Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics.
Disciplines that frequently contribute to gender studies include the fields of literature, linguistics, human geography, history, political science, archaeology, economics, sociology, psychology, anthropology, film theory, musicology, media studies,[Healey, J. F. (2003). Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Class: The Sociology of Group Conflict and Change.][Garrett, S. (1992). "Gender", p. vii.] however, this view is not held by all gender scholars.
Gender is pertinent to many disciplines, such as literary theory, drama studies, film theory, performativity, contemporary art history, anthropology, sociology, sociolinguistics and psychology. These disciplines sometimes differ in their approaches to how and why gender is studied. In politics, gender can be viewed as a foundational discourse that political actors employ in order to position themselves on a variety of issues.[Salime, Zakia. Between Feminism and Islam: Human Rights and Sharia Law in Morocco. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011.] Gender studies is also a discipline in itself, incorporating methods and approaches from a wide range of disciplines.
Many fields came to regard "gender" as a practice, sometimes referred to as something that is performative.[Anne-Marie Smith, Julia Kristeva: Speaking the Unspeakable (Pluto Press, 1988).][Griselda Pollock, "Inscriptions in the Feminine" and "Introduction" to "The With-In-Visible Screen", in: Inside the Visible edited by Catherine de Zegher. MIT Press, 1996.] and informed both by Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan and the object relations theory, is very influential in gender studies.
Influences
Psychoanalytic theory
A number of theorists have influenced the field of gender studies significantly, specifically in terms of psychoanalytic theory.
Among these are
Sigmund Freud,
Jacques Lacan,
Julia Kristeva, and Bracha L. Ettinger. Gender studied under the lens of each of these theorists looks somewhat different. In a Freudian system, women are "mutilated and must learn to accept their lack of a penis" (in Freud's terms a "deformity").
Lacan, however, organizes femininity and masculinity according to different unconscious structures. Both male and female subjects participate in the "phallic" organization, and the feminine side of sexuation is "supplementary" and not opposite or complementary.
Lacan uses the concept of sexuation (sexual situation), which posits the development of gender-roles and role-play in childhood, to counter the idea that gender identity is innate or biologically determined. According to Lacan, the sexuation of an individual has as much, if not more, to do with their development of a gender identity as being genetically sexed male or female.
Kristeva contends that patriarchal cultures, like individuals, have to exclude the maternal and the feminine so that they can come into being.[Bracha L. Ettinger, Proto-ética matricial. Spanish Edition translated and Introduced by Julian Gutierrez Albilla (Gedisa 2019)][Carol Armstrong and Catherine de Zegher. Women Artists at the Millennium. October Books/MIT Press, 2006 2006.][Pollock, Griselda. Encounters in the Virtual Feminist Museum. Taylor and Francis, 2010 .] subjectivity in contemporary psychoanalysis since the early 1990s with the Matrixial[Bracha L. Ettinger, The Matrixial Borderspace. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006 (articles 1994–99). .] and it is a source for trans-subjectivity and transjectivity
Feminist psychoanalytic theory
Feminist theorists such as
Juliet Mitchell,
Nancy Chodorow,
Jessica Benjamin,
Jane Gallop, Bracha L. Ettinger,
Shoshana Felman,
Griselda Pollock,
and
Jane Flax have developed a Feminist psychoanalysis and argued that psychoanalytic theory is vital to the feminist project and must, like other theoretical traditions, be criticized by women as well as transformed to free it from vestiges of sexism (i.e. being
censored). Shulamith Firestone, in
The Dialectic of Sex, calls
Freudianism the misguided feminism and discusses how Freudianism is
almost completely accurate, with the exception of one crucial detail: everywhere that Freud writes "penis", the word should be replaced with "power".
Critics such as Elizabeth Grosz accuse Jacques Lacan of maintaining a sexist tradition in psychoanalysis.
Judith Butler's worries about the psychoanalytic outlook under which sexual difference is "undeniable" and pathologizing any effort to suggest that it is not so paramount and unambiguous ...".
Literary theory
Psychoanalytically oriented
French feminism focused on visual and literary theory all along.
Virginia Woolf's legacy as well as "
Adrienne Rich's call for women's revisions of literary texts, and history as well, has galvanized a generation of feminist authors to reply with texts of their own".
[Mica Howe & Sarah A. Aguier (eds). He said, She Says. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2001.] Griselda Pollock and other feminists have articulated Myth and poetry
and literature,
from the point of view of gender.
Post-modern influence
The emergence of
post-modernism theories affected gender studies,
causing a movement in
Gender identity away from the concept of fixed or
essentialism gender identity, to post-modern
fluid
or multiple identities.
[Seyla Benhabib (1995). "Feminist Contentions: A Philosophical Exchange", and Butler, J. (1995), "Feminist Contentions: A Philosophical Exchange".] The impact of post-structuralism, and its literary theory aspect post-modernism, on gender studies was most prominent in its challenge of grand narratives. Post-structuralism paved the way for the emergence of
queer theory in gender studies, which necessitated the field expanding its purview to sexuality.
In addition to the expansion to include sexuality studies, under the influence of post-modernism gender studies has also turned its lens toward masculinity studies, due to the work of sociologists and theorists such as R. W. Connell, Michael Kimmel, and E. Anthony Rotundo.[Reeser, Masculinities in Theory, 2010.] These changes and expansions have led to some contentions within the field, such as the one between second wave feminists and queer theorists.
Development of theory
History
The history of gender studies looks at the different perspectives of gender. This discipline examines the ways in which historical, cultural, and social events shape the role of gender in different societies. The field of gender studies, while focusing on the differences between men and women, also looks at sexual differences and less binary definitions of gender categorization.
Academic Institutions
Early
Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sexual Science) was a German Institution that preexisted
Nazi Germany rule in
Germany. The research based institute was in operation from 1919-1933. The Institute was lost to two waves of attacks that led to the loss of approximately 12,000-20,000 journals, books and articles, with others suggesting larger numbers, not including other media materials.
Post-structural - Modern
After the universal suffrage revolution of the twentieth century, the women's liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s promoted a revision from the feminists to "actively interrogate" the usual and accepted versions of history as it was known at the time. It was the goal of many feminist scholars to question original assumptions regarding women's and men's attributes, to actually measure them, and to report observed differences between women and men.
Initially, these programs were essentially feminist, designed to recognize contributions made by women as well as by men. Soon, men began to look at masculinity the same way that women were looking at femininity, and developed an area of study called "men's studies".
[Douglas, Fedwa. Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender. Detroit: Macmillan Reference, 2007. Print.] It was not until the late 1980s and 1990s that scholars recognized a need for study in the field of sexuality. This was due to the increasing interest in lesbian and gay rights, and scholars found that most individuals will associate sexuality and gender together, rather than as separate entities.
Contemporary
Although doctoral programs for women's studies have existed since 1990, the first doctoral program for a potential PhD in gender studies in the United States was approved in November 2005.
In 2015,
Kabul University became the first university in Afghanistan to offer a master's degree course in gender and women's studies.
After the Taliban took over the Afghan capital, the university fell under their control and banned women from attending.
Women's studies
Women's studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to topics concerning
women,
feminism,
gender identity, and
politics. It often includes
feminist theory, women's history (e.g. a history of women's suffrage) and
social history, women's fiction, women's health, feminist psychoanalysis and the
feminist and gender studies-influenced practice of most of the
humanities and
social sciences.
Men's studies
Men's studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to topics concerning
men,
gender identity, and
politics. It often includes feminist theory, men's history and
social history, men's fiction, men's health, feminist psychoanalysis and the feminist and gender studies-influenced practice of most of the
humanities and
social sciences. Timothy Laurie and Anna Hickey-Moody suggest that there 'have always been dangers present in the institutionalisation of "masculinity studies" as a semi-gated community', and note that 'a certain triumphalism vis-à-vis feminist philosophy haunts much masculinities research'.
Within studies on men, it is important to distinguish the specific approach often defined as Critical Studies on Men. This approach was largely developed in the anglophone countries from the early 1980s – especially in the United Kingdom – centred then around the work of Jeff Hearn, David Morgan and colleagues.
Gender in Asia and Polynesia
Certain issues associated with gender in
Eastern Asia and the
Pacific Region are more complex and depend on location and context. For example, in
China,
Vietnam,
Thailand,
Philippines and
Indonesia, a heavy importance of what defines a woman comes from the workforce. In these countries, "gender related challenges tend to be related to economic empowerment, employment, and workplace issues, for example related to informal sector workers, feminization of migration flows, work place conditions, and long term social security".
[The World Bank. "Gender in East Asia and Pacific", Social Development. The World Bank, 2013. Web. March 2015.] However, in countries who are less economically stable, such as Papua New Guinea,
Timor Leste,
Laos,
Cambodia, and some provinces in more remote locations, "women tend to bear the cost of social and domestic conflicts and natural disasters".
Places such as India and Polynesia have widely identified third-gender categories. For example, the hijra/kinnar/kinner people of India are often regarded as being a third-gender. Hijra is often considered an offensive term, so the terms kinnar & kinner are often used for these individuals. In places such as India and Pakistan, these individuals face higher rates of HIV infection, depression, and homelessness.
One issue that remains consistent throughout all provinces in different stages of development is women having a weak voice when it comes to decision-making. One of the reasons for this is the "growing trend to decentralization which has moved decision-making down to levels at which women's voice is often weakest and where even the women's civil society movement, which has been a powerful advocate at national level, struggles to organize and be heard".
East Asia Pacific's approach to help mainstream these issues of gender relies on a three-pillar method.
Judith Butler
Philosopher and gender studies Judith Butler's work
Gender Trouble discussed gender performativity. In Butler's terms the performance of gender, sex, and sexuality is about power in society.
They locate the construction of the "gendered, sexed, desiring subject" in "regulative discourses". A part of Butler's argument concerns the role of sex in the construction of "natural" or coherent gender and sexuality.
In their account, gender and heterosexuality are constructed as natural because the opposition of the male and female sexes is perceived as natural in the social imaginary.
"Men's and Women's Beliefs About Gender and Sexuality" is an article written by authors Emily Kane and , which explicitly focuses on the social construct of social opposition between men and women. Parallel to Butler's argument, this article also argues that gender is constructed as "natural" within our society when in reality it contains arbitrary aspects. By pointing out distinct differences between gender aspects of both men and women, this article reveals the source of opposition that Butler mentions, arguing that "men and women share a variety of interests based on personal circumstances and on social locations other than gender, but men's and women's gender interests do tend to differ."
Criticism
Historian and theorist Bryan Palmer argues that gender studies' current reliance on post-structuralism – with its reification of discourse and avoidance of the structures of oppression and struggles of resistance – obscures the origins, meanings, and consequences of historical events and processes, and he seeks to counter current trends in gender studies with an argument for the necessity to analyze lived experiences and the structures of subordination and power.
[Bryan Palmer, Descent into Discourse: The Reification of Language and the Writing of Social History, Trent University (Peterborough, Canada) 1990] Psychologist Debra W. Soh postulates that gender studies is composed of dubious scholarship, that it is an unscientific ideology, and that it causes needless disruption in the lives of children.
Feminist philosopher Rosi Braidotti has criticized gender studies as "the take-over of the feminist agenda by studies on masculinity, which results in transferring funding from feminist faculty positions to other kinds of positions. There have been cases... of positions advertised as 'gender studies' being given away to the 'bright boys'. Some of the competitive take-over has to do with gay studies. Of special significance in this discussion is the role of the mainstream publisher Routledge who, in our opinion, is responsible for promoting gender as a way of deradicalizing the feminist agenda, re-marketing masculinity and gay male identity instead."[Thomas, Calvin, ed., "Introduction: Identification, Appropriation, Proliferation", Straight with a Twist: Queer Theory and the Subject of Heterosexuality. University of Illinois Press, 2000.]
Gender studies, and more particularly queer studies within gender studies, has been criticized by Catholic Church bishops and cardinals as an attack on human biology.[Bruno Perreau, Queer Theory: The French Response, Stanford University Press, 2016.] Jayson Harsin argues that the French anti–'gender theory' movement demonstrates qualities of global right-wing populist post-truth politics.
Teaching certain aspects of gender studies was banned in public schools in New South Wales after an independent review into how the state teaches sex and health education and the controversial material included in the teaching materials.
Government attitudes
In Central and Eastern Europe, anti-gender movements are on the rise, especially in
Hungary,
Poland, and
Russia.
Russia
In Russia, gender studies is currently tolerated; however, state-supported practices follow the traditional gender perspectives of those in power. The law related to prosecuting and sentencing domestic violence, for instance, was greatly limited in 2017.
Since 2010, the Russian government has also been leading a campaign at the UNHRC to recognise Russian "traditional values" as a legitimate consideration in human rights protection and promotion.
Hungary
Gender studies programs were banned in Hungary in October 2018. In a statement released by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's office, a spokesperson stated that "The government's standpoint is that people are born either male or female, and we do not consider it acceptable for us to talk about socially constructed genders rather than biological sexes." The ban has attracted criticism from several European universities which offer the program, among them the Budapest-based Central European University, whose charter was revoked by the government, and is widely seen as part of the
Fidesz's move away from democratic principles.
China
The Central People's Government supports studies of gender and social development of gender in history and practices that lead to gender equality. Citing
Mao Zedong's philosophy, "Women hold up half the sky", this may be seen as continuation of equality of men and women introduced as part of Cultural Revolution.
Romania
The
Romanian Senate approved by broad majority in June 2020 an update of National Education Law that would ban theories and opinions on gender identity according to which gender is a separate concept from biological sex.
In December 2020, the Constitutional Court of Romania overturned the ban; earlier, President
Klaus Iohannis had challenged the bill.
United States
The
United States currently allows academic institutions to offer courses in gender and sexuality studies, women's studies,
feminist studies,
queer studies and
LGBT studies. Institutions that offer such courses include Harvard,
Stanford,
USC,
UCLA,
Lehigh University,
and Lafayette College.
Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14168 during his second presidency, which called for, among other things, "ending the Federal funding of gender ideology."
See also
Bibliography
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Cárdenas, Micha and Barbara Fornssler, 2010. Trans Desire/Affective Cyborgs. New York: Atropos press.
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Ettinger, Bracha L., 2006. "From Proto-ethical Compassion to Responsibility: Besidedness, and the three Primal Mother-Phantasies of Not-enoughness, Devouring and Abandonment". Athena: Philosophical Studies. Vol. 2. .
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Frug, Mary Joe. "A Postmodern Feminist Legal Manifesto (An Unfinished Draft)", in " Harvard Law Review", Vol. 105, No. 5, March, 1992, pp. 1045–1075.
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External links
