Social Construction of Gender

An abstract: The Social Construction of Gender (1991) Judith Lorber

The Social Construction of Gender
Judith Lorber argues that gender is socially constructed. In fact we do our gender, like we do our race and our class as a function of a social system, society. Lober notes, “As a social institution, gender is one of the major ways that human beings organize their lives.”
The organization of gender for each individual begins with assignment to a sex category. The idea that gender is created by what is between an individual’s legs is bogus to this article. Furthermore, Lober argues that gender is not the result of “sex, procreation, physiology, anatomy, hormones, or genetic predispositions.” Instead, genitalia are only information to parents and society, to provide clues for gendering. In general, we are raised as boys or girls. Unless we rebel or resist gendered norms and expectations the system is perpetuated in each of us.
Our worlds are entirely social. Our experiences are greatly influenced by how we are socialized on the basis of gender. Our “thoughts, feelings, consciousness, relationships, skills- ways of being that we call feminine or masculine” are all shaped by the system that produces gender in all of us. In addition, the ills of this world as it relates to social stratification are directly linked to gender socialization. The dichotomization of race, class and gender where there is intersectionality and the “a, vs. not-a” principle, gender is ranked and women are socially dominated by men. In conclusion Lober’s point that gender is socialized allows for her reason that there is “room not only for modification, and variation by individuals and small groups but also for institutionalized change.” It’s even fixable.