As Connell suggests, gender is something recognisable but is often registered on an unconscious level. From the moment we are born we are placed into the binary division of male or female, the defining feature of our subjectivity. This distinction organises and informs our entire lives – from the bathrooms we use to the sports we’re expected to play. These arrangements are often so engrained into our way of interacting with the world that ‘they can seem part of the natural order’ (Connell 2015, p.5).
English philosopher John Locke posited that everything could be divided into two categories: ‘natural’ kinds, and constructed, ‘artificial’ kinds. In the case of gender studies, people who view gender as a natural kind accept that there are characteristics …show more content…
It was widely supported in the scientific community, with multiple studies claiming to prove that these characteristics were part of our nature. One theory that several biologists conjectured was that the differences in sex hormones – testosterone in men and oestrogen in women – caused changes in brain processes, resulting in differing, sometimes ‘opposite’, psychological traits (Alsop, Fitzsimmons & Lennon 2002, p.17). This belief had, and continues to have, real life consequences for women, particularly in terms of gaining high-level employment in leadership positions. In 2014, American political commentator Bill O’Reilly insisted to two female panellists that there had to be a ‘downside to having a woman president’. He questioned whether there would be ‘something that may not fit with that office’. When challenged on the fact that there are ‘downsides’ to every president regardless of gender, he lamented that ‘men are men, women are women and there’s a difference’. He went on to imply that a woman’s ‘gender deficiencies’ would hinder her ability to be ‘leader of the free world’ (Tpmtv …show more content…
The dating site OkCupid also launched 21 alternative gender options in 2014 as well as a list of 11 sexual orientation options. LGBTQ+ people also have the option of hiding their profiles from straight identified users (Giang 2015, para.11). In addition to providing a safer and more successful environment for online dating, the company worked with its LGBTQ+ employees – almost 20 per cent of all employees – to develop a glossary of terms that could be accessible to everyone in an aim to educate and contribute the gendered language conversation (Giang 2015,
English philosopher John Locke posited that everything could be divided into two categories: ‘natural’ kinds, and constructed, ‘artificial’ kinds. In the case of gender studies, people who view gender as a natural kind accept that there are characteristics …show more content…
It was widely supported in the scientific community, with multiple studies claiming to prove that these characteristics were part of our nature. One theory that several biologists conjectured was that the differences in sex hormones – testosterone in men and oestrogen in women – caused changes in brain processes, resulting in differing, sometimes ‘opposite’, psychological traits (Alsop, Fitzsimmons & Lennon 2002, p.17). This belief had, and continues to have, real life consequences for women, particularly in terms of gaining high-level employment in leadership positions. In 2014, American political commentator Bill O’Reilly insisted to two female panellists that there had to be a ‘downside to having a woman president’. He questioned whether there would be ‘something that may not fit with that office’. When challenged on the fact that there are ‘downsides’ to every president regardless of gender, he lamented that ‘men are men, women are women and there’s a difference’. He went on to imply that a woman’s ‘gender deficiencies’ would hinder her ability to be ‘leader of the free world’ (Tpmtv …show more content…
The dating site OkCupid also launched 21 alternative gender options in 2014 as well as a list of 11 sexual orientation options. LGBTQ+ people also have the option of hiding their profiles from straight identified users (Giang 2015, para.11). In addition to providing a safer and more successful environment for online dating, the company worked with its LGBTQ+ employees – almost 20 per cent of all employees – to develop a glossary of terms that could be accessible to everyone in an aim to educate and contribute the gendered language conversation (Giang 2015,