female” in accordance with social norms defines the categories, and make these categories appear natural and normal.
Essentialism: Essentialism implies a belief that certain phenomena are natural, inevitable, universal, and biologically determined (Irvine, 1990). Essentialism argues that there are essential differences between genders which manifest themselves in differences in gender performance. Gender performance consists of a stylized practice involving gestures, language, and speech and serves to form and build an identity. When an individual performs their gender to the standards set by societal norms, this bolsters the argument of gender essentialism.
Role Theory: Sex role theory was mainly developed by Talcott Parsons (1942). Male perform the instrumental role while female perform expressive role in the family. He said father is bread winner, and mother is a home maker. Later in 1960s and 1970s, feminist converted role theory in social role such as “male role” and “female role” because they said sex-gender dualisms have socio-cultural rather than biological basis.
Problematizing the category of “Sex”: Queer Theory
Queer theory seeks to overturn society's traditional views of sex and sexuality, it denies and interrogates the normalcy and privileges of heterosexuality. The theory questions how can you understand relations between men and women unless you understand the relationship between people of the same gender, including the possibility of a sexual relationship between them?
The theory has been developed by the two American critical theorist Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Judith Butler, the work of Michel Foucault developed the interests of critical theorist in ‘sex’.
The first
volume of Michel Foucault’s History of Sexuality was written in the 1970s,
towards the end of the ‘sexual revolution’ in western culture. A vital feature
of Foucault’s argument is that sexuality is not a natural feature or fact of
human life but a constructed category of experience which has historical,
social and cultural, rather than biological, origins.
- Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (1950-2009)
She was an
American academic scholar in field of gender studies, queer studies, and
critical theory. She argued that the “aspects of modern western culture would
be incomplete or damaged if it failed to incorporate critical analysis of
homo/hetero sexual definition”. She coined the terms “homosocial” and
“Antihomophobic”. Her work encourages readers to displace their heterosexual
identification in-favor of searching “Queer Idiom”. Her remarkable work in
queer theory includes, ‘How to bring your kids up gay’, ‘Male homosocial
desire’, and ‘Queer Performativity’.
- Judith Butler (1956)
She is an American philosopher and gender theorist. She is strong supporter of lesbian gay rights movements. Academically, Butler’s two famous book are important to queer work: 1) Gender Trouble: Feminism and Subversion of Identity, in which she argued that coherence of the categories of sex, gender and sexuality are socially and culturally constructed. 2) Bodies that matter: on discursive limits of sex, in this book she has challenged the notion of gender and develop her theory of performativity.
Is “Sex” socially determined, too?
Traditionally speaking sex is not socially determined against gender. It is determined by the biology and gender is determined by society. But Queer theorist like Foucault, Butler and Sedgwick denies it and have different stance, they said that “sex too is socially determined”, such heterosexuality is seen as “normal” and, homosexuality as “abnormal” are determined by society not biological changes in human.
Nature versus Culture: A Debate in Gender Development
The sex versus gender in the gender studies is one of the crucial debates. The roots of the feminism are linked with “difference” between the both. On very basics, feminist argue that “sex” is determined by the biological attributes of a human such as, chromosomes, hormones, and reproductive physiology. Whereas, “gender” is cultural or social phenomenon loosely associated with biological sex. It is culture that constructs the dichotomous sex categories, "woman-man" and gendered notions like "masculinity-femininity".
