CHAPTER 2

LEVELING OFF:
GENDER AND SEXUALITY
Pre-work for the Chapter
Complete the following statements:
I think girls are ____________
I think boys are____________
I think girls should _________
I think boys should _________
Society thinks that girls should______
Society thinks that boys should______
Pre-work for the Chapter
What should girls or boys be or do?

What roles society think boys and girls

should play?
GENDER AND SEXUALITY
To prepare for this journey into
gender studies, reflect on your
experience of gender
differentiation.
GENDER AND SEXUALITY
 A sample realization is the “eureka moments” of
one of the authors. (Listen to your teacher as he
narrates the story of the author)
 There are three similarities with the anecdotes
shared by the author:
1. It all involved her mother or being a mother.
2. Another has something to do with
relationship. She was sexualized as a young child
as people declared her relationship as romantic
with the opposite sex.
3. Last, her conscious awareness that she was
a girl even if her hair was cut.
GENDER AND SEXUALITY
Sex and gender are two very
essential yet underrated parts of
human life.
They affect all aspects of our
lives, from how we look at and act
in the jobs we take to how we
regard the laws and values of our
society.
GENDER AND SEXUALITY
This chapter will establish the
difference between sex and
gender, and define gender roles
and relationships according to the
UN and other relevant national
bodies, and determine how
gendered interactions affect one’s
everyday lives.
What is sex?
Sex is often referred to as the act of
reproduction (scientifically,
copulation), it is, nonetheless, an
important notion of how pop culture
sees sex.
According to pop culture, sex is
something done for pleasure, and
perhaps in a more Freudian sense, it
is what drives people to do certain
things.
What is sex?
The association of sex with
pleasure and vice versa may
make people dismiss it as a
serious topic for study.
Meanwhile, because sex is so
often equated with and related to
gender, as a topic for discussion is
likewise disregarded.
What is sex?
Yet, by showing the difference
between sex and gender, and laying
the groundwork for this difference ,
perhaps you may start questioning
discriminatory practices in society
that relates to sex and gender.
Sex is defined here through
biological stand point and not
cultural.
What is sex?
Sex in the biological sense is a
category for living beings
specifically related to their
reproductive function.
For most living creatures, there
are two sexes, the male and the
female.
What is sex?

SEXES Characteristics:
Male Produces sperm cells
to fertilize the egg
cells
Female Produces egg cells
which are fertilized by
another sex , and
bears the offspring.
What is sex?
Chromosomes determine one’s
sex.
 Chromosome XX equates to female, and XY equates to male.
 These pairs of chromosomes are distinct because the differences in
their characteristics are necessary for reproduction.
What is sex?
Genitalia, or the organs used for
reproduction, and secondary sex
characteristics are largely
influenced by one’s X and Y
chromosomes.
These chromosomes determine
whether someone’s body will
express itself as a female or a
male.
What is sex?
Hormones also play a large part in
the definition of one’s sex.
The exposure of hormones in the
womb affects how the organism
develops as a male or a female.
What is sex?
Physical features related to
secondary sex characteristic are also
influenced by hormones.
Both males and females have
estrogen, testosterone, and
progesterone but in varying amounts.
Usually, males have more amounts
of testosterone , and females have
more amounts of estrogen.
What is sex?
Hormonal imbalances, both
natural and induced , can result in
someone born as a female to have
more testosterone than her male
counterpart.
Activity:
Complete the following sentences:
1. When I was a child, my favorite toy
was____________
2. I first found out I was a girl/boy
when___________
3. Because he/she is a girl/boy______
4. Because I am a girl/boy________
5. Because x are LGBT +,__________
What is Gender?
Gender is a socially learned behavior
usually associated with one’s sex.
It is short for gender relations
between the sexes , or how the male
and female relate to one another.
Gender is also based on how people
see themselves and on their
tendency to act along either the
masculine or the feminine line
What is Gender?
Gender is a social construct that
determine one’s roles, expected
values, behavior, and interaction
in relationships involving men and
women.
Sex and gender are two different
things, but one’s gender is usually
associated with one’s sex.
What is Gender?
Table 1. Main Differences Between
Sex and Gender
SEX GENDER
Physiological Social
Related to reproduction Cultural
Congenital Learned behavior
Unchanging Varies within a culture/
among cultures
Does Sex Correspond to Gender?
Many scientists, psychologists, and
sociologist believe that sex does
not determine one’s gender.
Femininity, or the behavior that one
assocciates with females, may not
actually be tied to a woman’s sex.
Similarly, masculinity is not tied to
one’s gonads.
Does Sex Correspond to Gender?
The whole idea of being a woman ,
therefore , is based on gender and
society’s belief in how a woman
should act, instead of biological
functions that are inescapable.
The notion that one’s biology
predetermines the roles one must
have in life should not be the case
at all.
Does Sex Correspond to Gender?
For Example:
Doing household chores is said to
be a woman’s job, yet there are
some men who do the cooking and
cleaning at home.
Aggressive sports are said to be for
men, but for every men’s sport team,
there is a counterpart for women.
Does Sex Correspond to Gender?
These types of scenario, gender
role socialization comes in.

Gender Role Socialization is

defined as the process of
learning and internalizing culturally
approved ways of thinking, feeling,
and behaving.
Does Sex Correspond to Gender?
It starts as soon as one is born and
manifests from the color associated with
one’s gender to the roles one sees his or
her gender performs the most.
Socialization affects all parts of one’s
identity by dictating what is acceptable to
do because of one’s educational
background, class, religion, and gender.
Does Sex Correspond to Gender?
One’s socialization regulates his or her
perceptions of genders in two ways –
external regulations and internalized self-
control.
External regulation involves various
institutions dictating what is proper and
normal based on one’s identity.
It affects how one sees his or her gender,
and that gender in relations to other
genders
Does Sex Correspond to Gender?
External regulation can happen through
censorship of some form of sexuality
(Homosexuality is bad) or subtle forms of
control such as microaggression (subtle
messages with sexist assumptions behind
them- Only girly boys do housework).
Because of these external regulations
enforced by society, notions on gender are
absorbed and internalized social control is
formed.
Gender Stereotypes
This develops when different institutions
reinforce a biased perception of a certain
gender’s role.
These institutions include the family, the
church, the school, the state, and the
media.
These beliefs can be limiting if seen as
prescriptive of a gender’s role rather than
descriptive of the many possible roles one
can have.
Gender Stereotypes
Gender stereotypes are of four types:
1. Sex stereotypes
2. Sexual stereotypes
3. Sex-role stereotypes
4. Compounded stereotypes

POINT TO REFLECTION
How does your society or culture teach you
to think, feel, and act based on your gender?
How is it limiting? How is it liberating?
SOGIE
The abbreviation SOGIE stands for sexual
orientation and gender identity and
expression.
Sexuality is different from sex, as the
former is the expression of a person’s
thoughts, feelings, sexual orientation and
relationships, as well as the biology of the
sexual response system of the person.
The different terms standing for SOGIE are
here defined:
SOGIE
1. Sexual orientation “covers the three
dimensions of sexuality namely:
a. sexual attraction, sexual behavior, sexual
fantasies
b. emotional preference, social preference,
self- identification
c. heterosexual or homosexual lifestyle
2. Gender Identity refers to one’s personal
experience of gender or social relations.
3. Gender expression determines how one
expresses his or her sexuality through the actions
or manner of presenting oneself.
lGBTQIA
The abbreviation LGBTQIA is short for
lesbian, gay, transgender,
queer/questioning, intersex, asexual.
This category describes who are usually
defined by their SOGIE.
HETERONORMATIVITY is defined as the
notion that being heterosexual, or the
attraction to the opposite sex, is the
standard for correctness.
lGBTQIA
HETEROSEXUAL, or straight, refers to
people who have sexual romantic feelings
mostly for the opposite gender – men who
are attracted to women, and women who
are attracted to men.
HOMOSEXUAL describes people who have
sexual and romantic feelings for the same
gender-men who are attracted to men, and
women who are attracted to women.
lGBTQIA
CISGENDER is someone whose gender identity
corresponds with his / her biological sex. A person can
be a homosexual and at the same time a cisgender
(identify with the gender they were assigned to at birth
because of their sex).
LESBIAN pertains to women who are attracted to
other women.
GAY refers to men who are attracted to other men
BISEXUAL denotes people who are attracted to both
genders.
TRANSGENDER is an umbrella term that refers to
someone whose assigned sex at birth does not
represent his/her gender identity.
 Guide Questions:
1. How do gender, sex, and sexuality differ from
one another ?
2. What role does gender socialization play in the
perception of gender roles?
3. What are some examples of gender stereotypes
and how do they affect the genders?
4. Who perpetuate gender stereotypes and what
does it say about society?
5. What is SOGIE and how is it relevant to the
Philippine society?