SOC 174 Lecture Notes - Household Division, Gender Role, Sex Organ
Document Summary
Gender is the social articulation and creation of sex differences. Behaviors, attitudes, characteristics, and practices commonly exhibited by and expected of men and women (gender roles) Formed in preschool years, then reinforced, central part of self-description, highly (but not universally) stable. But: sometimes gender reassignment among native american two-spirit people in adolescence. Roles are socially determined scripts that people follow in their daily behavior. E. g. , fashion, household division of labor, labor force participation, Note: very few gendered behaviors are compelled by a person"s biological sex. Role behaviors are often strongly normative but they aren"t fixed. Gender role behavior is often sharply and rigidly differentiated within societies at a given point in time. The behaviors included in gender roles are variable across cultures, and within cultures over time. E. g. fashion; public affection among males; changing occupational segregation. Biology only explains part of the variation in gendered behavior within and between the sexes.
