An Anthropological Take on Gender
There is a common belief that men are the protectors - more aggressive and strong, and women are emotional and soft. This idea is perfectly laid out in John Gray’s 1992 book titled “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.”
In the decades since its publishing, however, views on the differences between males and females have been challenged. In fact, the very definition of what makes a male versus a female has been challenged.
Today we are going to debunk some myths about biological differences and gender roles.
Biological Discrepancies
Contrary to popular belief, there are very few significant biological differences between males and females, though there are a few. Most noticeably, body type.
Males, on average tend to have a body fat percentage that is 13% lower than females, an average of 13% for males and 26% for females. This is because males and females use and store fat differently. Males have generally higher testosterone levels, which allows them to build muscle faster, so they are able to burn fat and build muscle much easier than females.
While this may seem unfair to women, evolutionarily, it has helped them survive. Females, usually being the ones to produce eggs and bear children, need a different ratio of estrogen and testosterone, the main reproductive hormones. Females also need a certain level of body fat in order to maintain a healthy, consistent menstruation cycle.
Females also tend to have a differently shaped pelvis from men in order to bear children, making female hips wider. Hormones and evolutionary genetics lead to different body types between males and females.
There are also a few differences between male and female brains, yet the resulting changes in behavior are mostly negligible. For example, while males have a larger average brain size than females, it doesn’t correlate to a higher IQ or aptitude in any abilities. It’s actually just about body mass proportions - since males tend to have a higher body mass, their brain mass is larger as well. All in all, according to Dr. Lise Elliot, a neuroscientist specializing in gender differences, “the structures of the brain are no more male or female than are the liver or kidneys or heart.
Sex is not Binary
While discussing these differences, it is important to note that they are all generalities. In fact, sex is not actually binary, like most of us have been taught from a young age. Rather, it's a spectrum of hormonal differences, chromosomal differences, and developmental patterns. Most of us fall somewhere on this spectrum between fully biologically male and female, depending on our hormone levels, body type, and other physiological differences.
Sex does not equal gender. In fact, gender is mostly a sociocultural construct made based on the noticeable differences between traditional male and female biology. And while we have talked about how biological sex has insignificant effects on behavior, gender might. According to neuroscientist Gina Rippon, “a gendered world will produce a gendered brain.”
If we grow up in a society where people who look like us act a certain way, most of us will grow to conform to that standard, and those who don’t are generally ostracized - and without any scientific basis.
Theories of Gender
What makes gender?
The evolutionary theory suggests that our distant ancestors benefitted from the division of roles in society and evolved based on their own survival struggles. In order to obtain reproductive success, it was beneficial to separate males and females into separate social roles. While men were typically out providing for their family, women stayed at home to reproduce and take care of their young. Therefore, over time, males and females developed different traits that were beneficial, different body types, and things like strength and agility in men. This theory implies that it was simply nature that created gender roles.
The biosocial theory, by Money & Ehrhardt in 1972, suggests that it is a combination of nature and nurture. A child can be born biologically male or female, but as soon as they are, gender roles are placed upon them. Social labeling and differential treatment influences how these children grow to see themselves and others, and how they interact with society, whether they act more like a traditional stereotypical girl or boy.
Over time, gender roles have become more and more solidified in cultures across the world. Some are more strict and only recently, some are slowly becoming more fluid, mostly in response to social outcry.
In the US for example, while there is still a noticeable wage gap between men and women, and misogyny in the workforce leads to unfair treatment of women due to misconceptions about gender and sex, women now have the right to vote. We have the right to work and have a family at the same time and we have the right to continue to make change.
The more we learn about the practically insignificant differences between males and females, and what actually makes a male or female, the more we question our conformity, and how we're supposed to act. Biological sex does not equal gender.
References
https://www.simplypsychology.org/gender-biology.html
https://www.sapiens.org/biology/busting-myths-about-sex-and-gender/
https://study.com/academy/lesson/biological-differences-between-the-sexes-lesson-quiz.html
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763421000804#!