GSW 70 Final Exam Expanded Study Guide - Vocabulary Flashcards (Week 1–5)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the lecture notes on sexuality, frameworks, movements, and related topics.

Discourse

The way institutions (law, medicine, religion, science) produce and regulate knowledge about sexuality, shaping how people think and feel about sex.

Sexuality

Desires, identities, practices, and cultural understandings of sex; not just a personal trait but a site of regulation and discourse.

Sexual Essentialism

Belief that sexuality is natural, timeless, and rooted in biology (e.g., heterosexuality as universal).

Social Constructivism

The view that sexuality is historically and socially produced, varying across cultures and eras.

Sex Negativity

A Western cultural stance that treats sex as dangerous or degraded unless tied to sanctioned purposes (e.g., marriage, reproduction).

Fallacy of the Misplaced Scale

Overemphasizing the importance of sex compared to other behaviors, leading to scandals or punishment for sex acts that seem minor.

Hierarchical Valuation of Sex Acts

A 'sexual hierarchy' where heterosexual, marital, monogamous sex is valued most; BDSM, casual sex, or same-sex activity are devalued.

Domino Theory of Sexual Peril

Fear that accepting one form of sexual deviance will lead to a slippery slope toward total moral collapse.

Lack of Concept of Benign Sexual Variation

Cultural tendency to pathologize sexual variation rather than accepting neutral diversity; Kinsey later challenged this.

Charmed Circle

Gayle Rubin’s idea of a divide between 'good' sex (married, heterosexual, monogamous, reproductive) and 'bad' sex (promiscuous, homosexual, commercial, kinky).

Sexual Orientation

Enduring pattern of attraction (e.g., heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual).

Sexual Identity

How a person labels and understands themselves (e.g., gay, straight, queer); may not always align with attraction.

Sexual Morphology

Idea that biological body differences dictate sex roles and desires; tied to pseudoscience in historical contexts.

Gender Role

Societal expectations about how men and women should behave, shaping sexual scripts.

Forms of Love (Pseudo-Lucian)

Early discourse distinguishing male-female love (reproductive/natural) from male-male love (linked to intellect and mentorship).

Pederasty

Older men engaging sexually with adolescent boys; a historical term illustrating social context of sexuality.

Ancient Greek Sexuality (socially organized)”

Not categorized by modern labels of gay/straight; status and roles mattered more than identities.

Female Husbands

Assigned-female people living as men and marrying women in 18th–19th c. contexts.

Boston Marriages

Long-term cohabiting partnerships between two women (late 19th–early 20th c.).

Romantic Friendships

Intense same-sex bonds in the 18th–19th centuries later read as queer by modern lenses.

Smashing / Chumming

College-age women forming crushes and paired bonds; socially accepted in women’s colleges.

Freda Ward / Alice Mitchell Case

1892 case in which a same-sex relationship was pathologized as criminal/insane.

Sexology

19th-century science attempting to classify sexual types and pathologies; groundwork for medicalized understandings of sexuality.

Inversion

Early sexology concept that homosexuals are ‘inverts,’ possessing ‘female’ or ‘male’ souls.

Scientific Racism

Pseudoscientific claims using skull measurements and anatomy to justify racial hierarchies.

Comparative Anatomy

Study of body parts to argue natural differences among races/sexes; used to support racial prejudice.

Eugenics

Movement to improve populations by controlling reproduction of the 'unfit'—closely tied to sexuality and reproduction.

Newport Investigations

1919 U.S. Navy crackdown on homosexual activity among sailors; mass arrests and surveillance.

Kinsey Reports

1948 (men) and 1953 (women) studies revealing widespread same-sex experiences and masturbation; challenged binary notions of normal/deviant.

Lavender Scare

1950s government purge of homosexuals tied to Cold War fears of security risks.

Homophile Movement

1950s–60s organizations emphasizing respectability and rights for homosexuals.

Mattachine Society

Founded 1950; one of the first sustained gay rights groups advocating assimilation and reform.

Daughters of Bilitis

Founded 1955; first lesbian rights organization, published The Ladder.

Compton’s Cafeteria Riot

1966 San Francisco protest by trans and queer patrons against police harassment.

Stonewall Uprising

1969 NYC raid that sparked multi-night riots; catalyst for modern gay liberation.

Queer Liberation Movements

1960s–70s groups advocating pride, direct action, and linking queer rights with other liberation struggles.

Radical Feminism (1970s)

Critique of patriarchy and compulsory heterosexuality; included debates within feminism.

Redstockings

Radical feminist group promoting consciousness-raising and anti-patriarchal critique.

Cell 16

Group advocating celibacy and separation from men as feminist resistance.

The Feminists

New York-based radical feminists pushing to abolish traditional marriage and gender roles.

Radicalesbians

Lesbian feminist group asserting lesbianism as central to women’s liberation.

Sex Wars

1980s feminist debates over pornography, BDSM, and sex work; split between anti-porn and sex-positive perspectives.

Sex-Positive Feminists

Argued sexual expression can be empowering and critique anti-porn feminism for promoting sex-negativity.

Anti-Pornography Feminists

Viewed pornography as inherently exploitative; led by Dworkin and MacKinnon.

Women Against Pornography (WAP)

Grassroots organization opposing pornography; active in late 1970s–80s.

Samois

Lesbian-feminist BDSM group (founded 1978) arguing BDSM can be feminist and consensual.

The Erotic (Audre Lorde)

Lorde’s concept reframing erotic power as life-affirming and feminist; beyond mere sexual pleasure.

Uses of the Erotic

Lorde’s essay arguing for a source of power and knowledge in the erotic beyond fear and lack.

ACT UP

AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power; direct-action group founded 1987 demanding faster drug approval and crisis recognition.

APAIT

Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team; addresses AIDS in API communities and highlights racial disparities.

AIDS, Discourse, and Signification

Media and political framing of AIDS as a 'gay disease,' shaping stigma and response.

The 4-H List

Early stereotype that AIDS affected only Homosexuals, Haitians, Hemophiliacs, and Heroin users.

Ideology of Ability

Cultural assumption that being able-bodied is the norm and superior.

Individual/Medical Model of Disability

Disability seen as a medical defect to fix; emphasizes the individual.

Social Model of Disability

Disability arises from inaccessible environments and social exclusion.

Compulsory Able-Bodiedness

Expectation that everyone should strive to be able-bodied.

A Sexual Culture for Disabled People

Advocacy for sexual rights, visibility, and autonomy for disabled people.

Str8 Ads on Craigslist

Examples of DL ('down low') men seeking same-sex encounters while identifying as straight.

The Down Low

Term for Black men who have sex with men but do not identify as gay or bisexual.

Down Low

A term describing hidden same-sex behavior among men who identify as straight.