Lecture 8 Gender Flashcards
what is gender
the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activists, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women
what is sex
the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women
what is the difference between sex and gender
gender is something that is performed, sex is an innate feature of our bodies
what is gender identity
an inner sense of belonging to one, several, or no particular gender(s)
what are gender roles
the behavior, attitudes and markers ascribed to men and women by society
what is an example of male gender roles
authoritative, and confident
what is an example of female gender roles
emotionally expressive, traditional femininity, (bad bitches)
how do we learn gender
an early age, and over the life course, we imitate, reject, and approximate different gender roles via primary and secondary socialization
how does media reinforce gender expectations (specific example)
movies like top gun link masculinity to power
who do we perform gender for
audience members ranging from friends, family and intimate partners to workplace colleagues, the states, medical professionals..
what do sociologists understand gender as
something that is accomplished, not something innate
what two main sociologists published work on gender
West and Zimmerman
how does gender perform relate to crime response
police may use “risk taking behavior” as a way to show a failure to perform gender rather than blaming a particular crime
how media portrayals of white women vs indigenous women differ
When gender conforming white women go missing, they’re pictures tend to be profiled larger, they are given first and last name, as well as an extensive description on their life. While indigenous women who may not conform to gender roles, stories are brief, news reports are brief, and posters do not communicate as well
how is gender accomplished
clothes, hairstyles, speech, vocal pitch, word choice, tastes, emotional expressiveness
how does gender roles affect sexual assault victims
Many sexual assault victims may be deemed as not “doing gender” correctly resulting in the crime
what are negative gender assessments of men
Imperiled job security
Imperiled sexual capital
Fragile social status
what are positive gender assessments of men
Feminine capital
Enhanced sexual capital
Social status/cachet/competency
explain the example of tom and gender roles
Tom, may own his own construction company, unaware of the web of actors, he’s single and lives a tame life in vancouver. He identifies as gay, and from a young age he is mistreated for not conforming to masculine standards. “Real boys don’t cry”, “be a man”. The impossible to obtain masculine standards to never express emotion, have a very profound negative mental health impact. Can lead to self-esteem issues
what are the negative gender assessments for women
Imperiled job security
Imperiled sexual capital via feminization and homophobia
Fragile social status
what are the positive gender assessment for women
Masculine capital
Patriarchal dividend
social status/cachet/ ad competency
what is jock insurance
Young men who don’t conform to bodily and character traits of masculinity, if they were good ad sports, jock insurance prevents negative gender attributions
who coined the term jock insurance
Pascoe
what is hegemonic masculinity
configuration of gender practice which embodies the currently accepted answer to the problem of the legitimacy of patriarchy
