GNDS 215 Lecture 1: GNDS 215 Week 2 Lecture

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Gender Studies
• Course: GNDS 215
• Professor: Melissa Houghtaling

Document Summary

The state or quality of being different or varied; differences in identities, expressions, attractions, desires, practices, and experiences that exist beyond normative notions of sexuality and gender. The unique intersection of our various social identities contributes to our diverse experiences of gender and sexuality. Applying a critical lens to binary categories of sex, gender, and sexuality allows us to explore the vastness of human variation. A theory that naturalizes differences between social groups and explains, e. g. , gender differences and racial differences to be immutable and based in biology. Essentialist beliefs hold up the idea that one"s sex determines one gender, and that heterosexuality naturally follows. Emphasizes the social and culture factors that influence how we construct, define, and understand gender and sexuality. Social constructionists argue that: there is no strictly biological basis for categories of identity, categories of sex, gender, and sexuality vary tremendously across cultures, each of these categories similarly varies historically.