Sociological Study of Sexuality
- Dominated by constructionist perspective
- Interpretive Theories: how do individuals recognize their own or others sexual activity
- Critical Theory: about power, howdoes power change the perception of sexual deviance
Overview of sex and gender
Sex - male or female (usually) - you’re assigned this at birth based on genitals and chromosomes
Gender - Much bigger and more complicated
↳ Gender Roles - expectations ppl and society have about behaviours & characteristics that go with someones sex
Gender Identity - the gender you were assigned @ birth isn’t your true gender
↳ cisgender, transgender
People who are transgender
Transgender: the disconnect between what we were assigned @ birth and what we want to be
- Face lots of stigmitization in society & greater risk
- Exploring is a term for young ppl who try on dif sexualities
↳ aruges about premature & or permanent transitioning
Detransitioners: People who regre the transitions
↳ some medical procedures can’t be reveresed so these ppl must be careful
Sexuality
- Sexuality is a master status
- We assume sex,gender & sexuality correspond to each other but “science” shows there’s a big variation
What is Deviant/Normal Sexuality?
- Sexual cultures cary historically & culturally
↳ e.x. sambiam society - men were forced to engage in homosexuality
↳ e.x. Aristocratic men - could have sex with other women,slaves,other men only if they were a lower economic status
Sexual Cultures in North America
- In Indigenous society women could not have premarrital sex/extramarital sex
- Some Indigenous identified as more than 2 genders (no binary restriction to M or F)
- Sexuality is important to all things
↳ Something given by the creator - Colonizers saw it as strictly for reproduction
↳ sex was seen as “dirty” and not smthg you gloat about
Two Spirited Persons
- Contrast in the understandings of sex & gender between Indig and Colonial cultures
- Indigenous individuals whose sex, gender or sexuality lies outside the colonial dualism
Dominant Meanings of Sexuality in NA - 1600’s .vs. 1700s
- 1600s Reproduction with Marriage - Regulation by church, court, family, community
↳ sex is only for reproduction, if you’re a rich person rules are more lenient
↳ Female slaves are supposed to be available to slave owners
- 1700s Intimacy with Marriage - Sexual culture intertwined with social change
↳ people are more able to explore sexuality & marry for love, in turn ppl became more intimate
↳ Narrative of male violence began to be set by other method of social control (idk what this means??)
Dominant Meanings of Sexuality in NA - 1900’s
- 1900s Personal fulfillment
↳ Continued criminalization of some acts
↳ Growth of the culture industry - Sexual activity became a lot more casual
- We are fine with sex BUT there’s still limits of social control (i.e. no rape or social indecency) - Dominant meanings of sexuality were intertwined with structures of inequality
↳ hierarchies of race, class & gender
Consent
- Consent is given based on actions, what were the actions that happened/didn’t happen?
↳ was consent verbalized? - It is impossible for a child to consent to an adult
- We only saw women as victims of rape until 87 men could also be victims
