SOC 103 Study Guide - Queer Theory, Double Standard, Polyamory

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 103
• Professor: Tonya Davidson

Document Summary

Sex: a determination of male or female on the basis of a set of socially agreed-upon biological criteria. Gender: social distinctions between masculinity and femininity. Intersexed individuals: individuals born with ambiguous genitalia: do not fit into the sex/gender distinction; referred to has hermaphrodites. Social process involved in determining who is a man and who is a woman, and how our social categories of gender render particular bodies as unintelligible . Gender is socially constructed because any culture or society defines what it means to be a man or a woman. There are dominant constructions (definitions created by the dominant groups in society) of masculinity and femininity in a given society; we are shaped by characteristics such as ethnicity, social class, and sexuality. Includes transsexuals, transvestites (drag queens and drag kings), intersexed individuals, and those who do not identify themselves as either male of female. Transsexual: a person who undergoes sex reassignment, which may include surgeries.