SOSC 4240 Lecture Notes - Machismo, Main Source, Sexual Assault
Document Summary
Intersexed infants are babies born w/ ambiguous genitals b/c of a hormone imbalance in the wombs or some other cause. A person"s gender comprises the feelings, attitudes, and behaviours typically associated w/ being male or female. Social learning of gender begins very early in life. Babies first develop vague sense of being a boy or girl at ~ age 1. They develop full-blown sense of gender identity b/w age 2 or 3: essentialism: a school of thought that views gender differences as a reflection of biological differences b/w women and men. Compatible w/ functionalist theory: social contructionism: views gender as constructed by social structure and culture. Compatible w/ conflict, feminist, and symbolic interactionist theories. Freud believed that differences in male and female anatomy accounts for the development of distinct masculine and feminine gender roles. Says that at age 3, children begin to pay attention to their genitals.