Study Guide: Sexuality and Power – Spring 2025

A comprehensive set of flashcards covering key historical events, critical readings, concepts, and current issues surrounding sexuality and power.

Compton’s Cafeteria Riots

One of the first LGBTQ+ uprisings in the U.S., sparked by police harassment of transgender women and drag queens in San Francisco.

Stonewall Riots

A major catalyst for the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, involving a series of protests after a police raid at the Stonewall Inn in NYC.

Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson

Activists at the forefront of the LGBTQ+ rights movement who founded STAR to support homeless queer youth.

Social Construct

A concept or perception of something that is created and developed through cultural or social practice, such as 'heterosexuality'.

Stoicism

A philosophy that placed moral value on sex for procreation rather than for pleasure.

Asexuality

A legitimate identity characterized by a lack of sexual attraction, historically often misunderstood or rendered invisible.

Sexual Scripts

Guidelines individuals follow to understand their sexual roles and behaviors within their culture.

Female World of Love and Ritual

A historical context reflecting how women created emotional intimacy and same-sex relationships outside traditional sexual frameworks.

Postwar 'Sexual Suspects'

Ciswomen labeled as deviants for engaging in sex or having children outside heterosexual marriage after WWII.

Mattachine Society

An early gay rights organization focused on the idea of the 'homophile', emphasizing assimilation into society.

Daughters of Bilitis

The first lesbian civil rights organization in the U.S., founded to advocate for lesbians' rights.

Loving v. Virginia

The 1967 Supreme Court case that overturned bans on interracial marriage.

Queering Black Female Heterosexuality

To reclaim sexual agency and focus on pleasure while rejecting historical degradation faced by Black women.

The Cult of Virginity

A social movement that defines virginity in terms of a woman's moral worth and emphasizes purity as a societal expectation.

Virginity Movement

A political and social backlash aiming to control women’s bodies using ideas of purity and equating virginity with morality.

Current Anti-LGBTQIA+ Legislation

569 bills introduced across the U.S., aiming to restrict the rights and healthcare of LGBTQ+ individuals.