PSC EXAM 2 Flashcards
(19 cards)
DIFF PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER
Biological: physiological characteristics and processes
associated with sex that we ascribe to gender
▸ Psychological: individual level cognitive characteristics,
processes and small group interactions
▸ Women’s/Gender Studies: feminist theory and research
across disciplines
Sociology: The study of human social activity,
organization, and interaction. The search for patterned
behavior and social, rather than individual explanations
for this behavior.
SEX/GENDER DISTINCTION
Sex: Physiological characteristics such as genitalia, reproductive
organs, and secondary sex characteristics
Gender: Socially prescribed behaviors and characteristics often
attached to sex
‣ Example terminology: Woman/Girl; Man/Boy;
Transgender/Cisgender
‣ Gender has two components:
‣ Gender Identity: An individuals’ self-identified gender category
‣ Gender Expression: Way in which an individual presents
themselves
GENDER SOCIOLOGICALLY
Focused on gendered patterns in behavior, and the social
explanations for those patterns
‣ Differences between men and women are produced by
social experience rather than biology
HEGEMONIC GENDER SOCIALIZATION
Socialization: The process by which children learn and
internalize social rules and norms
‣ Explicit and implicit messages about what is or is not
appropriate based on sex category
‣ Hegemonic Gender Ideology: socially pervasive ideas,
beliefs, or narratives about the way men and women are,
or should be
‣ Gender Stereotypes
CASE STUDY: HEGEMONIC GENDER SOCIALIZATION IN SCHOOLS
Hidden Curriculum: covert school lessons that
serve as a means of social control
‣ Creates Gender:
‣ Control of children’s bodies
‣ Makes gendered bodies appear and feel natural
Dress/Dress-up
‣ Bodily adornment through dress/dress-up play creates and
naturalizes body differences
‣ Dresses constrict movement and make girls vulnerable
RELAXED VS FORMAL BEHAVIORS
Relaxed Behaviors: not school sanctioned; crawling, yelling
‣ Formal Behaviors: raising hands, sitting “on your bottom”
‣ Gender differences in the enforcement of relaxed and formal
behaviors
‣ Girls = formal behaviors
‣ Boys = informal behaviors
‣ Selective reprimanding
‣ Boys come to be freer with their bodies, and take up more room
Controlling Voices
‣ Girls told to be quiet or quieter 3 times more often than boys
‣ Boys were told to be quiet as groups more often than as
individuals
‣ Impact: Limiting girls voices limits physicality and discourages
resistance
THE FAMILY
Differential treatment by gender
‣ Rewarding “gender appropriate” behavior
‣ Sanctioning “gender inappropriate” behavior
‣ Providing gendered toys, clothes
‣ Emily W. Kane: Gender boundary maintenance
GENDER TERMS
Transgender: Children
who identify with a gender
other than that assigned at
birth
‣ Gender-Diverse: Children
whose behavior and taste
preferences persistently
and insistently diverge
from the expectations of
their assigned gender
‣ Cis-Gender: Children
whose taste preferences
or gender identity match
that assigned at birth
GENDER DIVERSE CHILDREN
Until about 20 years ago, the idea of a child being transgender was
culturally unintelligible
‣ Limited to adults, treated as a psychological disorder
‣ Over the past couple decades:
‣ Sharp increase in awareness of childhood gender diversity
‣ Shift in psychological and medical perspectives on gender
‣ More people identifying as transgender
Between the ages of 4 and 15
‣ White, well-educated, middle/upper-
middle class
‣ Most were assumed boys at birth
‣ 17 gender diverse boys; 17
transgender girls, 11 transgender
boys
‣ (Assumed boys) Identified as gender
nonconforming at very early ages
GENDER EXPANSIVE VS SUBVERSIVE
‣ Gender Expansive Parents (85%): Introduced to gender diversity by
their children; respond to their child’s gender expression by expanding
their understanding of gender
‣ Gender Subversive Parents (15%): Held feminist, egalitarian, or
otherwise progressive views about gender prior to having children;
intentionally worked to create gender neutral or gender free home
environments for their children
GENDER EXPANSIVE PARENTS
“It’s just a phase”
‣ Attempt to redirect gender preferences/expression:
Tipping Point: Child Distress
“She was having these huge anxiety attacks, and she would just shake.”
“He got sent to the principals office twice in one week for fighting…”
“The lights in her eyes were literally dimming…”
“He started becoming very depressed, and thinking very dark thoughts.”
“She asked me ‘if I die, could I come back as a girl?’”
▸ People who are gender nonconforming in childhood:
▸ More prone to depression, anxiety and other psychological
disorders
▸ Higher risk for substance abuse
▸ Significantly more likely to contemplate or attempt suicide than
their cis-gender peers
▸ 5 times risk of suicidal ideation
▸ 7.6 times the risk of suicide attempt
EXPANDING VIEWS OF GENDER
Self-Education:
‣ Gender variation gets affirmed as
normal
‣ Understand sex, gender, and
sexuality as distinct
‣ Using new understanding of
gender to affirm their child’s
identity or expression
GENDER SUBVERSIVE PARENTS
Gender Subversive Parents:
‣ Do not go through a “redirect” phase
‣ Make all forms of gender expression available
‣ Provide toys and clothes that the child prefers, regardless of
their assigned gender
‣ Restrict clothing/toys that they feel are too gendered
ALTERNATE GENDER SOCIALIZATION
Children from Gender Subversive
Families:
‣ Encouraged to have diverse
interests that both align with and
contradict hegemonic norms
‣ Don’t go through phases of crisis
or distress
‣ Feel good about their gender
‣ Gender is a non-issue (most of the
time)
An established and consistently growing body of research shows
that acceptance and affirmation of a child’s sense of self:
‣ is a key component of raising happy, healthy kids
‣ diminishes risk of anxiety & depression
‣ significantly reduces the risk of suicide & self harm
What is the sociological phenomenon by which we are taught gender-specific stereotypes, values, and behavioral patterns?
Hegemonic gender socialization
What is one consequence of controlling girls’ voices in school settings, according to the lecture?
Limitation of girls’ physicality and discouragement of resistance.
What distinguishes “gender expansive” parents from “gender subversive” parents?
Gender expansive parents initially try to redirect their child’s gender expression, while gender subversive parents do not.
Alyx and Pat both identify as transgender. Alyx was assigned female at birth and Pat was assigned male at birth. Both of their families raised them assuming that their gender matched their assigned sex: Alyx was raised as a girl and Pat was raised as a boy. Based on their assumed gender, what differences in experience might Alyx and Pat have had growing up?
Pat likely expressed feelings of gender dysphoria sooner than Alyx because society is less tolerant of gender fluid boys from a younger age
INCORRECT: Alyx was likely more influenced by hegemonic gender socialization than Pat
