GENDER, SEX, AND SEXUALITY

Question 1

Sex

Answer 1

Biological characteristics of women and men that include primary sex characteristics like chromosomes, gonads, and genitals. It is considered constant across time and across different societies or cultures.

Question 2

Gender

Answer 2

Differentiated roles, behaviors, capacities and intellectual, emotional, and social characteristics attributed by a given culture women and men. It is socially determined and culturally defined. It changes across time and cultures. All other differences besides “strictly biological”

Question 3

Judith Butler (1990)

Answer 3

“Gender behavior is learned performance imposed by normative heterosexual societies.”

Question 4

– American Psychological Association (2012)

Answer 4

“Behavior that is compatible with cultural expectations is referred to as gender-normative; behaviors that are viewed as incompatible with these expectations constitute gender non-conformity.”

Question 5

Sexuality

Answer 5

Peoples’ interests in or attraction to others, as well as their capacity to have erotic experiences or responses. It covers a broad spectrum and can be considered deeply personal. Some push the idea that it covers the totality of a person’s physical, emotional, and even spiritual responses which includes thoughts and feelings

Question 6

Sexual Orientation

Answer 6

An inherent or immutable enduring emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction to other people.

Question 7

3 dimensions of sexuality

Answer 7

• Sexual attraction, sexual behavior, sexual fantasies
• Emotional preference, social preference, self-
identification
• Heterosexual or homosexual lifestyle

Question 8

Gender Identity

Answer 8

One’s innermost concept of the self as male, female, a blend of both, or neither. This is how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One’s gender identity can be the same or different from their sex assigned at birth. A person can identify him/herself as masculine or feminine.

Question 9

Gender Expression

Answer 9

External appearance of one’s gender identity, usually expressed through behavior, clothing, haircut or voice, and which may or may not conform to socially defined behaviors and characteristics typically associated with being either masculine or feminine.

Question 10

Transgender

Answer 10

An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or expression is different from cultural expectations based on the sex they were assigned at birth. Being transgender does not imply any specific orientation. Transgender people may identify as straight, gay, lesbian, or bisexual, etc.

Question 11

Gender Transition

Answer 11

The process by which some people strive to more closely assign their internal knowledge of gender with their outward appearance. Some people socially transition where they begin dressing, using names and pronouns, or be socially recognized as another gender. Others undergo physical transitions where they modify their bodies through medical intervention.

Question 12

Gender Dysphoria

Answer 12

Clinically significant distress caused when a person’s assigned birth gender is not the same as the one which they identify. This term replaces “Gender Identity Disorder” which intends to better characterize the experiences of affected children, adolescents, and adults.

Question 13

Gender Socialization/Gendering

Answer 13

The process through which children learn about the social expectations, attitudes, and behaviors typically associated with boys and girls.

Question 14

The different processes of Gender Socialization/Gendering

It is made possible due to certain institutions:

Answer 14

• Manipulation – handling girls and boys differently
• Canalization – directing children’s attention to
gender-appropriate objects

• Verbal Appellation – telling children what they
are and what expectations others have of them

• Activity Exposure – familiarizing children with
gender-appropriate tasks

• Family
• Formal education – differences in disciplining
boys and girls, differences in subjects offered,
framing of exam questions and answers
• Media – consistently portrays women as
housewives, emotionally dependent martyrs;
advertising uses images to convey or reinforce
gender stereotypes; use sexualized images to
sell male-oriented products

Question 15

Gender roles in society

Answer 15

The social and behavioral norms which are widely considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex, within a particular culture. It can evolve over time through women empowerment and transformation of masculinities

Question 16

Gender Stereotypes

Answer 16

Are developed when different institutions (family, church, school, media, state) reinforce a biased perception of a certain gender’s role. This is limiting if seen as a prescriptive of a gender’s role rather than descriptive of the many possible roles one can have.

Question 17

4 types of Gender Stereotypes

Answer 17

 Sex stereotypes – generalized view of traits that
should be possessed by men and women,
specifically physical and emotional role
 Sexual stereotypes – assumptions regarding a
person’s sexuality that reinforces dominant views
(Notion on Heteronormativity – assumptions that
all persons are only attracted to the sex opposite
to theirs)
 Sex-role stereotypes – encompasses the role that
men and women are assigned based on their sex
and what behaviors they must possess to fulfill
these roles
 Compound stereotypes – assumptions about a
specific group belonging to a gender