Review-Theorising Gender and Feminism - Stevie Jackson

Gender and sexuality are among feminism’s most central concepts, yet there is no consensus on how to define them or how to theorize their interrelationship. The term gender has been used since the early 1970s to denote culturally constructed femininity and masculinity as opposed to biological sex differences. The author has clearly mentioned the focus of the article – the first step is to separate out the three terms sex, gender and sexuality in order to explore how they are interrelated. Distinguishing ‘sex’ from ‘gender’ not only serves to emphasize the social and cultural origins of differences between women and men, but can help to resolve the ambiguity of the word ‘sex’. The author also mentioned that he/she would also focus on the development of  feminist thinking on gender and its interrelationship with have emerged. Although the concept of gender did not become current among feminists until the 1970s, the idea that it encapsulates that differences between men and women are not wholly determined by biology- has a longer history. The author has interestingly mentioned in the article that “one is not born a woman but becomes one’.  The contention that women are made rather that born has been central to the development of theories of gender. Another and crucial feature of feminist perspectives is that gender is conceptualized as hierarchical.

Ann Oakley (1972) was among the first to make the distinction between the sex we are born with the gender we acquire. Masculinity and femininity are defined not by biology but by social, cultural and psychological attributes which are acquired through becoming a man or woman in a particular society at a particular time..  Whereas Oakley distinguished gender from biological sex, Rubin related gender to reproductive sexuality. According to Rubin, every society ‘has a sex/gender system- a set of arrangements by which the biological raw material of human sex and procreation is shaped by human, social interventions.  Moreover, what it means to be a woman or a man also varies within any given society at one time, reflecting differences which cut across those of gender such as class or race.  I tend to agree with this point as there are so many diverse cultures and religions all over the world and our character and traits are very much influenced by our roots/ upbringing. In most cultures, the woman are seen as the non dominating role where they are expected to perform the passive role whereas the male are seen to be more active and dominating character who makes most of the decisions in the family or even at work. But now time is changing and woman are becoming more outspoken and have a larger role to play in the family and also workforce. They are now in positions at work where they are decision makers and even men have to report to them as subordinates.

For some time feminists have argued, from a variety of perspectives, that the opposition between sex and gender should be questioned. Some have argued that it is not the interests of feminism to replicate and perpetuate the dualism between culture and nature which pervades our culture. For example, Moira Gatens (1983) points to the origin of the term outside feminism and questions whether this distinction can actually serve feminists in understanding women’s embodied experience. The implications of treating ‘men’ and ‘women’ as social categories were outlined in the editorial to the first issue of Questions Feminists, in which the collective’s critique of naturalistic explanations of sexual difference was established as a basic tenet of their  radical feminist stance. They opposed the ideas of ‘sexual difference’ feminists, arguing the idea of feminine’ difference’ derives from patriarchal reasoning  and has served to justify and conceal our exploitation. In order to counter this ideology, they argue, radical feminism must refuse any notion of ‘woman’ that is unrelated to social context. But are the above statements justifiable and fair to woman?  Just as class struggle seeks to do away with classes, so feminists struggle should aim to do away with sex differences.

For Butler, both gender and sex are fictive in the sense that they are constructed through discursive and non-discursive practices. In conceptualizing gender as performative. Butler is not saying that gender is something you ‘put in the morning and discard at will. I personally feel that one gender has to compliment the other, both the male and female constantly face challenges but of different kind with regards to their gender. Male and female gender is unique in its own way. As mentioned in this article that it is the culture and roots that mould a person’s character and behavior. Who we are today depends very much on that. The article goes on to emphasize on gender and sexuality. As mentioned in the article that, it is commonly assumed that sexual differences between women and men are directly explicable by reproductive biology. Moreover, sexuality validates gender: ‘femininity’ equates with attractiveness to men; sexual conquest of women confirms masculinity. Human sexual relations are social relations and hence meaningful to participants and shaped by the social contexts in which they occur. Hence, feminists have an interest in challenging essentialist ideas on sexuality, as well as naturalistic accounts of differences between men and women.

Gagnon and Simon (1974) and Foucault (1981) suggest that the interrelationship between gender and sexuality is not predetermined but is a product of particular historical and social contexts. Most feminists would accept the need for an analytical distinction between gender and sexuality, without which we cannot explore their intersections.  Whatever perspective feminists take, most are aware that the boundaries of ‘proper’ gender identifications and of heterosexuality are policed in a variety of ways that those who step outside these boundaries are usually stigmatized and often punished.

Conclusion

Feminism certainly cannot afford to leave the body untheorised as simply the inert matter on which gender is inscribed. The entire article is interesting and has given me a better insight and understanding on Feminism. Feminism is a broad topic that needs to be understood. The theorists in this article have all developed and elaborated their concept on the three terms sex, gender and sexuality.  The explanations provided by the theorists are interesting citing various differences between male and female and also talk about cultural differences and how this impact feminism. Overall, this has been a challenging and new experience for me.

(Global Asia Feminism-MAINS, 2010)


Vivek Pandey