Explain Candace West and Don Zimmerman's concept of doing gender. Include definitions for sex, sex category, and gender, and explain what distinguishes the three. Illustrate the concept with one example of how someone might "do" gender.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Sex is a biological category for classifying people as male or female. Sex category is the socially required identification display that confirms someone's membership in a given category, including displaying and enacting gender as social norms and expectations determine. Thus, gender is an activity that creates differences between men and women that, though not biological, appear natural because they are so consistently enacted. Examples vary.