Chapter 1

Question 1

What is biological determinism?

Answer 1

nature; behaviour and character of an organism, a group, or a system are determined by biological factors

Question 2

What are deceptive distinctions?

Answer 2

not gender differences at all, but rather differences that are the result of being in different positions or in different arenas.

Question 3

What is differential socialization?

Answer 3

nurture ; asserts that men and women are different because they are socialized differently from birth

Question 4

What is the emphasized femininity?

Answer 4

organized around (real or apparent) compliance with gender inequality and is “oriented to accom­ modating the interests and desires of men.”

Question 5

What is gender?

Answer 5

Lecture; 1. System of classification,by which biological males and females are sorted, separated and socialized into equivalent sex roles, 2. Expresses the near universal inequality between women and men,3. Gender differences is linked to hierarchy power and inequality not simply difference

Gender refers to meanings that are attached to those differences within a culture. Gender is masculinity and femininity- what it means to be a man or woman; gender varies enormously; gender means different things to different people across cultures.

Question 6

What is gendered society?

Answer 6

organizations of our soci-ety have evolved in ways that reproduce both the differences between women and men and the domination of men over women

Question 7

What is hegemonic?

Answer 7

ruling or dominant in a political or social context

Question 8

What is hegemonic masculinity?

Answer 8

“constructed in relation to various subordinated masculinities as well as in relation to women.”

legitimizes men’s dominant position in society and justifies the subordination of the common male population and women and other marginalized ways of being a man. Conceptually, hegemonic masculinity proposes to explain how and why men maintain dominant social roles over women, and other gender identities, which are perceived as “feminine” in a given society.

Question 9

How did Erving Goffmann describe hegemonic masculinity?

Answer 9

“In an important sense there is only one complete unblushing male in America: a young, married, white, urban, northern, heterosexual, Protestant, father, of col-lege education, fully employed, of good complexion, weight, and height, and a recent record in sports. . . . Any male who fails to qualify in any one of these ways is likely to view himself—during moments at least—as unworthy, incomplete, and inferior”

Question 10

What is institutional gender neutrality?

Answer 10

The idea that while people have gender, institutions are gender-neutral (rather than being the product of historical and social constructions in which gender played a great role). The assumption that institutions are gender-neutral can obscure the importance of gender within them.

Question 11

What is the interplanetary theory?

Answer 11

The idea that men are from Mars and women are from Venus, or that men and women are “opposites” who exhibit com-plete and universal gender difference.

Question 12

What is the invisibility of privilege?

Answer 12

many men, like many white people, become defensive and angry when confronted with the statistical realities or the human conse-quences of racism or sexism

Question 13

What is male dominance?

Answer 13

system that grants greater power, value, authority, and access to resources to men.

Question 14

What are mean differences btwn men and women?

Answer 14

differences in the average scores obtained by women and men

Question 15

What is privilege?

Answer 15

advantages that come from being a member of a dominant group (based on gender, race, class, ability, or sexuality)

Question 16

What is racialized?

Answer 16

attribution of “race,” and the consequences of that attribution, are a process rather than the outcome of an immutable and obvious char-acteristic. Therefore, race is a cultural category and idea rather than a biological one

Question 17

What is sex?

Answer 17

chromosomal, chemical, and anatomical organization of human bodies that determines biological maleness or femaleness

Question 18

What are sex differences?

Answer 18

Chromosomal, anatomical, and hormonal differences between females and males; to be considered sex differences, these distinc-tions must be biologically rather than culturally derived.

Question 19

What is social constructionism? In terms of gender.

Answer 19

the expression and organization of gender not as the outcome of biology, but as the result of historical and cul-tural change,

Question 20

Can you think of examples of hegemonic masculinity or emphasized femininity in your own life or community?

Answer 20

In a home setting, women do the cooking and men watch tv / play sports outside. The women would obey according to the mens needs

Question 21

How does the “invisibility of privilege” operate? How might you experience privilege based on gender, class, ethnicity, ability, and/or sexuality? When you think of “a Canadian citizen,” what picture do you see?

Answer 21

Invisibility of privilege operates by a person in a position of power/privilege unaware of their advantages
On the basis of gender, men would be subject to invisibility of privilege
Basis of class, rich people would be blind to their privilege
Basis of ethnicity, white europeans, white americans etc. could experience invisibility of privilege
Basis of ability, non-disabled people
Basis of sexuality, straight cis-gendered people

Question 22

Why do you think the interplanetary theory of gender difference appeals so strongly to people?

Answer 22

The theory may apply strongly to people because majority/a lot of societies already reinforce the differences between men and women