1.1 Chapter Introduction
Chapter Overview: Thinking About Gender as a Sociological Concept
Think for a moment about stories in the news about sexual violence, gender inequality, and gender-based discrimination in the U.S.: the continuing pay gap between men and women, the rise in online sexual harassment, “don’t say gay” laws and other legislation that prohibit discussion of gender and sexual identity in schools, prohibit children from seeing drag performers, outlaw reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare and limit transgender and nonbinary individuals’ participation in sports and use of public restrooms (figure 1.1).
LGBTQIA+ is an acronym that stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, and Plus, a continuously expanding spectrum of gender identities and sexual orientations. Canada issued a travel warning for people who identify as LGBTQIA+ who travel to the U.S. because of recent discriminatory laws in several American states (National Public Radio, 2023). This trend is part of a worldwide increase in harsh laws that threaten the well-being of women and people who identify as LGBTQIA+. According to Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organization, “at least 67 countries have national laws criminalizing same-sex relations between consenting adults” (Human Rights Watch n.d.).
The previous examples of social conflict around gender and sexuality are ripe topics for sociological inquiry. Sociology of gender applies the tools of sociology to explore how gender, sexuality, gender expression, and identity are socially constructed, imposed, enforced, reproduced, and negotiated. This chapter will introduce approaches sociologists use to understand the social aspects of gender and sexuality, including identity formation, interpersonal relationships, social movements, and systems of power. You will learn about foundational sociological perspectives and methods, as well as key sociological concepts, including intersectionality, systems of power, patriarchy, and the gender binary. You will also meet sociologists and gender theorists who have made important contributions to the field. The chapter closes by answering the question, “Why study the sociology of gender?”
Key Terms
This section contains a list of foundational key terms from the chapter. After reviewing them here, be on the lookout for them as you work through the rest of the book.
- cisgender: describes people who identify as the same gender they were assigned at birth.
- culture: a group’s shared practices, values, beliefs, and norms. Culture encompasses a group’s way of life, from daily routines and everyday interactions to the most essential aspects of group members’ lives. It includes everything produced by a society, including social rules.
- gender: the meanings, attitudes, behaviors, norms, and roles that a society or culture ascribes to sexual differences (adapted from Conerly et.al. 2021a).
- gender binary: a limited system of gender classi