In May, Yahoo! news reported on a set of parents in Canada who do not disclose the sex of their children to the outside world. Here's a link to the story & also photos of the family:
Photos of the Family:http://photogallery.thestar.com/995120
In terms of chapter 7, the focus is on families as social institutions, which communicate gender and are gendered through communication. Institutions are "established patterns of behavior with a particular and recognized purpose; institutions include specific participants who share expectations and act in specific roles with rights and duties attached to them" (Sociologist Margaret Andersen, 2006, pp. 30-31). And are characterized by 3 external factors: 1) Like identities, institutions are complex and intersecting, 2) Are often intertwined with the state, 3) Influence and are influenced by gender.
Gender is a social institution and a cultural ideology. Think about gender as organizing social life beyond just individual roles, but to include the performance of social identities. In terms of family, gender, and communication, family is the first institution that we are introduced to. Family communicates norms about sex, gender, orientation, and other identity ingredients. It is our first source of information and one of our most vital in terms of gender and identity. Through families we learn about roles, are socialized into our roles, and give us social communicative scripts to follow. Families as social institutions do not stand alone, it intersects with politics & law (e.g. the debate over family values, the framing of welfare) and work (e.g. division of labor, second shift, compulsory heterosexuality) among others.
In terms of this week's class and the blog, please carefully read pp. 160 - 164(Parent-Child Communication) and apply the concepts of social learning, modeling, and gender/sex interactions with the Yahoo! news story about the sex ambiguous family. Here are some questions to get you going:
1.) How does this article demonstrate the principle of social learning/modeling?
2.) Do you think that more parents should take this approach to gender/sex interactions? Why or why not?
3.) Social accountability is defined as a conscious effort to construct your own and others' gendered identities in ways that make you more socially acceptable. How would you apply this definition/concept to this case study?
4.) The Witterick/Stocker's have received a "deluge" of criticism in regards to their choice to withhold Storm's sex from the public. I posted these on Facebook and it received quite a few comments and most were not favorable. Why is their decision so controversial? Why is society so critical of this decision?
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