Gender Studies Midterm vocab

Nerinx Hall, S1, Gender Studies, 2025-2026, Ms. Schwab

feminism

social, political, and economic equality for all genders

sex

biology, anatomy, body parts

gender

internal awareness of identity, social manifestation of identity

misogyny

the hatred of, or contempt for, women

patriarchy

system that holds up oppression, a system where men and masculine bodies dominate because power and authority are in the hands of adult men

"we should all be feminists" main ideas

feminism isn't limited to one culture or people, anger can be a powerful tool for change, feminism isn't hating men, feminism shouldn't stop with people that look like you, we have to raise kids differently

feminist theoretical approach

just one way to read a text, uses the cultural practices of feminism to analyze big ideas in an idea or piece of literature, focus on gender/systems of oppression/intersectional awareness

"what were the origins of women's rights activism in the united states" main ideas and key terms

1800s US women had legal rights as daughters and wives, WOC had fewer rights than white women, feminists began as abolitionists, "vindication of the rights of woman" by mary wollstonecraft, seneca falls convention in 1848 produced "declaration of sentiments and resolutions", National Woman Suffrage Association 1869 and National American Woman Suffrage Association 1890 are now League of Women Voters, "Anthony Amendment" is 19th amendment (women's right to vote) and was ratified in 1920

"what are the myths associated with feminism" main ideas and terms

"battered-words syndrome" is negative connotations associated w/ feminism and women's movement, backlash to feminism from those who would lose power, post-feminism, confusing liberation w/ freedom to purchase, freedom to objectify oneself confused w/ actual freedom, 5 accusations against feminists and responses

post-feminism

idea that feminism was legitimate but no longer necessary, everything is fixed now, we're already liberated

5 accusations against feminists

1. angry and no sense of humor

2. hate men

3. lesbians

4. reject motherhood and femininity

5. only white and middle-class, draws energy away from more important issues

responses to 5 accusations against feminists

1. male anger is justified while female anger is demonized

2. we "hate" men by challenging their worldview and power but they hate us by raping/abusing/killing

3. lesbian accusation keeps women in line, apart from one another, and suspicious of feminism

4. doesn't reject motherhood but seeks to improve conditions

5. some legitimacy to white middle-class claim, but we are actively working to be more inclusive and challenge privilege

intersectionality

gender inequality is impacted by racism/class discrimination/homophobia/transphobia/ableism, intersectional systems of oppression, term coined by kimberlé williams crenshaw in '90s

"a day without feminism" main ideas and key terms

examination of daily differences b/w men and women and how feminism has closed the gap, ex: girls' sports, STEM, expelled for pregnancy, miss american pageant, military, glass ceiling and sticky floor

"why we still need ethnic studies and women, gender, and sexuality studies" main ideas and key terms

criticism of focus on "tiny subgroups" when they're actually the majority of the human population, commonalities don't negate differences, representation of marginalized groups, makes straight white men better

"claiming an education" main ideas and key terms

ethical and intellectual contract b/w student and teacher, receive (being acted upon) vs. claim (acting), more female students but still mostly men in positions of power and authority, education is based off of what white men think is important, women's role models are messed up, "when we allow our bodies to be treated as objects our minds are in mortal danger"

mr. vs. mrs. vs. miss vs. ms.

women's identities are defined by their relationships to men (or lack thereof) and age while men's identities are defined by being men, ms. is more recent and meant to complicate titles as an act of resisting expectations and political defiance

"a social construction of the body" main ideas and key terms

beauty is flexible and changes b/w cultures, beauty standard is unachievable, empowerment vs. objectification, body as a project that must be altered, women associated w/ nature and men w/ culture/mind, not being thin is viewed as personal failure/laziness, different standards for men and women regarding tattoos/cosmetic surgery, focus on body and management of it as distraction from economic and political concerns

objectification

seeing body as object and separate from context

"the beauty ideal" main ideas and key terms

men and women have beauty ideals but women's worth is more tied to appearance, fluid nature of beauty, beauty ideals illustrate power in society, beauty standards enforced in complex ways, relationship b/w beauty standards and consumerism, horizontal hostility

horizontal hostility

when individuals direct resentment and anger about their situation toward those of equal or lesser status

"learning gender: gender, culture, and biology" main ideas and key terms

gender is culturally and historically changeable, gender is a social script, gender is something we "do" not "have", androgyny

androgyny

lack of gender differentiation, balanced mixture of recognizable feminine and masculine traits, historically leans heavily towards men b/c masculinity is seen as standard for humanity

biological determinism

our bodies (hormones, etc.) determine who we are, bodies and genders are inherently one way, meaning comes from anatomy, tops cultural differences

social constructivism

meaning applied via culture, meaning perpetuated/expressed via behaviors

"what happened when we gave our daughter my last name" main ideas and key terms

open-minded community shocked at decision, using woman's last name threatened everyone, viewed as mom's sole decision not dad's, "surnames are one of the unseen limbs of the old world", "language shapes how we view things before we even know we are viewing them", birth deserves active language

social construction of gender

"do" gender so it's not inherent/real, social institution that is constantly created and recreated, way of organizing lives, purpose is to construct women as a group as subordinate to men as a group, performed in repetitive acts, give actions meaning, constructed by social norms, constant feedback by both society and ourselves, process by which we "are" or "become"

separate spheres ideology

essentialist pov, tells citizens how to act, idea disseminated throughout society, victorian england, girls and boys physically separated, public/male sphere vs private/female sphere, social creation and enforcement of strict gender roles, connection b/w construction of gender and rise of middle class

characteristics of public sphere

male, business like, hard-working, intelligent, worldly, rough and tumble, tainted by society, dominant, government, paid labor

characteristics of private sphere

homemaker, obedient, docile, gentle, nurturing, household, unpaid labor, pure, innocent, refuge for men

kin-keeping

emotional upkeeping, house to home, ex: decorating for Christmas/making appointments/remembering birthdays

equally shared

couple negotiates, provides equity, could reinforce traditional gender roles

equally divided

clear divisions, math involved, equal amount

reproductive labor

domestic work, associated w/ women/mothers, unpaid, household maintenance, repeated tasks, private sphere

reproductive labor vs. kin keeping

household chores vs. invisible/emotional labor to keep home running

"emotional labor and myths on women's work" main ideas and key terms

old poem "men may work from sun to sun but women's work is never done", mental load and emotional labor, feeling like failures for not doing tasks that should come naturally, work is work and shouldn't be gendered, "easy" tasks are actually necessary for functioning of home, just b/c you have a vagina doesn't mean it's your job, the requirements needed to perform household/invisible labor are the same as needed for public sphere labor, socialization of children so distribution of labor starts out and remains unequal, make the invisible visible, be radical delegators, if single people can do it then so can married people, "invite men into full power in the home to unleash women into full power in the world"

radical delegating

new way forward, work shouldn't be given to most skilled but work should be given b/c it has to be done

systems of privilege and inequality

gender as category through which to analyze systems of privilege and inequality, "woman" is complex interaction of multiple identities, colonialism and imperialism impact american womanhood, universalizing tendencies tend to work against understanding of women, normality reflects identities of people in power, power as diffused and embedded in "discourse", small power exercised in hundreds of everyday transactions, regimes of truth, language shapes and reflects reality, need to recognize and celebrate differences, systemic oppression does not equal situational hardship

colonialism

building and maintenance of colonies in one region by people from another region

institutionalized

officially placed into structured system or set of practices

discourse

process of creating knowledge or culturally constructed representation of reality, each community has regimes of truth connected to power that inform what counts as knowledge

prejudice

to prejudge, involves making premature judgements w/ inadequate or inaccurate information

internalized

assimilated, integrated, or incorporated into our thoughts and behavior

institutions

social organizations that involve established patterns of behavior organized around particular purposes

npr piece on adaptive technology main ideas and key terms

mountain biking program on snowshoe mountain in west virginia, important sense of freedom for both kid and mom, doesn't have to be the same for everyone but should be available to everyone

feminist questions

who is not being represented, who could use more access, who could i amplify

"women are earning more money, but they're still picking up a heavier load at home" main ideas and key terms

breadwinner wives still do more housework than their husbands who make less money, most Americans said society values men's contributions in workforce more than at home, younger people said society values women in the home more, older people said it was equal

"For American couples, gender gaps in sharing household responsibilities persist amid pandemic" main ideas and key terms

fathers overestimate the amount of time they spend with their kids and doing housework, after pandemic men more likely to be satisfied with division of chores, men more likely to be satisfied with work-life balance/partner's approach to parenting/communication, men more likely to say household labor is divided equally while women more likely to say that it is even, men more likely to say they do most of finances while women more likely to say they do more, women do more child-rearing and schedule managing

"Even Breadwinning Wives Don't Get Equality at Home" main ideas and key terms

women catching up in workplace but still behind at home, married mothers do twice as much housework as married fathers, mothers do more child care now than 1960s even though working more, couples reluctant to acknowledge woman as breadwinner, idealization of family structure w/ male breadwinner and female homemaker, elevate husband's work and downplay wife's job even when she makes more, more economically dependent men do less housework, women's success in workplace penalized at home, "correct" for jobs w/ gendered housework, unemployed women focus on husband's job rather than finding new one for themselves, profound changes in women's lives while men's are relatively unchanged

"white privilege: unpacking the invisible knapsack"

men acknowledge women's disadvantages without acknowledging their own privilege, white people acknowledge POC's disadvantages without acknowledging their own privilege, whites carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, unconscious oppression, many doors open for certain people through no virtues of their own, privilege simply confers dominance b/c of race or sex, earned strength vs. unearned power, all oppressions are interlocking, active forms and embedded forms, myth of meritocracy, "White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks"

myth of meritocracy

myth that democratic choice is freely available to all

meritocracy

government or the holding of power by people selected on the basis of their ability, doesn't actually exist

"disability can be funny, trust me" main ideas and key terms

disability usually depicted as depressing but it doesn't have to be, lived experiences matter more than outside opinions

"we need to keep pushing for the mainstreaming of disability" main ideas and key terms

interview with virginia ossana, making feminist areas accessible for people with disabilities, association for women's rights in development (AWID) works for gender justice and women's human rights, accessibility committee not just for disabled people but also queer people/drug users/sex workers, participants could bring support person at no extra cost, global and multicultural, budget for accessibility esp. interpreters

"facts and figures: women and girls with disabilities" main ideas and key terms

• women w/ disabilities underrepresented in decision-making, national coordination mechanisms on disability matters, gender equality institutions, and leadership of organizations for people with disabilities

• women w/ disabilities experience more violence, unemployment, illiteracy, and unmet healthcare needs

"explaining white privilege to a broke white person" main ideas and key terms

white people need to realize their privilege and maintain awareness, invisible knapsack's list of privileges sometimes didn't apply to poor white people, intersectionality, citizenship/class/sexual orientation/ability/gender all contribute to privilege, "Intersectionality allows us to examine these varying dimensions and degrees of discrimination while raising awareness of the results of multiple systems of oppression at work"

"cisgender privilege: on the privileges of performing normative gender"

"cis" means "on this side", "trans" means "change/crossing/beyond", questionnaire inspired by the invisible knapsack

cisgender

those whose gender identity, role, or expression is considered to match their assigned gender by societal standards

transgender

individuals who change, cross, or live beyond gender

privilege

"cultural currency" afforded to a person or group of persons who are recognized as possessing a desired social or political characteristic

gendered privilege

the collective advantages that are accepted, most often unknowingly, by those who are not positioned in opposition of the dominant ideology of the gender binary

bootstrap myth

the belief that anyone can achieve upward mobility through sheer hard work and willpower alone

"there is no hierarchy of oppressions" main ideas and key terms

sexism and heterosexism arise from same source as racism, for those who fight for liberation and workable future there can be no hierarchies of oppression, oppression olympics, one aspect of self cannot profit from oppression of another, "people cannot possibly profit from the oppression of any other group which seeks the right to peaceful existence", cannot afford the luxury of only fighting one form of oppression, "when they appear to destroy me, it will not be long before they appear to destroy you"

"women are just better at this stuff" main ideas and key terms

myth that women are inherently better at kin keeping and reproductive labor, awareness of invisible labor/mental load has been present for decades in sociology field, only coming to public awareness more recently, women needed vocabulary for what they were experiencing, extra emotional/"feminine" work expected of women in workplace, emotional labor in workplace is expectation that women should manipulate their feelings or appearance of feelings to satisfy perceived requirements of their jobs, air hostess/politician/barista expected to perform emotional labor and labor necessary for job, emotional work not recognized as legitimate strain and goes unpaid, in tipped jobs employers mandate emotional output but won't pay for it themselves, creates more sexual harrassment, women have to be seen as kind and competent in order to earn respect, essentialist view doesn't hold up academically, sexual intercourse is still viewed as male-centric with women having to cater to men's ego and emotional/physical needs, men have luxury of detachment to home that women don't