Foundations Gender & Sexuality

Gender essentialism

 the idea that biology determines gender roles 

• Uses animal kingdom to justify the status quo 

Social construction

idea that gender roles are determined by each society and culture. They are subject to change over time. 

• Social construction does not mean “less real” - gender is real! Money is a social construction, and very real 

gender

social status and cultural values attached to those differences 

“Gender is a doing” - Judith Butler 

“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” Simone de Beauvoir 

sex

the biological differences between male and female humans

Hetero-Romantic Love and Heterosexiness in Children's G-Rated Films by Martin & Kayzak thesis

1. Primary account of heterosexuality is one of heteroromantic love and its exceptional, magical, transformative power (Prince Eric kiss)

2. Heterosexuality is constructed as men gazing desirously at women's videos; this is seen and viewed as less powerful though

Throwing Like a Girl: A Phenomenology of Feminine Body Comportment, Motility, and Spatiality by Iris Marion Young

1. Ambiguous transcendence

2. Inhibited intentionality 

3. Discontinuous unity “double hesitancy”

biological determinist school of thought

heterosexuality is natural outcome of sex differences bc of drive to reproduce

biological sex differences constitute natural differences between men and women

key assumptions driving biological determinist

the primary function and goal of all human sexual activity is the reproduction of the species, they believe that homosexuality is deemed “unnatural”

challenging determinism

if its “natural”, why do social institutions have to push so hard to keep this behavior?

ex: religions, family, gov, military

ALSO homosexual behavior appears in the animal kingdom

most sex is not reproductive

biological drive arguments are political

often used to resist social changes and legitimate unequal, gendered social order

Alfred Kinsey and Kinsey Reports (1940s and 1950s)

applied methods of social science to the study of sex

proved through interviews that premarital sex and same sex experiences were far more common than people thought

Kinsey Reports effects

helped normalize homosexuality and female sexual desires

proposed that sexuality is more of a spectrum