Introduction to Gender and Diversity Studies - Lecture 1

This set covers the key vocabulary, theoretical frameworks, and major figures introduced in the first lecture of Gender and Diversity Studies, including the transition from women's studies to gender performativity and intersectionality.

Women's Studies

An academic focus on gender inequality, deeply linked to the second-wave feminist movement and the belief that 'the personal is political'.

(Critical) Masculinity Studies

A field focusing on the social construction of masculinity, power, and how identity relates to areas like fatherhood, violence, and the labor market.

Sexuality and Queer Studies

A field focusing on multiple, fluid gender and sexual identities, often challenging the binary norms of society.

Postcolonial & Black Feminist Studies

A study of the interweaving of gender with 'race,' class, religion, and citizenship, emphasizing that these categories cannot be analyzed in isolation.

Androcentric Knowledge Production

A critique of science and history where male experiences and perspectives are treated as the universal standard, often making women's contributions invisible.

The Modulator (Le Corbusier)

A standard for human body scale in architecture created in the 1940s, based on a $1.75$ meter man, presenting him as the 'human' scale.

Situating Knowledge (Donna Haraway)

The rejection of the 'God trick' (the illusion of seeing from nowhere/everywhere) in favor of 'situated knowledges' that acknowledge the specific position of the researcher.

Strong Objectivity (Sandra Harding)

A concept from standpoint theory suggesting that starting research from the lived experiences of marginalized groups leads to more robust and less biased knowledge.

Intersectionality

A term introduced by Kimberlé Crenshaw in the late 1980s to describe the interaction of various grounds of discrimination, such as gender, class, and ethnicity.

Social Constructivism

The theoretical perspective that gender is not a biological essence but is produced through social processes, socialization, and interactions.

Sex (Ann Oakley definition)

Refers to biological differences between male and female, including visible genitalia and procreative functions.

Gender (Ann Oakley definition)

A matter of culture referring to the social classification into 'masculine' and 'feminine,' which varies by time and place.

Sex/Gender System (Gayle Rubin)

A set of arrangements by which the biological raw material of human sex and procreation is shaped by human social intervention.

Hegemonic Masculinity (R.W. Connell)

The dominant, normative ideal of masculinity (e.g., tough, successful, rational) that sustains men's power and impacts the well-being of all genders.

Doing Gender (West & Zimmerman / Butler)

The theory that gender is an organized social performance or 'act' rather than an internal essence or biological destiny.

Performativity (Judith Butler)

The idea that identity is performatively constituted by the very expressions said to be its results; it is sustained through 'citational' repetition of norms.

Gender Reform Feminisms

Feminist theories (liberal, socialist, development) that emphasize fundamental equality and seek to improve women's positions within existing socio-economic institutions.

Gender Resistant Feminisms

Theories (radical, lesbian, standpoint) that focus on sexual difference and critique the dominance of patriarchy and androcentric knowledge.

Gender Revolution Feminism

Approaches that aim to abolish the binary m/f classification and recognize a multiplicity of genders and sexualities.

Gender Lite (Sarah Bracke)

A usage of gender as a mere statistical parameter without a feminist background, leading to a loss of critical power and structural analysis.

The Shadow Pandemic

The intensification of violence against women and girls, specifically domestic violence, during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Agential Realism (Karen Barad)

A pioneer framework in feminist technoscience that integrates quantum physics and philosophy to understand how matter and meaning are entangled.