gender and identity (sexuality)

• gender: refers to how we experience gender in a world where people are categorized in either female or male but socially you might feel different than the gender you were born with
• sex: physical characteristics (generally/biologically - male, female, intersex)
• gender roles and identity are directly linked to your sex. this was challenged in the 70s by feminists
• oakley - female(1972): 4 ways in which children learn gender roles

  1. manipulation - pushing kids into boxes
  2. canalisation - starting to separate boys and girls into groups with different toys etc
  3. verbal appellations - using certain words with different genders
  4. different activities - showing different activities like cooking to girls
• Margaret Mead (1935): gender roles were different in each culture
• gendered stereotype: shared view of the characteristics of men and women
• Connel's gender order (1995): hegemonic masculinity and femininity - socialisation ensures that men and women find it difficult to construct gender identities different from ones given to them by family, education, etc.
• media influences a great deal of our information and it makes people believe more in gender stereotypes
• bricolage - borrow different elements and make your own mix
• female identities have changed over time, nowadays women continue education, economically independent, debating marriage and children etc.
• male identities are being threatened in the sense that they have stopped being needed as the bred winner, traditional male occupations are declining and divorce rates went up as women are more independent
• the new man: men are now open to sharing their emotions, caring and gentler than before. some even started to shave, wax, cosmetic surgery etc. even being as sexualised as women used to be
• immerging masculinity:

  new lad - aggressive and doesnt want to be soft, rejects new man

  new bloke - become a dad but tells their wives they love them on nights out with boys

  new dad - invested in fatherhood

  emo boy - loves reading music emotions

  metrosexual - take care of their image but straight

  retrosexual - says men should be more masculine and not emotional
• Mac an Ghaill - as a result in all these changes and decline in masculinity, men are searching for a new identity
• sexuality is a social construct - what we find sexy, it is always changing throughout the years.
• heterosexuality: it was the norm for a long time and sex would happen after marriage for most women and one man for the rest of your life
• sexuality was closely linked to the feminine because women were treated as sex objects, sex appeal and attractiveness to men has always been a part of the hegemonic feminine identity
• hegemonic feminine identity: feeling feminine just because men find you a certain way
• Goffman (1963): stigmatized/ spoiled identities - people werent even talking about sex, baby making, hormones etc.
• not all sexual attractions are condoned; pedophilia, bestiality etc
• MGRM - malta gay rights movement