Skip to main content
Social Sci LibreTexts

12.8: End of Chapter Discussion

  • Page ID
    56494
  • \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    Discussion

    1. From your experiences with US culture, what aspects of gender and sexuality do you see as being at least partially shaped by culture? Think about gender roles, vocabulary, appearance, what is considered erotic, etc.
    2. How important is your gender to how you think about yourself, to your “identity” or self-definition, to your everyday life? Reflect on what it would be like to be a different gender.
    3. How important is your “sexuality” and “sexual orientation” to how you think about yourself, to your identity or self-definition? Reflect on what it would be like if you altered your sexual identity or practices.

    GLOSSARY

    Binary model of gender: Cultural definitions of gender that include only two identities – male and female (also called the dualistic model of gender).

    Cisgender: A term used to describe those who identify with the sex and gender they were assigned at birth.

    Domestic-public dichotomy: The contrast between women's role in the home and men's role in public life, with a corresponding social devaluation of women's work and worth.

    Gender: The meanings, values, and characteristics that are culturally assigned based on sex such as masculinity and femininity.

    Gender identity: Our beliefs about ourselves as females or males.

    Gender ideology: A complex set of beliefs about gender and gendered capacities, propensities, preferences, identities and socially expected behaviors and interactions that apply to males, females, and other gender categories. Gender ideology can differ among cultures and is acquired through enculturation. Also known as a cultural model of gender.

    Gender roles: The set of expectations about tasks, attitudes, and behaviors that are culturally assigned based on sex and gender.

    Patriarchy: A male-dominated political and authority structure and an ideology that privileges males over females overall and in every strata of society.

    Heteronormativity: A term coined by French philosopher Michel Foucault to refer to the often-unnoticed system of rights and privileges that accompany normative sexual choices and family formation.

    Sex: The anatomical and other biological differences that determine male and female.

    Third gender: a gender identity that exists in non-binary gender systems offering one or more gender roles separate from male or female.

    Transgender: A category for people who identify as a different gender than the one that was assigned to them at birth. This may entail a social transition or a physical one, using a number of methods.


    12.8: End of Chapter Discussion is shared under a CC BY-NC license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

    • Was this article helpful?