Dear Pasi Malmi , I take the liberty of mentioning some elements of the social sciences in relation to the gender approach, and the concepts of femininity and masculinity. In the hope that the disciplinary complementarity may be useful in line with its objectives.

The dialogue between sex and gender has evolved in parallel with the transformations that have historically taken place in the relations between men and women.

In 1955, based on the ideas of John Money, the gender approach appeared as a theory in psychology. Psychologists wondered why there were people who behaved strangely from a sexual point of view, who did not correspond to what was expected and who did not conform either to culture or to the norms established by society.

Later, other thinkers reflected on these issues and revealed that different societies and cultures develop particular ways of being a woman and a man, which they called gender. They not only took into account psychological aspects, but also recognised the existence of both sexes at the same time, all of which are able to characterise individuals with specific qualities that are defined by the fact of being born female or male. Therefore, the term gender or gender relations refers to the attributes, values and practices assigned to men and women in a society.

From the second half of the 20th century onwards, the traits of femininity and masculinity began to be seen more and more strongly as the result of the assignment of roles or functions to each of the sexes by society. In this way, the term gender, which initially had a purely grammatical use, became a category used by the social sciences to study the differences between men and women.

The recognition of the importance of gender in public policy, and its consequences, is something of transcendence in recent decades, which has implied an arduous task for non-governmental organisations concerned with the recognition of women's rights.

Currently, the term gender is used to indicate the set of differentiated characteristics that each society assigns to women and men, which are vital because they define people's existence, that is, they are not formal particularities, but behaviours, ways of acting and thinking that give meaning to life and determine to a large extent their existence.

Sorry if the content does not relate to your question, and apologies for the length. Regards

Fernando

Estimado Pasi, me tomo el atrevimiento de hacer mención a algunos elementos de las ciencias sociales en relación al enfoque de género, y a los conceptos feminidad y masculinidad. Con el deseo que la complementariedad disciplinaria, pueda ser de utilidad en línea con sus objetivos.

El diálogo entre sexo y género ha evolucionado paralelamente a las transformaciones que se han operado históricamente en las relaciones entre varón y mujer.

En 1955, a partir de las ideas de John Money, el enfoque de género aparece como una teoría de la psicología. Los psicólogos se preguntaban por qué había personas que tenían comportamientos extraños desde el punto de vista sexual, que no se correspondían con lo esperado y que no se ajustaban ni a la cultura ni a las normas establecidas por la sociedad.

Posteriormente, otros pensadores reflexionaron sobre estos temas y develaron que las diferentes sociedades y culturas desarrollan formas particulares de ser mujer y de ser hombre, a esas formas le llamaron género. No sólo tomaron en cuenta los aspectos psicológicos, también reconocieron la existencia de los dos sexos, al mismo tiempo, todo lo cual es capaz de caracterizar a los individuos con cualidades específicas que se definen según el hecho de haber nacido hembra o macho. Por tanto, el término género o las relaciones de género hace referencia a los atributos, valores y prácticas asignados a hombres y mujeres en una sociedad.

A partir de la segunda mitad del siglo XX empieza a considerarse, cada vez con más fuerza, que los rasgos propios de la feminidad y la masculinidad obedecen a la asignación de roles o funciones de cada uno de los sexos por parte de la sociedad. De esta manera, la expresión género, que en un principio tenía un uso meramente gramatical, pasó a convertirse en una categoría utilizada por las ciencias sociales para el estudio de las diferencias entre varón y mujer.

El reconocimiento de la importancia del tema del género dentro de las políticas públicas, y sus consecuencias, es algo de transcendencia en las últimas décadas, que implico una ardua tarea de las organizaciones no gubernamentales que se ocupan del reconocimiento de los derechos de la mujer.

En la actualidad, se utiliza el término género para señalar el conjunto de características diferenciadas que cada sociedad asigna a las mujeres y a los hombres, son vitales porque definen la existencia de las personas, es decir, no son particularidades de tipo formal, sino conductas, formas de actuar y pensar que dan sentido a la vida y determinan en gran parte su existencia.

Perdón si el contenido no se relaciona a su pregunta, y disculpas por la extensión. Saludos,

Fernando (desde Argentina)

Estimado Fernando Ariel Manzano , gracias por su respuesta!

I am aware that "social construction of gender" is the dominant theory within social sciences. That is why I wanted to know, if there are other scholars than myself and Riane Eisler, who consider gender as socially constructed within the modalities set up by the biological attractors that are tuned up by hormones and genes. I do not mean biological essentialism, I mean the application of chaos theory and the concept of attractors to the construction of gender.

If you do not know examples of such tradition, could you possibly point out some dominant works of gender studies, which led to the almost complete ignorance of biologal factors in the theories of gender? Or do you possibly know any good references to texts in which scholars of gender studies conclude that biology is relatively insignificant and that all the measured differences between "testodriven" and "estrodriven" persons socially constructed (and that the tendency of women, to become socially less skillful if they receive big quantities of testosterone, is also socially constructed).

One interesting thread of discussion might be the construction of homosexuality. It feels a bit controversial to claim that gender is 100% socially constructed (meaning that gender can be changed during one's lifetime) while homosexuality would be 100% biologically constructed (meaning that it cannot be easily changed to heterosexuality during one's lifetime). So, if we assume that homosexuality is biologically determined, why is it almost a "tabu" in the gender studies to conclude that also gender is partially determined by biology?

Thank you for giving us food for thought.

I share your appreciation, and I humbly consider that it is one more example of the lack of interdisciplinary work.

Greetings and thanks

Fernando (from Argentina)

Gracias a usted por hacernos reflexionar.

Comparto su apreciación, y considero humildemente que es un ejemplo más de la falta de trabajo interdisciplinar.

Saludos y gracias

Fernando (desde Argentina)