Chapter : Week 11; Gender and Sexuality
Document Summary
Sociology 1020; gender, sex, sexuality, sexual orientation; week 11. Our gender norms affect what we think about sexuality. We exaggerate (sometimes) the size of these differences. Even on a characteristic where one sex has a higher averge, there will be many memebr of the sex with higher avergae who are below the avergae of the sex with lower avergae. A person"s sex is a biological matter: classified into two sexes, where males and females differ in anatomy, chromosomes, and average levels of certain hormones. But, intersex individuals - born with some defining anatomical characteristics of each sex. A biological difference might be: levels of testosterone (present in greater amounts in men) that encourages some kinds of aggressive or dominance-seeking behavior, that only women can breastfeed infants. Causation is not just hormone to behavior, changes in the social environment can also change testosterone levels. Transgendered people challenge many of the assumptions about sex and gender.
