Essay

Essay

Name

Institution

Sex and Gender

Introduction

The issue of sexuality has been a hot debate for sociologists for eons. Basically, there are two approaches which have been used to attempt to categories sexuality into major natural groups- the male and the female, and the masculine and the feminine. The two approaches are the biosocial and the social constructionism approaches.

Body

The exponents of biosocial approach believe in sexual dimorphism. Sexual dimorphism is the concept that portends that sex is the defining mark that distinguishes between two genetically and physically separate kinds of people (pp6). Gender, thus, is a meaningful concept and particular characteristics are used to divide people as either male or female. This belief is popular in the American society today. The ‘Social Constructionism’ approach holds that gender and sex are simply social constructs. This position is reinforced by the exponents of this theory by considering how individuals are categorized both cross-culturally and historically. In this theory, it is believed that because there are two genders- the masculine and the feminine genders, human beings may as well be divided into two sexes, i.e. male and female. In addition, the social constructionists believe that between 1-4 percent of the population are categorized as inter-sexed (pp6). These are individuals in possession of social organs which do not fit exactly into any of the two major categories of sexes named above.

The proponents of this theory are suspicious of and do not favor sexual dimorphism. They argue that it is just a claim rather than a fact (pp6). They believe that sex is not an important consideration and so it is not appropriate to make out the sex of someone through observation of their outside physical characteristics. In terms of how the exponents of these two viewpoints perceive sex and gender, the...