Gender Attribution
The interactional process of reading the many different cues people present in order to decide whether someone is a woman, a man, or some other gender
What is the social construction of reality?
describes the historical process by which our experiences of the world are put into categories and treated as real things.
What is the gender binary?
the belief in two and only two natural, discrete gender categories into which all individuals fit
What are the gender variant categories?
are systems that institutionalize social roles and identities that extend beyond a binary, allowing for the existence of more than two gender categories
What is the two-spirit role, which is common in American tribes?
It’s when a child who was assigned male or female at birth can live as a different gender. Two spirits become not quite women and not quite men.
What is the biosocial approach?
An approach to the relationship between gender and sex category that views only gender as socially constructed
Sexual dimorphism?
the belief that there are two discrete, biological, and objectively real categories called male and female
Gender assignment
is a process that usually happens when you are born, and someone, usually a doctor, decides whether you are a girl or a boy
cultural genitalia?
the outward performance of gender that is assumed to match up with biological genitalia
ex. Women have facial hair, men don’t have adams apple
People born with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) have?
XX chromosomes, but masculinization of the genitalia. As infants, these babies have what appears to be a penis as well as a vagina.
Individuals born with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS) have?
XY chromosomes but feminized genitalia, which often means they have a vagina as well as testes
What is transgender?
is a broad label that includes a wide variety of people who seek to change, cross, or go beyond culturally defined gender categories. The terms include many ways to express gender, not all of which line up with the sex categories of female and male
Thomas principle
The principle that what people believe to be real is real in its consequences
ex. Gender might be socially constructed, but that doesn’t mean it has no real consequences for people’s lives; it is also a system of inequality.
What is the strong social constructionist approach?
An approach to the relationship between gender and sex category that views it as socially constructed
How is the term Sex defined in a sociological context?
It refers to the anatomical or biological characteristics used to categorize people
What is the sociological definition of “gender”?
The roles and characteristics society assigns to women and men, highlighting social inequalities between them
In the binary model of gender, what role is traditionally assigned to females?
femininity
In the binary model of gender, what role is traditionally assigned to males?
masculinity
What does the term gender identity describe?
one’s internal sense of one’s own gender
Which term refers to individuals whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth?
cisgender
Which term refers to individuals whose gender identity does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth?
Transgender
List four terms that fall under the umbrella of “gender diversity”.
Genderqueer, non-binary, gender fluid, and two-spirit
According to Matthews & Beaman (2007), what are the four levels of the ‘Gender Perspective Paradigm’?
The individual, interaction, institutions, and culture
Which theorist is associated with the concept of gender as a “ stratification system”?
Barbara Risman
