III.
Gender Theories
A. Biological Explanation
The traditional-conventional societies in the past tend to have a clear and
simply understanding of what was appropriate to each sex and anyone
behaving differently was regarded as deviant. When a child manifested a
deviant behaviour during the formative years of early childhood, the parents
have to reinforce and correct the child’s behaviour to conform with the
child’s genitalia referring to masculinity or femininity. Such reinforcement
and correction done at home by parents was strengthened by early child
education in school, religiously preached in the church, and confirmed by the
existing fundamental laws governing the society.
In this contemporary world, modern societies tend to accept a lot more
diversity and view gender as a continuum or scale. Men are free to show
their “feminine side” and women are free to show their “masculine traits”.
The biological approach suggests there is no distinction between sex
& gender, thus biological sex creates gendered behaviour. Gender is
determined by two biological factors: hormones and chromosomes. Sex
refers to biological differences between males and females.
Sex or Biological Chromosomes Reproductive Hormones
Differences Organs
Female (XX) Ovaries Oestrogen
Male (XY) Testes Testosterone
Gender refers to the cultural differences expected by society/culture of men
and women according to their sex. A person’s sex does not change from
birth, but their gender can.
The biological approach suggests that there is no distinction between sex
and gender, however; biological sex creates gendered behaviour. Gender is
determined by two biological factors: 1) Chromosomes; and 1) Hormones.
B. Biblical Explanation
There are seven texts often cited by Christians to condemn homosexuality:
1. Noah and Ham (Genesis 9:20–27),
2. Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1–11),
3. Leviticus laws condemning same-sex relationships (Leviticus 18:22,
20:13),
4. Biblical Verses in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 6:9–10; 1 Timothy
1:10),
5. Paul's letter to the Romans (Romans 1:26–27),
6. Attempted rape (Genesis 9:20–27, 19:1–11),
7. Cultic prostitution (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13), male prostitution and
pederasty (1 Corinthians 6:9–10; 1 Timothy 1:10), and the Isis cult in
Rome (Romans 1:26–27).
C. Socialist Feminism
These are the common thoughts of socialist feminism:
1. Socialist feminists agree that liberal feminism does not appreciate the
depth of the oppression of women and basically only addresses the
situation of women of the upper and upper middle classes. They also
agree that women have been oppressed in virtually all known
societies, but the nature of this oppression has differed because of the
different economic realities.
2. Socialist feminists do not think that the oppression of women is based
solely on the economic system, and they suggest that patriarchy and
capitalism are combined into one system. They believe that we must
understand the continuing effects that colonization, imperialism, and
racism have on the women of the world.
3. Socialist feminists maintain that it is wrong to suggest that any one
form of oppression is the most important or key form of oppression.
Instead, they recognize that oppression based on sex/gender, class,
race, and sexual orientation are all are interwoven. To effectively
challenge any one of these forms of oppression, we must understand
and challenge all of them.
D. Social Constructionism
The social constructionism theory can be applied to any issue of study
pertaining to human life, including gender. Is gender an essential category or
a social contract? If it is a social construct, how does it function? Who
benefits from the way that gender is constructed? A social constructionist
view of gender looks beyond categories and examines the intersections of
multiple identities and the blurring of the boundaries between essentialist
categories. This is especially true with regards to categories of male and
female, which are viewed typically as binary and opposite. Social
constructionism seeks to blur the binary and muddle these two categories,
which are so frequently presumed to be essential.
According to Judith Butler, gender is not an essential category. The
repetitious performances of “male” and “female” in accordance with social
norms rectifies the categories, creating the appearance of a naturalized and
essential binary. Gender is never a stable descriptor of an individual, but an
individual is always “doing” gender, performing or deviating from the socially
accepted performance of gender stereotypes. Doing gender is not just about
acting in a particular way. It is about embodying and believing certain
gender norms and engaging in practices that map on to those norms. These
performances normalize the essentialism of gender categories. In other
words, by doing gender, we reinforce the notion that there are only two
mutually exclusive categories of gender. The internalized belief that men and
women are essentially different is what makes men and women behave in
ways that appear essentially different. Gender is maintained as a category
through socially constructed displays of gender.
Doing gender is fundamentally a social relationship. One does gender in
order to be perceived by others in a particular way, either as male, female,
or as troubling those categories. Certainly, gender is internalized and
acquires significance for the individual; some individuals want to feel
feminine or masculine. Social constructionists might argue that because
categories are only formed within a social context, even the effect of gender
is in some ways a social relation. Moreover, we hold ourselves and each
other for our presentation of gender, or how we “measure up.” We are aware
that others evaluate and characterize our behaviour on the parameter of
gender. Social constructionists would say that gender is interactional rather
than individual—it is developed through social interactions. Gender is also
said to be “omnirelevant”, meaning that people are always judging our
behaviour to be either male or female.
E. Standpoint Theory
The standpoint theory concerns with the various levels of people’s
perceptions. For instance people have similarity in their opinion depending
on their demography and it concerns mostly of general issues. The most
influential factor that regulates a perception is through experience. The
tradition and culture also shape up a person’s perception to a certain degree.
One of the basic factors for altering perceptions is the socio-economic status
in the society. The geographical locations, the socio-economic position in the
society, the kind of job a person is at, the basic gender differences all cater
to the difference to the perspectives.
The core concepts of the standpoint theory are to understand the
perspective of the marginalised society particularly the women. The
standpoint varies from one person to the other but the collectiveness in
perspective can be viewed in certain groups where they share common
environments. The perspectives can be basically objective and subjective.
The person from a higher position in the society usually sees the issues one-
sidedly whereas the person from the average or the lower levels of the
society takes the issue more practically. The reason for this is due to the
dissimilarities in circumstances in which these two sets of people live in.
While considering the women in the society, the perspective differs majorly.
Here the marginalized group, that is the women, they tend to accept the
perceptions of the powerful groups. So the circumstances change the
perspective of the women.
F. Learning Activities:
Answer the following questions briefly and concisely:
1. What are the gender and sexual values you have learned from the
discussion of gender theories?
2. What is the most useful gender theory for analysing, describing, and
understanding gender in our society?
3. What is your personal opinion about same sex marriage?
4. Discuss the possible dangers of children raised by homosexual
parents?
5. Do you want to be raised by parents that are homosexuals?