Week #9 Gender and Sexuality: Identities, Performances, and Practices

The Genderbread Person: Categories that Constitute the Individual

Gender Identity

woman, genderqueer, man

The Genderbread Person: Categories that Constitute the Individual

Gender Expression

feminine, androgynous, masculine

The Genderbread Person: Categories that Constitute the Individual

Biological Sex

female, intersex, male

The Genderbread Person: Categories that Constitute the Individual

Sexual Orientation

heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual

The Genderbread Person: Categories that Constitute the Individual

T/F: The categories can be independent of each other

True

sex

physical or physiological differences between males and females, including both primary sex characteristics (the reproductive system) and secondary characteristics such as height and muscularity

T/F: Sex is relatively fixed at the biological and chromosomal level

True, with the exception of intersex individuals

intersex

people born w a variety of conditions associated w reproductive, chromosomal, and/or sexual anatomy that does not conform to medico-cultural sex categories

gender

based on a set of social or cultural distinctions associated with being male or female

T/F: Gender is fixed

False; Gender is not fixed, but is fluid

ex: androgynous, cisgender, transgender

androgynous

neither masculine nor feminine

cisgender

people whose gender corresponds to their birth sex

transgender

people whose gender does not correspond to their birth sex

sexuality

sexual identity, attraction, and experiences which may or may not align with sex and gender

• often termed sexual orientation

essentialism

perspective that explains social phenomena in terms of natural, biological, or evolutionary inevitabilities

ex: Andrew Tate --> men are more analytical and more inclined mathematically than women (sexist takes)

gender role socialization

process through which individuals learn the norms and behaviors that are associated with masculinity and femininity

• Pink vs. blue, trucks vs. dolls, tutus vs. not

• This process leads to gender disparities (social, economic) and the gendered division of labor

patriarchy

a social system in which power is primarily vested in men

• Symbolic example: patrilineal identity (ex: father's name/line)

• Empirical example: gender wage gap

heteronormativity

the ideology and attendant cultural (ex: norms) and institutional (ex: legal privileges) arrangements that promote heterosexuality as the dominant and preferred sexual orientation

• "When did you tell your parents you were gay?"

hegemonic masculinity

the current configuration of practice that legitimizes men's dominant position in society and justifies the subordination of women, and other marginalized ways of being a man

toxic masculinity

harmful, narrow, and repressive versions of masculinity that can negatively impact both men and women, often characterized by traits like dominance, emotional suppression, and aggression

• Ex: "Manosphere" influencer (and accused rapist and human trafficker) Andrew Tate

T/F: Toxic masculinity is particularity determinantal to health

True

T/F: Toxic masculinity is uniquely harmful to cisgendered men

True; culture is telling males how you must be according to hegemonic masculinity: be violent and repress your emotions, be unemotional

liberal feminism

works within the structure of mainstream society to integrate women into that structure

• Ex: proposal of the Equal Rights Amendment; state (Title IX) and University policy (CWRU Non-Discrimination Policy)

radical feminism

holds that oppression of women is the most fundamental form of oppression

• Ex: "smash patriarchy"

socialist feminism

draws on both radical feminism and Marxism to critique patriarchy and its roots in the capital system

• Ex: the 'male-breadwinner' model; gender pay gap

cultural feminism

aims to create a vanguard of feminist (public) intellectuals to do research and advocate for gender equality

• Ex: women's studies programs

Who is Judith Butler, and what did they say about how gender is performative?

a queer theorist influenced by Foucault; gender is not merely a category, but an active---and structured!---performance

• Butler (1988 p. 520): gender is the "stylized repetition of acts through time"

queer theory

field of critical theory that examines and seeks to deconstruct gender and sexuality norms

• Social constructionist orientation that challenges essentialist views of gender and sexuality

In gender theory, is performativity about structure or agency?

It is both. It sits at the intersection of social structure (rules and policing) and individual agency (expression).

How does gender role socialization turn us into gendered subjects?

1. Others police our gender performance.

2. We accept this role and mistakenly view it as natural or biological

What does it mean that our daily performances of gender reify the social construct?

Our everyday actions reinforce, make real, and maintain gender as if it were a fixed physical reality instead of a social habit.

What is the paradox between agency and gender expression here?

We have potential freedom in how we choose to express gender, yet that expression is shaped and limited by the coercive power of social constructs.

intersectionality

the idea that it is critical to understand the interplay between social identities such as race, class, gender, ability status, sexual orientation, etc., even though many social systems and institutions (ex: law/legal systems) try to treat each category on its own

In Kimberlé Crenshaw’s foundational legal case, why was a Black woman's discrimination claim rejected by the court?

The court looked at race and gender separately. Since the company hired Black men (no race bias) and white women (no gender bias), they claimed her unique experience as a Black woman was "legally inconsequential."

Explain Crenshaw's traffic intersection analogy for Emma's case.

Emma was hit by a car at the intersection of Race Road and Gender Road. The law refused to help because it demanded she prove she was hit on only one specific road.

Who created the birdcage metaphor and what does it represent?

• Author: Marilyn Frye (1983, The Politics of Reality)

• Meaning: If you look at only one wire (one form of oppression), you can't see why the bird can't fly. You have to look at the whole cage (the intersection of all wires) to understand systemic oppression.

What is Michel Foucault’s "repressive hypothesis" and what is his stance on it?

• The Hypothesis: The idea that the Victorian era completely repressed and silenced talk about sex.

• Foucault's Stance: He refutes it. He argues discourse on sex actually exploded during this time.

What 20th-century research supported Foucault's rejection of the repressive hypothesis?

The Kinsey Studies, which revealed that everyday heterosexual men frequently had gay fantasies, kinky relations, and same-sex attractions.

According to Foucault, how did the scientific view of sex change during/after the Victorian era?

Sex stopped being viewed as just a natural pleasure or tool for procreation. It became a preoccupation of medical science and was increasingly treated as pathological (e.g., Freud).

What is Foucault's concept of "Biopower"?

The state’s regulation and control of bodies, sex, and reproduction (e.g., population control) to manage society efficiently.

How do Foucault's History of Sexuality and Discipline and Punish connect regarding power?

They both argue that modern power operates most effectively through science, medicine, and knowledge, rather than just physical force.

emotional labor

managing emotion and outward expression to meet the expectations of a job, especially in service work and female-dominated occupations

• smile, bubbly, gregarious/sociable + inauthentic

ex: flight attendant, restaurant server, etc.

who coined the emotional labor theory?

sociologist Arlie Hochschild

sexual harrassment

illegal form of discrimination revolving around sexuality that can involve everything from inappropriate jokes to sexual “barter” to outright sexual assault

“Me Too” Movement (#metoo)

• Social/viral movement aimed at undoing institutional sexism and gender discrimination

  • Women had to get harassed to get anywhere

• The phrase/movement actually dates back to 2006 (Tarana Burke and Alyssa Milano)

• Goes viral (or social movement!) in the wake of the Hollywood Harvey Weinstein scandal