Gender, Sexuality, and Intimacies - Part 1

• Gender identity


  People's self-concept about their gender
• Gender expression


  How people perform and read gender from bodies and how we express gender ourselves
• Neither gender identity or expression have anything to do with biology
• Sex assigned at birth

  The term sociologists use when talking about biology
• Sexuality


  Describes how people are physically and/or emotionally attracted to others
• Discussions of sex, gender, and sexuality are influenced by what people understand as the biological facts of human bodies
• Cultural ideas of femininity and masculinity shape how we narrate biological processes
• Gender norms dictate how people should interact with each other and with objects
• Gender performativity


  Gender identity is formed through a set of acts
• There is no natural basis to gender and no inherent link between gender and sex
• Masculinity and femininity are social-cultural phenomena; they are influenced by society and culture and can change across time and place
• Hegemonic masculinity


  The kind of masculinity that is most dominant and often used as a measuring stick for others
• Hegemonic femininity


  The corollary for femininity
• Gendered scripts


  Describe how gender and sexuality influence how people interact with each other
• Challenges to toxic masculinity and rape culture on campuses

  • Entails changes to the way men "should" behave in sexual relationships
• Femme


  • A term that describes those who embrace some feminine qualities and fall on the LGBTQ2S+ spectrum. This can challenge the idea that femininity is natural and compliant
• Drag kings


  • Perform masculinity and exposes the theatricality of masculinity; this often involves a deconstruction of sex and binaries
• Key sociological questions about gender and labour

  • Who is expected to do what labour and when?
  • Is some of that labour valued more than other labour (financial, social, and cultural capital)?
  • What are some of the assumptions linked to forms of labour?
  • How does labour impact other aspects of people's lives?
  • How are these assumptions about labour tied to other identities such as racialization, class, ability, or age?
• Reproductive labour


  The labour required to keep human beings alive. It is often women who do this labour
• Second shift


  The double work day of many women, who work outside the home but are also responsible for domestic labour
• Women began to enter the paid workforce in large numbers during and after WWI
• Women of colour had already been working by WWI
• Women are overrepresented in work that is low-paying and/or precarious (eg part-time, contract, or seasonal)
• There is a wage gap, or a difference in compensation for men and women
• We need to remember an intersectional lens when looking at the wage gap