Anthro - Genders, Sexes, and Sexualities

What is feminism?

• Movement + theory focused on gender equality

• Examines how women and other genders are unequally treated

• Challenges power structures (like patriarchy)

How does feminism influence anthropology?

• Focuses on women’s experiences (previously ignored)

• Questions male bias in research

• Studies power, inequality, and gender roles

• Makes anthropology more inclusive

👉 KEY IDEA: feminism changed what anthropologists study and how they study it

How do anthropologists study gender, sex, and sexuality?

• Cross-cultural comparison (different societies)

• Ethnography (real-life observation)

• Focus on:

  • lived experiences

  • everyday life

  • cultural meaning

What is intersectionality?

• Idea that identity is shaped by multiple factors at once

• Example:

  • gender

  • race

  • class

  • sexuality

Why is intersectionality important?

• People experience life differently depending on overlapping identities

• Explains inequality more accurately

• Not all women (or genders) have the same experience

👉 KEY PHRASE: identities intersect and interact

What is gender performativity?

• Gender is something you do, not something you are

• Expressed through:

  • behavior

  • clothing

  • actions

Why is gender performativity important?

• Shows gender is socially constructed

• Not fixed or natural

• Changes depending on context

What are hidden transcripts?

• Ways people resist power secretly

• Not openly expressed

xample of hidden transcripts?

• Jokes, gossip, subtle resistance

• Acting differently in private vs public

What is Michel Foucault’s idea of power?

• Power is everywhere, not just top-down

• Shapes how people:

  • think

  • act

  • see themselves

What is “care of the self”?

• People shape their own identity

• Self-discipline + self-understanding

• Related to how we express gender/sexuality

How is gender connected to power?

• Some genders have more control/status

• Power shapes:

  • roles

  • expectations

  • opportunities

Difference between sex and gender?

• Sex = biological

• Gender = social + cultural