Gender & Society exam 1

Secondary sexual characteristics

any physical characteristic developing at puberty which distinguishes the sexes but is not directly involved in reproduction

Primary Sexual Charcateristics

Any physical characteristics directly involved in reproduction

Sex

Physical differences in primary sexual characteristics and secondary sexual characteristics

Gender

The symbolism of masculinity and femininity that we connect to bodies assigned male or female at birth

psychologist and sexologist, John Money, coined the term ____ in 1955

Gender

Transgender

An adjective to describe people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth

Gender non-conforming

A term used to describe people whose gender expression differs from conventional expectations of masculinity and femininity

Kate Bornstein and the Uses of Gender

• Gender Attribution

• Gender Assignment

• Gender Roles

• Gender Identity

Gender Attribution

Whereby we look at someone and say “thats a man” or “thats a woman”

Gender Attribution Cues

• Behavior

• Textual

• Mythic

• Sexual orientation

Gender Assignment

• Institutionalized/Medical assignment

• Society’s institutions say “this is what you are”

Gender Roles

refers to how a person needs to function so that society perceives me as belonging to a specific gender

Gender Identity

A person’s internal, deeply held sense of their gender (GLAAD)

Social Construction

Idea that may appear to be normal, natural, obvious to those that accept it, a particular society (Strombler, 2026)

Binary

two distinct characteristics

Gender Binary

Masculine & Feminine only

Mid 1800s colors for gender

Blue and Pink

1800s gender norms

• Boys and girls wore dresses until the age of 6 or 7

• Boys and girls had their first haircut around 6 or 7

• White dresses were gender neutral

Early 1920s Gender Norms (Paoletti, 2012)

• Pink and blue, along with pastels, as colors for babies

• Originally, pink was thought of as better for boys and blue for girls

Why did the colors for boys and girls switch?

• Manufacturers swapped the colors to make more profit

• double the toys, double the profit

Today’s Gender Norms

Blue for boys, pink for girls

Ideology

A set of ideas widely shared by members of a society that guides behaviors, identities, and institutions

Heels were invented by?

French men, probably kings

Intersectionality

The fact that gender is NOT an isolated fact about us, but intersects with other identites

Who coined the term intersectionality?

Kimberle Crenshaw (1981)

1700s and 1800s ideal femininity

• Pure (No sex before marriage, virgin)

• Fragile (physically and mentally weak)

• Domestic (women were expected to stay at home and caregive)

• Whiteness

Black women did NOT fit the 1700s and 1800s “ideal femininity” because…

• Slave/Servant

• Endure harsh labor

• Endure harsh punishments (i.e. Forced sexual relations)

Patricia Hill Collins Black Woman Characterizations

• Masculine

• Physically tough

• Hypersexual

Patricia Hill Collins Controlling images term

Images that are designed to make racism, sexism, poverty, and other forms of social injustices appear to be natural, normal, and inevitable parts of everyday life

Patricia Hill Collins Black Women’s controlling images

• The Mammie

• The matriarch

• The Welfare queen

• The “hoochie” or Jezebel

The Mammie

A faithful, obedient domestic servant

The Matriarch

A woman who is head of a family

The welfare queen

A black woman who has many children in order to take advantage of the welfare system

Slavery Stereotypes: The Mammie

Slave/Servant

Slavery Stereotypes: The Matriarch

• Masculine

• Endure harsh labor

• Endure harsh punishment

Slavery Stereotypes: The Welfare Queen & Hoochie/Jezebel

Hypersexuality & Forced Sexual relations

Epistemology

An overarching theory of knowledge

Black Feminist Epistemology

Specific way of viewing/understanding knowledge of Black women

What term did Patricia Hill Collins coin?

Black Feminist Epistemology

Four Characteristics of Black Feminist Epistemology

• Lived experience/Wisdom

• Dialogue

• The Ethics of Caring

• Personal Accountability

Lived experience/Wisdom

• Necessary to survive “fools”

• Wisdom is essential to survival of the subordinate

Dialogue

• Talking between two subjects within the community

• Emphasis on connectedness

The Ethics of Caring

• Includes expressiveness, emotions, and empathy as central to knowledge production

  • Individual uniqueness

  • Emotions in dialogue (convey argument validity)

  • Having empathy

Personal Accountability

People are accountable for their knowledge

Patricia Hill Collins Black men’s controlling images

• The Athlete

• Thug/gansta (also rapper)

• Hustler

• Sidekick

Black Men’s Enslavement Stereotypes: The Athlete

Laborer/Buffon

Black Men’s Enslavement Stereotypes: Thug/Gansta (Rapper)

Prone to Criminality, Hypersexual/sexually agressive

Black Men’s Enslavement Stereotypes: Hustler

Lazy, Hypersexual/sexually aggressive

Black Men’s Enslavement Stereotypes: Sidekick

Loyal, friendly servant (Uncle Tom)

East Asian Men Controlling images

Feminine

East Asian men early 1900s occupations

Railroad worker —> post railroad work: Domestic tasks, servants

East Asian Women Controlling images

Hyper feminine

East Asian Women early 1900s occupations

Sex slaves

• demure and passive

Gender Strategy

Finding a way of doing gender that works for us as unique individuals who are shaped by other parts of our identity

Adrienne Rich (1980)

Compulsory heterosexuality

Dominant culture of society

Heterosexuality

Compulsory Heterosexuality

A rule that all men be attracted to women and all women attracted to men

Comp Het’s impact on the Lesbian community

• They had to look like a straight (i.e. “real”) woman

• They had to act like a straight (i.e. “real”) woman

Michael Warner (1991)

Heteronormativity

Heteronormative Culture

A culture where heterosexuality is accepted as normal, taken for granted, mode of sexual expression

Heteronormative Sexual Expression

refers to penis/vaginal sexual expression that is only between a man and a woman — Heterosexual

Heteronormative types of relationships

A couple—two—in a marriage, nuclear family

Heteronormative types of roles

Based on femininity and masculinity

Adrienne rich claimed that heterosexuality is a _____

Institution

Institutionalized norm

When behavior becomes widely accepted within a particular social institution and is taken for granted in society