Doing gender: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|1987Gender articlestudies by Candace West and Don Zimmermanconcept}}

In psychology, sociology and gender studies, "'''Doingdoing Gendergender'''" is the idea that [[gender]], rather than being an articleinnate quality of individuals, is a [[Social constructionism|social construct]] that actively surfaces in everyday human interaction. This term was used by [[Candace West]] and Don Zimmerman in their article "'''Doing Gender'''", published in 1987 in ''[[Gender and Society]]''.<ref name="Doing Gender" /> According to this paper, an individual's performance of gender is intended to construct gendered behavior as naturally occurring.<ref name="West and Zimmerman 2009" /> This façade furthers a system through which individuals are judged in terms of their failure or success to meet gendered societal expectations, called the accountability structure. The concept of doing gender was later expanded in the book ''Doing Gender, Doing Difference'', edited by West with Sarah Fenstermaker and Candace West.

The concept of "doing" gender came from conversations of gender from sociology and gender studies. The specific term "doing gender" was used in [[Candace West]] and Don Zimmerman's article by the same title, originally written in 1977 but not published until 1987.<ref name="West and Zimmerman 2009" /> In the article, West and Zimmerman illustrate that gender is performed in interactions, and that behaviors are assessed based on socially accepted conceptions of gender. Rather than focusing on how gender is ingrained in the individual or perpetuated by institutions, West and Zimmerman emphasize the interactional level as a site where gender is invoked and reinforced. They begin by differentiating [[sex]] from sex category and [[gender]]. In this piece, sex is the socially agreed upon criteria for being male or female, usually based on an individual's [[genitalia]] at birth or chromosomal typing before birth. Sex category is the assumed biological category, regardless of the individual's gender identification. This is "established and sustained by the socially required identificatory displays that proclaim one's membership in one or the other category".<ref name="West and Zimmerman 2009" />{{rp|127}} Gender, in this context, is the degree to which an actor is masculine or feminine, in light of societal expectations about what is appropriate for one's sex category.<ref name="Doing Gender" />

However, these performances are optional and vulnerable to disturbance, as inappropriate gender display can just as easily be invoked as socially accepted ones. Goffman asserts that there is a "scheduling" of gender displays around activities, so that the activities themselves are not interrupted by gender displays. For instance, colleagues may interact in a gendered manner during their lunch hour, rather than while they are working together on a project. West and Zimmerman take issue with this piece of Goffman's perspective, claiming that this masks the ways in which gender displays permeate nearly all social situations in that individuals cannot avoid being interpreted as masculine or feminine. "Doing Gender" also comes into play in individual settings such as emotional, cognitive, or communicational behaviors interpersonally but also appears in interpersonal settings such as peer and familial relationships and their expected outcomes. <ref name="Doing Gender" />

Jocelyn Hollander's 2013 work focuses on accountability, where she argues that it has three parts: "orientation", "assessment", and "enforcement".<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Hollander|first=Jocelyn A.|date=2013|title="'I Demand More of People': Accountability, Interaction, and Gender Change" |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23486615|journal=Gender and Society|volume=27|issue=1|pages=5–29|doi=10.1177/0891243212464301 |jstor=23486615 |s2cid=145382164 |issn=0891-2432}}</ref> Hollander describes orientation as self-accountability to biological sex.  Assessment is explained as the process of measuring an individual's way of doing gender in comparison to their sex. Hollander states that assessment holds people accountable to themselves and others.  The third part is enforcement, which is when someone is actively held accountable to societal norms.<ref name=":1" />

This theme has been further addressed by Karen Pyke and Denise Johnson (2003) where they integrated the concept of "doing gender" with the study of race.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=Pyke|first1=Karen D.|last2=Johnson|first2=Denise L.|date=2003|title=Asian American Women and Racialized Femininities: "'Doing"' Gender acrossAcross Cultural Worlds|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3081813|journal=Gender and Society|volume=17|issue=1|pages=33–53|doi=10.1177/0891243202238977 |jstor=3081813 |s2cid=33823557 |issn=0891-2432}}</ref> They explain that being part of racially or ethnically marginalized communities can lead to conflicting gender expectations from society and their own cultural values.  The authors state that white society manufactures and normalizes racialized gender stereotypes for non-white populations. They reference how the aggressive images associated with Black women lead to the belief that they are not feminine enough, whereas the submissive representation of Asian women results in their hyperfeminization.<ref name=":2" />  The authors suggest that white dominance is reinforced using these derogatory representations of racialized individuals to manipulate them into "doing gender" in a way that emulates the idealized, white standards. Pyke and Johnson (2003) conducted a study with one section focused on how Asian American women do gender differently depending on their setting.<ref name=":2" />  These respondents viewed white femininity as the standard, with many citing mainstream guidelines which frequently glorify white femininity compared to Asian femininity. The authors also discovered how the hypermasculine representation of Asian men allow white men to be viewed as less oppressive.  Pyke and Johnson (2003) focused on the influence internalized oppression has on how racially and ethnically marginalized populations "do gender".<ref name=":2" />

<ref name="Doing Gender">{{cite journal | last1 = West | first1 = Candace | last2 = Zimmerman | first2 = Don H. | title = Doing gender | journal = [[Gender & Society]] | volume = 1 | issue = 2 | pages = 125&ndash;151 | doi = 10.1177/0891243287001002002 | jstor = 189945 | date = June 1987 | s2cid = 220519301 }} [https://campus.fsu.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/academic/social_sciences/sociology/Reading%20Lists/Social%20Psych%20Prelim%20Readings/IV.%20Structures%20and%20Inequalities/1987%20West%20Zimmerman%20-%20Doing%20Gender.pdf Pdf.]</ref>

<ref name="Mess">{{cite journal | last = Messerschmidt | first = James W. | title = "'Doing Gender"': theThe impactImpact and futureFuture of a salientSalient sociologicalSociological conceptConcept | journal = [[Gender & Society]] | volume = 23 | issue = 1 | pages = 85&ndash;88 | doi = 10.1177/0891243208326253 | date = February 2009 | s2cid = 144971443 }}</ref>