SOCIOL 2JJ3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Menarche, Sex Organ, Chromosome
4 Dec 2018
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Document Summary
Sex is biological, physiological, hormonal, and chromosomal characteristics that differentiate people into two distinct groups. Secondary differences: things we notice that differ after puberty. Sex is treated as binary (two different groups) Sex is treated as immutable (fixed; doesn"t change) If you have an xx chromosome, you will have all the common characteristics of a woman, there"s no alternative choice) Sex categories are treated as labels that reflect a objective reality and that have a real effect on peoples lives. Those with genital, chromosomal, or gonadal characteristics that do not entirely fit the typical definitions of female or male. Explicit reliance on science used to justify sexual categories. Dq: how do conventional understandings of sex reaffirm ideas about the role of "nature" Story about the twins, both were boys, one had a botched circumcision and they decided to reassign him into a girl because his penis looked a bit different now.
