gss final exam

Affirmative consent

Clear, voluntary, and enthusiastic agreement (“yes means yes”)

Amateur pornography industry

User-generated or “homemade” porn that appears authentic but is still staged and shaped by norms

Autonomy (bodily)

Control over one’s own body and physical choices

Autonomy (economic)

Ability to earn and control one’s own income

Body as subject & object

Experiencing your body from within (subject) vs. viewing it from an outside perspective (object)

Categories of sexual assault

Legal distinctions such as harassment, assault, and rape

Coercion

Pressure, manipulation, or force that undermines true consent

Commodification

Turning bodies, sex, or identity into things that can be bought and sold

Female gaze

Viewing that centers women’s perspectives, desires, and agency

Fetishization

Reducing a person or group to a sexual object or specific trait

Fight-Flight-Freeze-Fawn

Trauma responses; freezing and appeasing (fawn) are common in sexual assault

“Front-stage & backstage”

Public vs. private behavior (performance vs. authentic self)

Relationships in sex work

Range from independent workers to those managed by pimps/madams

Glamour

Advertising technique that creates envy and aspiration

Gray (gray-area) rape

Situations where consent is unclear or pressured but not overtly violent

History of filmed pornography

Shift from underground/illegal to mainstream, internet-driven, and widely accessible

Homosocial bonds/dynamics

Same-gender social relationships that reinforce norms (often male bonding reinforcing masculinity)

Ideal spectator

The assumed audience (often heterosexual male) that media is created for

John School

Programs that educate people arrested for buying sex to reduce demand

“Just world” fallacy

Belief that people get what they deserve, leading to victim-blaming

Male gaze

Viewing women as objects for male pleasure

Male-centered sexuality

Sexual norms that prioritize male desire and pleasure

“Men act; women appear”

Idea that men are active subjects while women are passive objects

MeToo Movement

Movement raising awareness about sexual harassment and assault, especially power abuses

Naked vs. nude

“Naked” = exposed/vulnerable; “nude” = idealized/artistic representation

Objectification

Treating a person as an object rather than a full human

Owner-spectator

Viewer who feels control/ownership over what they see

Parasocial connections

One-sided emotional relationships with media figures

Pimps / Mamas

Individuals who manage or profit from sex workers’ labor

Porn literacy

Understanding porn as performance, not realistic sex

Public health approach

Focus on prevention, education, and support in addressing sexual violence

Criminal justice approach

Focus on punishment and legal enforcement

Publicity/advertising tactics

Strategies that sell products by associating them with desire, status, or identity

Rape culture

Social environment that normalizes or excuses sexual violence

Reproductive control

Control over people’s reproductive choices (often by the state or partners)

Sex work vs. trafficking discourse

Debate between consensual labor vs. coercion/exploitation

Sex positivity

Open, non-judgmental attitude toward consensual sexuality

Simulacrum

A copy that replaces or becomes more “real” than reality (e.g., porn shaping expectations of sex)

Social presence

Feeling of real connection or “being with” someone through media

Split consciousness

Seeing yourself through others’ eyes (self-objectification)

Stranger rape myth

False belief that most assaults are by strangers rather than known individuals

Surveyor / surveyed

Women internalize being watched and judge themselves accordingly

Taboo escalation / “novelty” porn

Increasingly extreme content needed to maintain arousal

Title IX

U.S. law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education

Underreporting

Many sexual assaults are never reported due to stigma, fear, or barriers

Victim / survivor language

“Victim” emphasizes harm; “survivor” emphasizes resilience

The Handmaid’s Tale

Dystopian novel about control of women’s bodies and reproduction

Commanders

Elite men who hold political and social power

Dystopia / logical extreme

Exaggeration of real-world trends to show dangers

Gilead

Totalitarian religious society in the novel

Handmaids

Women forced to bear children for elites

Jezebel’s

Secret club where women are sexually exploited

Marthas

Women assigned domestic labor roles

The Ceremony

Ritualized, state-sanctioned rape for reproduction

Totalitarian theocracy

Government controlled by strict religious ideology

Effects of pornography on adolescents

Shapes expectations, promotes performance-based sex, fills gaps from weak sex education

Sex work debate

Viewed as either exploitative or a form of agency and economic opportunity

Definitional problems of sexual violence

Consent can be unclear; laws and social norms complicate definitions

Biological rationales for social constructions

Social roles are framed as “natural” to justify inequality

Advertising & viewer (Berger)

Ads create envy and sell idealized future identities

Why authoritarian systems control sexuality

To control reproduction, enforce hierarchy, and limit autonomy

Sexual freedom

Requires consent, knowledge, and absence of coercion—not just “doing what you want”

Social media & sexuality

Reflects and shapes norms, encourages performance and self-objectification