Gender is not a social construct

[novasteve]

Gender is not a social construct - Science News | Daily News from The Irish Times - Thu, Apr 04, 2013

 

[Michelle420]

[quoteWhat does it mean to say “gender is a social construction”? Too much ink and internet time has already been spilled on such questions, but definitional issues and conceptual difficulties remain entrenched, even in academia where people should know better.][/quote]

A first issue is ongoing confusion around shorthand phrases like “gender is a social construction” or “race is a social construction.” I avoid such short hands because they so quickly lead to an assumption that by “social construction” there is a denial of reality, or an implication that–as one biologist put it–people “generate their own truths based on their own experiences and imaginations.”

What Gender is a Social Construction Does Not Mean

When social scientists use shorthand phrases like “gender is a social construction” they are

in no way denying that humans vary biologically in many different ways, or claiming that biology is irrelevant;

not trying to say that these social effects are somehow not real or important; and
not saying that they are necessarily subject to extensive individual manipulation.

Those short hands simply indicate that many observed behavioral characteristics and life experiences are heavily influenced by social expectations, norms, and roles.

But that doesn’t mean they aren’t real–they are quite real and can become biologically real as well.

Anthropology, Sex, Gender, Sexuality: Gender is a Social Construction