Sociology of Gender

Conference

Andrew Carvajal

Questions about theory? What you always wanted to know about

gender and feminist theory but were afraid to ask!

Applying the Theories

How can we explain this using the different theoretical perspectives?

SociobiologyCharles Darwin

SociobiologyMen have a biological predisposition to gain

access to a wide variety of women (promiscuity) / spend little time with their sexual partners They are never certain of their paternityDon’t need to spend much time with their offspring

Men seek sex workers when courting is unsuccessful

Males will be highly attracted to women who look young, as they are the most likely to be at their reproductive peak

Structural Functionalism

Talcott Parsons Emile Durkheim

Structural FunctionalismSex work can play a functional role in

Thailand’s economySex work could be the result of the break

down of the stabilizing social unit of the family

Or, sex workers can serve a functional role in society by keeping men satisfied with their spousal relationships?

Liberal FeminismBetty Friedan

Liberal FeminismUnequal access to jobs and proper salaries

force women into alternative professions from which they can derive an income

The prevalence of sex work and the sexual abuse of young children is due to the absence of a proper legal framework that would prevent it

Or a proper State structure that would enforce it

Marxist Feminism

Marxist FeminismEconomic inequality and unequal access to

property and the public sphere lead women into the few alternative profession they can enterSince their work is undervalued/underpaid they

need to resort to desperate measuresWomen are dependent on men to make their

livingThe family (usually the male head) exploits the

reproductive labour of women and girls in order to subsist

It is difficult for sex workers to organize and overthrow the order of the sex trade

Radical FeminismCatharine Mackinnon

Andrea Dworkin

Radical FeminismProstitution as a male attempt to control

women and their bodiesSexuality as constructed by males and what

satisfies males’ needs and arousal Women as the object of sexuality

Their bodies are used to achieve male arousalInequality of reproduction makes men jealous

of women’s reproductive abilities need to control women

Prostitution is deeply embedded in Thailand’s sexual and societal culture

Socialist FeminismSex work is the result of economic and

reproductive differences and inequalities between men and women

Women’s market value is dependent on their reproductive/sexual appealThe productive and reproductive are intertwinedLack of alternative jobs make women dependent

on their reproductive bodiesOther similar issues raised by Marxist/Radical

feminism since this theory combines both

Multicultural Feminism

Audre Lorde

bell hooks

Multicultural FeminismLooks at the race factor of this phenomenon and

how it may too influence oppressionAlso class

An expression of not just males wanting to dominate women, but also whites wanting to dominate other races

Transnational sex work as a result of sex, race and class dominance

Coloured and third world women as the ultimate sexual objectThey are the most subordinated individuals in the

social order Their bodies can be manipulated and denigrated

in any way men wantNot all women suffer oppression in the same ways

Post-modern Feminism& Queer Theory Judith Butler

Postmodern feminismSex work as a social construction based on a

gender binary of the privileged vs. the unprivileged Man/woman; client/sex worker

Sex work reinforces gender as do so other cultural and individual tendencies of the day-to-day living

Queer theoryHeterosexual sex as a ground where men assert

power over women and impose their sexuality upon them

Sex work as contained within the realm of compulsory heterosexuality