Sexualities: Gendered Desires Flashcards
Body dissatisfaction expressed by women over their physical appearance, in particular their weight, aging is now considered…(whatis this called?)
…to be the norm rather than the exception. This is called normative discontent.
one’s endorsement of one’s own body image that is influenced by gender stereotypes
Gendered Self-Schema
Obsessive thinking over one or more perceived defects or flaws in appearance. men & women experience this similarity.
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
What are men versus women more concerned with regarding body dysmorphic disorder
- women: skin, stomach, butt
- men: genitals, body build, and hair
Not the same as body dysmorphia. The focus here is on gender performance, expression and identity
gender dysphoria
Sexuality and society from a sociological perspective focuses on: (3)
sexual desires, behaviours, and identities
While sexual behaviours are a cultural universal…
….specific practices are unique to each culture
Western society has always had what kind of world view of understanding sexuality?
Judeo-Christian
1800’s saw the growth of a scientific approach to understanding sexuality. It maintained
Phallocentric: a male-centered view of sexuality. true sex was male intercourse with female
Freud and others came to see homosexuality as a pathology. They called it sexual inversion. What does that mean?
a homosexual man represented a woman’s soul that was captured in a man’s body. This viewed sexuality and gender as being the same.
the belief that heterosexuality is the only normal and natural way of relating
heteronormativity
compulsory heterosexuality was coined by?
Adrienne Rich (1980)
How does sexuality occurs at the interface between biology and culture?
The body is implicated by we also need to understand the society in which sexuality takes place
represented patriarchal ideas about sex, divorce, adultery etc.
Hammurabi Code
imprisonment of unwed, pregnant woman between the ages of 16-35 – “morality offences”
1897 – Female Refuges Act
women could divorce men on the same grounds as men could divorce women
1925- Marriage and Divorce Act
Same-sex couple from Montreal signed first union contract (year)
1972
Husband could legally be charged with raping their wives
1983 - Bill C-127
Reversal of the 1876 Indian Act provision that stripped Indigenous women who married non-Indigenous men of their legal status
1985
Legalization of same-sex marriage
2005
Supreme court upheld a criminal law against polygamy
2011
Gender identity and expression added to protected groups in Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom
2017
Canadian government tabled Bill C-8 to amend The Criminal Code to include conversion therapy
March 2020
Current Realities and Issues related to sex (5):
- Satisfaction with sex and sexuality varies by gender
- Declines in teenage sex
- Mid-life Canadian couples report satisfaction with their sex life (66%)
- STIs are growing – more common among younger Canadians.
- The place of sexuality and gender identity in education
What did Adrienne Rich (1980) essay “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.” consider?
Considered an institution that reinforces heterosexual relationships, from a male perspective, as the only normal form of relationship
Initial ideas of homosexuality assumed that gay men were more feminine (gender) and lesbians were more masculine (gender) – early research attempted to reinforce this, however
recent work refutes this stereotype
How many people + what percentage in Canada identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and other sexual orientations?
1 million which is 4%
How many people in Canada are transgender + percentage?
about 100,815 which is 0.33%
Evidence suggests that sexual orientation can
change over a person’s life course
who applied a scientific study to human sexuality and what did he introduce?
Dr. Alfred Kinsey introduced the idea that sexuality can be fluid and change over one’s life time - roughly 10% of the population reported being equally homosexual/heterosexual
What institutions reflect a heternormative understanding of sexuality? (3)
- the media
- religious community institutions
- the law
