Gender was an easy concept once: humans were male or female. Today, however, gender is a more complex concept as science and social science have opened a window on the distinction between sex and gender as well as the subsets within each of those classifications.
Biological sex is an amalgamation of chromosomes, hormones, gonads, external sexual organs, and secondary sex characteristics, all of which can be viewed, examined or determined medically. Biologically, an individual may be male, female, or intersex. Gender cannot be scientifically measured because it is one’s innate sense of being masculine, feminine or another gender. Gender nouns include man, woman, transgender, intersex (this term does double duty), gender ***, and transexual.
The confluence of sex and gender is both fascinating, due to the many variations of both, and heartbreaking, when one considers the public’s response to anyone who doesn’t fit societal norms equating one’s sex with gender. Case in point: Middle distance South African runner Caster Semenya ran in the 800-meter race in the 2009 World Championships. Had she lost, few people would have noticed; however, she won the gold medal and attracted attention less for her athletic prowess than for her masculine build. Despite her contention that she is female, along with her family’s, coach’s and country’s support, Semenya was forced to undergo tests to determine her sex. Gynecologists, endocrinologists, psychologists, and other experts were called to examine Ms. Semenya’s body and determine her sex.
In the media frenzy that followed, the world learned that Semenya has female external, no ovaries or uterus, and working testicles inside her body that produce three times the amount of testosterone most women have (Note that she is being compared to the average female, not the average female athlete, many of whom have been found to have higher-than-average testosterone levels). Traditionally, the presence of testicles has defined an individual’s sex as male. Since Semenya’s case is not the first of its kind, it may be time for athletic governing bodies to set policies on whether to give priority to gonads or gender when determining an athlete’s ability to compete against those whose sex and gender are more typically aligned.
Looking closer at gender
In my experience, undergraduates find gender difficult to grasp because it exists in the realm of the mind and spirit. The fact that some people do not fit into binary male or female categories can be confusing and, for some students, threatening. This lesson plan is designed to help students gain comfort with gray aread and examine their assumptions about gender.
Materials: Newsprint, 4 markers, masking tape
Preparation:
- Assign Carroll’s Chapter 4 to be read prior to the class meeting
- On 4 newsprint sheets write the headings “Males are…,” “Men wish women would…,” “Females are…,” and “Women wish men would,”
- Post the newsprint on walls or tables around the classroom
Procedure:
Check-in – Instruct students to take turns saying one thing they did in the past 24 hours strictly related to gender expression. After everyone has taken a turn, comment on any activities more correctly related to sex (urinating while standing), as opposed to gender (putting on gendered clothing or makeup).
Instruct students to split themselves equally among the posters and provide at least 3 responses. If time allows, have the groups rotate so different students work on each poster. (Note: You can add depth here by explaining that ordinarily, you might ask them to split into male and female groups, but that would assume that every student fit the sex and gender binary).
When the posters have sufficient comments for discussion purposes, post them on a wall with masking tape and read each sheet of comments aloud before discussing the comments. Questions to consider include:
- Do males and females have common likes?
- Do they have common wishes for other gender?
- How many of the comments are factually true, versus sex or gender stereotypes?
- How can stereotypes be limiting to individuals?
- What happens when people don’t fit the stereotypes and step out of the norm?
Privilege
The poster activity sets the stage for a discussion of privilege, which can be described as specific rights granted to someone due to an inherent quality, like sex or gender. The individual with privilege does not have to work for these rights – they are granted automatically.
“Male privilege” assigns men specific rights due to their gender, like being taken more seriously in business dealings, being less susceptible to sexual assault, and being able to be more sexually experienced that females without being judged harshly. Males in Western society typically have more privilege than females.
Privilege is sneaky because it’s such a firm component of our culture, and often, we fail to question it.
- Men don’t have to wonder if people will find them lacking for having a career and a child. Women don’t have that privilege
- Men usually get better prices when car shopping because they are assumed to know more about cars and value
- Men can be grumpy without being accused of having premenstrual syndrome
Direct students’ attention to the posters again. Do any of the statements listed reflect male or female privilege? Students will likely mention ways they perceive women to have privilege, which can lead to interesting discussions on questions such as:
- Is it privilege that women can get men to buy them drinks? (or is it assumed that women have no money or can be convinced to swap drinks for sex?)
- Is it privilege that women can expect men to kill the bugs, clean up the overflowing toilet, empty the trash (does this hurt men or make women look weak?)
What happens to men who don’t fit the typically masculine mold? They tend to lose their privilege. Robert Heasley, a sexual orientation and identity theorist (http://www.chss.iup.edu/sociology/Faculty/HEASLEY.HTML), has written extensively on what he terms “*** masculinities of straight men.” He states that men who don’t fit masculine norms threaten those who do. People are “read” based on what listeners or observers infer (e.g., “I think you’re gay because you …”).
Heasley’s categories of “*** masculinities of straight men” include:
· Straight sissy boys
· Social justice straight queers (allies)
· Elective straight queers (can pass as gay)
· Committed straight *** (whole heartedly throws out norms; could comfortably kiss a man non-sexually)
· Stylized straight *** (metrosexual)
After discussing the reverse, i.e., women who may appear more masculine than feminine, you can segue into the gender theories presented in Chapter 4.
If time allows, you may want to bring up the concept of “cisgender privilege,” which is the privilege granted to those whose gender identity and behavior fit societal norms. The term cisgender has been used since the mid-nineties on the internet, generally to describe anyone who is not transgender. You can ask students to think of as many examples as possible of cisgender privilege, (e.g., freedom to use your restroom of choice without being questioned, freedom to wear gendered clothing of choice, freedom not to disclose a disparity between one’s sex and gender to strangers such as airport security officials or school admissions personnel…)
How do you bring hot topics into your Human Sexuality classroom? How can you refine a lesson you have planned? I invite you to contact me for additional help choosing topics or developing lesson plans.
Melanie J. Davis, MEd, teaches Human Sexuality as well as Marriage and the Family at Moravian College. She is a doctoral candidate in Human Sexuality Education and is the owner of Honest Exchange LLC, a sexuality consulting and resource development practice based in Somerville, NJ. Melanie is also a partner in the New Jersey Center for Sexual Wellness in Bedminster, NJ.