Lesson 3: Gender and

Sexuality as a subject
of inquiry
 Gender studies
 A field of study concerned about how reproductive roles are interpreted and negotiated in the
society through gender. Gender is a big part of our individuality and society; it is form of social
organization, and it is often unnoticed. In different cultures and different times in our history.
 Gender studies emerged from the need to analyze how gender, sex, and sexuality impact our
lives, especially how it creates gender inequality. It came about in the mid 1970’s after the second
wave of feminism.
 Gender studies is not just for women or all about women, it is about everyone. It explores how
are gender roles have changed throughout history and how it created inequalities.
 One hundred years ago, women are not allowed to study at universities since their role was only
restricted for domestic or household.
Gender role or sex role
 Are sets of cultural defined behaviors such as masculinity and femininity.
We only see the male where men are expected to be masculine while women
are expected to be feminie. This is the norm or the accepted standards of
how to be behave like a women (mahinhin) or how to behave like a men
(matipuno/matapang).
 Our society has changed so much since then; the jobs available foe everyone
is not so much dependent on physical strength making this job accessible to
women as well.
Diversity and Inclusion
 Gender roles are socially constructed and are not something we are “born
with”. Society, through a lifelong process of normalization, encourages or
reprimands behaviors to make a child adapt to these social expectations.
 If a child does not follow these gender roles. They are reprimanded by
parents, relatives, friends, or anybody that they interact with.
 Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people often do not fit in the
traditional binary gender roles so they are often reprimanded, bullied, and
discriminated. They are subjected to violence and hate just because they do
not fit in what society calls “normal”.
Gender studies and Research
 Approaches in Research
- since gender and sexuality cuts across a variety of issues that could be;
• Biomedical
• Psychological
• Political-legal
 Variety or Approaches which can be used;

Qualitative Approach – focusses more on the meanings created and

interpretations made by people about their own personal or vicarious
experiences.
Methods used in Qualitative Approach;
 Phenomenology - conducting intensive interviews with individuals who have experienced a
particular event and understanding their “lived experience”.
 Hermeneutics – understanding the meaning of texts (literary works, art works) and what
they convey about human realities.
 Ethnography and ethnomethodology- immersing in a community and taking note of their
experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and practices.
Quantitative Approach – focuses more on characterizing a population or a
sample, and some cases, making generalizations about the population based on the
behavior of a sample.
Methods used in the Quantitative Approach;
 Survey – collecting information from sample
 Experiment – creating actual set-ups to observe behavior of people in an
experimental group and comparing it to the behavior of people in a control
group.
Ethics in Gender and Sexuality
Research
Ethical principles – a set of principles which make sure that people involved
in the researched are protected.
 Informed consent
 Confidentially and anonymity
 Non-maleficence and benefinence
 Distributive justice
Gender, Sexuality, and Human Ecology
 Human ecology, as a field, recognizes interplay, among internal and
external environments-physical, socio-economic, cultural. Hence, to look
at realities from an ecological perspective is to appreciate that human
development across lifespan is influenced by these environments.
THANK YOU!!!