SOCIOL 1A06 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Sex Reassignment Therapy, Heterosexism, Gartner
Document Summary
Sex: biological understanding and dichotomous categories; focus on physiological differences. Gender: social understanding and categories; focus on the social meanings attached to being male or female; how gender socialization constructs masculinity and femininity. Transgendered: individuals who depart from normative roles about being men or women. Some transgendered are transsexuals who want to change their gender by changing their appearance including gender reassignment therapy. Not about sexual orientation but rather roles. An individual whose chromosomal and/or hormonal make-up and/or sexual/reproductive anatomy is different than what is typical . An intersexed individual may have biological features of both the male and female sexes. If the concern is only how the baby looks, then surgery should not be done by doctors, but rather should be done because there is a health risk. Some people die with intersex anatomy and they don"t even know it. Lead to physical, emotional, and social problems for the child.