WMST 1110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Gender Binary, Two-Spirit, Transphobia

• School: University of Georgia
• Department: Women's Studies
• Course: WMST 1110
• Professor: Ray

Document Summary

Trans women face both sexism and misogyny as women and as trans people. Things we have been taught are not innate differences. Gender is a collection of socially constructed markers that allow us to distinguish between men and women, as well as assign roles and values to these two groups. In our patriarchal, cisnormative, binary society, gender is a form of categorization and social control. It tells us how to treat and respond to others. Rigidity of gender binary punishes people who do not fit into gender expectations. Gender expression: the way an individual chooses to present their gender to others through dress, speech, actions, etc. Gender attribution: when you look at someone and decide they are man or woman based on cues given. Gender identity: only meaningful way to determine gender. Power relies on subjugation and the norm relies on deviance to define itself in opposition to.