Gender, Sex, and Sexuality - Unit 12

Gender

Behaviors, personal traits, and social positions that society attributes to being female or male.

Sex

The presence of physical or physiological differences between males and females, including reproductive systems.

Gender Identity

A person's deeply held internal perception of their gender.

Sexual Orientation

A person's physical, mental, emotional, and sexual attraction to a particular sex.

Heteronormativity

A societal assumption that sexual orientation is biologically determined and unambiguous.

Heterosexism

An ideology and institutional practice that privileges heterosexuals and heterosexuality over other sexual orientations.

Gender Role

Society's concept of how men and women are expected to look and how they should behave.

Transgender

Identifying with behaviors and characteristics other than the gender assigned at birth.

Gender Dysphoria

A condition in the DSM-5 where people undergo a level of significant distress for at least six months regarding their gender.

Intersex

Having hormonal, chromosomal, or physical characteristics that differ from typical male or female development.

Sexism

The prejudiced belief that one sex should be valued over another.

Doing Gender

The performance of tasks based upon the gender assigned to us by society and ourselves.

Social Construction of Sexuality

Socially created definitions about the cultural appropriateness of sex-linked behavior.

Biological Determinism

The belief that men and women behave differently due to inherent biological sex differences.

Queer Theory

An interdisciplinary approach to sexuality studies that questions how we think about sexual orientation.