Chp 10 Gender, Sex, and Sexuality: The Fluidity of Maleness and Femaleness

Sex

________ - understood in Western cultures as he reproductive forms and functions of the body.

Transgender

________- someone to whom society assigns one gender who does not perform as that gender but has taken either permanent or temporary steps to identify as another gender.

Everyone

________ has the biological potential for aggression or any other psychological state.

Cisgender

________- someone whose gender identity aligns with their biological sex at birth as male or female.

Intersex

________- individuals who exhibit sexual organs and functions somewhere between male and female elements, often including elements of both.

Anthropologists

________ have historically distinguished between biology (sex) and culturally constructed ideas about biology with the term "gender, "which typically refers to cultural expectations of how males and females should behave.

Behavioral characteristics

________ like aggression, dominance, and violence are psychologically complicated and expressed in specific cultural contexts.

Sexuality

________ has biological and psychological dimensions, but it is also learned, patterned, and shaped by the cultural context in which one lives.

Testosterone

________ does play a larger role in male bodily function and estrogen, a larger role in female bodily function.

Masculinity

________- the ideas and practices of manhood.

Sex assignment surgeries

________ are intended to help individuals "fit in "but sometimes do more harm than good, especially when infants grow up and do not associate with the sex that was chosen for them at birth.

Nádleehé

________ are still a part of Navajo society, but many young Navajos are beginning to be labeled "gay "or "lesbian, "adopting Western forms of identification in place of traditional Navajo genders.

anthropology of women

The "________ "pushed the discipline to focus ethnographic attention on womens experiences and perspectives.

Trans

________ "is a general term describing transsexuals, transvestites, drag queens, drag kings, and intersex- many of the people who occupy this category do not necessarily identify themselves as "transgender ..

Cultural anthropologists

________ have always had an interest in same- sex sexuality as it occurs in many different societies.

Females

________ have ovaries, hormones, and an internal structure such as fallopian tubes that support the movement of ova, pregnancy, and fetal development and whose secondary effects include breast development and a high voice.

Navajo

In ________ society, nádleehé individuals combine male and female roles and characteristics and are highly respected, participating in religious ceremonies and acting as spiritual healers and go- betweens in arranging marriages and mediating conflicts.

Sexual preferences

________ intersect in complex ways with gender variance.

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The message is clear

boys are adventuresome, active, and aggressive, while girls are nurturing, domestic, and sentimental

One reason is the assumption that gender is equivalent to sex

the reproductive forms and functions of the body

Some cross-cultural generalizations can be made

boys tend to engage in more rough-and-tumble play, while girls tend to be more engaged in infant contact and care

This includes changing terminology like gender/sex systems

the ideas and social patterns a society uses to organize males, females, and those who do not fit either category

When compared to other primates, humans are moderately sexually dimorphic

a characteristic of a species, in which males and females have different sexual forms

As many as 1.7% of live births in the United States may be intersex

individuals who exhibit sexual organs and functions somewhere between male and female elements, often including elements of both

Some argued that inequality was universal owing to some basic associations

women with nature and the domestic sphere, men with culture and the public sphere

This has generated anthropological interest in cultural ideals of masculinity

the ideas and practices of manhood

Gender variance

expressions of sex and gender that diverge from the male and female norms that dominate in most societies

Third genders

situation found in many societies that acknowledges three or more categories of gender/sex

In other words, gender variance does not necessarily imply variation in sexuality

sexual preferences, desires, and practices

The dynamism of gender variance can be illustrated with three examples

the Navajo, India, and the contemporary urban United States

In the 1990s, political activists in the United States began pressuring government and society to formally recognize the rights of gender variants in this country, namely, transgender (or simply "trans") people

someone to whom society assigns onne gender who does not perfomr as that gender but has taken either permanent or temporary steps to identify as another gender

See "Thinking Like an Anthropologist

Anthropological Perspectives on American (Non)Acceptance of Trans People"

In these contexts, passivity and activity are critical distinctions

a man who penetrates another man would not consider himself-or be considered by others-as homosexual, yet the man being penetrated would be considered homosexual

Gender

the complex and fluid intersections of biological sex, internal senses of self, outward expressions of identity, and cultural expectations about how to perform that identity in appropriate ways

Gender/sex systems 

the ideas and social patterns a society uses to organize males, females, and those who exist between these categories

Intersex

individuals who exhibit sexual organs and functions somewhere between male and female elements, often including elements of both

Sexuality

sexual preferences, desires, and practices

Sexually dimporhic 

a characteristic of a species in which males and females have different sexual forms