Chapter 4: Learning Identities: Families, Schools, and…
Question Answered step-by-step Chapter 4: Learning Identities: Families, Schools, and… Chapter 4: Learning Identities: Families, Schools, and SocializationDefinitionsSexuality – who you are romantically and sexually attracted toTrans(gender/sexual) – gender identity does not match biological sex/sex assignment at birthCisgender – gender identity matches biological sex/sex assignment at birthGender non-binary – gender identity does not fit within the restrictive gender binary categoriesIntersex/hermaphrodite – ambiguous genitalia or having male and female primary sex characteristicsGay/lesbian – romantically/sexually attracted to someone with the same gender identityPansexual – romantically/sexually attracted to anyone along the gender spectrumBisexual – romantically/sexually attracted to male- and female-identifying peopleThe I and A of LGBTQIA (intersex and asexual)Do you know the difference between Sex and Gender?Sex is biological – your chromosomes (xx for females, xy for males), whether you have a penis or a vagina, ovaries or testies… it is a binary (there are pretty much only 2 choices unless you are intersex/hermaphrodite)Gender is how you identify based on society’s constructs of masculinity and femininity. It is based on how you feel, not what your body says. Gender is not a binary – it’s a spectrum. Gender is also fluid (changing). Gender roles are the roles that society expects you to play based (mostly) on your sex. So, if you are female, society expects you to be a mom, a nurse, a teacher… and if you are male, society expects you to be a dad, a doctor, a CEO…Gender essentialismthe idea that there are unique male and female traits that make men and women naturally suited to different occupational rolesGender stereotypes are generalizations of expected innate characteristics (think personality: how a person behaves, thinks, and feels) associated with the perceived gender. So, if you are a woman, you are more emotional, weak, submissive… and if you are a man you are strong, dominant, aggressive… These are basically not true – just like racial stereotypes, religious stereotypes…Men and women are NOT equal in our society (and most societies)Sadly, in our society and in most societies, it is patriarchal – men are in control, not egalitarian where men and women are equal. Have you seen us with a female president yet??? That means that women are subordinate (lower than) to men. Women only get paid about 77 cents to the dollar of men and there is a thick glass ceiling that women have to try to break to climb up the latter and get ahead in the workplace.Sexism and sex discrimination happens a lot in our society! This means that men and women are treated differently at work, in school, even at home. And, not just differently, typically women are treated worse! They experience harassment, sexist remarks, more limited opportunities (hence the start of the “Me Too” movement)… GENDERED LESSON PLANS IN SCHOOLSPeer influence over identity socialization is undeniable. But in contemporary industrial societies, the most powerful institutional agent of identity socializationperhaps even more powerful than familiesis the educational system. Indeed, the primary reason schools exist is to socialize young people. Children enter the system at about age 5 (or sooner if you count day care and preschool), and most will spend at least the next 13 years of their lives in it. No other institution has such prolonged contact with the bodies and minds of individuals as the educational system.Schools, of course, don’t simply teach students basic educational skills like reading, writing, arithmetic, and science. More subtly, they teach them who they are and what they can expect from themselves and others in the future. In this way, schools can often solidify the identities that children initially developed within their families.In societies where girls and women are either segregated or formally excluded from educational institutionssuch as many fundamentalist Muslim countriesthe gender lessons students receive are stark. In U.S. society, female students are no longer prevented or discouraged from receiving an education. In fact, for the past three or four decades, the majority of college students have been women. And women earn 57% of all bachelor’s degrees, 60% of all master’s degrees, and 54% of all doctorates (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019). Moreover, college women study more and have higher grade point averages than men. They’re also more likely to complete their bachelor’s degrees in 4 or 5 years (cited in Lewin, 2006). Yet schools at all levels contain an abundance of subtle and not-so-subtle “lessons” about what is considered appropriate and inappropriate behavior for female and male members of our society. In earlier grades, teachers sometimes draw on sex as a basis for sorting students and organizing their activities or casually pit girls against boys for spelling or math competitions (Thorne, 1995). But the differential treatment needn’t be so purposeful. As sociologists Myra and David Sadker (2002) point out, “Sitting in the same classroom, reading the same textbook, listening to the same teacher, boys and girls receive very different educations” (p. 583). Research on in-person school experiences over the past several decades has revealed patterns of differential treatment that create, for girls, a powerfully disabling educational climate:Girls receive less teacher attention and less useful feedback than boys.Girls talk significantly less in class than boys, and when they do speak up, they are more likely than boys to be reminded to raise their hands.Girls rarely see mention of the contributions of women in their textbooks, which continue to emphasize male accomplishments.Girls are more likely than boys to be the focus of unwanted sexual attention in school. (Sadker, Sadker, Fox, & Salata, 2004)Since such messages are sometimes quite subtle, most people are unaware of the hidden lessons and quiet losses it creates (Sadker, Sadker, & Zittleman, 2009). However, over the course of their school careers, such differential treatment takes its toll on girls.The harm may not be apparent right away, though. In elementary school, middle school, and even into high school, girls outperform boys on almost every standard measure of academic achievement (Legewie & DiPrete, 2012; Tyre, 2006). Boys are more likely than girls to repeat a grade, drop out, be put in special education, or be diagnosed as having an emotional problem, a learning disability, or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (Lewin, 1998). Yet boys have higher expectations for themselves and higher self-esteem than girls, a gap that widens with each passing year in the school system (Freiberg, 1991). Coaching MasculinitiesThe vast majority of research on the institutional context of gender socialization (schools, media, and so forth) tends to focus on girls and the structural and interpersonal disadvantages they face growing up in a relatively sexist society. Only recently has academic attention turned to understanding the process by which boys develop gender identities in this society. The journalist, Peggy Orenstein (2020), spent 2 years talking to boys of all races and ethnicities between the ages of 16 and 21 across the United States. She found a curious paradox. On the one hand, these boys tended to perceive gender in relatively egalitarian terms. They considered their female classmates smart and competent and fully entitled to positions of leadership. Moreover, these young men were quite aware of the excesses and dangers of traditional conceptions of masculinity (commonly referred to as toxic masculinity)mass shootings, domestic violence, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and so on. However, when she asked them to describe the characteristics of the “ideal guy,” they held fast to age-old characterizations: rugged good looks, sexual prowess, emotional impassiveness in the face of sadness or fear, wealth, and athleticism.Although schools provide powerful gender lessons to both boys and girls, such understandings of masculinity among boys are more likely, in non-COVID times, to develop on the athletic fields than in the classroom. Even though some boys don’t like sports and choose not to participate, it is still the case that most boys, to a greater or lesser degree, are judged according to their ability (or lack of ability) in competitive sports.Sociologist Michael Messner (2002) conducted extensive interviews with 30 adult men from different ethnoracial and class groups who were athletes in their youth. For most of the men Messner interviewed, becoming involved in sports when they were young was not much of a decision. They said they did it simply because “it’s just what everybody did.” They recounted their earliest experiences with sports as an exclusively male world of fathers, older brothers, uncles, classmates, and coaches who served as athletic role models. Mothers who are present, typically occupy the role of chauffeur or team mom (Messner & Bozada-Deas, 2010). Even fathers who were otherwise absent or emotionally distant tended to be involved in their sons’ athletic lives.Despite the increasing participation of girls in organized sports, the athletic world remains the primary location for the development of traditionally masculine identities because of the heavy emphasis on aggression, competition and conquest. It is a hierarchical world where, despite the “it’s not whether you win or lose but how you play the game” rhetoric, importance is placed on winning. Just being out there and participating is certainly presented to boys as a good thing, but being better than others is the key to prestige and approval. PPTS/NOTES:Sexism, Patriarchy, and MisogynySexism, prejudice or discrimination based on gender based on the belief that one gender is better than the other.Sexism is interwoven with patriarchy, a hierarchical system of social organization in which cultural, political, and economic structures are controlled by men.Misogyny is a contempt or hatred and general distrust of womenFeminism:The belief that women and men are equal and should be valued equally and have equal rights.In liberal feminism, gender equality is equated with equality of opportunity.According to radical feminists, male domination causes all forms of human oppression, including racism and classism.Schools and Gender Socialization:Teachers provide messages about gender through classroom assignments and informal interactions with students.Teachers may unintentionally show favoritism toward one gender over the other, this is called, gender bias.Second Shift:Second shift” (Arlie Hoschild): women are working more today than ever before in human history!Women who work outside the home full time are actually working an average of 51 hours a week due to the extra hours taking care of children and family.We are seeing that women are facing more of a pressure due to our culture holding on to traditional gender expectations while working on top of it. Questions: 1. Talk about three things learned and in the PPTs/Notes that you found important and relevant. Discuss why it’s important and relevant to today. Make sure its specific in what discussing from the information listed and PPTs/Notes 2. What was learned in the two videos down below, find important and relevant for today? How do they relate to the chapter/PPT/Notes? Don’t just list, but discuss each point. Make sure use specific examples from the resource. Talk about each one separately, in their own paragraphs. “Hir” Spoken word poem: https://youtu.be/GmfkdOAq-xk”Be a Lady they Said”- narrates by Cynthia Nixon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCUmuNWXWsI Social Science Sociology SOC 3320 Share QuestionEmailCopy link Comments (0)
