Gender Studies: History

and Basic Concepts

Prepared by: Ms. Rosallia M. Domingo
 Consider the following scenarios:

! You are in a movie theater and suddenly experience the need to go

to the restroom.

! You are filling out an application for a job you desperately need.

! You and your partner would like to demonstrate the level of your
commitment by getting married.
 The Sex-Gender-Desire Matrix

Sex Gender Desire

Biology (Culture) (Sexual
Orienta8on)
Real Man Male Masculine Heterosexual
Real Woman Female Feminine Heterosexual
 Gender traitor
! One who doesnt fit into
the sex-gender-desire
matrix.
 Gender and Social Issues
! The Issue of Pornography. A struggle between conservative-
religious groups and their liberal anti-censorship counterparts.

! Through the lens of gender, the relevant questions to ask are:

1. Why does the conservative position assume that women should not
be liberated in their sexual expression?
2. How can the anti-censorship position account for the harm inflicted
on women by pornographic materials that portray them as sexual
objects?
 Gender and Social Issues
! The pro-life stand on abortion. To what extent is the pro-life
argument dependent on the assumption that women should be
maternal, their sexuality harnesses to reproduction?
 From feminism to queer theory
Feminism womens studies genders studies

mens studies

gay and lesbian studies queer theory

 Patriarchy
! In as sense, everything begins with the concept of patriarchy,
because feminism is first and foremost a critique of it.

! Patriarchy is a system of male authority which oppresses women

through its social, political and economic institutions.
 Sex and Gender
! Criticizing gender roles as patriarchal, feminists developed the
important distinction between sex and gender, to distinguish
between what is biologically given (sex) and what is socially
constructed (gender).

! Women are not naturally inferior; their perceived inferiority is

imposed on them by society. Hence, Simone de Beauvoirs famous
statement in The Second Sex: One is not born, but rather becomes,
a woman.
 The Feminist Movement Timeline

FIRST WAVE SECOND WAVE THIRD WAVE

Women s rights Women s liberation Individual/
movement movement personal
(Equal rights) (Gender) empowerment

1800s 1949 Late 1960s-1970s 1981-present

The Second Sex

by Simone de Beauvoir
 Women Studies
! Feminists identified the global oppression of women, whether
through Chinese foot-binding, the burning of Indian widows in a
Hindu custom called suttee, or the stoning to death of women
suspected of adultery in Muslim societies.
 Mens Studies
! People came to think that gender oppression is not exclusive to
women. Mens lives they say, are also limited by social expectations.

! For instance, there is the stigma associated with stay-at-home or

jobless husbands, because of mens perceived responsibility as
breadwinners.
 Gay and Lesbian Studies
! Also builds on the feminist critique of the sex-gender system. To
this setup, gay and lesbian writers have added the category of
sexual orientation (sex-gender-desire matrix).

! Peoples lives are limited not only by the inflexible definitions of

femininity and masculinity, but also by expectations about the
gender of ones proper sexual partner.
 Queer Theory
! The most recent development is queer theory, which emerged in
the early 90s from the efforts of people dissatisfied with gay and
lesbian studies.

! Queer theorys emphasis is not on homosexuality or bisexuality,

but on the very instability of these terms. Gay and lesbian may
describe persons oppressed by the regime of heterosexuality; but
these terms, according to queer theorists, may have oppressive
tendencies of their own.