12 Is Gender Socially Constructed? – Argues Time to Move Beyond “Gender Is Socia
12 Is Gender Socially Constructed? – Argues Time to Move Beyond “Gender Is Socially Constructed”
Is Gender Socially Constructed? - Argues Time to Move Beyond "Gender Is Socially Constructed"
Michael Mascolo Ph.D. , https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/old-school-parenting-modern-day-families/201907/time-move-beyond-gender-is-socially-constructed
Time to Move Beyond “Gender Is Socially Constructed”
Contradictions of sex and gender
By: Michael Mascolo Ph.D.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/old-school-parenting-modern-day-families/201907/time-move-beyond-gender-is-socially-constructed
We often hear that “gender is socially constructed.” What does that mean? Is it true?
The popular idea that gender is socially constructed might be summed up as follows:
There is a difference between “sex” and “gender.” Sex is “biological” while gender is “psychological,” “social,” or “cultural.” A person’s gender can be different from a person’s sex. Gender is thus “socially constructed” in the sense that, unlike biological sex, gender is a product of society. If society determines what is masculine or feminine, then society can change what is considered masculine, feminine, or anything in between. No one needs to be locked into fixed gender categories. Any individual is free to identify their gender as they see fit.
Although it is important, the concept of gender is an imprecise one. Depending on how it is used, the concept of gender can be illuminating, clarifying, confusing, contradictory, or downright incoherent. To illustrate, let us begin by examining some typical definitions of the concepts of sex, gender, and gender identity.
The American Psychological Association (APA) defines sex as “a person’s biological status … typically categorized as male, female, or intersex (i.e., atypical combinations of features that usually distinguish male from female.” It defines gender as “the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates with a person’s biological sex.”
Gender identity refers to:
[a] person’s deeply-felt, inherent sense of being a boy, a man, or male; a girl, a woman, or female; or an alternative gender (e.g., genderqueer, gender non-conforming, boygirl, ladyboy) which may or may not correspond to a person’s sex assigned at birth or to a person’s primary or secondary sex characteristics. Since gender identity is internal, a person’s gender identity is not necessarily visible to others.
On the surface, these definitions appear quite reasonable. However, they mask a series of deep contradictions that tend to occur when people talk about gender as a social construction. If we are going to be able to have constructive conversations about gender and society, it is important to unmask these contradictions. Here are but a few:
Gender cannot simultaneously be socially constructed and inherent to the individual.
In the APA definition, sex refers to the biological reproductive apparatus, while gender refers to cultural expectations and norm