Lecture 1 Flashcards
(26 cards)
What is sex?
Refers to biological differences between males and females. Refers to physical aspects of being male or female (chromosomes, internal/external genitalia)
What is gender?
Refers to socially and culturally produced ideas about differences between men and women.
What are sex differences based off of?
Our biological past. Look at how biological differences influence the sexes
What are gender differences based off of?
Rooted in societal differences and how these are applied to men and women. Also looks at how society constructs differences
What does it mean that gender is on a spectrum?
Gender is not limited to 2 possibilities: Masculine and feminine.
How are gender and sex related? (3 points)
1) When you are born, you are assigned a sex
2) After that, you are expected to behave according to a specific gender role. Sex at birth = gender
3) What constitutes masculine and feminine traits entirely depends on the society/culture you live in.
What is gender identity?
Reflects a person subjective felt experience of being masculine, feminine, or ambivalent.
What is sexual identity?
Who you are attracted to
What are gender stereotypes?
Societies expectations, beliefs, and attitudes about activities and behaviours that are appropriate for men and women.
What percentage of boys reach out for mental health help?
Less than 50%
How many boys die by suicide per day?
3
What are 3 consequences of gender stereotypes?
1) Consequences for how we think we should look
2) Behavioural consequences
3) Consequences for how we spend our money
How does the film the Illusionist demonstrate how gender stereotypes have consequences on how we should look?
Demonstrates how corporations and mass media are making money off of peoples insecurities and poor body image. Happiness and security doesn’t make a good consumer. Westernized beauty is becoming more globalized
How can gender stereotypes have behavioural consequences?
Men are less likely to recycle for fear of being seen as feminine. If eco-friendly behaviour is feminine, then men won’t do it
How can gender stereotypes have consequences for how we spend our money?
Rise of pointlessly gendered products: Products where there is a masculine and a feminine version (without a need for it)
How does the WHO define how we determine the traits to assign to a sex?
“Sex refers to the biological characteristics that define a human as female or male. While these sets of biological characteristics are not mutually exclusive, as there are individuals who possess both, they tend to differentiate humans as male or female
What are the sex/biological categories and what are the gender categories?
Sex/Biological: Male and female
Gender: Masculine and feminine
What is effeminacy?
Manifestation of traits in a man often associated with femininity.
What is the gender differences hypothesis?
Men and women are more different than similar
What is the gender similarities hypothesis?
Men and women are more similar than they are different
What does the gender differences hypothesis lead to?
Essentialism
What is essentialism?
Notion that all women (as a group) and all men (as a group) share certain universal experiences because of their biology. What it means to be a man/woman is fixed by nature. “Anatomy is destiny” (Freud)
Which hypothesis better describes the world we live in?
Gender similarities
What is gender polarization?
Idea that genders are polar opposites and have no overlap
