Sex, sexuality and Gender Flashcards
Our understanding of sex, sexuality and gender is limited to:
Our historical and cultural context
= ethnocentrism (evaluation of culture)
= ahistoricism (experiences cemented in time)
(also limited to mainly research conducted on men)
What sexual behaviours tend to vary across cultures?
Masturbation
Premarital Sex
Extramarital Sex
Sam sex behaviour
What are some cultural perspectives around why you shouldn’t masturbate?`
Catholic = god is watching
Ancient China = protect the ‘yang’
Early Christians = sperm is sacred
Victorian era = you’ll go blind
Which societies tend to permit premarital sex and which don’t?
DO = Pacific Islands, Africans, Eurasians (Eastern Polynesian = permissive) DON'T = Mediterranean (Egyptian = restrictive)
What ranks second to incest as the most strictly prohibited form of sexual contact?
Extramarital sex (even if not prohibited = subject to regulations e.g. husbands and not wives allowed to)
When is/ was extramarital sex allowed in certain cultures?
China = concubines
Islam = four wives
Sultans of Ottoman Empire = max 1,200 concubines
North America = high occurrences (even if not allowed)
When has same-sex behaviour been allowed in certain cultures?
Ancient Greeks = institutionalised (young males in return for training and housing in religious communities)
Pacific Islands = men and young boys in puberty rituals
Latin America = machismo (proud to be male)
What are the differences between sex, sexuality and gender?
Sex = biological Sexuality = desire Gender = cultural way of performing biological sex (e.g. acting feminine if you are female)
In western cultures how do we categorise sex, sexuality and gender?
Dichotomies
Sex = male/female
Sexuality = heterosexual/ homosexual
Gender = masculine / feminine
What are the dichotomous definitions of sex, sexuality and gender reinforced?
Language
Laws
Who is Nikki Araguz and why did her story attract attention?
She was raised a male however developed into a female.
Her marriage was nullified as her in-laws said she was male at the time of the marriage - unable to get custody over her kids and benefits as a widow.
What is the difference between transgender, transexual, pansexual and inter-sexual?
Transgender = gender doesn't match sex (e.g. acts as a women & has a penis) or doesn't fit the binary model of sex Inter-sexual = born with a disorder in sex development Transexual = born one sex and surgery to change to another sex because they identify differently Pansexual = not limited sexuality - open to anything
What is the process in the womb (prenatal) that differentiates a baby’s sex?
- The 23 chromosomes from each partner combine
- The 23rd can either be XX or XY (Y is recessive)
- If embryo has XY the Y (TDF) instructs the body to differentiate the gonads
- If no Y - gonads don’t initially differentiate, but then later differentiate into an ovary
- Whatever path happens = sex hormones produced to differentiate the other parts of the genital system
What are the hormones responsible for differentiating the testes (male genitals) and the ovaries (female genitals)?
Male = androgens Female = estrogens Male = AMH (suppress development of female parts)
What are 5 disorders of sex development that can make someone intersex?
Turner syndrome: not XX or XY = just X mainly female (not properly formed/ don’t grow properly - infertile)
Klinefelter’s syndrome: XXY low androgen so mainly male (not properly formed and breasts grow: look slightly feminine)
CAH: XX female without enzyme (makes external organs look slightly male - enlarged clit)
AIS: XY cant absorb testosterone (look female externally with male genitalia internally & breasts develop)
True hermaphroditism: rare ambiguous genitalia
