The shifting historical roles of gender and sexuality

Historical gender and sexuality roles in defining identities, ideas of independence, and social formations in American life have changed.

Due to the complicated social relationships associated with it, gender and sexuality are currently very emotive topics in the United States and around the globe. The most contentious issues in the US right now are those involving gender roles and identification. The social construction of gender, according to Agrawal, is based on how society perceives various people based on their biological traits. (22). The male and female gender categories have historically held sway on a worldwide scale. This study focusses on how gender and sexuality have changed in the American society over time and how these shifting definitions of gender have influenced the identities, concepts of freedom and the social formations in the American society today.

With the emergence of the third gender class (LGBT - lesbians, gays, bisexuals and the transgender), the questions around gender categorization have been made even more complex. Since the ancient times, the society uses gender classifications (constructed on the basis of biological characterization-male and female) to assign roles and responsibilities (Frable 3). The role assigning aspect has enabled the society to construct the universally agreed social roles for both men and women. However, studies now ascent to the fact that gender identity has been one of the most evolutionary themes in the world, especially I the American society lately. However, it is interesting to note that the society’s perception concerning the same has been shifting at a much slower rate than gender identity itself.

According to Crawford, it is mainly in the western culture that gender has assumed the most rapid evolutionary degree compared to the rest of the world (1422). The developments of human rights and strengthening of the civil societies in the United States is one aspect which has contributed immensely to aiding the survival of the third gender class, the LGBT rights, and freedoms. According to Vincent and Velkoff, the high degree of racial mixes is a key reference point to the noted deconstruction and maintenance of the changing faces of gender identities (9). With different immigrants settling down in the country, the popular notion of gender based on the traditional classification has been eroded by foreign cultures. Despite the widening classifications of gender identities in the present US society, sexuality has remained largely influential in shaping the perceptions around it and in assigning roles (Frable 7). According to the United States Bureau of the Census,

…the population of the United States is expected to be comprised of up to 53% European-Americans, 25% Latin or Hispanic-Americans, 14% African-Americans and about 8% Asian-Americans… (Vincent and Velkoff 10).

As Vincent and Velkoff observe above, the demographics changes are concerned about culture and the differences associated with it. As the demographic compositions of the United States continue to change, so have been the changes in cultural perceptions, sexuality and the gender characteristics (11). Culture explains a great deal about the variations exhibited in the human culture and lifestyles. Various cross-sectional studies on culture tie the evolutionary perceptions about the social norms to cultural contacts and diversity aided through social relations. This evidence is further bolstered by the fact that humans are creative beings portray the ability to adopt and modify what they learn from other cultures to suit their changing needs (Mayer and McHugh 25). Throughout the 20th century United States, men have been largely associated with stronger attachments to certain perceived masculine tasks. For instance, in the United States, men exhibited a stronger attachment to the formal work environment than have done women. This has been demonstrated regarding the nature of their current employments, the annual working hours and job responsibilities (Mayer and McHugh 26).

Becker (1991) canonical model provides a theoretical understanding of the disparities in gender responsibilities around the workplace. According to the model, Becker (1991) posits that every member of the household contributes to household production which is equivalent to their individual comparative advantages. For instance, men are regarded as the heads of families, required to cater for the most expenses in the households such as rents, food, and medication. Comparatively, they are required to do much than women to make their homes stable. On the other hand, women have a comparative advantage in childbearing and rearing under the banner of the men. Consequently, women have been traditionally assigned lighter roles in more friendly environments at the workplace (Hester, Meyer and Raphael 386). For instance;

In 1950 the employment rate of prime-age white men (18-54-year-olds) exceeded that of white women by 55 percentage points (Hester, Meyer and Raphael 386)

Women’s rights organizations have emerged in the recent past to advocate for the recognition of women in the workplaces. Moreover, there is a tremendous increase in the number of men and women are single parents placing more responsibilities on the women not only as the caregivers and nurturers but also as homeowners (Webber 17). The situation has been enabled by the constant lobbying by the human rights groups advocating for recognition of the place of women in the society (Webber 19). These scenarios have recently disqualified Becker (1991) model above.

As the female gender is increasingly being recognized as an alternative voice in the home, the society has warmed up to change their perception concerning the place and roles they can play at the workplaces. Consequently, women have moved from being the mere assistants at the workplace to ascend the ranks into top management positions. The perceptions change has also been tied to the considerable closing of the disparity gap between men and women within the US scenario over the past 60 years (Hester, Meyer and Raphael 387). Historians and sexualist theorist have refined the notion of gender and sexuality in the later 19th century and the invention of the various notions around it. According to Hester, Meyer and Raphael 386, it is historically coincidental that identities of gender based on sexuality only emerged at a time when the United States was involved in an aggressive policing the illusionary boundary between the blacks and the whites bodies in the country (Hester, Meyer and Raphael 385).

According to historians such as Somerville race influenced the gender classification and identities in the US during the 19th century, leading to the disposal of the homosexual practices manifested in the traditions of the majority of the inhabitant groups in a bid to put restrictions on the blacks and define their gender laws (251). Gender insubordination and sexual transgressions helped to reconstruct the understanding about gender and identity. Although this aspect has been ignored largely in the past literature, recent studies such as Hartman, have interrogated the relationship between race, gender identities, and perception in the US from a historical perspective. Citing the utter frustrations that the African-American women underwent during gender reconstruction in the US, Hartman points out that;

“For Mary Ellen, there was no longer a future in being an African American, only the burden of history and disappointment” (Hartman 29)

In this quote, Hartman notices the social constructions around the female gender based on both race and sexuality as perceived by the biological perceptions. The black woman was perceived as an innately immoral being who lacked sexual sovereignty and thus could be used as sexual objects by all who desired. Cowed by oppression, racism, and sexism, the black women were often silenced easily in conversations surrounding rape and sexual violence against them.

The institutionalization of gender based on race in the American societies further worsened the perceptions on identities and attributions. For instance, Freedman redefined rape by laying focus on the persons and not the law. Freedman’s redefinition provides a perspective for understanding the present perceptions of gender identities and roles whereby, women are increasingly being viewed as sexual objects by the majority of the male sects. Although Freedman takes a racial position in illustrating her position, it helps to mirror the popular notion presently. For instance, the book identifies the black men as the notorious rapists and white, wealthy women as the prime victims while the activist societies are the interveners, working to change this popular notion (Freedman 88). However, these attempts are often met with hurdles from the legal and judicial systems;

Not all forensic physicians believed in these views… Dr. Frank Draper, a medical examiner in Massachusetts and professor of legal medicine at Harvard University, supported the new statutory on rape laws and accredited women social reformers… More typically, physicians worried about false charges (Freedman 92).

Quite often, when the conversations about the need to protect women arose, the black women are often left out, when discussing the difficulties of being a woman and the gender biases which surrounded it, the white women were often focused on. Also, when discussing the difficulties of being black, the black man is always the point of focus. These biases have not only been institutionalized in America but have also been socialized to taint perceptions.

To conclude, gender identity and gender roles are very sensitive issues in the United States presently and has remained so from the historical times. Traditionally the two gender categories, men, and women, defined on the basis of their sexual orientations have been the dominant focus in all societies around the world. However, increased socialization and changes in demographics have diversified the perceptions and identities on gender. Also, this research has demonstrated the role of race and ethnicity in defining and shaping the identities of gender and thus the role. These later conditions, although have changed over time, the biases surrounding it has remained relatively static.

Works Cited

Agrawal, Anuja. “Social construction of gender.” Delhi: University of Delhi (2004).

Crawford, Mary. “Gender and humor in social context.” Journal of Pragmatics 35.9 (2003): 1413-1430.

Freedman, Estelle B. Redefining rape. Harvard University Press, 2013.

Hartman, Saidiya. Lose your mother: A journey along the Atlantic slave route. Macmillan, 2008.

Hester, Candace H, Chris Meyer, and Steven Raphael. The Evolution of Gender Employment Rate Differentials within Racial Groups in the United States. The Journal of Legal Studies, 41.2 (2012): 385-418.

Mayer, Lawrence S., and McHugh, Paul R. sexuality and gender: Findings from the biological, psychological and social sciences. The New Atlantis: A Journal of Technology & Society, 50, (2016): 1-117.

Somerville Siobhan. Scientific Racism and the Emergence of the Homosexual Body. Journal of the History of Sexuality, 5.2 (1994): 243-266.

Vincent, Grayson K., and Victoria Averil Velkoff. The next four decades: The older population in the United States: 2010 to 2050. No. 1138. US Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, US Census Bureau, 2010.

Webber Lynn. A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 22 (1998): 13-32.

Frable, Deborrah E.S. Gender, racial, ethnic, sexual, and class identities. Annual Review of Psychology, 48.24 (1997): 1-13.