SOC Chapter 8

Gender

sex

the perceived biological differences that society typically uses to distinguish males from females

gender

a social position; a set of attributes that are associated with sex identities

sexuality

desire, sexual preference, and intimate behavior

essentialist

arguments explaining social phenomena in terms of natural, biological, or evolutionary inevitabilities; focuses on two-sex binary

androgynous

neither masculine or feminine

transgender

describes people whose gender does not correspond to their birth at cex

cisgender

describes people whose gender corresponds to their birth sex

hegemonic masculinity

the condition in which men are dominant and privileged, and this is invisible

feminism

a social movement to get people to understand that gender is an organizing principle in society and to address gender based inequalities that intersect with other forms of social identity

patriarchy

a nearly universal system involving the subordination of femininity to masculinity

sexism

a form of prejudice that occurs when a person’s sex or gender is the basis for judgement, discrimination, or other differential treatment agianst that person

sexual harrassment

an illegal form of discrimination revolving around sexuality that can involve everything from inappropriate jokes to sexual “barter” to outright sexual assault

emotional labor

managing emotions and their outward expression to meet the expectations of a job, especially in service sector work and female-dominated occupations

glass ceiling

an invisible limit on women’s climb up the occupational ladder

glass escalator

the accelerated promotion of men to the top of a work organization, especially in feminized jobs

structural functionalism

a theory in which society’s many parts— institutions, norms, traditions, and so on— mesh to produce a stable, working whole that evolves over time

sex role theory

talcott parson’s theory that men and women perform their sex roles as breadwinners and wives/mothers, respectively, because the nuclear family is the ideal arrangement in modern socities, fulfilling the function of reproducing workers

freud’s psychoanalytic theory

although biological determinism plays a role in freudian theory, so does the idea that gender develops through family socialization

rubin’s sex/gender system

challenged the idea that because women’s subordination occurred everywhere, it must be fulfilling some societal function

conflict theories of gender

gender was the driving force of history; patriarchal capitalists benefit through systems that subordinate women

interationist theories on gender

gender is not a fixed identity or role that we take with us into our interactions— rather, it is the product of those interactions

intersectionality

the idea that it is critical to understand the interplay between social identities such as race, class, gender, ability status, and sexual orientation, even though manu social systems and institutions try to treat each category on its own

matrix of domination

intersecting domains of oppression that create a social space of domination and, by extension, a unique position within that space based on someone’s intersectional identity along the multiple dimensions of gender, age, race, class, sexuality, location, and so on

bisexual

an individual who is sexually attracted to both genders/sexes

social construction of sexuality

sociologists argue that sexuality is a social construct— always shaped by social factors— and that the range of “normal” sex and sexuality is also a social construction

homosexual

the social identity of a person who has sexual attraction to and/or relations with people of the same sex

heteronormativity

the idea that heterosexuality is the default or noaml sexual orientation from which other sexualities derive

refers to the set of social arrangements built around normative sex categories

gender

is nearly universal system involving the subordination of feminitity to masculinity

patriarchy

michael foucault argued that the development of homosexuality as a social identity was related to

the development of scientific disciplines and a desite to categorize behavior

sexual harrassment is an illegal form of discrimination that can be manifested through___

inappropriate jokes, sexual assault, sexual favors extracted under threat of punishment

women working in male dominated professions often find that there are ___ oppotunities for advancement, and men working in female dominated professions often advance ___ their female colleagues

limited; as quickly as