Physically, Biologically, and Socially Constructed Notions of Sex and Gender in Communication Science

Theory is an important preoccupation of articles published in Feminism & Psychology. This Virtual Special Issue includes 10 of those published since the journal’s inception that have a primary focus on theoretical issues related to two related topics – differences and the biological. The concern with differences includes the socially constructed categories sex and gender, as well as sexuality and social class. Those articles addressing the biological represent critical scholarship that is working to negotiate a place for the biology within feminist psychology and entails moving away from the view that the biological is natural and innate. This introductory article addresses how theory fits within feminist psychology and offers a brief history of debates concerning differences and the biological before offering summaries and observations related to each selected article. The featured articles can be located on the Feminism & Psychology website and are listed in Appendix 1 at the end of this article.

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Sporting Gender: Women’s Footballing Bodies as Sites/Sights for the (Re) Articulation of Sex, Gender, and Desire

Sociology of Sport Journal ◽

10.1123/ssj.20.4.371 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 20 (4) ◽

pp. 371-386 ◽

Cited By ~ 75

Author(s):

Jayne Caudwell

Keyword(s):

Queer Theory ◽

Social Relations ◽

Organizational Structures ◽

Gender And Sexuality ◽

Sex And Gender ◽

Gender Differentiation ◽

Socially Constructed ◽

And Gender ◽

The Uk ◽

Relations Of Power

Past and present participation in the game of football (soccer) by women and girls in the UK is mostly through organizational structures and legal and discursive practices that differentiate players by sex and incidentally gender. In this article, the author argues that the emphasis on sex and gender differentiation in football underpins a sporting system that is unable to move beyond sex as pregiven and the sex/gender distinction. The author engages with feminist–queer theory to illustrate how sex, gender, and desire are regulated in order to uphold social relations of power. The focus on women’s footballing bodies demonstrates how the sexed body is socially constructed to inform gender and sexuality. In addition, the author highlights resistance to the compulsory order woman-feminine-heterosexual and presents examples of rearticulations of sex-gender-desire.

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Sex and Gender Considerations in Reporting Guidelines of Health Research: A Systematic Review

10.1101/2021.04.06.438690 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Amédeé Gogovor ◽

Hervé Tchala Vignon Zomahoun ◽

Giraud Ekanmian ◽

Évèhouénou Lionel Adisso ◽

Alèxe Deom Tardif Deom Tardif ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Health Research ◽

Reporting Guidelines ◽

Sex And Gender ◽

Research Knowledge ◽

Bibliographic Reference ◽

Main Text ◽

Socially Constructed ◽

And Gender ◽

Biological Attribute

Background: Despite growing recognition of the importance of sex and gender considerations in health research, they are rarely integrated into research design and reporting. We sought to assess the integration of sex, as a biological attribute and gender as a socially constructed identity in published reporting guidelines. Methods and Findings: We conducted a systematic review of published reporting guidelines listed on the EQUATOR website (www.equator-nework.org) from inception until December 2018. We selected all reporting guidelines (original and extensions) listed on the EQUATOR library. We used EndNote Citation Software to build a database of the statement of each guideline identified as full bibliographic reference and retrieved the full texts. Reviewers independently extracted the data from the checklist/abstract/main text of guidelines. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and narrative synthesis. A total of 407 reporting guidelines were included; they were published between 1995 and 2018. Of the 407 guidelines, 159 (39%) mentioned sex and/or gender in the checklist/abstract/main text. Of these, 90 (22.1%) mentioned only sex, and 91 (22.4%) mentioned only gender. In the checklist of the reporting guidelines (n = 363), sex and gender were mentioned in 50 (13.8%) and 39 (10.7%), respectively. Only one reporting guideline met the three criteria of correct use of sex and gender concepts. Trends in the use of sex and gender in the checklists showed that the use of sex only started in 2003, while gender has been used since 1996. Conclusions: We assessed the integration of sex and gender considerations in reporting guidelines based on the use of sex- and gender-related words. Our findings showed a low use and integration of sex and gender concepts in reporting guidelines. Authors of reporting guidelines should reduce this gap for a better use of research knowledge. Registration: PROSPERO no. CRD42019136491.

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Production of Gender: A Study on Performativity in Female-To-Male Transsexuals

Masculinities & Social Change ◽

10.17583/mcs.2018.3607 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 255

Author(s):

Tanu Priya ◽

Dhishna Panniko

Keyword(s):

Social Role ◽

Sex And Gender ◽

Autobiographical Narratives ◽

Presentation Of Self ◽

Public And Private ◽

Socially Constructed ◽

The Social ◽

And Gender ◽

The Individual

Gender identity is critical to every individual; it is self-defined and yet affected by culture and society at large. Gender identities are formed through public and private spaces. Of the two traditions of thinking (essentialist and constructionist) about sex and gender, constructionist formulations are based on performance theory. It believes that sex and gender are viewed as not residing in the individual but are found in “those interactions that are socially constructed as gendered as opposed to essentialist tradition. Within performative theory, gender is a process rather than something naturally possessed. This study explores the process of formation of gender or social role in female-to-male (FTM) transsexual. It will do so by exploring the factors that add to the formation of a gender role as seen through sartorial style, mannerisms, body language, and other aspects that influence one’s presentation of self. It includes the process of construction of FTM transsexual’s corporeality through performative attributes in order to approximate masculinity and come in accord with the social role of a man. The themes that are discussed in the analysis emerged after a careful reading of FTM autobiographical narratives. The instances are extracted from FTM autobiographical narratives; Becoming a Visible Man, The Testosterone Files, Both Sides now and the publication of these narratives range from 2005-2006.

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Neither Idolatry nor Iconoclasm: A Critical Essentialism for Catholic Feminist Theology

Horizons ◽

10.1017/s0360966900030711 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 23-42 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Nancy A. Dallavalle

Keyword(s):

Feminist Theology ◽

Physical Structure ◽

Sex And Gender ◽

Male And Female ◽

Socially Constructed ◽

And Gender ◽

Catholic Theological

AbstractFollowing the work of gender theorists who find the terms “male” and “female” to be socially constructed, feminist theology has tended to repudiate essentialism. The position that results is one of agnosticism about biological sexuality, a position that is only reinforced by the essentialist excesses that ground the discussion of the “psycho-physical structure” of women found in official Catholic teaching. This article suggests that the polarity of feminist theology and official Catholic teaching on questions of sex and gender can be overcome by using the framework of a “critical essentialism,” a position that retrieves the Catholic theological tradition of reflection on “male” and “female” while allowing its claims to be appropriately winnowed by the insights of gender theorists.

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Anglicisma gender tulkošana un adaptācija kā kritiskās domāšanas impulss literatūras un kultūras studijās

Aktuālās problēmas literatūras un kultūras pētniecībā: rakstu krājums ◽

10.37384/aplkp.2020.25.287 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 287-298

Author(s):

Ausma Cimdiņa

Keyword(s):

Mass Media ◽

English Language ◽

Semantic Category ◽

Theoretical Concept ◽

Sex And Gender ◽

Language Functions ◽

Socially Constructed ◽

Academic Feminism ◽

Theoretical Category ◽

And Gender

Nowadays, gender and sexuality have become the object of global interdisciplinary research, and, searching the common grounds for the description of the issue, a brand-new theoretical category of “gender” is being developed in the frames of the Anglophone feminist theoretical discussion. The category acquires its meaning in the frames of the “sex – gender” opposition and is meant as the distinction between a human’s biological self (sex) and the socially constructed conceptions about social roles and functions. Introducing the theoretical concept of “gender” into the international communication outside the Anglophone linguistic space, new theoretical, methodological, translation and adaptation problems have been revealed, especially in the languages, where the category of the grammatical gender is strongly related to the lexical and grammar field and the creation of the “sex – gender” opposition seems to be controversial. “Gender” in the nowadays English language functions as a poly-semantic category – the notions of “sex” and “gender” are used interchangeably or as partial synonyms. Various terminological solutions are being found for the recreation of the category in other languages, taking into consideration the field and contextual meaning. Translating European gender equality political documents into Latvian, the notion “dzimums” is mostly used. Various terms – “dzimums”, “dzimte”, “dzimumsocialitāte”, “dženders” – are used interpreting the works of feminism theoreticians. The mass media do not often translate the term, using the variants “dženders” or “genders”, often in the pejorative meaning, connecting it to some type of genderism ideology, foreign to the Latvian mentality and traditional culture. The aim of the article is to offer an insight into the theoretical discussions about the search for “gender” terminological equivalence outside the Anglophone linguistic space that flourished in the Western academic feminism in the 1980s and 1990s. The article is devoted to the most characteristic problematic cases related to the adaptation of the notion into the vocabulary of the Latvian humanities and social sciences and mass media.

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Sex and Gender in Family Business Succession Research: A Review and Forward Agenda From a Social Construction Perspective

Family Business Review ◽

10.1177/0894486517715390 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

pp. 219-241 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Teresa Nelson ◽

Christina Constantinidis

Keyword(s):

Family Business ◽

Sex And Gender ◽

Expectation States ◽

Socially Constructed ◽

Expectation States Theory ◽

Points Of View ◽

And Gender ◽

Business Succession ◽

Family Business Succession ◽

Gender Lens

This article focuses on how family business succession research has engaged and may be further enriched by application of a gender lens as socially constructed. We analyze the succession literature developing a gender terms vocabulary and five themes of historical engagement. Finding a lack of theoretical grounding, we apply the construct of gender, through expectation states theory, revising the Sharma and Irving model of successor commitment to examine how a socially constructed view of gender shifts and opens up points of view. We then present a forward looking agenda to motivate future scholarship.

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Feminist Perspectives on Sex and Gender

Philosophising Experiences and Vision of the Female Body, Mind, and Soul - Advances in Religious and Cultural Studies ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-4090-9.ch002 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 17-43

Keyword(s):

Social Factors ◽

Final Section ◽

Sex And Gender ◽

Biological Determinism ◽

Biological Sex ◽

Socially Constructed ◽

Correct Definition ◽

Feminist Perspectives ◽

And Gender ◽

Definition Of

This chapter discusses feminist perspectives on sex and gender. The chapter starts by discussing feminist arguments against biological determinism and the claim that gender is socially constructed. Next, the chapter examines feminist critiques of prevalent understandings of gender and sex, and the distinction thereof. In response to these concerns, the final section of the chapter discusses how a unified women's category could be articulated for feminist political purposes illustrating at least two things: first, that gender is still very much a live issue and second, that feminists have not entirely given up the view that gender is about social factors and that it is in some sense distinct from biological sex. The jury is still out on what the best, the most useful, or the correct definition of gender is.

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Women, men, and health

10.1093/med/9780198816805.003.0085 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 415-430

Author(s):

Diane Cooper ◽

Hanani Tabana

Keyword(s):

Life Expectancy ◽

Low Income ◽

Premature Death ◽

Health Conditions ◽

Low Income Countries ◽

Sex And Gender ◽

Socially Constructed ◽

Gender Influence ◽

And Gender ◽

The Life Course

This chapter explores the ways in which sex and gender influence health. There are important differences between men and women in their risk of premature death and in the main causes of death. In virtually every country around the world men have a lower life expectancy than women, although the gap in life expectancy is narrower in low-income countries. Similarly, women and men have different patterns of ill health across the life course, and again the gap varies between countries. Both sex and gender play a part in these variations. Sex, or biological factors, influence risks of different diseases and health conditions, and also affects survival following diagnosis. However, socially constructed gender-linked factors are also important and also affect exposure to social and environmental risk factors. In addition, gendered differences in men and women’s use of healthcare, and inequalities in access to services and how appropriate these are, impact on health outcomes.

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Sex and gender considerations in reporting guidelines for health research: a systematic review

Biology of Sex Differences ◽

10.1186/s13293-021-00404-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Amédé Gogovor ◽

Hervé Tchala Vignon Zomahoun ◽

Giraud Ekanmian ◽

Évèhouénou Lionel Adisso ◽

Alèxe Deom Tardif ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Health Research ◽

Reporting Guidelines ◽

Narrative Synthesis ◽

Sex And Gender ◽

Research Knowledge ◽

Bibliographic Reference ◽

Socially Constructed ◽

And Gender ◽

Biological Attribute

Abstract Background Despite growing recognition of the importance of sex and gender considerations in health research, they are rarely integrated into research design and reporting. We sought to assess the integration of sex, as a biological attribute, and gender, as a socially constructed identity, in published reporting guidelines. Methods We conducted a systematic review of published reporting guidelines listed on the EQUATOR website (www.equator-nework.org) from inception until December 2018. We selected all reporting guidelines (original and extensions) listed in the EQUATOR library. We used EndNote Citation Software to build a database of the statements of each guideline identified as a "full bibliographic reference" and retrieved the full texts. Reviewers independently extracted the data on use of sex and gender terms from the checklist/abstract/main text of guidelines. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and narrative synthesis. Results A total of 407 reporting guidelines were included; they were published between 1995 and 2018. Of the 407 guidelines, 235 (57.7%) mentioned at least one of the sex- and gender-related words. In the checklist of the reporting guidelines (n = 363), “sex” and “gender” were mentioned in 50 (13.8%) and 40 (11%), respectively. Only one reporting guideline met our criteria (nonbinary, appropriate categorization, and non-interchangeability) for correct use of sex and gender concepts. Trends in the use of "sex" and "gender" in the checklists showed that the use of “sex” only started in 2003, while “gender” has been in use since 1996. Conclusions We assessed the integration of sex and gender in reporting guidelines based on the use of sex- and gender-related words. Our findings showed a low use and integration of sex and gender concepts and their incorrect use. Authors of reporting guidelines should reduce this gap for a better use of research knowledge. Trial registration PROSPERO no. CRD42019136491.

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