Lecture 9

Question 1

Gender

Answer 1

Gender refers to cultural and social understandings about what constitutes masculinity and femininity.

Question 2

“Boy” and “girl” behaviours are the result of both ___ and ___.

Answer 2

Genetics, socialization.

Question 3

Sex is a ___ and gender is a ___.

Answer 3

Status, role.

Question 4

Sex determines ___, while gender describes ___.

Answer 4

Who we are, what we do.

Question 5

What is the double standard in human sexuality?

Answer 5

• Different standards for males and females.

- Identification of sexual norms and the concept of sexual deviance.

Question 6

True or false? Sexual identity is a dichotomy.

Answer 6

False, lies on a spectrum, or a continuum. Fluidity of sexuality and gender.

Question 7

What does it mean when we say “sexual cultures vary”?

Answer 7

• Today’s sexual deviance can be tomorrow’s morality.

- Perceptions of what is normal vary across cultures and over time.

Question 8

When was interracial marriage determined to be allowed, and laws prohibiting it unconstitutional?

Answer 8

Overturned in 1867 (Loving v. Virginia).

Question 9

Ritualized homosexuality in Sambian society:

Answer 9

Mountain people, well known for ritualized homosexuality. Semen ingestion with pubescent boys.

Question 10

How do radical social constructionists view the Sambian people?

Answer 10

As an example of how malleable and flexible our gender roles and sexuality can be.

Question 11

Why might sociologists say there is a limit to the malleability and flexibility of gender?

Answer 11

Many Sambian boys do not enjoy giving blowjobs. Also don’t enjoy receiving them. Many of them feel they are coerced into doing this. Some boys resist participating violently, and at the earliest opportunity stop engaging in male-male sexual behaviour.

Question 12

Attitudes concerning nudity:

Answer 12

When nudity is used for entertainment or to make a living, it is inappropriate. However, for figure-painting, it is ok.

Question 13

Two-Spirit People

Answer 13

• Traditional Aboriginal culture is extremely diverse.
• Amidst that diversity, there was some commonalities.
• Perceived sexuality as an integral part of a holistic view of life.
• Sexuality considered a gift from their creator, rather than a sin (Europeans).
• Aboriginal cultures recognized more than two sexes and genders. Incorporated acceptance of diverse sexualities.
• During early years of colonization, Aboriginal women were frequent sexual partners of male settlers. However, as time went on, Aboriginal sexual practices were considered deviant. Europeans tried to control it through religion and law.

Question 14

Disconnect between Aboriginal people today and their ancestors:

Answer 14

Homophobia, anti-LGBTQ attitudes. Do not embrace sexual diversity of ancestors. Historically, treating Aboriginal view as utopian is naive.

Question 15

Two Essences

Answer 15

Both male and female. Cross-dressers, transvestites, lesbian, gay, and transgendered. Anyone otherwise marked as alternatively gendered.

Question 16

What does the two-spirit identity allow them to do?

Answer 16

Pushes back against the history of colonization.

Question 17

Why is two-spirit activism contemporary?

Answer 17

• Not all Aboriginal groups have two-spirit members.
• Not all of them were integral parts of the community. Didn’t necessarily get special status.
• Fixated on men. Ignores restrictions placed on women in these cultures.

Question 18

Why is the term “two-spirited” limited in terms of its usefulness as a generic term?

Answer 18

It is not applicable to all tribes, or even many tribes. Its usefulness as a generic term is limited. Conflates diverse native cultures. Pan-Indian identity which does not exist.

Question 19

Europeans brought a set of beliefs that was shaped by religious past, but was not nearly as conservative as we think. Explain this:

Answer 19

Rejected idea that carnal ideas were sinful, but were conservative about it. Had to take place within family life. Saw sex as a duty both of the husband and the wife (owed to each other), and thought that sex enhanced marriage.

Question 20

Similarities between Europeans and Aboriginals as far as sex:

Answer 20

• Pre-marital sex.
• Pair-bonded.
• Were not nearly as homophobic as you might think. Sodomy laws not enforced.
• Homoerotic behaviour found among Europeans.
• Some level of gender fluidity in Europe.

Question 21

How was the 17th-Century Euro-Canadian sexual culture highly structured and intertwined with race, gender, and class.

Answer 21

• Women more likely than men to be punished for sexual deviance. Punishments were often more severe.
• Lower-class men were more likely to be punished than upper-class men.
• Black men compared to white men often suffered more.

Question 22

How did women control their sexual behaviour in 17th-Century Euro-Canadian sexual culture?

Answer 22

• Delay marriage.
• Once wed, prolong breast feeding and refrain from sex while nursing.
• Unlikely that couples used contraceptives, but used pull-out method.
• Folk remedies to prevent conception or cause abortions had been known. Laxatives and blood letting, to the use of pessaries.

Question 23

How did sexual culture begin to change?

Answer 23

• Urbanization/wage labour.
• Transfer of salvational responsibility.
• Love marriages began to replace arranged marriages.
• Women increasingly controlled sexuality.
• Idea of self-control began to permeate medical profession.
• Various forms of pornography available.

Question 24

By the early 20th Century, dominant meaning of sexuality become ___ ___.

Answer 24

Personal happiness.

Question 25

Do we have complete freedom now in sexual practices?

Answer 25

Presently, we have more freedom than we ever have before. However, we continue to talk about deviant sexualities.