Gender Identity and Subject Choice

Question 1

Define Sex

Answer 1

Whether a person is a man or a woman is based on their biological physical features. W = female. M = male.

Question 2

Define Gender

Answer 2

Socially constructed characteristics given to women and men. W = feminine. M = masculine.

Question 3

Define Double Standards

Answer 3

Applying one set of morals to one group and a different set of moral to another group, but in relation to the same behaviour, EX. sexual behaviour

Question 4

Double Standards 1

Answer 4

Lees
boys boast about and exaggerate their sexual prowess and experience, while girls who are seen as dressing provocatively are labelled as ‘slags’.
Double standard in expectations of boys and girls’ sexual behaviour.

Question 5

Double Standards 2

Answer 5

Feminists say this double standard is part of the patriarchal ideology designed to keep women subordinate to men as their sexual behaviour is more controlled by society.

Question 6

Verbal Abuse 1

Answer 6

Connell
students use a rich vocabulary of abuse to reinforce social expectations about gender roles and sexuality. EX, boys use verbal abuse such as name calling to put girls down if they dress or behave in a certain way.

Question 7

verbal Abuse 2

Answer 7

Paetcher
boys use name calling of girls and other boys who are seen as ‘effeminate’ [who are also especially prone to suffering homophobic abuse] to maintain male power and reinforce gender norms.

Question 8

Verbal Abuse 3

Answer 8

Parker
found that boys were called homophobic names simply for being friends with girls regardless of their actual sexual orientation.

Question 9

Define Male Gaze

Answer 9

Male gaze is the way in which men look women up and down, seeing them as sexual objects and judging them on their appearance.

Question 10

Male Gaze

Answer 10

Mac an Ghaill
Male gaze as a form of surveillance through which dominant heterosexuality is enforced.
Reinforces the boys’ masculinity [they have to ‘prove’ to their peers they are ‘real’ men and straight and they do that by looking girls up and down] by devaluing femininity which helps keep girls ‘in their place’.

Question 11

What do male peer groups do?

Answer 11

Verbal abuse to reinforce their definition of masculinity.

Question 12

Male Peer Groups

Answer 12

Epstein and Willis

boys in anti-school subcultures see high achieving boys as effeminate and subject them to homophobic abuse.

Question 13

Female Peer Groups 1

Answer 13

Ringrose
Being popular was crucial to girls’ identity. They experience conflict between loyalty to their female friends by being non-competitive and supportive of each other [an idealised feminine identity] and competing for boys in the dating scene [a sexualised identity].
Similarly to Archer (hyper-sexualised feminine identity)

Question 14

Female Peer Groups 2

Answer 14

Currie
Girls use shaming as a form of social control against each other thus regulating each other’s identities.
Girls risk either being labelled as ‘sluts’ and excluded from friendship groups if they seem too competitive over boys. Similarly, girls who do not complete for boys face ‘frigid’ shaming.

Question 15

Female Peer Groups 3

Answer 15

Reay
Girls who want to do well at school project a boffin (nerd) identity which is characterised by a lack of interest in boys or popular culture.