Essay about The Effects of Difference Perspectives on Sex

In this essay, I will firstly seek to define and address the distinction between the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’. Then I will explain how, basing on this understanding, will we be able to explore how societies used to function on more traditional approaches of gender association with sexes and the impacts that arose as a result of this framework. Lastly, I will attempt to show how, with greater researches and understandings of sex and gender is achieved, societies have evolved and the engendered implications.

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.

According to sociobiology our sex, or, our biological differences are what determines our gender. Sociobiologists suggest that biological elements such as our hormones, chromosomes and the size of our brain are what influence our behaviour and consequently what differentiates our gender. Because men produce more testosterone and androgens than women, which are linked to strength and aggression, sociobiologists argue that this explains men’s dominant and aggressive behaviour. (Haralambos & Holborn, 2000)

Gender is often related to how we are perceived and how we are expected to think and act, usually due to the way that society is organized, and in fact has little to do with our biological differences. Feminist Sociologist Ann Oakley states ‘most of the debate about gender differences is angled at proving that women are/are not different from men, rather than proving that men are/are not different from women. If this facts needs explaining, it is enough to point out the bias of our culture is still patriarchal…’ (Oakley,

One can see that gender is actually a social label that is produced from social expectations (Ore 99). These "gender norms" have led to the distinct inequality and oppression of women. Due to these norms, women are seen as incapable of being political or rational because their social duty is to stay at home and take care of the children (Glenn 23). The social creation of gender surely undermines the severe communal disadvantages that females take on. Humanity must forget these general notions that have been brainwashed into every day life.

Sex and gender are often mistakenly thought to go hand-in-hand and the terms are used interchangeably, even though sex is biological, while gender is a social construct (Schilt & Westbrook, 2009). When one is taught how they are to do their own gender, they often pass the same ideas along to their children, perpetuating American gender standards with masculinity frequently outranking femininity. (Scharff,

In this society we have created two distinct worlds for men and women, we have jobs that are considered masculine roles and feminine roles, colors to be worn by either a man or woman, and even foods that are eaten by a specific gender. People who wish to step out of what society considers acceptable face the consequences. For example, in the work place women are often paid less than their equal men colleagues. There are two perspective that account for behavioral, personality, and cognitive differences between men and women. The first states that it’s due to the evolution of our psychological disposition during the primeval time and the other emphasizes the effect that social roles have both men and women. Although the two theories differ greatly, they both emphasize the adaptation that both men and women had to undergo in response to environmental factors.

Per the article I read, the latest research says the only difference between men and women are physiological, and anatomical. It states that, “men are better in math, solving logical problems, they are analytical, rational and have more difficulty in showing their feelings, on the other hand women are better in languages, communication, they are

It’s interesting how many researchers found what they were looking for, as this has been common in research, science, and even philosophy throughout history. Freud, who came up with the idea of an Oedipus complex, based his theories of women on a few upper-middle-class women in Vienna suffering from psychological disorders. He based his findings on men on an even smaller sample. Freud wasn’t the only person. Much like how many brain researchers “find exactly what they are looking for, and what they are looking for are the brain-based differences that explain the observable behavioral differences between adult women and adult men” (Kimmel, 35). Since these craniologists believed that men and women were different and that men were better, they compared men’s and women’s test scores. Women did better, so they

Looking at male and females we can see the noticeable physical differences between the two sex, but besides exterior differences, there are subtle but significant differences within the brain. Spasificly INAH3 which is called “third interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus” which is typically about two to three times larger

In her paper on the biological differences in cognition between men and women, Doreen Kimura suggests that the social differences between genders arose out of biological necessity (Kimura 46). Even so, it is difficult to argue that social factors do play a large part in gender in society today. A closer look at both biological and social perspectives will reveal more about the processes that determine gender roles.

Males and females both exist as alike humans while containing biological differences that set them apart from each other in many ways - both mentally and physically. These differences in ancestral genetics - along with today’s cultural judgements - have caused a chain reaction in which the end result is an internal brawl between the two sexes for superiority in society. Still to this day, men are still considered the more superior sex due to passé societal beliefs as well as the traits that they naturally acquired from birth, leaving women to continuously fight for equality.

As evident from the generalized patterns found in differences in behaviour and outlook observed between the sexes, it may be tempting, as has been done in the past, to conclude that gender is an unavoidable aspect of human existence as determined purely from one 's genes. Indeed, human physiology is subject to sexual dimorphism; statistically significant differences in brain size and rate of maturation of specific substructures in the brain exist between males and females (Giedd, Castellanos, Rajapakese, Vaituzis, & Rapoport, 1997), yet these physical differences fail to explain how individuals form their concept of their own gender, and why they tend to conform to their perceived gender roles as defined by the society in which they live, when these roles are ever-changing. Thus, it is important to differentiate between the physical and nonphysical traits, and how the labels of femininity and masculinity should not confuse the two aspects. As defined by Unger (1979), “sex” would be used to refer to the biological differences in males and females, while “gender” describes socioculturally determined, nonphysiological traits which are arbitrarily designated as being appropriate for either females or males. With more recent awareness and interest in matters of gender nonconformity and individual gender identity, new research now explains how these concepts of gender are shaped by social influences (Perry

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.

In order to answer the question above this essay will discuss in depth what exactly sex is and what gender is and the differences between the two terms. The research carried out will display that we live in a patriarchal society without a doubt as we look at how gender links to inequality in society. A patriarchal society can be clearly seen from the gender inequality in the labour force which is paid labour and also in unpaid labour which occurs in the household. Another area the answer will reflect on is how gender inequality links to education which overall links to society. Finally the answer below will show how the media also portrays gender inequality and how it affects the people in society.