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Gender as a Social Construct

A medium brown-skinned person wearing a ruffled pink and blue dress. Their two-toned, brown and red head is parted in the center with two curly pigtails, and is shaved at the sides. They are wearing blue eyeliner, pink lipstick, and pink nail polish. Their face is clean shaven, and their chest and arms have thick, curly hair.
Figure 2.1. Alok Vaid-Menon (they/them). Alok is an artist and entertainer who identifies as transfeminine. To learn more about Alok, optionally watch “What We Are is Free” Alok Vaid-Menon at the New York LGBT Center Dinner [Streaming Video]. This chapter uses the tools of sociology to answer the question, “What determines gender?”

Contents of This Chapter:

  1. Chapter Introduction
    1. Chapter Overview: What Determines Gender?
    2. Key Terms
    3. Learning Objectives
    4. Licenses and Attributions for Chapter Introduction
      1. Open Content, Original
      2. Open Content, Shared Previously
  2. A Process, and a System, and a Social Institution
    1. Gender as a Process
    2. LEARN MORE: Gender Expansive Parenting
    3. Gender as a System of Stratification
    4. LEARN MORE: Gender Stratification
    5. Gender as a Social Institution
    6. Let’s Review
    7. Licenses and Attributions for A Process, and a System, and a Social Institution
      1. Open Content, Original
      2. Open Content, Shared Previously
      3. All Rights Reserved Content
  3. Sexual Differentiation
    1. The Chemistry Of Reproduction
    2. Sexual Variation
    3. Learn More: Sex Development and Best Interests
    4. Common Social Constructs of Sex and Gender
    5. Real But Not True: Binary Sexual Differentiation
    6. Let’s Review
    7. Licenses and Attributions for Sexual Differentiation
      1. Open Content, Original
      2. Open Content, Shared Previously
  4. Constructing Identity
    1. Sociological Theories of Self-Development
    2. Gender Identity
    3. Misgendering
    4. Let’s Review
    5. Licenses and Attributions for Constructing Identity
      1. Open Content, Original
      2. Open Content, Shared Previously
  5. Gender Expression
    1. Masculinities
    2. Femininities
    3. Beyond the Binary
    4. Let’s Review
    5. Looking Through the Lens: Barbie and the Deconstruction of Gender
    6. Licenses and Attributions for Gender Expression
      1. Open Content, Original
      2. Open Content, Shared Previously
      3. All Rights Reserved Content
  6. Conclusion
    1. Review of Learning Objectives
    2. Questions for Discussion
    3. Real But Not True: Check-in
    4. Licenses and Attributions for Conclusion
      1. Open Content, Original
  7. References

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Sociology of Gender: An Equity Lens Copyright © by Heidi Esbensen and Nora Karena is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.