Anika Reza

Carleton University

PHIL 2306

Christine Koggel

The Container and the Content

Discussion on the sex/gender distinction

To be a woman or a man in society has to do with more than just

biology; social factors play a part. It is undeniable that women and men are

physically different but what those physical differences entail is debatable. In

the early 1970’s feminists developed the sex/gender distinction which

allowed them to criticize gender inequality at the same time as

acknowledges some kind of natural sexual difference. In common usage

gender and sex are used interchangeably while within the social sciences

gender often specifically refers to the social differences and sex to the

biological. This distinction is important since it does not allow gender

inequality to be justified by the argument that gender is natural therefore

cannot be wrong. Women are part of a distinct social group but what

characterizes that group has less to do with nature and more to do with a

socially constructed identity. It is an identity that includes the marking of

being the weaker sex; emotionally, intellectually and physically. The

sex/gender distinction allowed feminists to have a name for differences

between the sexes they observed to be social and arbitrary and also the
 Reza |2

term ‘gender’ instead of ‘genders’ allowed the emphasis to be drawn away

from the two divided parts and onto the partition itself. It also drew the light

onto the hierarchy that was in place and, if nothing else, the concept gender

allowed the hierarchy to be viewed from a different angle. Both Marilyn Frye

and Christine Delphy make use of the sex/gender distinction in their

respective works The Politics of Reality and Rethinking Sex and Gender in

order to demonstrate how gender roles and a hierarchical system between

the sexes are falsely justified by using the nature card. The sex/gender

distinction allows the removal of the ‘nature’ tag from what are actually

customs and conventions and exposes the inner workings of the ideology to

scrutiny. And it is precisely through this scrutiny that change may occur.

Frye makes use of the sex/gender distinction to discuss how many

social customs and conventions that dictate gender roles are the result of

socialization. In The Politics of Reality she says: “Socialization molds our

bodies; enculturation forms our skeletons, our musculature, our central

nervous systems. By the time we are gendered adults, masculinity and

femininity are ‘biological’” (37) Frye’s quote reveals how deeply socialization

shapes and changes us and gives an insight into how difficult it may be for

some to comprehend the difference she speaks of when she says gender

versus sex. But it is precisely due to this deep enculturation that it is so very

necessary to stress the distinction between the two. Only by viewing the

world through different lenses can we recognize the injustices in our world

since the default lens is created so that those aspects are hidden. Frye goes

on to write of how social customs are permeated with rituals and acts which
 Reza |3

are based on an individual’s gender where nothing in ones’ sex warrants that

distinction or differentiation. The colour pink for example; society has come

to a consensus that it would represent femininity but nothing in the essence

of the colour pink is feminine. If one was forced to argue for the colour’s

gender leanings, but limited to using arguments based on nature alone and

nothing social, one would be hard pressed to justify the feminine tag. There

are male Pink Cockatoos as well as male Pink-toed Tarantulas and there is

nothing ‘feminine’ about these creatures. Similarly there is the

understanding that women stay home and do the cooking and tend to the

children while men go out into the world and work. This sort of labour

division is based on an idea of what women’s nature is and men’s nature is.

However, as Frye observes, there is nothing to essentially connect men to

the workplace or women to the kitchen. Women aren’t natural cooks or

cleaners which is evident in the number of women who are bad cooks or

cleaners and in contrast men who are superb cooks or cleaners. If there are

greater numbers of women who cook and clean that is because society

imposed that role on them and if there seems to be something natural about

the role it is only because the role has been in place for centuries and so

appears natural. Frye notes we are socialized animals and many things will

appear natural while it is not but to be able to look passed that one needs to

first make the full and proper distinction between sex and gender.

Delphy similarly cites the sex/gender distinction as being a very

important concept which allowed feminist thinkers to better articulate their

points of view. They were able to speak more specifically about differences
 Reza |4

they observed between the sexes that were conventionally thought to be

natural but which they recognized to be social and arbitrary. Despite the

progress made in understanding what is natural versus social by using the

concept of gender Delphy says there are still more mental barriers to be

broken. She says many people still view gender as a “social dichotomy

determined by a natural dichotomy” (60). Furthermore it appears to be a

general consensus that the natural difference and division between the

sexes come before gender differences. Delphy’s argument is that there is

not enough evidence available to us to justify thinking that sex divisions

come prior to the gender divisions or that sex differences influence gender

differences. She describes this by saying “We now see gender as the content

with sex as the container. The content may vary…but the container is

considered to be invariable because it is part of nature, and nature, ‘does not

change’” (60). Nature may not change but if our understanding of what is

natural is flawed then our idea of what is unchanging and what is changeable

will also be flawed. Thus it may be prudent to not assume gender differences

are derived from a natural sexual dichotomy. It may very well be that our

socially constructed gender roles influence or view on the natural and

instead of appreciating that nature cannot be divided into two opposing sides

we have projected our binary way of thinking onto nature. Thus the next step

after conceptualizing gender would be to recognize that the binary sex

division may also be our own creation rather than a natural status. There

may actually be three or four different types of sexes which we have ignored

all these years; possibly because it is thought to be less complicated that

way. Delphy recognizes and sites the sex/gender distinction as being an

 Reza |5

important concept in the feminist movement but she also suggests looking

beyond it, to use a little bit of imagination and to try to perceive the

world differently. Perhaps a world where there are more than two sexes.

The sex/gender distinction not only allowed feminists to recognize how

social customs are made to appear natural but it also allowed them to

criticize the hierarchy that is there. Gender roles actively keep women in a

weaker position than men. Frye says “For efficient subordination, what’s

wanted is that the structure not appear to be a cultural artifact…but that it

appear[s] natural” (34). Thus by making the very structure which keeps

women subordinate appear natural, the subordination will also appear

natural. Frye goes on to say another way of keeping women subordinate and

men dominant is to create the image that members of the two groups are

sharply dissimilar from one another and that those within a group are all

alike. Therefore all men are similar to one another as are women to one

another but men and women are very different from each other. This

difference seems so normal and natural given the evidence of our eyes that

it facilitates the thinking that this difference should also mean a difference in

treatment and a difference in roles. Frye does not deny the physical

difference between the two sexes but asks her audience to also note the

difference between a white woman and a black woman. Both are physically

different from one another just as much as an Asian woman is physically

different from an Asian man. The physical difference between a man and

woman may lead one to think that there are vast and profound differences

between the two but Frye would argue that just as humankind has slowly
 Reza |6

come to the understanding that race does not signify that one group is

superior or inferior to another, sex also does not signify one group to be

superior or inferior to another.

Delphy discusses the hierarchy phenomenon in-depth in her article

Rethinking Sex and Gender. She says “masculinity and femininity are the

cultural creations of a society based on a gender hierarchy” (65) thus the

gendered roles for men and women were created for hierarchical purposes.

Women’s roles keep them subordinate while men’s roles elevate their status

to the dominant. In other words it is a patriarchical society which created

gender roles thus it is impossible to expect equality while prescribing to the

roles dictated by the said society. Delphy goes one step further by saying

that sex holds a symbolic value and that it marks a social division only; it

allows the identification of those who are dominant and those who are

dominated. Thus not only does gender have nothing to do with nature but

neither does sex since it only serves to point. Delphy mentions how many

feminists are willing to abolish hierarchy along with gender itself but not the

idea of difference; a difference they feel found in nature. Delphy would say

this is impossible since she recognizes that any difference acknowledged by

society is a difference that includes hierarchy. She recognizes that feminists

seem to want to believe the contents of the cup can be changed or removed

but the container must remain constant. Delphy on the other hand is an

advocate for rethinking sex and gender completely and recommends not

being so certain that sex is indeed natural.

 Reza |7

The sex/gender distinction is an important concept which not only

allowed feminists to critique gender inequality while acknowledging physical

differences but it also allowed them to highlight the arbitrariness of gender

roles. Frye utilizes the sex/gender distinction in her book The Politics of

Reality to first show the arbitrariness of social customs and conventions

which dictate gender roles and then to show how gender roles are used to

make women subordinate and men dominant. Delphy also praises the

concept but she speaks about its drawbacks as well. She cites how gender

roles are made to appear natural while they are socially constructed thus

and about the hierarchy that is evident in our society. At the same time she

speaks about the drawbacks to sex/gender distinction. To say that gender is

a socially constructed concept seems to automatically imply that sex is a

natural order but Delphy would argue such assumptions would be false. Just

as the sex/gender distinction liberated certain thoughts and gave voice to

others, by considering different possibilities other than the sex dichotomy as

being natural may also produce revolutionary thoughts and movements. To

this Delphy says: “To advance, we must first renounce some truths. These

‘truths’ make us feel comfortable…but they stop us asking questions” (63).

Thus we must stop believing we know exactly what gender or sex is and also

what is natural and what is social. Only by forgetting what we ‘know’ and by

trying to learn all over again can we possibly come to new hypotheses and

conclusions and a greater understanding of the world.

 Reza |8

Work Cited

Delphy, Christine. Feminist Theory Reader. Ed. Carole R. McCann and Seung-

Kyung Kim. New York: Routledge, 2003. 57-67.

Frye, Marilyn. "Sexism." The Politics of Reality. 09 Feb. 2008

<http://webct6.carleton.ca/webct/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct>.