GENDER AND SOCIETY:
Introduction to Gender
DEFINITION OF TERMS
1. Sex – It refers to the biological categories of females and males: genes,
chromosomes, and hormones. It is a relatively stable category that is not easily
changed, although advanced technology has allowed to change it now.
2. Gender – is a much more fluid category; referring to the social categories of male
and female. Determined by the role attributed by the society to the sex, as well as
psychological traits: competitive (male), emotional (female).
According to World Health Organization, Gender refers to the
characteristics of women, men, girls and boys that are socially constructed. This
includes norms, behaviors and roles associated with being a woman, man, girl or
boy, as well as relationships with each other. As a social construct, gender varies
from society to society and can change over time.
Sex is defined in the same way across cultures, while gender differs because society
has its own description of men and women.
The content of gender categories—but not sex categories— is influenced by society,
culture, and time
3. Sex-related Behavior– implies the behavior that corresponds to sex, but it doesn’t
say anything about the cause or the etiology of the difference.
For instance, if you conduct a study of women and men and find that women have
a better recall on a memory task than men or that men outperform women on a
video game.
4. Gender Role – the social expectations that go along with being male versus female.
For instance, Masculine: traits (confidence), behaviors (aggression), and interest
(sporty). Feminine: traits (emotional), behaviors (helpful), and interests
(cooking).
Gender roles in society means how we’re expected to act, speak, dress, groom, and
conduct ourselves based upon our assigned sex. For example, girls and women are
generally expected to dress in typically feminine ways and be polite,
accommodating, and nurturing. Men are generally expected to be strong,
aggressive, and bold.
A conflict may exist between the expectations.
4.1. Intrarole Conflict – the given roles conflict with one another.
For example, women are expected to be emotionally expressive and, at the
same time, sensitive to the feelings of others. Hence, a woman who is
unhappy in her marriage may express this emotion to her husband, but she
may not hurt the feeling of her husband.
4.2. Interrole Conflict – possessing other roles besides the given gender role. For
instance, the expectations of the role of a student (work on a task with other
students) may conflict with the male gender role (be independent).
5. Gender Identity – the perception of the self as psychologically female or male.
According to WHO, Gender identity refers to a person’s deeply felt, internal and
individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond to the person’s
physiology or designated sex at birth.
Gender identity is how a person feels internally, while their expression is how they
present themselves to the outside world
5.1. Transgender – people who live with a gender identity that doesn’t correspond
to their biological sex. In other words, their biological sex is incongruent with
their psychological sex.
5.2. Transexuals – people have gender identity but they received
hormonal/surgical treatment.
6. Intersex – people who are born with ambiguous genitals; these persons typically
have surgery to alter their genitals so that they can be consistent biologically.
7. Sex-typing (Gender-typing) - the process by which sex-appropriate preferences,
behaviors, skills, and self-concept are acquired. The process by which particular
activities are identified within particular cultures as appropriate expressions of
maleness and femaleness.
7.1. Sex-typed - people who adhere to the gender role that society assigned
them. the belief that men and women have characteristics and skills that
make particular jobs suitable only for men and others suitable only for
women: The low number of women in engineering jobs is a prime
example of sex typed.
7.2. Cross-sex-typed - a male who acts feminine and a female who acts
masculine.
7.3. Androgynous - incorporates both masculine and feminine qualities.
8. Sexual Orientation – refers to whether people prefer to have other sex or same-sex
people as partners for love, affection, and sex.
For example (Nazario, 2020),
▪ Heterosexual: Attracted to people of the opposite sex
▪ Bisexual: Attracted to people of either sex
▪ Homosexual: Attracted to people of one's own sex
▪ Pansexual: Attracted to people of any gender identity
▪ Asexual: Not sexually attracted to other people
Appreciating Diversity
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), nature and nurture play a
complex role in shaping our sexual orientation. Homosexuality and heterosexuality are
part of the human sexuality and is a large part of the human experience. Identifying as a
heterosexual, lesbian, bi, gay, or transgender is a deeply personal process, so it may be
more difficult for others to ‘come out’ or for them to become comfortable enough with
their sexuality that they feel safe to share it with other people. For others, it comes early
in adolescence while for some, it may take time to understand and discover themselves.
According the Psychological Association of the Philippines, “we can only truly tell if the
person is gay, lesbian, or bisexual if the persons shares with us his or her
experiences and feelings of attraction towards them.” That is why it is important for
everyone to feel safe as they share their sexuality since it is a personal and sensitive
topic. We can do that in an environment wherein we do not feel judged and
discriminated upon, People who experience prejudice and discrimination suffer
negative psychological effects (APA), so we must work towards an inclusive
environment where everyone feels safe.