Gender & Society Exam 2

Learned Differences

Differences that are a result of how we’re raised or our social environment

Sexual dimporphism

differences between males and females in appearance and behavior

Hormones

Messengers in a chemical communication system

Genes

A set of instructions for building and maintaining our bodies

Geneotype

A unique set of of genes

Phenotype

an observable set of physical and behavioral traits

Sex-linked phenotype

traits tied to whether a person is a genetic female or genetic male

Sex-limited phenotype

Genes only expressed if they are in a male or female body

Sex-influenced phenotype

Genes that do different things in male and female bodies

Naturalism

The idea that biology affects our behavior independently of our environment

culturalism

the idea that we become who we are purely through learning and socialization

Gene environment interaction

The fact that a gene can express itself in many, sometimes thousands of different ways, and that the environment is important determining factor , telling our genes what to do and when

Gender rules

instructions for how to appear and behave as a man or woman

Socialization

The lifelong process of social interaction through which people learn knowledge, skills, patterns of thinking and behaving, and other elements of a culture that are essential for effective participation in social life

Learning model of socialization

a model that suggests that socialization is a lifelong process of learning and re-learning gendered expectations and how to negotiate them

Injection model of socialization

A model in which genderless children are “dosed” with gender role in their childhood

West and Zimmerman coined the phrase…

Doing Gender

Doing gender

A phrase used to describe the ways in which we actively obey and break gender rules

Judith butler coined the term…

Gender performativity

gender performativity

the ways that one’s learned gender behavior is demonstrated

Gendered policing

The responses to the violation of gender rules aimed at promoting conformity

Transgender

A person whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from what is typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth (GLAAD)

Raewyn Connell’s 3 problematic trans narratives

1. various institutions laying out goals for trans folks

2. Glossy/fairytale conclusions

3. Gender binary serves as the end point

Jan Felshin coined the term… Feminine Apologetic

Feminine Apologetic

Feminine Apologetic

A requirement that women balance their appropriation of masculine interests, traits, and activities with feminine performance

Emphasized femininity

refers to an exaggerated form of femininity “oriented to accommodating the interests and desires of men.”

Labor digger

A partner, usually a man, who expects unpaid emotional, physical, mental, and domestic labor from a woman while offering no reciprocity

Emphatic sameness

Strategy by which women try to be just one of the guys

Gender equivication

the use of both emphasized femininity and emphatic sameness when they are useful and culturally expected

Double-Blind

A situation in which cultural expectations are ocntradicatory

Strategies of men

Avoidance of femininity

Androcentrism

Granting of higher status, respect, value, reward, and power to the masculine compared to the feminine

Male flight

A phenomenon in which men abandon feminizing areas of life

Hegomonic masculinity

A type of man, idealized by men and women alike, who functions to justify and naturalize gender inequality

HIerarchy of men

A rough ranking of men from most to least masculine, with the assumption that more masculine than others

Turner syndrome

XO

Klinefelter Syndrom

XXY / XXXY

Jacob’s syndrome

XXX

Intersex

People born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t fit the typical definitions of female and male

Michel Foucault coined the term…

Docile bodies

Docile bodies

Subjected and practiced bodies created ad disciplined by social practices and ideas

Sandra Bartky applied Docile Bodies to…

Women

3 ways women experience being a docile body

1. production of bodies of a certain size and general configuration

2. production of bodies with a specific repertoire of gestures, postures, and movements

3. production of bodies as an ornamented surface

Bell hook’s critique of “Paris is Burning”

1. Personified by whiteness

2. Desire to act in partnership with the ruling class white male

3. The master of the feminine is masculine as evidenced by competivness

Ritual

Ceremonial acts that carry meaning and significance beyond what appears

Spectacle

Entertaining dramatic display

Consciousness Raising

An activist practice of conversing in small groups to bring awareness to the interconnectivity between personal, social, and/or political issues

Benevolent sexism

The attribution of positive traits to women that, nonetheless, justify women’s subordination to men

Hostile sexism

The condemnation of women with negative instead of positive stereotypes and the use of threats and violence to enforce women’s subservience to men