Gec Elec3 - M1 01

Gender and Society
• Differentiate sex, gender, and sexuality

• Explain gender socialization
• Identify gender stereotypes
Sex
• set of biological attributes in humans and animals
• associated with physical and physiological features
(including chromosomes, gene expression, hormone
levels and function, and reproductive/sexual anatomy)
• usually categorized as female or male
Chromosomes
• determine one’s sex
• XX equates to female, and XY equates to male
• pairs of chromosomes are distinct because the
difference in their characteristics is necessary for the
production
• Copulation, or the union of the sexes (XX and XY or male
and female), produces offspring
Hormones
• chemical messengers that help regulate bodily functions
and maintain general health
• plays a large part in the definition of one’s sex (e.g.,
estrogen, testosterone).
• exposure to hormones in the womb affects how the
organism develops as a male or female
• physical features related to secondary sex
characteristics are also influenced by hormones
Genitalia
• organs used for reproduction and secondary sex
characteristics are largely influenced by one’s X and Y-
chromosomes
Fallopian
tube
Gender
• socially constructed roles, behaviors, expressions, and
identities of girls, women, boys, men, and gender-
diverse people
• how people perceive themselves and each other
• distribution of power and resources in society
Gender Identity
• not confined to a binary (girl/woman, boy/man) nor is it static;
it exists along a continuum and can change over time
• diversity in how individuals and groups understand, experience,
and express gender through the roles they take on
• the expectations placed on them
• their relations with others, and the complex ways that gender is
institutionalized in society
Gender Socialization
• process through which children learn about the social
expectations, attitudes, and behaviors typically associated
with boys and girls
• Gender roles in society mean how a person is expected to

act, speak, dress, groom, and conduct themselves based
upon their assigned sex
Gender Role Socialization
• process of learning and internalizing culturally approved
ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving
• starts as soon as one is born and manifests from the color
associated with one’s gender to the role one sees his or her
gender performs the most
• Socialization affects all parts of one’s identity by dictating
what is acceptable to do because of one’s educational
background, class, religion, and gender (female and male
gender roles)
Gender Role Socialization
Major agents of socialization
• Family
• Schools
• Peer groups
• Mass media
Gender Stereotypes
• Develop when different institution reinforces a biased
perception of a certain gender’s role
• stereotype comes from the French adjective stéréotype and derives

from the Greek words στερεός (stereos) "firm, solid" and τύπος
(typos), impression, hence "solid impression on one or
more ideas/theories."
• Stereotype - an often unfair and untrue belief that many people have
about all people or things with a particular characteristic
Gender Stereotypes
Types of Gender Stereotypes
• Sex stereotypes – generalized view of traits that should be possessed by
men and women, specifically, physical and emotional roles
• Sexual stereotypes – involve assumptions regarding a person’s sexuality
that reinforce dominant views
• Sex-role stereotypes – roles that men and women are assigned based on
their sex and what behaviors they must possess to fulfill these roles
• Compounded stereotypes – assumptions about a specific group
belonging to a gender
Gender Stereotypes
Early Years
• Girls should play with dolls and boys should play with trucks
• Boys should be directed to like blue and green; girls toward red and
pink
• Boys should not wear dresses or other clothes typically associated
with "girl's clothes"
Gender Stereotypes
During Youth
• Girls are better at reading and boys are better at math
• Girls should be well behaved; boys are expected to act out
• Girls are not as interested as boys in STEM subjects
• Boys should engage in sports and refrain from more creative pursuits
• Boys and men are expected to use violence and aggression to prove their
manliness;
• A boy that doesn’t use violence or aggression is an understandable target for
bullying;
• Girls should be thin and beautiful to make them appealing to men
Gender Stereotypes
Common Sexual Stereotypes of Men:
• Men are tough and powerful.
• Men are unfeeling and insensitive.
• Men are logical, sensible, and rational.
• Men are afraid to commit to a relationship and form an attachment.
• Men are primarily interested in their careers or vocations.
• Men do not have a primary interest in marriage and parenthood.
Gender Stereotypes
Common Sexual Stereotypes of Women:
• Women are helpless and childish.
• Women are sensitive and intuitive.
• Women are scatterbrained, unstable, and irrational.
• Women can easily form deep emotional attachments.
• Women do not have a primary interest in their careers or vocations.
• Women are primarily interested in a long-term relationships and parenthood.
SOGIE
(sexual orientation and gender identity and expression)
• Sexuality is different from sex
• Sexuality is the expression of a person’s thoughts, feelings sexual
orientation, and relationship, as well as the biology of the sexual
response system of a person
Sexual orientation
• involves the person to whom one is attracted and how one identifies oneself
in relation to this attraction which includes both romantic and sexual
feelings
Gender identity
• refers to one’s personal experience of gender or social relations
• determines how oneself in relation to gender and sexuality
• a person could identify himself or herself as masculine or feminine
Gender expressions
• determines how one expresses sexuality through the actions or manner of
presenting oneself
LGBTQIA
• Lesbian, Gay, transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual
• describes distinct groups outside of heteronormativity who are usually
defined by their SOGIE
Heteronormativity
• notion that being heterosexual, or the attraction to the opposite sex, is the
standard for correctness
Heterosexual
• describes people who have sexual and romantic feelings mostly for the
opposite gender: Men who are attracted to women, and women who are
attracted to men
Homosexual
• describes people who have sexual and romantic feelings for the same
gender: Men who are attracted to men, and women who are attracted to
women
Cisgender
• someone whose gender identity corresponds with his or her biological sex
• A person can be a homosexual and at the same time a cisgender (identify with the
gender they were assigned to at birth because of their sex)
Lesbian
• pertains to women who are attracted to other women
Gay
• refers to men who are attracted to other men
• can also be used as an umbrella term for homosexuality
Bisexual or “bi”
• denotes people who are attracted to both genders.
Transgender
• refers to someone whose assigned sex at birth does not represent his or her gender
identity
Intersex
• refers to a person who is born with a combination of male and female biological traits
Gender Equality
• recognition of the state that all human beings are free to enjoy equal
conditions and fulfill their human potential to contribute to the state
and society

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Gender and Society

• Differentiate sex, gender, and sexuality

• Gender roles in society mean how a person is expected to

• stereotype comes from the French adjective stéréotype and derives

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