SOC 101 Lecture Notes - Female Genital Mutilation, Poet Shirt, Genital Modification And Mutilation
16 Oct 2011
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Sex: a determination of male or female on the basis of a set of socially agreed upon biological criteria: refers to physical bodies, divides human population into binary construction, mutually exclusive categories. Gender: social distinction between masculine and feminine. Socially constructed characteristics associated with girls and boys, called masculinity and femininity: binary opposition between masculine and feminine. Sex and gender are not distinct but intertwined. Intersexed individuals: individuals born with ambiguous genitalia: don"t fit either category of male or female and further problematize the sex/gender distinction, previously referred to as hermaphrodites, tend to have some combination of male and female genitalia and/or chromosomes. Ideas about appropriate gender vary across cultures and time: 17th century france, masculinity was wearing frilly shirts, makeup and a wig. That is not the case in today"s society. Gender relations: organising principles that shape and order interactions between, as well as the relative social importance of, women and men.
