Gender is another term that is widely used and discussed by laypeople and scholars alike. This post will give a brief overview of the concept, and some definitions and examples, which should be a useful starting point for research in this area.
In common usage, gender and sex are sometimes used interchangeably. But neither of these terms is straightforward. The distinction is sometimes explained by saying that sex is a set of biological characteristics, for instance, what kind of genitals a person has, whether they have XX or XY chromosomes, or whether they are capable of giving birth. Gender, on the other hand, is seen as a socially constructed phenomenon, which relates to how people perform their social identities – for instance, what clothes they wear and how they style their hair, and what terms (such as pronouns) they use to describe themselves. Sometimes sex is claimed to be static, while gender is dynamic and can change over time. Both gender and sex are linked with the concept of power, which I will touch on in various future posts.
Sauntson (2019) gives a very useful overview of the key labels used in the field of language, gender and sexuality research:
- Sex – Traditionally used to refer to the biological state of being female or male. The terms ‘male’ and ‘female’ are only ever used to refer to biological sex. Biological sex (and the accompanying terms ‘male’ and ‘female’) applies to all animals, not just humans.
- Gender – Traditionally used to refer to a social categorisation system consisting of a polarised set of behaviours classed as ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’. Sex and gender are ideologically linked so that masculine behaviour is expected of biological males and feminine behaviour is expected of biological females. The term ‘gender’ only refers to human behaviour.
- Woman/man, girl/boy – These terms are usually used to refer to someone’s gender, whereas the terms ‘female’ and ‘male’ are reserved for referring to someone’s biological sex. In contemporary work on gender, individuals can claim their own gender as ‘woman’, ‘man’ or ‘variant’ rather than simply being ascribed a biological sex. Thus, gender is now seen (at least in academic work) as having more agency and as something which is dynamic, active and sometimes a site of struggle.
- Cisgendered – Someone whose chosen gender identity corresponds to their biological sex and as identifying and embodying the sex assigned at birth. For example, a cisgendered woman is someone who was born female and is happy with their female body and with adopting a gender identity which is broadly understood as feminine.
- Transgendered – Someone whose chosen gender identity does not correspond to their biological sex. For example, a transgendered man is someone who was born female in terms of biological sex but who identifies as a man and adopts a gender identity which is broadly understood as masculine. Transgendered individuals may or may not have had different kinds of medical interventions in order to help them to transition into their desired body.
- Non-binary, gender variant, gender queer (and related terms) – A range of terms used by individuals whose chosen gender identity lies outside the binary categories of ‘woman/man’ and/or ‘trans/cis’. It is worth noting that ‘woman/man’ and ‘trans/cis’ are not viewed as mutually exclusive binary systems in the field but are seen more as continua.
As Sauntson points out, no one set of definitions in this field is uncontroversial or unproblematic; she exhorts readers to apply critical thought to any definitions they read and use, and I would like to do the same here. The word ‘traditionally’ in Sauntson’s definitions for sex and gender above suggest that there are newer, different ways of thinking about and defining these concepts, which she goes on to further describe in the remainder of the book.
As well as problematising the idea that gender is binary, in recent research sex is increasingly not seen as binary either, in humans let alone in other animals. A light-hearted illustration of this is shown in the ‘Animal Lives’ series by comic artist Humon, who illustrates the behaviours of different animals as an example of how many do not follow traditional stereotypes of male and female behaviours in relation to reproduction, rearing their young or courtship behaviours.
When studying gender in animation, several additional layers of complexity are added. Animated representations of people and other characters do not always closely resemble real-world gendered characteristics since everything we see is created artificially (see previous post on animation): for instance, masculine characters may be impossibly muscular while feminine characters sometimes have tiny waists, as in this promotional image for The Secret of the Sword (Friedman et al., 1985) (see also Unger and Sunderland 2007 for a discussion of this phenomenon in Shrek, Adamson & Jenson 2001):
But undeniably, animated characters do have gendered characteristics of some kind, even when they are animals or supposedly inanimate objects like the household objects in Beauty and the Beast (Trousdale & Wise, 1991). This is partly achieved via their visual representation, partly through the language used and other behaviours, and partly due to the voice of the actor. In the case of Mrs Potts the teapot, for instance:
- Her appearance shows some stereotypically feminine features such as lipstick, eyeshadow, long eyelashes, purple and pink accessories
- She is addressed by Chip (her teacup child) as ‘Mama’
- She takes on a nurturing, maternal role, which is stereotypically associated with women
- Her character is voiced by a woman, Angela Lansbury
The idea that the gender of the actor determines the gender of the animated character should not be taken for granted, however. In animation, as indeed in live action films and theatre, there are many examples of actors playing roles that do not correspond to their own gender. A famous example is Nancy Cartwright, the actor who voices Bart Simpson from the TV series The Simpsons. In this interview she briefly discusses the incongruity between her own gendered identity and that of Bart the character:
Although gender is made a theme and joked about in a number of episodes of The Simpsons, particularly with regard to Lisa Simpsons’s role as a young girl trying to assert herself in a patriarchal story-world, Bart’s gender is not particularly called into question: viewers are supposed to believe he is a young boy. In many animated films and series, however, gender is used to present characters in a particular way, and gendered performances that depart from the stereotypical expectations of society are often used to characterise villains as ‘other’, ‘weird’ or ‘dangerous’, as described by contributor Jasmin Awoodun in her post on the character Hades in Hercules (Musker & Clements, 1997).
Thinking about the importance of gender in many storylines in animated films and series, it is clear that gender deserves careful consideration and detailed study. This applies both to films/series that generally confirm gendered stereotypes, ie. many of the Disney princess films, and many animated series, and to those that seem to present a challenge to stereotypes, including films like Brave (Andrews & Chapman, 2012) or Shrek (Adamson & Jenson, 2001), even if they also confirm them in some ways – see Unger and Sunderland, 2007).
References and further reading/viewing:
Adamson, Andrew & Jenson, Vicky (Directors). (2001). Shrek [Animated film]. DreamWorks Animation.
Andrews, Mark & Chapman, Brenda (Directors). (2012). Brave [Animated film]. Walt Disney Pictures.
Friedman, Ed, Kachivas, Lou, Lamore, Marsh, Reed, Bill & Wetzler, Gwen (Directors). (1985) He-Man and She-ra: The Secret of the Sword [Animated film]. Filmation.
Sauntson, Helen. (2019). Researching language, gender and sexuality: A student guide. Taylor & Francis Group.
Groening, Matt (Creator). (1989 onwards). The Simpsons [TV series]. Gracie Films.
Musker, John & Clements, Ron. (Directors). (1997). Hercules [Animated film]. Walt Disney Pictures.
Trousdale, Gary & Wise, Kirk. (Directors). (1991). Beauty and the Beast [Animated film]. Walt Disney Pictures.
Unger, Johann Wolfgang, & Sunderland, Jane. (2007). Gendered discourses in a contemporary animated film : Subversion and confirmation of gender stereotypes in Shrek. In Norman Fairclough, Guiseppina Cortese, & Patrizia Ardizzone (Eds.), Discourse and Contemporary Social Change (pp. 459–486). Peter Lang.