SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER & IDENTITY

Sociology of Gender & Identity



Sociology of Gender & Identity

Introduction

According to Kate (2003) gender often refers to the socially constructed categories of masculine and feminine. Society uses these biological differences to assign various social roles to each of the two genders. Such as the age-old concept that women's place are in the home while men, the providers, must work to support their wives and children. Sociobiologists like Jenkins (2003) in particular believe in the naturalistic fallacy, which is because of their genes males and females must act or respond in a specific manner. For example they would claim females are "cloy" and males are "aggressive".

Identity taking or role-playing is, according to Jenkins (2003: p277) the primary way in which individuals create and develop not only their social identity but also their personal identity as well. Jenkins (2003) noted that identity is internal, that is, what we think of ourselves, and external, that is, how others see us. He claims that interaction, while a key factor in the development of one's social identity is not solely responsible for our social development. Social Class, Gender, and Ethnicity also play significant roles. Society has expectations, based on the knowledge of what gender the newborn child is. It is already known, that from the moment of birth onwards, the child shall begin to develop. The debate being, how does the baby receive its knowledge? Why do different genders learn in different ways, or do they? Is it because nature intended it to be this way, or because of the nurturing given from the child's environment!

The reasoning behind societies expectations, has been a cause of dispute since the 18th century, intriguing psychologists, creating in its path several key perspectives. It is improbable that any one theory, will be conclusively correct, but possibly more than one perspective may evaluate the very essence of man.

It is a biological fact, genes determine the sex of a child, XX equals female and XY equals male. This is an alternative approach, suggesting personalities have little to do with the cultures or societies we live in. But fundamentally from the genes we were born with. A biologist would claim, the genetic code inside the brain is a fact of nature.

Research in gender differences show, that it is believed that female babies are hardier, more regular in their sleeping and eating patterns, more socially responsive, mature faster and are more sensitive to pain and noise. For boys the differences are that, they tend to sleep less, cry more, be more active, along with being more irritable and harder to pacify.

The biological argument, suggests that this might influence and make boys more susceptible to be more assertive, restless, more ready for rough and tumble play, while girls might be predisposed to be obedient, co-operative and nurturing.

From the cradle, girls like to gurgle at people, while boys are happier to jabber away at cot toys, so adults are likely to communicate more with a girl child, as they will get a ...