Gender studies and feminist theory today have broadened the research model of analysis, interpretation, and critique. The humanities, and especially the social sciences, are constantly incorporating new trends into their epistemology. New critical theories have introduced broader, interdisciplinary approaches to gendered subjects in Western societies. After all, Interdisciplinarity has characterized the study of gender from the very first attempts to interpret it.
The humanities and social sciences, journalism, sociology, law, history, and literature shed light on contemporary phenomena. Michel Foucault’s work on the history of sexuality, highlighted the gender relations through a hierarchical framework. Furthermore, the Paris School of Anthropology and Semiotics—with Jean-Pierre Vernant, Pierre Vidal-Naquet, Claude Calame, and Nicole Loraux, influenced European and American scholars, particularly historians and philologists. Gender is dissociated, at least in theory, from the body, that is, Biological sex does not necessarily determine social gender, and vice versa.
The Discovery of Gender
Feminist theory introduced the concept of gender into cultural and social anthropology. Social anthropology is informed by feminist discourse and offers an interdisciplinary framework for research. Similarly, anthropology continues to contribute to feminist thought by providing a cross-cultural understanding of gender and subjective human identities. Social and cultural anthropology historically developed during the 19thο century with Marxism. However, since the 20thο century the structuralism and then the feminism, these are now the two influences that proved to be catalytic in the discovery of social gender.
Gender (social gender) is conceived as a conceptual category of analysis for the social representation of gender identities as opposed to sex (biological sex). With the second wave of feminism beginning in the 1950s, social gender has since emerged as a counterbalance to biological sex, sex vs. gender, and as a new field of academic study. The noun “gender,” derived from the verb generate, translates as "to create" and "to produce," so Gender is a construct derived from the gendered social identity of men and women.
The term “gender roles” originates from the social sciences and medicine, with psychologist John William Money (1921–2006) distinguishing them from biological “sex roles” in his 1955 study of hermaphroditism; subsequently, psychiatrist Robert Stoller (1924–1991) established the use of the term “gender” in the English language in 1968 with the text Sex and Gender: On the Development of Masculinity and Femininity.
Clearly, a signifier cannot exist without a signified; for this reason, social gender conforms to the linguistic and conceptual necessity from which it arose, Social gender now signifies, in language, the semantic distinction between biological sexes and their social representations. Gender is an analytical tool and serves as a constant point of reference in the social sciences and the mass media.
Feminist Theory and Gender
Feminist theory first influenced political administration and subsequently social theory. Feminist discourse on gender and the social identities of men and women did not really take shape during the first wave, but clearly emerged after the mid-twentieth century during the second wave of feminism. Similarly, The theory of social construction has led to the deconstruction of the social construction of women’s and men’s identities. The research model will gradually be expanded in the coming decades.
Starting in the 1960s with the second wave and later with the third wave, feminism became a field of study and research in European countries and the United States. Feminist discourse and, subsequently, social theory in America and then in Europe succeeded in establishing the study of women as an autonomous interdisciplinary field, and, correspondingly, gender studies—but focused on the study of men. Overall, these are fields that collectively broaden the scope of gender studies and reflect its growth and evolution.
Gradually, feminist theory—while remaining polyphonic—shifts its focus from identity to identification: identity is perceived as definitive and fixed and is therefore contrasted with identifications—this is the ongoing construction of subjectivity. Poststructuralist feminism also examines any overarching connections at the intersectional level, beyond gender and sexuality, such as nation, class background, and, more recently, the emotional dimension of social research and theory.
Feminism and Culture
In the 21st century today, gender remains at the core of feminist theory as both an identity and a performative act—an approach philosophically grounded by Judith Butler. Today, a feminist framework is emerging that is closely aligned with cultural criticism, as feminism places identity and the self in a state of constant renegotiation. Identities are understood as fragmented qualities of subjects, often contradictory and never complete.
According to the construction theory, gender serves as a lens through which to view culture, creating its own framework and generating its own distinct discourse on societies and their cultures. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from anthropology as a relational framework for interpretation, the analysis of gendered social identities incorporates the following parameters: representations, gendered normative conceptions, kinship, and subjective identity, and ultimately postmodern identifications.
The works produced are nothing more than the products of a specific system with clear cultural components in space and time. Behaviors, texts, or works of art that completely stigmatize individuals and their art, regardless of the era—and even more so in the new era of the Queer movement and diversity in general.
Gender and Research in the Humanities
Feminist anthropology has broadened the scope of research in the social sciences by focusing on the cultural construction of male and female identities from a comparative perspective. Consequently, in the humanities as well, comparison is the sole methodological tool for analysis both within and beyond a given context. The humanities typically lag behind social theory, a logical sequence that usually spans five to ten years. This ambivalence among scholars is particularly evident in Gender Studies and Cultural Studies, the internationally recognized fields of Gender Studies and Cultural Studies, respectively.
Clearly, and in any case, the relationship between the humanities and social identities remains largely awkward—and just as open to misinterpretation—as many scholars have incorporated issues of gender (and sexuality) into their research interests—an approach that is not universally accepted in the academic world. In reviewing the literature, I observe a gradual opening toward interdisciplinary research and, at the same time, the caution of scholars, as evidenced by the constant recurrence of the same names.
The incorporation of the gender dimension has never been smooth or unimpeded in global research. More @ https://www.cjr.org/podcast/gender-sexuality-media-podcast.php
By Georgia Tsatsani, philologist and comparative literature scholar
