This document provides materials for a course on gender and difference. The learning objectives are to understand the difference between sex and gender, and how gender expectations shape society. It includes assigned reading from a book on gendered society, as well as additional news articles and multimedia materials on topics like gender stereotypes in media and fashion. The materials are meant to help students understand that while sex is biological, gender is a social construct that involves learning behaviors and expectations associated with being male or female in a given society.

1. GENDER AND DIFFERENCE

2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• To understand background concepts for this course.
• To understand the difference between sex and gender.
• To understand how gender expectations shape society.

3. ASSIGNED READING MATERIALS
• Kimmel, Michael. 2011. ―Human Beings: An Engendered Species‖ in The
Gendered Society. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. [excerpt- pgs. 1-
18]*

4. ADDITIONAL NEWS MATERIALS
• ―The Rise of Sexist Fashion‖
Link: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/09/the-rise-of-sexist-
fashion-from-plain-jane-homme-to-disney.html

5. ADDITIONAL MULTI-MEDIA MATERIALS
• Gender Stereotypes in Media [9:12 mins]
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nIXUjzyMe0
• Gender Roles – Interviews with Kids [2:36 mins]
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VqsbvG40Ww
• J.Crew Ad Sparks Debate on Kids and Gender [2:20 mins]
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjn6ZSU_zS0
• Child Gender Identity [27:49 mins]
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHuEpcmXvG0

6. STOP!
Have you reviewed the additional course materials? If not, do. 

7. QUICK BACKGROUND
Political science is the study of the process by which power and resources are
distributed in society. It is the study of ―who gets what, when and how‖ (Laswell
1935).
Public policy is what those with authority choose to do, or not do, about issues
recognized as public problems (Dye 1972). A public policy is a question or
problem that concerns the role of governmental institutions: What should
government do or refrain from doing? What are the responsibilities of
government institutions? There must be some controversy or question about this
role in order to make this a policy issue.
―Policy silences‖ or ―non-decisions‖ can be considered policy outcomes (Conway
et.al. 1995; Bachrach and Baratz 1962).

8. KEY CONCEPTS: WHAT IS POLITICS?
Hannah Pitkin defines politics as ―the activity through which relatively large and
permanent groups of people determine what they will collectively do, settle how
they will live together, and decide their future, to whatever extent this is within
their power‖ (Pitkin 1981, 343).
Robert Unger defines politics as ―the struggle over the resources and
arrangements that set the terms of our practical and passionate relations.
Preeminent among these arrangements is the formative institutional and
imaginative context of social life‖ (Unger 1987, 145).
The role of POWER in determining these relationships or arrangements is often
seen as especially political.

9. KEY CONCEPTS: WHAT IS A SOCIAL GROUP?
Structural social group:
A collective of people who are grouped together by the broader society because
of ascriptive characteristics, a set of practices or way of life. They are
differentiated from at least one other group by these cultural forms. (e.g.
gender, race, class)

10. KEY CONCEPTS: SOCIAL GROUP DISADVANTAGE?
1. GROUPS have historically been discriminated against in some arena.
2. THEY are systematically worse off across multiple arenas: socially, economically,
politically.
3. This condition persists into present.
4. Negative meanings are assigned to group membership by broader society.
~Iris Marion Young

11. THE ISSUE: ARE WOMEN AND MEN DIFFERENT?
• Almost everything humans observe and experience appears to indicate that
women and men are fundamentally different, but is it true?
• Are women and men categorically different groups with different
characteristics?
• Why is it so important to know?
There are many big questions that need to be addressed as begin our
conversation about gender and gender inequality. To begin, we need to think
about gender as social scientists: is gender biologically determined, socially
constructed, or some combination? Does gender vary?
We also need to ask the ―elephant in the room‖ question: Why is it that in the vast
majority of human societies, men have had more power than women? Once we
consider that question, we can begin asking questions about what inequality
looks like and its effects globally.

12. “GENDER WARRIOR”
Before we jump into theories and
definitions, let’s take a minute to
consider just how strong our ideas about
gender are. This is a picture of Shiloh
Jolie-Pitt, a ―celebrity child,‖ who, for
whatever reasons, is usually
photographed in ―boy clothes‖ and with a
boyish hair cut. In March 2010, an article
on Salon.com dubbed Shiloh a
―preschool gender warrior.‖ What do you
think about that? Why?
Apparently masses of people have
criticized the child’s parents (Brad Pitt
and Angelina Jolie) for not playing by
the rules. What are the rules? The rules
are the typically unspoken, but mostly
accepted, norms of gender-appropriate
behavior. That so many people are so
upset about the clothes someone else’s
child wears tells us a bit about how much
is at stake when we think about ―doing
gender.‖

13. KEY CONCEPTS: WHAT IS SEX? WHAT IS GENDER?
Although the terms “sex” and “gender” are often used interchangeably, we will
differentiate between the two.
Sex refers to an individual’s membership in one of two biologically distinct
categories—male or female.
Gender refers to the physical, behavioral, and personality traits that a group
considers ―normal‖ for its male and female members. These are also known
as ―masculine‖ or ―feminine‖ characteristics.
Gender also, “ expresses the universal inequality between women and men.
When we speak about gender, we also speak about hierarchy, power, and
inequality, not simply difference.” ~ Kimmel 2011, 2
In other words, we learn how to act manly or womanly based on the sex that
we’re born into and society’s expectations of that sex. Often those expectations
lead to inequality of status in society. Sex is a biological category. Gender is a
social category.

14. DOING GENDER
Gender is more than simply a learned role, though that role is important.
Gender is something to be done—accomplished—each day.
When we fail to ―do‖ our gender others often feel uncomfortable and may point
out the violation of gender roles. In this way, failures or deviations from doing
gender is reinforced through social sanctions/punishments.
Steve Carell, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert posing in ―typical‖
female advertising poses.

15. KEY CONCEPTS: GENDER STEREOTYPES
Gender Stereotypes are broad categories that reflect our impressions and beliefs
about females and males.
All gender stereotypes refer to an image of what the typical member of a
particular social category is like.
The world is extremely complex. Every day we are confronted with thousands of
different stimuli. The use of stereotypes is one way we simplify this complexity. If
we simply assign a label (such as soft) to someone, we then have much less to
consider when we think about the individual. Once the labels are assigned, they
are remarkably different to abandon, even in the face of contradictory evidence.

16. WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Imagine you meet a 1-year-old named Leslie who is dressed in gender-neutral
clothing and is sporting a bowl-cut hairstyle, so that you cannot tell whether Leslie
is a boy or girl.
How long would it be before you become curious about Leslie’s sex? How would
you determine whether a 1-year-old like Leslie is a boy or a girl?

17. WHY DO WE ASSUME THIS IS A GIRL?

18. GENDER STEREOTYPES: THE CASE OF PAT
Pat is active, independent, competitive, and aggressive.
Is Pat male or female?

19. GENDER STEREOTYPES: THE CASE OF PAT
Most people assume Pat is male.
Why? Although Pat is a common name for both males and females, the
adjectives used to describe Pat are commonly associated with men rather
than with women.
Test Yourself…
On the following slide, identify which traits are masculine and which are feminine.

20. What Traits Characterize Males and Females?
Trait More Characteristic of Males More Characteristic of Females
1. Active
2. Considerate
3. Aggressive
4. Creative
5. Ambitious
6. Competitive
7. Emotional
8. Independent
9. Artistic
10. Displays leadership
11. Excitable
12. Empathic
13. Mechanical
14. Gentle
15. Outspoken
16 . Neat
17. Persistent
18. Understanding

21. GENDER STEREOTYPES
The same chart has been used to assess gender stereotypes among college
students..
Did you choose the same traits as the consensus?
• Even numbered - female traits
• Odd numbered - male traits

22. Features Judged by College Students to Be
Characteristically Male or Female
Male Female
Independent Emotional
Aggressive Home-oriented
Not excitable Kind
Skilled in business Cries easily
Mechanical aptitude Creative
Outspoken Considerate
Acts as a leader Devotes self to others
Self-confident Needs approval
Ambitious Gentle
Not easily influenced Aware of others’ feelings
Dominant Excitable

23. GROWING UP WITH GENDER
In 1977, Deborah Best and her colleagues studied children’s growing
understanding of gender stereotypes. Children were asked if 16 stereotypically
masculine and 16 stereotypically feminine traits were more typical of boys or
girls. At age 5, boys and girls judged one-third of the traits the way adults would.
By age 11, they judged 90 percent of the traits according to the adult stereotypes.
This table on the following slide shows the traits judged stereotypically at ages 5
and 11.

24. Children’s Stereotypes of Boys and Girls
Boys are… Girls are…
5-yrs-old 11-yrs-old 5-yrs-old 11-yrs-old
Strong   Emotional  
Aggressive   Gentle  
Disorderly   Soft-hearted  
Cruel   Affectionate  
Coarse   Weak  
Ambitious   Appreciative 
Dominant   Excitable 
Adventurous  Sophisticated 
Independent  Fickle 
Loud  Meek 
Jolly  Submissive 
Steady  Talkative 
Confident  Frivolous 

25. WE SEEM TO THINK IT… SO IT MUST BE SO?
The information in the previous slides seems to reinforce the idea that we at least
THINK boys and girls, men and women ARE different- but are they? And why
would they be?

26. POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS
Why might men and women be different? [reading pages 4-5]
• Nature- biologically men and women are different
• Nurture- men and women are socialized to be thought of, treated as, different
We will discuss these explanations in greater depth over the next three lectures.

27. THE ARGUMENT [reading pgs. 11-17]
In the reading, Kimmel is making a different argument, that actually:
• Men and women are different, but mostly human.
• There are greater differences across men and across women than between
the two genders.
• Differences are amplified to justify gender discrimination- i.e. well, men and
women are so different, of course they are treated unequally.

28. LIVING IN AN GENDERED SOCIETY
“When we say we live in a gendered society we imply that the organizations of
our society have evolved in ways that reproduce both the differences
between women and men and the domination of men over women.”
~ Kimmel 2011, 16