Chapter 9: Constructing Gender and Sexuality

Sex

Male or Female; based on biological factors

Primary Sex Factors

Biological factors, such as chromosomes, hormones, and reproductive organs, that distinguish male from female

Secondary Sex Factors

Physical differences between male and female, including facial and body hair, muscular true, and bone structure, hat are unrelated to reproduction

Intersex

Used to describe a person whose chromosomes or sex characteristics are neither exclusively male nor exclusively female

Gender

The physical, behavioral and personality traits that a group considers normals for its male and female members

Essentialalists

Those who believe gender roles have a genetic or biological origin and therefore cannot be changed

Gender Binary

A system of classification with only, two distinctive and opposite gender category

Constructionists

Those who believe that notions of gender are specifically determined, such that a binary system is just one possibility among many

Gender Identity

An individual’s self-definition or sense of gender

Cisgender

Term used when gender identity and/or expression aligns with the sex assigned at birth

Transgender

Term used when gender identity and/or expression is different from the sex assigned at birth

Gender Expression

An individual’s behavioral manifestation of gender

Gender nonconforming

Term used when gender identity and/or expression differ from societal expectations about gender role

Nonbinary

Individuals who do not identify as exclusively men or women or who identify as both, somewhere in between, or outside of such categories altogether

Sexuality

The character or quality of being sexual

Heterosexuality

Sexual attraction towards members of the other gender

Homosexuality

Sexual attraction towards members of one’s own gender

Bisexuality

Sexual attraction towards members of both gender

Asexuality

The lack of sexual attraction of any kind

Queer Theory

Social Theory about gender and sexual identity; emphasizes the importance of difference and rejects ideas of innate identities or restrictive categories

LGBTQ+

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer ( “I” is added for intersex, “A” is added for asexual)

Gender Role Socialization

The lifelong process of learning to be masculine or feminine, primarily through agent of socialization

Heteronormativity

The belief that heterosexuality is and should be the norm

Social Learning

The process of learning behaviors and meaning through social interaction

Patriarchy

“Rule of the father” a male- dominated society