GESS- Exam Two

colonialism

One country takes over another, sends its own people to live there, and uses the land and resources for its benefit

Settler Colonialism

A form of colonialism where settlers move in permanently, pushing out the native population to build a new society

Settler Colonialism Framework

A way to understand the United States as a country founded by European settlers, built on ideas of racial differences and the exploitation of native peoples

Stereotypes

Oversimplified and fixed ideas about what people are like, often inaccurate

Controlling Images

Negative stereotypes that are widely spread and used to justify unfair treatment or inequality

Cartographies of Desire

The idea that colonizers combine their desire for land with an idealized view of Native women—seeing these women as symbols of the land itself

One-Drop Rule

The belief that if a person has any Black ancestry, they are considered Black

Blood Quantum Rule

A law that only legally recognizes American Indians if they have a certain minimum percentage of Native ancestry

Social Construction of Race

Race is not a fixed, biological fact but a label created and changed over time by society, where different categories are assigned meaning and value

Racialization

This is the process by which social forces cause us to classify people into racial groups and then interpret them based on those group labels

Whiteness

the default standard against which all other racial groups are measured. It positions white people as embodying ideal qualities—such as being good, safe, moral, healthy, attractive, and desirable—thereby reinforcing a hierarchy of sexual desirability

Sexual Racism

This is when specific sexual traits or characteristics are attributed to people based on their racial background

Sexual Colorism

This refers to assigning sexual qualities based on skin tone, often favoring lighter skin over darker skin

Sexual Subjectification

This is the process through which individuals develop their sense of self as sexual beings, encompassing their inner beliefs, desires, and identities

Sexual Habitus

This term describes the set of ingrained sexual behaviors, orientations, and skills that a person develops over their lifetime

Charmed Circle

Describes the set of culturally defined socially acceptable or "normal" sexual behaviors. The inside is respectable and the outside is bad

Categoricalism

Treats each aspect of your identity (like gender, race, etc.) as a separate, individual factor that influences your experience

Intersectionality

Recognizes that different aspects of your identity overlap and interact, meaning your experiences come from the combination of all your identities, not just one in isolation

Intersectional Erotic Hierarchy

Refers to the way society ranks people's sexual attractiveness based on the mix of their identities

Structure of Desire

Describes the cultural rules that determine which types of people are seen as acceptable or desirable partners based on their personal characteristics

White Feminism

kind of feminism that mainly focuses on the needs of White women, often overlooking or ignoring the issues that affect women of color

Black feminist thought

A way of understanding the world that centers Black women's unique experiences and insights

Axes of oppression

Different parts of our identities (like race, gender, and class) where power isn't shared equally

Kyriarchy

A system where various forms of oppression overlap, creating a hierarchy that favors those with the most advantages

Intersectional unpredictability

The idea that the effects of combining different identities (like being both a woman and a person of color) aren't just added together—they interact in unexpected ways

Both/and conceptual stance

The view that every person has both privileges and disadvantages, rather than being entirely privileged or entirely oppressed

Politic of domination

The belief system underlying all oppression, where some groups are seen as naturally superior and meant to rule over others