Gender Flashcards
Sex
The socially agreed-upon biological and physiological characteristics of females and males
Biological: genitals, chromosomes, hormones
Physiological: hair length, clothing, how we walk
Sex category
How an individual is identified by others
Gender
The socially-constructed characteristics of women and men
Includes norms, roles, and relationships
Non-biologically things we associate with man and woman
Nature and Nurture
Biology (Nature)- How genes influence our appearance or behavior
Sociology (Nurture)- How the social environment shapes us
What does it take to be a woman or man?
Female/male vs woman/man
Femininity and masculinity
What is femininity/masculinity?
The ideas, traits, interests, and skills that we associate with being biologically male or female
Gender socialization
Gender is something we are socialized into
“Children learn to walk, talk, and gesture the way their social group says girls and boys should.”
Doing gender
Gender is not what we are. It’s something that we do.
The meanings of gender are created through social interaction and social norms
It is an interactional process
We are held accountable for our gender performances
Other people evaluate and sanction us based on our gendered behaviors
Usually done without thinking (nonconscious)
The past, present, and future of gender
Gender is often misrecognized as a natural category, but it is not
There has always been room for change and flexibility in gender expression.
There are different ways of doing gender
Some people challenge the gender binary
Transgender
Intersex
Intersectional Perspectives on Gender
Different types of social relations are linked together in complex ways, creating very different experiences for different groups of people
Gender might work differently between young women and older women
Racists associations between black masculinity with aggression and criminality
Officers have different perspectives (stereotypes) between the white and black man masculinity
Gender Inequalities
Sociologists have documented persistent gender inequalities around the world
Individuals or groups are treated and perceived differently based on their gender
Judged male students with more competence, hireability, mentoring and offer high salary
They were given resumes with the same information just some had male names and others had female names
And had to evaluate them for a position as a manager position
Females were viewed as less than males even though they were all the same resume the difference was just the type of names
What does Kristen Schilt say about transmen after their transition in the workplace?
They are viewed as having greater authority and competency
They receive more respect and recognition for doing the same work
They receive greater economic gains for doing the same work
Sexism
The production of unjust outcomes for people perceived to be biologically female
The higher you go in corporate America, less women in power
Patriarchy
A society that disproportionately vests power in men
