Sex & Gender: Discussion Question

2. Whose views on sex & gender do you agree with more – those of Jan Morris or those of Leonard Sax?

While both the arguments of Jan Morris and Leonard Sax do have their commendable points, our group tends towards the views presented of Jan Morris, that gender as a concept is constructed by the social environment in which he or she is brought up in, as compared to the biological roots of the individual.

Firstly, Jan Morris believes that gender is instilled in us from the very beginning since we were born, as parents (who perceive themselves to have treated children equally regardless of gender) do actually behave and treat boys differently from girls. In a classic experiment, mothers were observed in interaction with a female child, and they treated her noticeably differently than when interacting with a male child. The female child was given dolls, and “girly” toys to play with, whereas the male child was given trains and other “male” toys. As such, even when parents try their best to avoid gender-typing, and bringing up their children as equally and fairly as possible, it is almost impossible to disregard the gender differences between males and females. This is absolutely true, as we know from personal experience of our upbringing that even as children, parents would expect boys not to cry, and for them to be more tough and “gung-ho” as compared to girls, who are more allowed to do stuff that expresses weakness, like crying and whining.

Also, Leonard Sax argues that the biological make up of the individual is what determines his or her gender, and that society has gravely overestimated the role in which social and cognitive factors play in this area. Also, he attempts to support his argument by giving the example of comparison of breast size between men and women, and hence concludes that gender variations among members of one sex need not necessarily mean that gender is a social construct. However, Leonard Sax does not offer enough in showing why innate factors have a greater role to play as compared to social factors. For example, he could have brought up the idea that young men and women who are brought up in a society which places stereotypical gender roles on its community can still continue to grow up to be gay men and women, and from there broaden his perspectives. Rather, all he does in his argument is show that such social and environmental factors have a smaller role than people give them credit for, but this does not necessarily mean that gender is not socially constructed.

Furthermore, Jan Morris states that the more she was treated as a woman, the more woman she become, and she adapted as accordingly. Indeed, the idea that boys and girls grow up to be men and women respectively do so because of the way society pressurizes them to conform to its standards as well as its stereotypes is an appealing one. Furthermore, by bringing up the example of Beth and Adam, who are really the same child, but are treated differently as they are believed to be of different genders, Jan Morris also brings up the idea of gender socialization and how it is impossible to avoid.

As such, we definitely agree more with Jan Morris’ views on sex and gender. They are definitely more persuasive and supported by concrete evidence, unlike Leonard Sax’s arguments which are more opinion-based and without the backing up of facts. Furthermore, Leonard Sax only states one counterexample about body parts to the argument that gender is socially constructed. This only applies to one special case of one body part, and is not a very substantial argument. Therefore, we firmly believe that Jan Morris’ viewpoints are more reliable and we definitely agree with them more than Leonard Sax’s.

Done by: Ng Shi Yang, Joel Tan, Xu Yande, Chen Yadi & Chelsia Goh (09S06J)