Critical Vocabulary for studying sexual identity

Question 1

what is sexual identity?

Answer 1

(straight, gay, bi, etc.)
- adheres to a binary mode of sexual attraction that is based on the gender (assumed to be M or F) of the person one is attracted to
- the idea that you have a gender, and you’re attracted to someone of “opposite” gender

Question 2

what is your sexual orientation?

Answer 2

• softer, what you’re orienting toward
• sexual identity is more “strict”

Question 3

what is the Kinsey scale? why is it significant?

Answer 3

• one of first attempts to classify binary model of sexual identity

Question 4

why is the Kinsey model limiting?

Answer 4

• bc it thinks that gender is straightforward, when in reality its more complication
• ex. you attracted to someone’s … gender embodiment (chromosomes, genitals. reproductive capacity); gender expression (how they present themselves); gender identity etc

Question 5

TAKEAWAY

Answer 5

• the hetero/homo model of sexual identity depends on binary notions - that there are 2 genders and 2 categories of erotic desires
• alternative models expand the parameters of gender expression and erotic desire

Question 6

theoretical developments in the study of sexual identity

Answer 6

• essentialist vs social constructionist approaches
• gay rights to queer theory
• limits of single identity politics
• intersectionality

Question 7

what is the essentialist approach?

Answer 7

• sexual desire is something inherent, and it is resistant to influence and change

Question 8

what is the constructionist approach?

Answer 8

sexual desire as culturally and historically situated, , in the sense that people occupy sexual identities that are available to them at specific time and place

Question 9

constructionist and essentialist approaches

Answer 9

• can happen at the same time, not mutually exclusive
• mobius strip example –> if saw at one point, can go all way around, they are continuous

Question 10

from gay rights –> queer theory, which approach do they support?

Answer 10

• LGBT activists support and emphasize an essentialist approach - the idea that they are born this way
• while - QUEER THEORY supports - constructionist approach - idea that current identity categories are constructed and they can be challenged and changed

Question 11

what are the limits of single identity politics?

Answer 11

• can’t understand complexity of multiple identities and how they interact in different contexts
• INTERSECTIONALITY
  -wealthy, elderly gay Asian business man’s experience would be different from that of a young, straight, female, mixed-race artist

Question 12

what is intersectionality?

Answer 12

• coined by Kimberly Crenshaw
• how various parts of a person’s identity should be understood as influencing and intersecting each other

Question 13

TAKEAWAY

Answer 13

• essentialist and constructionist perspectives can occur at the same time
• both contribute to our understanding of sexual desire and identity
• both approaches impact LGBTQ rights activism and queer theories
• intersectional and globally aware approaches provide more complexity to our understanding of identity

Question 14

different approaches to studying media’s role in sexual identity

Answer 14

• media and identity
  
  • mass communication (social scientific)
  • media studies (critical/cultural)

Question 15

mass communications approach - social scientific

Answer 15

• grounded in empirical studies: assumes that identity categories are relatively fixed and stable (quantitative)
• strives fo objective and empirical data
  
  • assess how accurate the representations are and the +/- impacts on the audiences

Question 16

media studies (critical/cultural)

Answer 16

• examine role of media in contructing our identities
• Stuart Hall’s model of encoding/decoding - media is a key site of constructing and circulating all forms of identity categories

Question 17

what is hall’s reception theory?

Answer 17

• Look at process through which meaning is created by media and environment
• Wants to look at how one text gets encoded and decoded in a media environment
• Not reduce image/media text to be positive or negative
  
  • How are feelings generated, circulated, and received – this is what encoding and decoding theory emphasizes

Question 18

TAKEAWAY

Answer 18

2 main critical approach - mass communications and media studies to study sexual identity