Question
Gender, Sex, Race, Science and the State
Workshop
Gender, Sex, Race, Science
& the State
Complete the assigned readings and watch the video lecture. Then, carefully examine the documents below. Respond to the following prompts and submit your answers via Canvas:
Based on the video lecture consider:
●How did the emergence of the field of sexology and the creation of a hetorsexual/homosexual binary shape attitudes toward sex and gender?
● How did sexological theories and the creation of a hetorsexual/homosexual binary shape immigration policy?
○Brief Answer:
○Specific Example from Lecture:
○ Specific Example from Assigned Readings:
● How did sexological theories and the creation of a hetorsexual/homosexual binary shape views of feminism and the women’s suffrage movement?
○Brief Answer:
○Specific Example from Lecture:
○ Specific Example from Assigned Readings:
Based on the documents below consider:
● What was the real-world impact of this shift on attitudes toward Boston marriages and individuals like Sperry/Laughlin and Marks/Woolley?
●What was the real-world impact of this shift on attitudes toward immigrants and individuals like George McBurney?
● What was the real-world impact of this shift on attitudes toward suffragists and individual suffragists?
Source A
Gail Laughlin & Mary Sperry
Source: “Sperry Will Contest Case Compromised.” San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California). November, 30, 1920. 3Context: Gail Laughlin and Dr. Mary Sperry were prominent suffragists and professional women who lived together in a Boston marriage. When Sperry passed away in 1920, tensions over their relationship was clear in Sperry’s mother’s implication that Laughlin was a predatory lesbian and therefore an “abnormal” woman.
Source B
Mary Woolley and Jeannette Marks
Source: Letter from Rogers D. Rusk to the Conference Committee. March 18, 1935. Mount Holyoke College.Context: Mary Emma Woolley and Jeannette Augustus Marks lived together in a Boston marriage for over 50 years. In the 1920s and 1930s, Marks and Woolley’s relationship, however, came under increasing scrutiny. The Board of Trustees of the university began to question Woolley’s suitability as President of the college based in part on her relationship with Marks and in part in a growing sexist sentiment that women could not properly serve as leaders of universities. Women were increasingly confined to stricter gender roles that expected them to primarily serve as wives and mothers. Some critics noted that Woolley had never married or had children. The University Trustees voted to replace her in 1937, with a male president of the university. They noted he was a good “family man.”
Letter from Rogers D. Rusk to the Conference Committee, 1935:
“The election of a man president would help to correct one of the greatest complaints heard from coast to coast outside of the college, and well recognized within – that is, over-feminization. The time is past when Mount Holyoke can afford to be known by anyone inside or outside of the college as a woman’s world – run by caprice and whim. Whoever is elected president must be able to correct this and must introduce to the college more of the healthy aspect of family life, with a sufficient male representation on the faculty to avoid the criticism of the outer world.”
Source: Immigration and Naturalization Service, File Unit 54153/140 George W. McBurneyNational Archives and Records Administration1916-04-01/1916-07-08, https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/NwELQmGjvlJXiw?childassetid=ZgFD-JiTZtkvwA
Context: Samuel James “Jim” South and George McBurney met and became lovers while living in Toronto. They exchanged numerous letters such as this one that revealed that they had romantic feelings for each other. McBurney even purchased a ring for South as a symbol of his affection engraved with the saying “Love finds its way.” South and McBurney both immigrated to the United States from Canada in 1915But, homophobia and transphobia shaped the development of exclusionary United States immigration policy. In 1907, Congress passed a law stating that immigrants could be denied entry or be deported for having been “convicted of or admit having committed a felony or other crime or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude.” Homosexuality was included in this category. In the spring of 1916, McBurney and South were called into the U.S. Immigration Office in Detroit after a complaint had been filed against them for “committing acts against nature” which was a euphemism for homosexuality. This letter written from McBurney to South was used as evidence in his immigration case. Immigration officials noted the “endearing effeminate manner” of the letters and pointed to it as proof that the two men were gay and had therefore committed a crime. South confessed to their relationship. Before he was deported, South voluntarily returned to Canada on June 20, 1916. McBurney however insisted that he had not been convicted of any crime and refused to admit guilt. Immigration officials therefore used the broader category of “likely to become a public charge” as justification for deporting him. On June 29, 1916, McBurney was forced to return back to Canada.
The Masculine Woman
Source: “The Masculine Woman.” Illustrated Post Card & Novelty Company. New York. 1905. Marshall Weeks collectionContext: Suffragists were frequently depicted as mannish or masculine women. Postcards like this mocked suffragists and their demand for equal rights as indicators that they were abnormal women.
Expert Solution
Question
1:The advent and ultimate development of the field of sexology and the
establishment of the homosexual and heterosexual binary are characterized by
huge impacts on molding attitudes towards gender and sexual orientation. The
lecture video demonstrates that Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, who was among the first
people to publicly declare and advocate for homosexual rights, would frequently
use the term ‘urnings’ to describe same-sex characterized relationships. Such
works would effectively challenge the prevailing attitudes toward same-sex
relationships and would influence emergence of homosexual and heterosexual
binary. Sexology theories would frequently incline toward categorizing people
into rigid classes of homosexual and heterosexual, which resulted in
marginalization and stigmatization of non-heteronormative characteristics.
Sexology theories would perpetuate the concept that heterosexuality was normal
and traditionally upright, and would deem any deviation from it as abnormal or
deviant. These theories would often reinforce societal expectations of
gender-linked norms and roles, and the ideology that binary gender was fixed
and natural. Theories of sexology and the creation of homosexual and
heterosexual binary denotes a framework that the society would use to classify
immigrants based on perceived gender and sexuality. Chapter 2 demonstrates that
immigrants, particularly transgender and non-binary individuals and did not
necessarily conform to heterosexual norms would face scrutiny, discrimination,
and exclusion and based on moral judgements and the fear to corrupt the
society.
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