women + gender studies chapter 1-3

Androgynous

The state of having feminine and masculine characteristics, interests, etc. To behave and/or appear in both traditionally feminine and masculine ways. (In biology, may mean to have biological sex characteristics of females and males at once.)

asexual

Someone who “does not experience sexual attraction”; though some identify on the asexual spectrum if they experience very little sexual attraction . (In biology, this generally refers to a lack of sex-specific sex organs.)

assigned sex

Alternative to “biological sex,” which recognizes that sexual categorization is not simply a matter of objective biological fact but also a matter of human decision, that is, that sex is to some degree socially constructed.

butch

Vernacular (informal or colloquial) term frequently used in gay and lesbian subcultures for women who are gender nonconforming (i.e., masculine) and men who are gender conforming.

cisgender

Term used to describe people whose gender identity is in traditional alignment with their assigned sex at birth (e.g., a female who is traditionally feminine); not transgender.

cognitive schema

A mental system of organization. Sex and gender are major cognitive schemas in most societies.

feminine

A descriptor of gender; traditionally those assigned female at birth are expected or “supposed” to be feminine. Characteristics associated with Western notions of traditional femininity include passive, dependent, and emotional. Traditionally thought of in binary (consisting of two parts) opposition with masculine.

femininity ideology scale

Scale measuring adherence to five norms of traditional femininity ideology: (1) stereotypic image and activities, (2) dependence/deference, (3) purity, (4) caretaking, and (5) emotionality

femme

Vernacular (informal or colloquial) term frequently used in gay and lesbian subcultures for women who are gender conforming (i.e., feminine) and men who are gender nonconforming.

gender

In simple terms, the less biological and more socially constructed characteristics used to classify someone or something as feminine, masculine, androgynous, undifferentiated, a woman, a man, nonbinary, or another associated category. But a more sophisticated (and accurate) way of understanding gender is as a process (Butler, 1990/1999); that is, gender is constructed and reconstructed through the interplay of (1) the actions we perform (how we act, how we look, etc.) and (2) society’s imposition of standards on us. Thus, gendering is never entirely determined by an individual but neither is it entirely determined by society. This definition of gender somewhat overlaps with our definition of sex.

gender affirmation surgery

Surgery to bring a person’s body more into biological alignment with their sex identity. Surgery can include a range of procedures, including “top surgery” (breast augmentation or removal) and “bottom surgery” (altering genitals). Also called sex or gender reassignment, although this is offensive to some (GLAAD, n.d.c). In the past, also called sex change surgery, but this term is now considered derogatory by many.

gender binary

a social system where people are thought to have either of two genders: man or woman”

gender confirmation surgery

the surgical procedure(s) by which a transgender or non-binary person's physical appearance and functional abilities are changed to align with the gender they know themselves to be.

gender expression

One’s external expression of gender. For example, how one dresses or wears one’s hair, the ways that one acts, moves, or speaks.

gender identity

An internal sense of one’s gender—that is, an internal sense of belonging to a gender category such as feminine, masculine, androgynous, undifferentiated, woman, or man. Gender identity, unlike gender expression is “not visible to others”

Gender ideology

A set of interrelated, internalized beliefs about gender. In Western society, gender ideology is often subdivided into masculinity ideology and femininity ideology

Gender nonconforming

To have one’s gender expression in nontraditional alignment with one’s assigned sex at birth.

Gender polarization

The notion that femininity and masculinity are polar opposites. Defines mutually exclusive scripts for being female and male and defines persons or behaviors that deviate from these scripts as problematic

Genderqueer

To express gender nonnormatively; often signals recognition that gender is not a stable or unchanging marker of identity and a rejection of binary notions of gender. Related terms include “transgender,” “genderfluid,” and “pangender.”

Gender role

A set of social expectations about the part one should play (including how one “should” appear and behave) within a specific culture based on one’s sex and gender. For example, traditionally in Western society, women have had the gender role of homemaker and men have had the role of breadwinner.

Intersectionality

A term introduced in the late 1980s to describe a method of analysis that considers how discrimination can vary depending on “multiple dimensions” (such as race, sex and class

Intersex

Having sex characteristics that make you one different from predominant notions of biological femaleness and maleness

Male Role Inventory-Revised

Scale measuring adherence to seven norms of traditional masculinity ideology: (1) avoidance of femininity, (2) negativity toward sexual minorities, (3) self-reliance through mechanical skills, (4) toughness, (5) dominance, (6) importance of sex, and (7) restrictive emotionality

Masculine

Descriptor of gender, traditionally those assigned the male sex at birth are expected or “supposed” to be masculine.

Nonbinary

An overarching term that includes any number of gender identities that do not fit with the dichotomous categories of male/man/masculine and female/woman/feminine and is sometimes used interchangeably with the term genderqueer”

Sex

In simple terms, the more biological and less socially constructed characteristics used to classify someone as female, male, intersex, or another related category. Biological characteristics often used in sex classification in Western cultures include chromosomes, hormones, and anatomy.

Sex Identity

What people understand their sex to be, internal sense of one’s sex

Sexual orientation

involves the sexual and/or romantic attraction one has to others based on one’s sex and/or gender in relation to another’s sex and/or gender.

Social construct

A concept or perception of something based on the collective views developed and maintained within a society or social group … as opposed to existing inherently or naturally.

Third Sex

An umbrella term used to identify people across various cultures who go outside usual western sex and gender boundaries Sometimes known as transgender.

Transgender

A term used to describe a person whose sex identity, gender identity, and/or gender expression are not in traditional alignment with their assigned or designated sex/gender (although, as GLAAD [n.d.a] noted, people use one or more of a wide variety of terms). For transgender people, transition can involve social, legal, and medical steps (GLAAD, n.d.c). Transitioning is a process that can include telling friends and family that you identify as a sex different than the one you were assigned at birth, using a different name and pronouns, dressing differently, changing your legal documents, undergoing hormone therapy, and sometimes gender affirmation or gender confirmation surgery

Two Spirit

Umbrella term used by modern Native people in North America to describe Native people who identify variously as lesbian or gay, belonging to contemporary Native gender categories, belonging to traditional Native third sex categories, belonging to third sex categories beyond Native American culture, and transgender people.

Virgjinesha

A sworn virgin, an Albanian third sex category, a female who adopted the male gender role

Androcentric

Main focus on men/males

Cognitive Schema

A mental system of organization. Sex and gender are major cognitive schemas in most societies

Elides

To strike out, suppress or pass over in silence

Gender Binary

A social system where people are thought to have either of two genders: man or women

Gender neutral terms

Not specific to females or males

Generic he

The use of the pronoun “he” as a default term to refer to a nonspecific subject who could be any sex/gender

Gynocentric

Focused on females or women

Parallel terms

Words that are parallel in connotation “ ladies and gentlemen” for females and males

Rigid regulatory frame

A set of social conventions operating at any given moment that limit what is acceptable to do

Semantic change

The idea that words develop new meanings and associations and lose old meanings and associations.

Unmarked

Group that is conceived of as the norm and thought to lack distinguishing characteristics (e.g., to be without ethnicity or distinctive culture); “normal” or “regular” (e.g. men as opposed to women, white

Benevolent sexism

Prejudice based on sex that may appear to be affectionate or chivalrous in nature, for example, believing women are morally superior to men or that women are deserving of men’s protection; underpinned by the idea of masculine dominance

Mythical norm

refer to those considered outside the social norm. Lorde said the mythical norm in America is usually defined as “white, thin, male, young, heterosexual, christian [sic] and financially secure.”

Hostile sexism

Overt prejudice based on sex and grounded in the belief that men are more competent than women and therefore deserve higher status and more power than women, for example, sexist name-calling, sexual harassment, and employment discrimination based on sex.