In 2017, Aaron Lowenburg reflected on his experiences teaching 3-4-year-olds. From the surprised, “wow, you’re a man,” he heard on his first day of teaching, to being the only male teacher at the school for several years, to the implied criticism of the woman who asked, “why would a man want to teach young kids,” he regularly felt sanctioned for his choice of occupation. This, despite the need for positive male role models in his students’ lives, many of whom had none. In addition to the regular burdens of teaching (low pay, high workload), male teachers face constant scrutiny as the smallest gesture can be misconstrued as being inappropriate, even though there are no clear guidelines defining what is not allowed. At a time when fathers are applauded for taking an active part in their young children’s lives, it frustrates him that the same honor is not extended to male teachers (Lowenburg, 2017).

Meanwhile, Preethi Kasireddy wrote in a blog about her stepfather’s negative reaction to her decision to become a software engineer, telling her, “engineering is very difficult for women,” an odd comment, given his own wife (and Preethi’s mother) is a tech consultant. She found the work gratifying, but the assumptions of others meant she had to prove herself in ways her male colleagues did not. Other female technical workers say they are mistaken for the secretary instead of the engineer, are paid differently, or feel so scrutinized that they doubt their own competence (and do not pursue positions they deserve). Though it did not happen to her, some women in tech fields find discrimination and sexism block their careers, while others must contend with sexual harassment. One of the unexpected consequences of working in her field was loneliness, and the constant reminder that, as the only female in the room, she was an outsider (Kasireddy, n.d.).

Even though much has changed for men and women in recent years, some expectations remain the same and have important consequences for women, men and society as a whole. To begin our discussion of gender and gender inequality, this chapter begins with a critical look at the concepts of sex, sexual orientation and gender.

Concepts related to sex, gender and sexual orientation are both diverse and complex. Francesco Spagnolo – The Genderbread Person – Flickr

Biological Sex

Although the terms sex and gender are sometimes used interchangeably and do in fact complement each other, they nonetheless refer to different aspects of what it means to be a woman or man in any society.

Sex refers to the anatomical and other biological differences between the people we call females and males that are determined at the moment of conception and develop in the womb and throughout childhood and adolescence. Females have two X chromosomes, while males have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. Other outcomes are possible. In rare cases, some babies are born with bodies that do not readily fit into a male/female binary. Termed intersex, some people are born with an extra chromosome, such as XXY, XXX and XYY, which can lead to different physical, developmental and psychological issues (Mayo Foundation, 2019; NHS, 2019). Some babies have genitals or internal organs that are not clearly male or female, or have both male and female organs (Planned Parenthood, n.d.) Sometimes the condition is apparent from birth, while other times it does not become recognized until puberty.

An historical American understanding of male/female as binary categories meant infants born intersex with ambiguous genitalia were assigned either male or female by their doctor and family and raised based upon the sex assigned to them. Surgery was usually done on infants and hormones given later to ensure the child fit into the expected male or female category at puberty (Planned Parenthood, n.d.). However, a growing rejection of unnecessary surgery and medical intervention in recent years has resulted in allowing intersex people to decide for themselves what sex they are.

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Sexual Orientation

A person’s sexual orientation is his or her physical, emotional, and sexual attraction to a particular sex (Conerly, et. al., 2021). Sexual orientation is typically divided into five categories, outlined below.

• Heterosexuality is attraction to individuals of the opposite sex;
• Homosexuality is attraction to members of the same sex;
• Pansexuality is attraction to others regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity;
  
• Bisexuality is attraction to members of both the same and opposite sex; and
• Asexualitymeans the individual is not sexually attracted to others (Conerly, et. al., 2021).

It is difficult to know precisely how many people fall into each of these categories. One problem is conceptual. For example, what does it mean to be homosexual? Does one need to actually have sexual relations with a same-sex partner to be homosexual? What if someone is attracted to same-sex partners but does not actually engage in sex with such persons? What if someone identifies as heterosexual but engages in homosexual sex for money (as in certain forms of prostitution) or for power and influence? These conceptual problems make it difficult to determine the extent of homosexuality.

A second problem is empirical. Even if we can settle on definitions of homosexuality, bisexuality, pansexuality, etc., how do we then determine how many people fit these definitions? For better or worse, our best evidence of the number who fall into each of these categories in the United States comes from surveys of national samples of Americans in which they are asked various questions about their sexuality. Although these are anonymous surveys, obviously at least some individuals may be reluctant to disclose their sexual activity and thoughts to an interviewer. Still, scholars think the estimates from these surveys are fairly accurate but that they probably underestimate by at least a small amount the number of LGBTQ+ people.

Figure 10.1 Percentage of Americans, 18 or Older, Who Self-Identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender

Jones, Jeffrey M. (2021, February 24). LGBT Identification Rises to 5.6% in Latest U.S. Estimate. Gallup Organization. Retrieved from https://news.gallup.com/poll/329708/lgbt-identification-rises-latest-estimate.aspx

As shown above in Figure 10.1 “Percentage of Americans, 18 or Older, Who Self-Identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender,” respondents to a Gallup poll showed that in 2020, 5.6% of Americans self-identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender; of adults aged 18-23, 1 in 6, or roughly 17%, self-identified in this way (Jones, 2021). A widely cited survey carried out by researchers at the University of Chicago found that 2.8% of men and 1.4% of women identified themselves as gay/lesbian or bisexual, with greater percentages reporting having had sexual relations with same-sex partners or being attracted to same-sex persons. In the 2018 General Social Survey, 6% of respondents stated they were gay, lesbian or bisexual. Of these respondents, 7.1% of women identified as lesbian or bisexual, and 2.1% of men identified as gay or bisexual. In 2012, among individuals having had any sexual partners since turning 18, 5.4% of men reported having had at least some male partners, while 6.9% of women reported having had at least some female partners. Although precise numbers must remain unknown, it seems fair to say that between about 2% and 17% of Americans are LGBTQ+.

If it is difficult to determine the number of people who are LGBTQ+, it is even more difficult to determine why people have the sexual orientations they do. Scholars disagree on the causes of sexual orientation (Engle, McFalls, Gallagher, & Curtis, 2006; Sheldon, Pfeffer, Jayaratne, Feldbaum, & Petty, 2007). Some scholars attribute it to unknown biological factor(s) over which individuals have no control, just as individuals do not decide whether they are left-handed or right-handed. Supporting this view, many LGBTQ+ people say they realized their identity during adolescence, just as heterosexuals would say they realized they were heterosexual during their own adolescence. Other scholars say that sexual orientation is at least partly influenced by cultural norms, so that individuals are more likely to identify as LGBTQ+ depending on the cultural views of sexual orientation into which they are socialized as they grow up. At best, perhaps all we can say is that sexual orientation stems from a complex mix of biological and cultural factors that remain to be determined.

Gender

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Sex is a biological concept and gender is a social concept. Gender refers to the social and cultural differences a society assigns to feminine and masculine characteristics based on biological sex. A related concept, gender roles, refers to a society’s expectations of people’s behavior and attitudes based on whether they identify as female or male. Understood in this way, gender (like race, as discussed in Chapter 9) is a social construct. How we think and behave as females and males is not etched in stone by our biology but rather is a result of how society expects us to think and behave based on what sex we are. As we grow up, we learn these expectations as we develop our gender identity, or our beliefs about ourselves as being females or males, both female and male, or neither female nor male.

Gender expression describes expectations about traits we associate with females and males. Feminine traits are the cultural expectations we have of girls and women, while masculine traits are the expectations we have of boys and men. Androgynous gender expression is a combination of both masculine and feminine traits.

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Our traditional notions of femininity and masculinity indicate that we think females and males are fundamentally different from each other. In effect, we think of them as two sides of the same coin of being human. What we traditionally mean by femininity is captured in the adjectives, both positive and negative, we traditionally ascribed to women: gentle, sensitive, nurturing, delicate, graceful, cooperative, decorative, dependent, emotional, passive, and weak. What we traditionally mean by masculinity is captured in the adjectives, again both positive and negative, our society traditionally ascribes to men: strong, assertive, brave, active, independent, intelligent, competitive, insensitive, unemotional, and aggressive. (Were any of these adjectives on the list you made a moment ago?)

Girls traditionally wear dresses and the color pink, while boys wear blue (and never wear dresses). These differences reflect the different cultural expectations we have for children based on their (biological) sex. Public Domain – Piqsels

These traits might sound like stereotypes of females and males in today’s society, and to some extent they are, but differences between men and women in attitudes and behavior do in fact exist (Aulette, Wittner, & Blakeley, 2009). For example, women cry more often than men do. Men are more physically violent than women. Women take care of children more than men do. Women smile more often than men. Men curse more often than women. When women talk with each other, they are more likely to talk about their personal lives than men are when they talk with each other (Tannen, 2001). Men and women even sit differently, with men typically sitting with legs spread and arms wide while women sit with their legs together and overall take up less space (Morin, 2010).

Studies of how men and women sit found that men tend to sit in an ‘open’ position while women tend to sit in a ‘closed’ position. Richard Yeh / WNYC – (CC BY-NC 3.0 US) – Fickr

During the course of one’s lifetime it is possible to identify with more than one gender. Thus far in the chapter, we have discussed primarily two genders. Gender binary is the term used when a society only recognizes two genders, a practice followed by most Western societies until recent decades. While most of us identify as cisgender; that is, our gender as man or woman and our birth sex agrees, it is possible for someone not to identify strictly in this way. People may identify as both genders (known as bigender or genderfluid), or as agender, which is someone who does not have or identify with a gender. In addition, someone may be transgender. Transgender people have a gender identity and/or gender expression that is different from what is expected based upon the sex with which they were born. Someone who is transgender feels as though they are in the ‘wrong’ body, and report feeling this way from a very early age. According to a 2016 Williams Institute poll, 0.6% of the U.S. population, or 1.4 million people, identify as transgender (Flores, et. al.). All of these possibilities are considered as having a non-binary gender identity (also called genderqueer). Not being limited to two gender possibilities is known as the gender spectrum.

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Test Yourself

 

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Section 10.1 References

Aulette, J. R., J. Wittner, J. and K. Blakeley. (2009). Gendered Worlds. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 

Engle, M. J., J. A. McFalls, Jr., B. J. Gallagher, III and K. Curtis. (2006). The attitudes of American sociologists toward causal theories of male homosexuality. The American Sociologist, 37(1), 68–67. 

Flores, A. R., L. Langton, I. H. Meyer and A. P. Romero. (2020). Victimization rates and traits of sexual and gender minorities in the United States: Results from the National Crime Victimization Survey, 2017. Science Advances, 6(40). Retrieved from  https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aba6910.

Interact advocates for intersex youth. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://interactadvocates.org/.

Jones, J. M. (2021, August 13). LGBT identification rises to 5.6% in Latest U.S. Estimate. Gallup.com. Retrieved September 10, 2021, from https://news.gallup.com/poll/329708/lgbt-identification-rises-latest-estimate.aspx.

Kasireddy, Preethi.  (n.d.). Don’t become a programmer like me. Retrieved from  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dont-become-programmer-like-me-preethi-kasireddy/. 

Loewenberg, A. (2017, October 18). There’s a Stigma Around Men Teaching Young Kids. Here’s How We Change It. Slate Magazine. Retrieved from https://slate.com/human-interest/2017/10/a-male-preschool-teacher-reflects-on-the-stigma-keeping-men-out-of-pre-k-classrooms.html. 

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2019, January 18). Triple X syndrome. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved from  https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/triple-x-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20350977. 

Minus 18.  (2017, March 30). Trans 101 – the basics. YouTube. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from https://youtu.be/-3ZzpTxjgRw

Morin, C. and J. Maxfield. (2010) “Gender Differences in Sitting Positions of College Students and an Explanation of These Differences,” Perspectives: Vol. 2 , Article 16. Available at: https://scholars.unh.edu/perspectives/vol2/iss1/16.

NHS. (2019, May 20). Kleinfelter Syndrome. NHS choices. Retrieved from https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/klinefelters-syndrome/. 

Planned Parenthood.  (n.d.). What is intersex?  Definition of intersexual. Planned Parenthood. Retrieved from  https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/gender-identity/sex-gender-identity/whats-intersex. 

CC licensed content, Shared previously and Adapted

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