MODULE 1

SEXED BODIES AND

GENDERED CULTURES

LESSON 1 DIFFERENTIATING SEX AND

GENDER
LESSON 2 THE “GENDERING” OF
SOCIETIES
LESSON 3 GENDER/SOGIE CONCEPTS
Introduction

It is conventionally perceived that there are only two types of people

in the world: male and female. The study of gender provides a progressive
account of the diversity of our human population by situating male and
female sexed bodies in the cultural arena. It is in this premise that the
module explores on the gender construction of individuals in society by
focusing on how social arrangements influence the way we portray and
identify ourselves.

Gender construction is a life-long process. When people are born, we

can only determine our sexes. No one simply becomes a man or a woman or
something else. It is through our human interaction that we are able to
know who we are. Exposure to the existing social structures of the society
we live in will also make us understand the assigned roles and expected
actions that are thrown into us. However, the experience can be limiting
and discriminatory for those who do not succumb to the male and female
divide. It is, therefore, important to implore certain changes in the values
of our families, schools, religious institutions, and mass media platforms to
fulfill a vision of the society that is inclusive for everyone regardless of
one’s sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression.

Objectives

At the end of this module, the student will be able to:

1. Differentiate gender from sex;

2. Understand the relationship between sex and gender;
3. Know why societies “gender”;
4. Look into the roots of gender stereotypes and gender-based
inequalities;
5. See the role of social institutions in the life long process of gender
construction; and
6. Comprehend concepts that are aligned with gender responsiveness
and gender sensitivity.

Directions/Module Organizer

1. Study each lesson in the module.

2. Answer the learning activities and summative test.
3. Go over the items missed in every learning activity/test.
4. Write your answers in a piece of paper. Submit your assignment and
other requirements to your tutor on the next face-to-face meeting.
Lesson 1: Differentiating Sex and Gender
I. Exploring Gender

When a child is born in a family, the parents are usually

recognizing the child’s identity based on the norms that the society
imposes to them. For instance, the birth of a male child requires
parents to buy robots, toy guns, and blue-colored objects to satisfy
the child’s masculine condition. On the other hand, it is demanded
that a female child has to grow up in an environment filled with pink-
colored objects to emphasize her feminine nature. These have always
been the set-up in our families that are being passed on from
generation to generation. It is in this light that these binary
arrangements are perceived to be so “natural” that we tend to
believe that it is part of the order of nature (Connell 2009, 5).

Since we always base our moral judgments depending on the

recognition of a person as either a girl or a boy, we take for
granted the topic of gender. Situations that deviate from the
conventional arrangements between men and women usually are
shameful and are thus subjected to either formal or informal laws.
An example of this would be when people of the same gender fall in
love with each other. As we tend to believe that homosexuality is
“unnatural”, formal laws in the form of ordinances usually criminalize
gays and transsexuals for violating public order. Aside from this, they
are also judged by informal laws which make them victims of
discrimination and oppression. In the attempt to understand the
complexities in our society, it is vital that we veer away from the
rigid cultural constructions of masculinity and femininity as they
reinforce ideas that are not gender-appropriate.

It is therefore important to understand that no one is simply a

man or a woman (Disch 2003). Being a man or a woman is not a pre-
determined identity but a result of a person’s exploration of
himself or herself as he or she goes along with his or her life
(Connell 2009, 5). In other words, it involves a process of becoming
which puts human condition in a state of flux. In the phrase of
Simone de Beauvoir, a famous French feminist philosopher: ‘One is
not born, but rather, becomes a woman (Beauvoir 1949, 295).’
Applying this principle to men as well, we can still arrive at the
preposition that a person’s identity is built through his or her
constant interaction inside the society.

By deviating from the fixed nature of manhood or womanhood,

Beauvoir recognized the complexity and uncertainty in the narrative
 of a gendered person due to the opening of various paths, tensions,
and ambiguities. Although the process sometimes produces unstable
results, the construction of one’s identity is not just driven by social
norms or pressure from authorities. It is also intrinsically
determined by people in order for them to claim their respective
places in the gender order.

LEARNING ACTIVITY

TRUE or FALSE. Write TRUE if the statement is true and FALSE if otherwise.

____________1. The society imposes norms that affect parents’ recognition

of their child identity.

____________2. Gender is a pre-determined state readily available to a

person once he/she is born.

____________3. People who fall in love with the same gender do not
experience societal discrimination.

____________4. The process of gender construction is not just driven by

social norms as it is also intrinsically determined by the individual.

____________5. In the study of gender, it is important to understand that no

one is simply a man or a woman.

____________6. According to Simone de Beauvoir, one is not born but rather

becomes a woman.

____________7. It is commonly perceived that a female child has to grow up

in the blue-world to emphasize her feminine nature.

____________8. Being a man or a woman does not involve a process of

becoming since gender is already a fixed condition.

____________9. The binary arrangements between male and female are

viewed to be so “natural” that we tend to believe that it is part of the order
of nature.

____________10. Beauvoir recognized the simplicity of the process of

gender construction since it is only dealing with the fixed nature of
manhood and womanhood.

II. Sex or Gender?

In the beginning, there was a clear-cut distinction between sex

and gender. The late 1960s up to the early 1970s had witnessed the
efforts of American scholars in carefully distinguishing one from the
other: sex as ascribed by biology and gender as an achieved status
(West and Zimmerman 1987, 125). Determining the sex of an
individual can be done through the fields of anatomy and physiology,
while the creation of one’s gender is through psychological,
cultural, and social means. However, confusion had started to
plague universities as more and more students became confused of
the biological standard of sex as well as the so-called achieved
identity of gender. There were accounts that illustrated that
biological ascription was sometimes ambiguous and often had
conflicting criteria. This can be manifested on individuals who are
born with some combinations of male and female characteristics. If
sex was associated to biology, why could it not categorize and
explain the condition of hermaphrodites? On the other hand,
students were also hesitant to call gender as an achieved status due
to the social condition of men and women in the society. If gender
was a form of achievement, why did females experience
subordination in terms of the division of labor when they
identified themselves as women?

It is in this note that West and Zimmerman recognized the

analytical definition between sex, sex category, and gender to
understand how an individual becomes a gendered person in society.
To respond to the claim that biological standards are sometimes
ambiguous, sex has been defined to be a “determination made
through the application of socially agreed upon biological criteria
for classifying persons as females or males (Ibid., 127).” This relates
to the nature of science that is not necessarily fixed as it also
debunks and reformulates its past stances based on the availability of
concrete evidences. Up to this day, the criteria for classification can
be genitalia at birth or chromosomal typing before birth. Placement
in a sex category starts with the application of one’s sex but it is only
sustained when one displays socially required activities that proclaim
his or her sex (Ibid.). For example, it is not enough for a female child
to identify herself as a woman since there is a need for her to show it
in the way she dresses and the manner that she speaks for her to be
categorized in such nature.

On the other hand, gender is defined to be “the activity of

managing situated conduct in the light of normative conceptions of
attitudes and activities appropriate for one’s sex category (Ibid.).”
In other words, the process of identifying one’s gender involves how a
person accepts or rejects claims to membership in a sex category.
The choice that the individual undertakes always takes its origin from
 the interaction between the self and the society. It is the individual
who identifies himself or herself but its conception is always an
outcome of various social arrangements that reflect existing
structures in society. Thus, the study of gender necessitates looking
into the arrangements in society as one’s identity is always shaped
by the collection of socially constructed roles and relationships,
personality traits, attitudes, behaviors, and values.

LEARNING ACTIVITY

Determine whether the words/statements refer to SEX or GENDER. Write

your answer in the space provided before each number.

___________1. examination of an individual through the fields of anatomy

and physiology

___________2. individual choice based on the interaction of the self and

society

___________3. created through psychological, cultural and social means

___________4. genitalia at birth and chromosomal typing before birth

___________5. males and females

___________6. collection of socially constructed roles and relationships,

personality traits, attitudes, behaviors, and values

___________7. an achieved status

___________8. socially agreed upon biological criteria

___________9. its process involves the person’s acceptance or rejection of

claims to membership in a sex category

___________10. ascribed by biology

III. Relationship Between Sex and Gender

Dichotomizing sex and gender has resulted to a number of

accounts that debunked the biological and naturalistic assumptions
attached to gender. The social constructionist argument takes its
roots from the idea that gender is something that is created through
complex social and cultural processes, and therefore, far from being
outward manifestation of innate biological drives and desires (Gagnon
and Simon 1973; Padgug 1979; and Weeks 1977).
 However, this should not be the case because sex and gender
must always be studied hand-in-hand in order to understand how an
individual becomes a gendered person in society. Judith Butler was
one of the pioneering thinkers who claimed that gender reflects sex
and sex restricts gender (Butler 1990, 6). Following West and
Zimmerman’s account of sex that is a determination made through
the socially agreed upon biological criteria, sex mirrors gender as
something culturally constructed (Ibid.). In this case, the genitalia
and the type of chromosomes that a child has frame the way a
society treats him or her. It is in this context that sex is still
important as it serves as the starting platform for the societal
development of a child.

Moreover, Butler also argued that gender could be the causal

result of sex or can be multiple interpretations of sex (Ibid.). This
points to the idea that a constructed status of gender is not
independent of sex. The way a man portrays himself in public is a
result of his placement in a sex category. In other words, the gender
construction for an individual starts with the assignment to a sex
category based on the socially agreed upon biological criteria found
at birth (Lorber 2003). However, the placement in the male and
female categories is not the case for everyone since Butler also
posited that gender can also exist in various manifestations of sex.
Therefore, identifying one’s gender cannot be done without the
consideration of one’s sex.

Due to the involvement of sex, most discussions of gender in

society have put emphasis on the idea of dichotomy. Building on the
biological divide between male and female, most scholars are
radically following the logic that gender is a social or psychological
difference. In its most common understanding, the term “gender”
means the social and cultural difference between men and women
based on the biological division presented at birth. Although it
follows the argument of Butler, the causal connection between sex
and gender has deviated from her idea that gender could also be seen
as multiple interpretations of sex. When a definition is built on
difference, the construction of gender of people who do not succumb
to the existing dichotomy cannot be recognized. The lives of lesbians
and gays are prime examples of gender construction using the
notion of similarity. It is therefore important to point out that
human life does not simply divide into two realms nor does it divide
human character into two types only.
 The development of social sciences in the 1970s has
addressed these issues at hand by shifting the focus of gender from
the idea of “difference” to the concept of “relations”. In general,
social sciences introduced a way of understanding reality through the
patterns of behavior that human beings create and follow through
time. In our everyday activities, we follow certain patterns or social
arrangements among the relations that we built and this is what
social theory calls “structures”. Once an individual enters a social
structure, it enables the individual to enhance his or her capabilities
by following the set of practices that governs the structure. However,
it also limits him or her to certain things that are not part of social
relations within which individuals and groups act. An example of a
social structure is a religious institution. Once individuals decide to
join a religious institution, they are enabled by the structure to see
and fight for the principles that they are adhering to. However, the
religious institution also limits its people to do activities that are
beyond the teachings of the church, for these will only stain their
fragile existence. Aside from religion, family, education, and politics
are examples of social arrangements that we follow in our daily lives.

It is in this context that gender must be viewed as a matter of

social relations that exist in the interaction between individuals and
groups. Specifically, gender is “the structure of social relations that
centres on the reproductive arena, and the set of practices that
bring reproductive distinctions between bodies into social
processes (Connell 2009, 11).” Since gender is a social structure, it is
concerned with how human societies deal with human bodies and the
consequences of these actions in their collective and personal lives.
By taking into account the importance of reproductive bodies, the
study of gender involves people’s sexes and how cultural patterns of
a society express their bodily difference. Establishing our gender
identities, therefore, is putting into the social arena the biological
bases of individuals to understand how their sexes are framed by
the existing patterns of social arrangements (Ibid.). These include,
for instance, circumcision for males to signify their transition to
adulthood, and the celebration of menstruation for females which
represents their shift into womanhood.

LEARNING ACTIVITY

Fill in the blanks.

1. The __________________ argument claimed gender is far from being

the outward manifestation of innate biological drives and desires.
2. According to Judith Butler, __________ mirrors __________ as the
genitalia and the type of chromosome that a child has determines
how the society will treat him/her.

3. The gender construction for an individual starts with the assignment

to a ____________ based on the socially agreed upon biological
criteria found at birth.

4. Dichotomizing sex and gender has resulted to the study of gender

that focused on ___________ and ____________ difference between
men and women.

5. When the definition of gender was still based on “dichotomy”, the

lives of gays and lesbians were not properly recognized since their
gender construction was based on ______________.

6. In the 1970s, the development of ______________ has addressed

issues concerning gender construction by shifting the focus from the
idea of “difference” to the notion of “relations”.

7. A ____________ enables the individual to enhance his or her

capabilities but also limits him or her to activities that are not part of
social relations within which individuals and groups act.

8. Gender is the structure of social relations that centres on the

____________ arena, and the set of practices that bring
____________ distinctions between bodies into social processes.

9. Our everyday activities can be understood by looking at the

_________________ that human beings create and follow through
time.

10. Establishing one’s gender is situating the biological sexes of

individuals in the _____________ to understand how sexes are framed
by existing norms.

IV. The Case of Agnes

In 1967, Harold Garfinkel conducted a study of a transsexual

woman named Agnes which demonstrates how gender construction is
created through the interplay between the concepts of sex, sex
category, and gender. Agnes was raised as a boy and wanted to
undergo a sex reassignment operation at the age of 17 for her to
pass the societal standard of a “normal, natural female” (Garfinkel
1967). It was based on the belief that she did not possess the socially
agreed upon biological standard to be considered as a part of the
female sex (West and Zimmerman 1987, 131). With this belief that
there are essential biological criteria that she must fulfill in
transitioning as a woman, she insisted that her penis was a
“mistake” in need of a remedy (Garfinkel 1967). This kind of
thinking was actually a result of how society only divided its
population before into two realms: male or female. It is therefore
necessary for people who deviate from these types to undergo sex
reassignment for them to fit into the standards that the society
imposes to them.

The task of being a woman for Agnes, however, did not end
in the sex reassignment operation as she needed to simultaneously
learn what it was to be a woman since she had been living as a boy
throughout her life. To be categorized as a member of the female
type was not an easy assignment for she needed to display herself in
public as a woman all the time. This is based on the idea that if she
can be seen to being doing what a “normal, natural female” does,
then she should be categorize as such (Sacks 1972, 332-335). It was
because of this argument that she was obliged to mimic the
appearance of a 1960 normal female from her figure to her clothing
to her hairstyle and so on (West and Zimmerman 1987, 133). From a
more personal standpoint, Agnes also attended to the criticisms of
her fiancée by avoiding to sunbath in front of their lawn for it was
viewed by their neighbors as offensive, and by being silent in offering
her opinions regarding politics (Garfinkel 1967, 147-148).

In general, the case of Agnes presents how the 1960s setting in

the United States dealt with human bodies, or to be more specific,
how social and cultural norms dictated people’s bodily differences
and the normative gender behaviors for males and females,
respectively. However, it is important to take note that the idealized
depictions of being a woman or a man that can be seen in books and
magazines do not in any way successfully display gender and only
produce rigid cultural constructions of masculinity and femininity
(West and Zimmerman 1987, 135). To be successful in displaying
and identifying one’s gender, it is not required to follow some sort
of a manual of procedure since gender construction is not merely
done by following a universal, well-defined bundle of behavior.
Gender construction, therefore, is multi-dimensional as it may
differ from one cultural context to another. In other words, doing
gender cannot be easily found in popular culture as it must be a
reflection of a particular context and there should be room for
adjustments when the occasion demands.
LEARNING ACTIVITY

1. What were the measures done by Agnes for her to pass the societal
standard of a “normal, natural female”?

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

2. How important is cultural context in the gender construction of an

individual? Relate your answer to the case of Agnes.

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
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