IB Philosophy 8.3.2 Gender and Identity Notes

Gender as a Dimension of Identity

1. The Unit 8 question about whether gender constructs are inherently oppressive depends on understanding how gender shapes lived identity. As established in 8.3.1, gender is not a simple biological fact but a complex social phenomenon.
   1. This topic examines how gender, sex, and sexual orientation interact to form the lived experience of identity.
2. Gender identity is one of the most fundamental dimensions of selfhood. From early childhood, individuals develop a sense of themselves as gendered beings, and this sense shapes how they perceive themselves and navigate social institutions.
   1. As discussed in 1.1.3, cultural identity forms through individual experience and social context. Gender identity follows the same pattern.

Essentialism and Constructionism

1. The philosophical question is whether gender identity is discovered or constructed. On the essentialist view, individuals have an innate gender identity prior to social influence.
   1. On the constructionist view, developed by Beauvoir and Butler (as explored in 8.3.1), gender identity is produced through social processes.

Gender Socialisation

1. Social conditioning plays a central role in forming gender identity. Social conditioning shapes behaviour and self-understanding in ways individuals may not recognise.
   1. Gender conditioning begins at birth and continues throughout life through family, education, media, religion, and peer interaction.
2. The concept of gender socialisation describes the specific processes through which individuals learn gendered behaviour. Primary socialisation occurs in the family.
   1. Secondary socialisation occurs through schools, peer groups, media, and workplaces, where gendered expectations are reinforced through reward, punishment, and social pressure.

Gender Schema Theory

1. Sandra Bem developed gender schema theory to explain how children come to see themselves as gendered. Bem argued that children build mental maps, called schemas, for sorting everything they encounter into "masculine" or "feminine" categories.
   1. Children use these schemas to shape how they see themselves. Once a gender schema is in place, it acts like a filter: information that fits the schema is remembered, while information that contradicts it tends to be ignored or forgotten.
2. Bem's research showed that gender schemas are culturally transmitted rather than biologically determined. Different cultures produce different schemas, and individuals raised with less rigid schemas develop more flexible gender identities.
   1. This supports the constructionist claim that gender identity is shaped by social context rather than fixed at birth.
   2. A child who has developed a strong gender schema might reject a toy labelled "for boys" or "for girls" depending on their gender, or ignore counter-stereotypical information (such as a male nurse) because it does not fit their cognitive framework. Research suggests that children raised with less rigid schemas show more flexible play preferences and occupational aspirations.

Gender Identity and the Body

1. The relationship between gender identity and the body is complex. For most people, gender identity aligns with the sex assigned at birth.
   1. For transgender individuals, gender identity diverges from assigned sex, demonstrating that gender identity is not reducible to biology.

Sex, Gender and Sexual Orientation

1. The relationship between gender, sex, and sexual orientation has generated extensive philosophical debate. These categories are often conflated but are conceptually distinct: sex refers to biological characteristics, gender to social identity and roles, and sexual orientation to patterns of emotional and sexual attraction.