Country X: Biological Determinism

For many years, society’s view of gender was a simple matter of assigning the appropriate roles for both men and women. In this way, they are defined in an important way based on their gender. However, many studies over the last decade have altered society’s view by showing how gender is a cultural invention. These studies have also demonstrated how men and women are shaped by the culture and environment they’re born into and that what is expected of them may differ from what we deem to be appropriate in our culture. In today’s world, we still are dealing with the same problems that we were hundreds of years ago. These problems being equal rights between men and women, along with breaking away from societal norms revolving around what is expected

A person’s sex is determined on the basis of three fundamental human physiognomies, chromosomes (XX for a female and XY for a male), gonads (ovaries for females and testes for males) and the obvious being genitals (vagina for a females and a penis for males). However socially, gender identity is formulated on the grounds of stereotypical roles from both

Sex and gender are often used interchangeably in American culture, yet they have distinctly different meanings. Sex is based on a person’s biological traits, such as chromosomes and genitals, while gender is used to outline what cultural roles a person will perform. American society uses a binary system of male or female for sex and gender. Both sex and gender are integral in shaping a person’s identity. The gender and sex binary system can be detrimental to individuals who do not conform to it.

Sociologists reject the idea that behavioural differences between men and women are biologically determined. Outline the key grounds for this rejection and discuss what this means for a sociological understanding of gender.

As we have learned from history, women generally do not have the same equal rights as men do. In fact, it is rare to find a time in history, where both men and women were seen as equal people and given the same rights. During this course, we have studied several civilizations that do not practice equality for both genders. One primary example is the Athenian Civilization and how their women did not have natural rights, they were seen as housewives, and their husbands decided their freedom. This image of women is one that is constantly seen throughout history, and can even be found in some societies in today’s world.

Biological determinism is the idea that the way a person thinks, feels, and acts is determined or fixed at birth, based upon their genes or biological characteristics. For gender, it is pretty much the same concept. It is believed that based on one’s genitalia or genes thus determines one’s sexuality. This term does not include the social aspects that are faced when one is maturing and understanding their sexuality. It also does not take into account that people do in fact have a say when it comes to deciding their own fate for their sexual intentions.

Although men and women have significant biological differences, the question whether gender-specific labels stems from these biological differences or are gender constructed remains a polarised nature versus nurture debate. Whether it is through the process of socialisation or genetic make-up, “gender identity” is given from a person’s birth, determining how a person culturally interacts and the expectations society places on them. Along with a “gender identity” comes a whole set of “norms”, “values” and so-called “gender characteristics”, which are supposed to define the differences between a male and a female. According to the World Health Organisation (n.d.), the term “sex” is often used to define the biological and physiological

Some aspects of the lifestyle ancient civilizations lived almost seem appalling or intolerable when compared to the very developed and carefully shaped the world inhabited today. One of these characteristics of previous societies that prove to be rather challenging to conceive in current times consists of the lack of rights, privileges, and equity women had. Society maintained this assumption of a man’s superiority up until the women’s rights movement of the early twentieth century; yet with the two sexes essentially equal in America today, imagining a restricted life as a female proves unfathomable. Looking back at the history of human kind, men almost always subdued women and treated them as property. When focusing on the first

The history of the world is a complex arrangement of happenings and occurrences that have shaped the current state of civilization. At a fundamental level, history is the driving force behind every element of society that exists today. Within history, there are several factors that have and continue to determine the way in which our society functions. One of the most significant of these factors is gender. Today, conceptions, viewpoints and ideas surrounding gender are always changing. It is this fluidity of thought that ultimately allows society to progress forward and create change. However, gender has not always been as openly discussed. Tracing back through history, gender has consistently been a point of identity among humans.

The sociology of gender is one of the largest subfields within sociology; sociological gender studies look at the social construction of gender and how gender interacts with other social structures within society (Crossman, 2016). It Is important that one understands the difference between sex and gender to understand the sociology of gender; unlike gender, sex is biologically determined and relates to the reproductive organs a person has. In order to separate gender and sex sociologists use different pronouns; when discussing gender, sociologists use the terms man/woman and when discussing sex sociologists will use the terms male/female (Crossman, 2016). Although most people fall into wither the category of male or female, some people are born with ‘sex organs’ that do not clearly fit into either of the two specific sex categories, these people are known as intersex (Ashley Crossman, 2016). Gender is described as a social classification based on one’s identity and how one presents themselves to the world; this identity relates to the way one behaves and interacts within society. Many sociologists view gender as a learned behaviour and look at gendered identities as being culturally produced which makes gendered identities socially constructed (Crossman,

Gender is a now a huge topic for modern days. How can you classify a gender in modern society? The answer to this question cannot be answered in modern society but in the past countries were the ones to label genders. Tell them who they are, what is there role, how you support the country in this role. Nazi Germany told to raise and birth children . Soviet Union you will raise children and birth them but also be a soldier and fight when needed. You will be treated as a man but with the duty of a woman . Women in Colonial Quito were legally obligated to practice obedience to their husbands. Women were dominated by their husbands and faced abused. Because this was how society viewed a role of a women in their society . Also in Brazil a boy had to act like a man if he was what they defined as a subversives they were acting feminine and that creates weakness for the nation as acting feminine allowed them to get pregnant by communism . The gender inequalities and differences have been socially constructed and scientifically quantified by countries in order to protect the civilization and control the population.

The nineteenth century saw the start of the scientific debate in which brain size was presumed to indicate intelligence. Which in turn lead some scientists to the conclusion that men, having on average a larger brain size than women, may be more intelligent.

The words ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are commonly confused with each other in regular, everyday conversations when the two have very different meanings. The term ‘sex’ refers to the biological and physiological characteristics of a person, such as male or female; ‘gender’ is a social construction that refers to masculine or feminine roles in society ( Nordqvist). For

When considering gender and sex, a layman’s idea of these terms might be very different than a sociologist’s. There is an important distinction: sex, in terms of being “male” or “female,” is purely the physical biological characteristic differences – primarily anatomical differences. (There are also rare cases of “intersexual” individuals as outlined in the Navarro article, “When Gender Isn’t a Given”.) Gender, on the other hand, is an often misconstrued concept that is commonly mistaken as synonymous with sex. A non-sociologist might surmise the following, “men act masculine and women act feminine, therefore, it must follow that gender is inherent to sex,” however, this is not necessarily the case.

Gender refers to the different roles, rights and responsibilities of men and women and the relationships between them, their qualities, behaviours, and identities which are determined through the process of socialisation to define their relationships with each other and with their environment. Gender equality on the other hand is a principle that equates men and women before and under the law; men and women have equal dignity (worthiness); and have equal opportunities in economic, political, cultural and social life. It is upon this background that