Humans define their sex -- man or woman -- by their biological parts. But how do they define their gender -- masculine or feminine? Is there a difference between sex differences and gender differences?
"The term gender difference reflects the assumption that any distinction between the sexes' traits, values, interests, skills and behaviors arise from society's rigid gender roles, which channel people's thoughts and actions in stereotypical directions," writes University Politics Prof. Steven Rhoads in "Taking Sex Differences Seriously."
With this excerpt, Rhoads pretends society plays a significant role in shaping individuals; but in the rest of his work, he firmly roots his theory in the natural differences between the sexes. There actually is little role for societal shaping in his theory.
Traditional behaviors have not changed, according to Rhoads. Percentages, for example, still show the man is the person who proposes marriage the majority of the time. Here the claim is that men supposedly take the lead in social relations with women.
The arguments put forth by Rhoads, articulately written, are patriarchy translated into words. He argues nature represents the sole source of human behavior and endows men with greater aggression.
Rhoads references a 1997 national survey of women by the Pew Research Center that found only 60 percent of working women find their careers a source of happiness all or most of the time.
The study, statistically disturbing, ignores that all women do not have the same opportunities as men. Sadly, women do not have the same access to managerial positions among other powerful positions in the business and political world.
Unlike men, women typically are forced to pull a "second shift" -- a reference to Arlie Hochschild's book "The Second Shift" -- spending time trying to balance their professional work and their domestic work.
In "Communion: The Female Search for Love," bell hooks argues feminists placed too much emphasis on careers outside the home as a replacement to domestic life. At the same time, domestic work, if not shared equally with men, stresses the woman more than the man, hooks writes.
Rhoads ignores the inequalities in society and describes ways to perpetuate the patriarchy. He writes, "Title IX is troubling, in part, because by removing a positive outlet for men's aggression and urge for dominance, it eliminates one means of making them suitable for marriage."
Mistakenly, Rhoads assumes society's role is to prepare males for marriage; and Title IX, which gives more opportunity to women athletes, fails the utilitarian guidelines to do so.
When questioned about the theory in the book, Rhoads responded in an e-mail, nature "is a very important source and one that is largely neglected in most discussions of gender differences in the humanities and in most of the social sciences."
Unfortunately, Rhoads' theory largely ignores the effects of social construction. Each sex behaves certain ways naturally, but it is social construction that minimizes or accentuates these behaviors.
For example, women are naturally more attracted to childcare. Instead of requiring men to participate in childcare, society places the vast majority of the burden on the woman.
Certain behaviors need to be addressed before they escalate to larger societal problems. For example, the aggression in men needs to be addressed before school killings become a weekly event. But if you are to address this aggression, you should not cater to it through promoting sports and more fierce competition among males, as Rhoads recommends.
This encouraging of aggression -- itself a form of socialization -- often can lead to future and more rampant aggression and violence.
Kurt Davis is Health and Sexuality columnist. He can be reached at kurt@cavalierdaily.com.
Read More
U.Va. students and physicians team up for another year of free kidney screenings
By Merrill Hart | November 5, 2024Saturday’s screening marked the first by KDSAP at Portico Church, near IX Art Park.
U.Va. Health sees a spike in COVID-19 cases
By Emily Horn | September 4, 2023U.Va. Health ended their vaccination requirements in August, and masks were made optional in most hospital areas in early April.
U.Va. Cancer Center harnesses $12 million grant to support opportunities for undergraduates, ongoing research and new center
By Ellen Wu | January 12, 2023The grant provides an opportunity to establish the Center for Systems Analysis of Stress-Adapted Cancer Organelles, which seeks to find the cause of cancer in individual organelles.
