Читать книгу Asian America - Pawan Dhingra - Страница 37

Gender is also a social construction. Like race, this too seems dubious at first since there are clearly people who are men and people who are women in the sense that they have distinctive sexual reproductive organs, and most people seem to exhibit characteristics that might be straightforwardly characterized either as masculine or as feminine. Yet genetic differences between men and women are not gender differences but sex differences. People have distinct sexes. In fact, rather than simply two sexes, male and female, some persons are even born with unclearly defined external genitalia or with both ovaries and testicles (Newman 2006). Similarly, some persons born with one sex live their lives mostly accepted as people of the other sex, even if their biological sex is known. These individuals typically regard themselves as “transgender.” If gender was so inherent, people would not be able to cross or blur gendered boundaries so easily.

Notions of strict differences between the sexes, as between races, develop from power inequalities. Patriarchy reinforces a strict binary defining “men” and “women” in very distinct and unequal ways. It supports male privilege by prescribing bounded roles for women, often in domestic-related duties. This frees men from competition with women in the workplace and creates more time for them in work, leisure, and other facets of life (Kimmel 1996). Men also compete with other men for gender prestige. Men sideline other men, such as immigrants, minorities, and gays, so as to affirm their masculinity. In other words, gender plays a key role in the quest for power. Like race, gender and gender differences are maintained for political, economic, emotional, and cognitive reasons. Movements towards gender equality by feminists have led to major victories but also to both a backlash and, ironically, a sense of complacency among some women, who increasingly question the utility of the word “feminist.” In addition, feminist attempts to introduce legislation to address different forms of gender inequality have been met with fierce opposition, often from conservative political forces. At the same time, some women question feminism because they believe that to be feminist is to reject motherhood as well as other female experiences and identities.

When sex differences are given meaning by the wider society, then they become gender differences passed onto the next generation. As we become socialized into gender roles, gender becomes natural and taken for granted. Children when born have a sex but no gender. They must learn to “do” their gender (West and Zimmerman 1987). For instance, girls often cross their legs when sitting, unlike boys. These are learned behaviors. Teachers respond differently to similar behaviors by boys and girls, thereby creating gender differences for children (Martin 1998). The association of sex with expected behaviors is mostly false. There may be men who are more nurturing than other men and even more nurturing than some women. Even when expected differences do exist, it need not lead to clearly defined roles. For instance, on average men may be more aggressive and women more nurturing. If so, this can mean women are well suited to careers as psychologists, political leaders, and the like, rather than confined within the domestic sphere (Bem 1993).

How one experiences gender depends on one’s race and vice versa, which again highlights its socially constructed nature. While we speak of “racial stereotypes,” these stereotypes differ by gender, as do their effects. For instance, white men are, on average, paid more than white women who have had the same education, while white women are paid more than black women with the same education (M. Kim 2009). Even within a single group, depictions can vary by class, occupation, or geography. Collins (2000) delineates different media depictions of black women. As black women navigate out of one socioeconomic status and into another (for example, from working-class/blue-collar to middle-class/professional), they are still framed as needing to be monitored by white men, white women, and/or black men, while how they are monitored will differ.

Online resource:For an account of how gender and race intersect in the experience of a multiracial Asian-American woman victimized by sexual assault as a college student, read: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/24/opinion/chanel-miller-know-my-name.html