ANTH 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Gender Studies, Enculturation, Secondary Sex Characteristic
Gender:
● Introduction to Gender:
○ Sex refers to the biological differences that exist between males and females. It
is typically confined to male and female, but it doesn't always have to be
○ Gender refers to the cultural differences that exist between males and females
(and other genders). Gender is not binary, and it is not confined to either male or
female
○ Gender discrimination occurs now, and has occurred historically. It is especially
rampant in the workplace
■ Women make up 57% of college graduates
■ Women make up only 18% of employees in IT departments
○ Women are much more likely to work in engineering and math related fields
when there are looser gender categories, which can be seen in countries that are
not as strictly binary as the United States is
○ Culture has constructed specific gender roles based around cultural values
● Men & Women:
○ We used to think that being a man or woman was innate, and engrained in our
human natures. However, it’s important to think about how much of our
behavior is a product of our culture and culture norms, and how much of it is
biological
○ From a biological standpoint, sex is determined by 3 different factors: genitalia
(external sex organs), gonads (internal sex organs that produce different
hormones, such as the ovaries and the testes) and chromosome patterns (XX vs.
XY)
○ We tend to think of sex as being very binary- if you’re a man you are XY and if
you are a woman, you are XX. However, there can be variations in these 3
different factors that blur the lines between what is male and what is female-
does a person need all 3 factors to be one sex? What if a person has 2 factors
pointing towards male, and one pointing towards female? There are many ways
that the line can be blurred
○ Secondary sex characteristics are more minor differences that are associated
with one sex or another. They include things such as weight differences (men
typically weigh more than women), height (men are typically taller than women),
differences in hair distribution (men have more hair in more places than
women), and pitch of voice (men typically have a lower voice than women)
■ Secondary sex characteristics are not at all binary, because they can have
a very large range of variation. For example, typically men are taller than
women, but there are many women who are taller than many men.
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Document Summary
Sex refers to the biological differences that exist between males and females. It is typically confined to male and female, but it doesn"t always have to be. Gender refers to the cultural differences that exist between males and females (and other genders). Gender is not binary, and it is not confined to either male or female. Gender discrimination occurs now, and has occurred historically. Women make up 57% of college graduates. Women make up only 18% of employees in it departments. Women are much more likely to work in engineering and math related fields when there are looser gender categories, which can be seen in countries that are not as strictly binary as the united states is. Culture has constructed specific gender roles based around cultural values. We used to think that being a man or woman was innate, and engrained in our human natures.
