American History

The general argument presented in this passage is the view that gender roles in society are biologically ordained. Sociobiologists argue that there are distinctive temperamental differences between males and females by nature, males are aggressive and have more tendency toward violence, while females are more intimately sociable and less assertive. Sociobiologists also claim that gender roles in society are a reflection of the natural biological relations between the two sexes.       From a feminist point of view, sociobiological perspectives regarding gender roles cant be acceptable because they are adherent to androcentrism. For the same reason, feminists also reject all the theories upon which sociobiologists build explanations of the nature of gender relations. One of those theories is biological determinism which is the doctrine that the biological composition of the body determines humans destiny and shapes their lives.      

I personally believe that the debates over the issues of gender roles and relations are a reflection of the dichotomy of constructionism vs. essentialism. In sociology, constructionism is the doctrine that the aspects of the social world (e.g., ethics, economy) arent given or predetermined, but they are  socially constructed  in other words, those aspects are shaped by the consciousness of the members of society (Jackson  Srensen, 2003, p. 176). Essentialism is the notion that everything in this world has a number of properties that are essential to its own nature and others that are accidental ( Essentialism,  2010, p. 1). On one hand, feminists adopt social constructionism claiming that gender roles are a set of norms that are brought into existence through gender socialization and, therefore, those roles are social constructs. One the other hand, sociobiologists adhere to essentialism arguing that gender is something innate and determined by the biological composition of the human body and, therefore, gender is an essential property to humans. Based on this simple discussion, I find feminist perspectives more persuasive it doesnt make sense to say that, for example, oppressing women is caused by biological factors because obviously its a choice.