SOC 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Intersex, Antonio Gramsci, Femininity
19 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Friday, March 11, 2016
Sex & Gender
Sex!
- Biologically rooted; describes our physical bodies whereby distinguish between male and
female!
- Characterized as diametrical opposites “opposite sex”!
Gender!
- Socially constructed characteristics associated with girls and boys, men and women -
Masculinity/Femininity
Problematizing Sex/Gender Distinction
Intersexed individuals
-Born with ambiguous genitalia!
- How do we decide who is male and who is female?!
Transgender and transsexual individuals!
- Transgender has been used as an umbrella term for those who do not fit into normative
constructions of sex and gender!
- Transsexual used to encompass those who undergo sex reassignment (realignment) surgery
Masculinity and Femininity
Culturally dominant forms of masculinity and femininity
Hegemonic Masculinity (Connell, 1987)!
- ideal of masculinity that men are supposed to strive to achieve!
- Derives from Gramsci!
- Requires men to be successful, capable, and reliable!
- Irrevocably tied to heterosexuality!
Emphasized Femininity (Connell. 1987)!
-Based on women’s compliance with their subordination to men Requires women to be
supportive, enthusiastic and sexually attracts Disney’s portrayal of masculinity and
femininity
Reproducing Gender: Families and Education
Families
- "Gender expectations begin at birth
- "Parents spend more time talking to girls while leaving boys alone: punish their
sons more !
often than daughters
- "Gendered divisions of household labour2!
Education!
- Hidden Curriculum: Girls learn that they are not as important as boys!
- Teachers interact with boys more than girls in classroom!
- Praise girls for being congenial and neat while boys praised for intellectual quality
Reproducing Gender: Media
-Television shows
- e.g. housewives of…, jersey shore, the hills
- all wives are beautiful (not all men?) heterosexual and with few exceptions
1
Document Summary
Biologically rooted; describes our physical bodies whereby distinguish between male and female. Socially constructed characteristics associated with girls and boys, men and women - Transgender has been used as an umbrella term for those who do not t into normative constructions of sex and gender. Transsexual used to encompass those who undergo sex reassignment (realignment) surgery. Ideal of masculinity that men are supposed to strive to achieve. Requires men to be successful, capable, and reliable. Based on women"s compliance with their subordination to men requires women to be supportive, enthusiastic and sexually attracts disney"s portrayal of masculinity and femininity. Parents spend more time talking to girls while leaving boys alone: punish their sons more often than daughters. Hidden curriculum: girls learn that they are not as important as boys. Teachers interact with boys more than girls in classroom. Praise girls for being congenial and neat while boys praised for intellectual quality. E. g. housewives of , jersey shore, the hills.
