Gender Studies highlighted the fact that gender is a system of differenciation and domination at the heart of every society. But gender is not static and gender studies also showed that the definition of what is "male" and what is "female" changes over time and according to cultural and social criterias.
Moreover, it has also been demonstrated that gender, as a fundamental category, interacts with all other social categories such as class, race, sexuality, etc.
The English term "gender" (for which there is no exact translation neither in German nor in French) has established itself as the main concept of gender studies because – as distinct from the term “sex“ – it refers to a social and cultural construction of the sex and its categories. It also serves the purpose of differentiating biology of society, nature of culture. Nowadays, the distinction between "sex" and "gender" is discussed and the acceptance of an invariable biological term for gender ("sex") has been widely addressed in recent theoretical debates.
As gender is a main organisational principle of societies, the research subjects in gender studies are very diversified. Gender Studies deal for example with the transformation of family structures as new labour conditions are emerging; the consequences of reproductive technologies on the lives of women and men; the construction of the categories "male" and "female" in philosophy; the gendered representations in medias; the consequences of new policies and/or laws on women and men; the norms elaborated by medicine and biology regarding gender; the question of homosexuality in litterature; etc.
Gender Campus (e) > Gender Studies