Sex, Sexuality, Gender Relations

Prof. Mary Barby P. Badayos-Jover

Terms such as sex, gender or sexuality have been thrown around frequently in current
societies. When filling out forms required by your school and other offices, for example,
what information is usually asked apart from your name and date of birth? As with
anyone else, you are most likely asked to indicate whether you are male or female.
Some forms ask for your sex while others require you to write your gender. These
concepts are related but not exactly the same. Let us try to understand the meanings
behind such terms, as well as the processes and interrelated issues generated by these
concepts. Let us start with sex.

Sex refers to the biological characteristics of women and men that includes primary sex
characteristics like chromosomes, gonads, [and] genitals. It is considered constant
across time as well as constant across different societies or cultures.

Gender Relations or Gender on the other hand refers to the differentiated roles,
behaviors, capacities, and intellectual, emotional and social characteristics attributed by
a given culture to women and men. It is socially-determined and culturally-defined. It
changes across time and cultures. In short, [gender is] all the other differences besides
the strictly biological. According to the feminist scholar Judith Butler, the notion of
gender is that of performance. It is “a learned performance imposed by normative
heterosexual societies.” Meanwhile, the American Psychological Association says that
behavior that is compatible with cultural expectations is referred to as gender-normative;
whereas behaviors that are viewed as incompatible with these expectations constitute
gender non-conformity.
Well, we just mentioned terms like heterosexual societies and gender non-conformity.
Let us define human sexuality. Sexuality can be defined as people’s interest in or
attraction to others, as well as their capacity to have erotic experiences and responses.
It covers a broad spectrum and can be considered deeply personal. Some experts also
push forward the idea that human sexuality covers the totality of a person’s physical,
emotional and even spiritual responses, including thoughts and feelings. Sexuality
encompasses a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

In recent years, one of the widely accepted graphic illustrations that explains sexual
orientation, gender identity and expression is the gingerbread person made by “It’s
Pronounced Metrosexual”.

Sexual orientation refers to the inherent or immutable enduring emotional, romantic or

Gender identity is a person’s innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both
or neither—how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One’s
gender identity can be the same or different from their sex assigned at birth.

Meanwhile, gender expression is the external appearance of one’s gender identity. It is

One of the concepts associated with SOGIE or Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and
Expression is that of a transgender. It is an umbrella term for people whose gender
identity or expression is different from the cultural expectations based on the sex they
were assigned at birth. Being transgender does not imply any specific sexual
orientation. Therefore, transgender people may identify as straight, gay, lesbian or
bisexual.

There is also such a thing called gender transition, which is a process by which some
people strive to be more closely align their internal knowledge of gender and its outward
appearance. Some people socially transition, whereby they might begin dressing, using
names and pronouns or be socially recognized as another gender. Others undergo
physical transitions in which they modify their bodies through medical intervention.

However, there is also what we call gender dysphoria, which is a clinically significant
distress caused when a person’s assigned birth gender is not the same as the one with
which they identify. According to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM, the term—which replaces Gender
Identity Disorder— “is intended to better characterize the experiences of affected
children, adolescents, and adults.”

Although we present seemingly “neat” definitions of the concepts of sex and gender
earlier, you should note that not everyone, and most certainly not scholars of gender
and sexuality, agree that sex and gender can be separated theoretically. According to
Clarke and colleagues, sex is often viewed as primary and gender as the cultural “icing”
on the biological “cake” of sex, but a close analysis of sex and gender reveals that the
sexed body is heavily gendered. The debates about theoretical definitions of sex and
gender are beyond the scope of this topic. For purposes of simplicity however, we shall
adapt the distinction between sex and gender that we presented earlier.

Now, let’s try and understand how is it that people generally conform to societal
expectations related to gender and even sexuality? The answer lies in the process
called gender socialization or the socialization of persons into a given gender. This is
also called gendering.
There are four processes usually involved in gendering. One is manipulation, wherein
people tend to handle boys and girls differently even as infants. Another is a process
called canalization, which is directing children’s attention to gender-appropriate objects.
The common of which are the toys that we give to children. We have separate toys that
we give to girls and separate toys that we give to boys. More often than not, the toys
that we give to girls are those associated with expected task that they are going to
perform later in life such as child-rearing and housekeeping. On the other hand, the toys
that we give to the boys are those that are usually associated with careers.

There is also the process of verbal appellation. Verbal appellation is telling children what
they are and what expectations other people have of them. The most classic verbal
appellation example is that “boys don’t cry”.

Finally, there is also a process of activity exposure or familiarizing children with

Gendering is only possible with the aid of certain institutions such as the family where
we are taught to behave in particular ways. There is also formal education where we
can see differences in terms of disciplining boys and girls: in terms of the subjects
offered such as elective or practical arts, in terms of images in text books and visual
aids, and even in the framing of exam questions and answers.

Another usual institution that [provides] gendering is media or mass media. Mass media
consistently portrays women as housewives, emotionally dependent martyrs, victims or
scheming villainesses. Advertising uses images to convey or reinforce gender
stereotypes. Advertising also often uses sexualized images to sell male-oriented
products.
Gendering processes ensure the practice of gender roles—“The social and behavioral
norms which are widely considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific
sex, within a particular culture.”

According to the European Institute for Gender Equality, collectively, gender roles often
determine the traditional responsibilities and tasks assigned to women, men, girls and
boys. Gender-specific roles are often conditioned by household structure, access to
resources, specific impacts of the global economy, occurrence of conflict or disaster,
and other locally relevant factors such as ecological conditions. Like gender itself,
gender roles can evolve over time, in particular through the empowerment of women
and transformation of masculinities.

The performance or carrying out of gender roles usually result to what we call gender
division of labor. This pertains to the allocation of differential tasks, roles, responsibilities
and activities to women and men according to what is considered socially and culturally
appropriate.

First, we would like to discuss what we call reproductive or care work. These are
child-bearing or rearing tasks or domestic tasks done usually by women. These are also
referred to as a care and maintenance task of the workforce and the future workforce.

Then we have what we call productive work. Productive work on the other hand is work
that is done by both women and men for pay in cash or in kind. This includes both
market production with an exchange value and subsistence and home production with
actual use value or potential for exchange value. For women in agricultural production,
this includes work as independent farmers, peasant wives and wage workers.

Finally, there is what we call community work. Community work is actually divided into
two types. One is what we call community management types of work which are
activities undertaken primarily by women at the community level. This is considered to
be extensions of their reproductive tasks inside the home. These activities are made to
ensure the provision and maintenance of scarce resources, such as collective
consumption of water, health care and education. Community management work is
usually voluntary and unpaid work, and undertaken in what is considered to be free
time.

On the other hand, there is what we call community politics, and these are activities or
tasks in the community undertaken primarily by men at the community level, organizing
at the formal political level and often within the framework of national politics. This is
usually paid work, either directly or indirectly, through status or power.

Now, division of labor or gender division of labor results to what we call the
phenomenon of multiple burden, which is the condition in which women perform several
tasks and responsibilities despite their limited time and energy. This refers to doing
unpaid work in the home, paid work as a member of the workforce, and volunteer work
in the community.

The phenomenon of multiple burden is directly influenced by the multiple roles that
women play. They have the reproductive work done inside the household, productive
work in the workplaces, and community management tasks. On the other hand, men
are only expected to do productive work and community politics. Multiple burden, as a
phenomenon, is actually part of what we call manifestations of gender bias which
women are generally the ones suffering from in society.