Gender & Sexual Identity Flashcards
Sex
Refers to the biological differences between males and females
Sexuality
A person’s sexual orientation - heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, lesbian etc.
Gender
Refers to cultural classification of people into feminine and masculine roles. People encouraged to act a certain way ‘appropriate’ to their sex
Hegemonic
Traditional characteristics associated with being masculine or feminine - e.g: females being passive, quiet, subordinate and males being tough, aggressive, the breadwinner
Biologically determined
When a trait is determined by DNA
Social construction
A trait determined through socialisation
Socialisation into gender roles - FAMILY
Gendered toys Dress Domestic tasks Language (Related to OAKLEY)
Socialisation into gender roles - MEDIA
Stereotypes Dress Fashion Music Role Models Relationships (Related to Ferguson)
Socialisation into gender roles - EDUCATION
Subjects Teachers Uniform Language Expectations (Related to Skelton, Colley and Kelly)
Socialisation into gender roles - PEERS
Gender appropriate behaviour
Dress
Language
Sexual double standards
Socialisation into gender roles - RELIGION
Gendered laws
Familial laws i.e. male breadwinner
Socialisation into gender roles - WORKPLACE
Occupational name (i.e. dinner lady
Pay gap
Uniform
Role
PARSONS: Family
Talks about the instrumental and expressive roles within the family - instrumental being breadwinner and provider and expressive being housewife and caregiver
OAKLEY: Family
Talks about different ways children are socialised into gender roles
Manipulation: encouraging gender appropriate behaviour - e.g: girls should be quiet and ladylike
Canalisation: directing children towards certain toys or play - e.g: boys should play with trucks
Verbal appellations: parents using stereotypical feminine and masculine descriptions - e.g: ‘What a clever little soldier’
Different activities: cultural expectations of future responsibilities - e.g: making a girl help with making dinner
MCROBBIE: Family
Bedroom culture and cult of femininity
- Found that boys and girls were treated differently by their parents.
- Boys were given more freedom and allowed to spend more time out of the house whereas girls are more protected and home centred.
- The term ‘bedroom culture’ has been used to describe the ways girls spend their leisure time with friends in their bedrooms.
WILLIS: Education
- Anti-school subculture
- Knew they’d end up in manual labour so spent time in school ‘having a laff’ instead of working
SKELTON: Education
Talked about the hidden curriculum - e.g: history consisting of male achievements, girls being encouraged to take subjects that will eventually lead to less academic or highly paid jobs, boys dominating the class room
KELLY: Education
Said science was seen as a masculine subject
- Text books written to appeal to boys
- Boys dominating classrooms - ‘invisible women’
COLLEY: Education
School subject choices influenced by:
- Perception of the gender roles
- Subject preference
- Learning environment
FERGUSON: Media
- Women’s magazines were based around a ‘cult of femininity’
- promotes the idea that excellence is achieved through caring for others, the family, marriage and appearance.
SEWELL: Media
- hyper masculinity found in Afro-Caribbean young men - exaggerated version of hegemonic traditional masculinities.
- lack of positive male role models in families - matriarchal backgrounds
- turned to music and rap icons such as 50 Cent to act as their male role models
NIXON: Media
‘New Man’ - dates back to Launderette - advert in 1985 that presented the idea that it was ‘cool’ for a man to do washing, spend time on looking good. Advert sexualised the male body
MORT: Media
Laundrette advert -rise in men’s toiletries and consumption of grooming products - made it acceptable for men to spend time and money on their appearance
JACKSON: Media
Policing Ladettes - Ladettes were girls who adopted features such as: ‘acting hard’, swearing, fighting, drinking, disrupting lessons, being loud, talking about sex and being cheeky
Jackson studied Ladettes - study included 153 students aged 13-14 and 30 teachers
-assertive femininity - IMPORTANT
WILLIS: Workplace
For boys and their fathers, jobs were a key part of their identity
Defined themselves as manual workers - membership to this occupation
MAC AN GHAILL: Workplace
'Crisis of masculinity' Working class men lost jobs and were unprepared for their jobs, lost role within family as breadwinner - women turned into main provider
ADKINS: Workplace
Looks at theme park employers
Attractive female staff made to work in bars and male staff often given jobs as fairground ride operators
MORT: Changes to identity
Increased consumption of men’s toiletries
Men sexualised for the first time
JACKSON: Changes to identity
Policing ladettes - women straying away from traditional gender roles and stereotypes
JACKSON: Peers
Policing ladettes- double standard for boys and girls
MCCORMACK: Changes to identity & Education
Softening of masculinity in English sixth forms - people more accepting of homosexuals
PLUMMER: Peers
‘Homosexual career’
Homosexual men seek others and form a subculture - peers support and normalise homosexual characteristics
RICH: Peers
Women’s sexuality oppressed by men.
‘Compulsory heterosexuality’
Argues lesbian identity is being written out of existence
NMI: Hegemonic
Traditional, dominant form of masculinity - Oakley
NMI: Complicit
Men and women should share roles in families - Mort
NMI: Subordinate
Less powerful and carry less status - McCormack
NMI: Marginalised
Masculine identity but masculinity under threat - Mac an Ghaill
Horizontal segregation
Labour market segregated so men and women occupy specific areas in types of job e.g: women in more caring roles and men in more physical jobs such as construction
Vertical segregation
Men occupy top positions in the workplace and the women occupy positions lower down e.g: men occupying a role like headteacher and women being the dinner servers
NFI: Ladette
Girls who adopted features such as: ‘acting hard’, swearing, fighting, drinking, disrupting lessons, being loud, talking about sex and being cheeky
