Gender roles in society and culture

Gender Roles

Sex is a biological given. Some animal species have one sex, some have two, and some have more than two. This is interesting to scientists perhaps, in terms of its physical construction. However, gender is what culture 'does' with these distinctions of physiology. Gender is how culture interprets the apparent biological differences between particular human bodies of different sexual anatomy. What does it mean, for instance, that a certain body may be capable of giving birth later in life, and another body may not? It is here, in the distinctions between bodies observed and imposed by our culture, where sociologists and theorists of gender identity find their theoretical interests aroused, poised for deconstructive action.

One of the most important theories posed by gender identity scholars is that the distinction of two sexes, male and female as well as the distinction of two genders, man and woman, is questionable. The existence of hermaphrodites and other bodies of indeterminate gender calls into question the bifurcation of gender as well as the division of 'sex' into male and female categories. Gender roles tend to be solidified fairly stringently in our culture along lines of male and female alone. But the existence of biological diversity as well as cultural diversity that occurs for cultural rather than physical reasons shows how arbitrary notions of both sex and gender can be. (Butler, 1990)

Even a book that attempts to analyze the construction of gender from a radical perspective, such as Human Sexuality: Diversity in Contemporary America, because of the fact it confines itself to the contemporary American experience, divides the female and male experience of sexuality in physical terms in chapters three and four, respectively, accepting the dual character of American social definitions of gender in its own construction.

Human Sexuality: Diversity in Contemporary America's highlighting, in its title of chapter ten, of 'atypical' sexual activity also implies that there is a typical form of human sexuality, against which all other sexualities will be measured. Yet in ages across human history, it was 'typical' for the same male sexual body, to cite just the ancient Athenian example, to pass through multiple gender roles. A young Greek man would go from being the passive sexual recipient of an older mentor's affection, before passing onto the role of husband and father. Then he himself would assume the male adult gendered role of one whom could enjoy multiple male and female sexual partners. Although not every body gendered 'male' in ancient Greece performed these sexual roles, this was what was culturally and physically typical of the aristocratic male-sexed gender in that culture -- in other words, gender was dependant upon age, class, and station in life as well as sexual physiology and arousal.

Even today, gender identity is not fixed, as individuals may feel as if their physical body and social roles do not encompass their true selves. It is possible to view those individuals who regard themselves as transgendered, of course, even from a feminist perspective as being so subsumed in notions of what it is to truly be a woman or a man, that socialization as to appropriate masculinity and femininity forces them to feel a conflict between outer (body) and inner self (gender identity). But regardless, the idea that one can feel such a tension highlights the constructed nature of sex as 'only two bodies' as well as gender as 'only male and female.' The fact that transvestites, who do not necessarily feel such a conflict, but merely perform in a persona of the opposite gender, can perform gender also shows that one can have a body sexed in a particular fashion and that what appears to be of a certain sex can be altered with entirely socialized constructions as clothing, makeup, and behavior, as well as other accoutrements. (Butler, 1990)

Some people, of course, would allege that they are neither male nor female in their true self, but androgynous. The difficulty of what is 'androgyny,' however, also highlights the difficulty of defining gender. The psychoanalytical theorist Bem has viewed androgyny to mean an individual is "both highly masculine and highly feminine, rather than neither masculine nor feminine," and stated that it is "better to be androgynous in today's society as men and women need to be adaptable, and willing to share all types of jobs, without saying that one job is woman's work or another job is just for men." (Bem, 2004)

But 'androgyny,' can also be used as term to assume sexual and gender differences as givens and to view deviance from these ideals no one really fulfills as kind of extraordinary behavior, even if Bem views it as positive behavior. Bem says that androgyny should not be seen as an absence of masculinity or femininity, but it is difficult to conceive of what an absence of masculinity or femininity would be, because it is so difficult to conceive of a society absent of gender. If most people are androgynous, why cling to distinctions of gender or sex at all?