Sage Sociology Sociological Theory - Gender Uptake: Theorizing the Semiotics of (Un)Doing Gender
Dec 11, 2025
Yuchen Yang, a sociologist at the University of Birmingham and author focusing on feminist sociology, dives into her article 'Gender Uptake: Theorizing the Semiotics of (Un)Doing Gender.' She critiques traditional notions of performing gender, advocating for an audience-centered perspective. Yuchen highlights the role of ethnomethodology and semiotics in understanding gender, explaining how gender becomes naturalized through signs and uptake. She also shares her struggles with publishing in feminist and queer studies and outlines her upcoming book on feminist parents.
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Audience-Centered Doing Gender
- Doing gender is better understood from the audience's interpretive work than the performer's expression.
- Yuchen Yang reframes doing as interpretation, introducing 'gender uptake' to name how audiences produce naturalness.
Editor Advice Sparked Deeper Reading
- Yuchen recalls advice from a journal editor telling authors they needn't define 'doing gender' for a feminist audience.
- That advice prompted Yuchen to trace the concept's intellectual lineage to recover lost meanings.
Membership Categorization Shapes Gender
- Ethnomethodology foregrounds membership categorization and accounting as audience work that makes gender intelligible.
- Yuchen uses these concepts to show how audiences lift out sex category and mute other identity aspects.
