Exam 3

Reading 55 - "Sexual Harassment and Masculinity" - Quinn

"Girl Watching" -how men talk about owmen in the workplace -another example of "doing gender" -producing masculinity -implications for sexual harassment -"this form of girl watching simultaneously produces both the harassment and the barriers to men's acknowledgement of its potential harm"

"Creating a World of Dichotomy" (Reading #3)

-"Gender exists both in the world of language, images, and interactions, and in the physical practices and experiences of the body" -dualistic thinking is either/or -right/wrong -black/white -man/woman -gay/straight -when it comes to gender, we call this the gender binary

Sexual Violence

-A non-legal term used to refer to sexual assault, rape, harassment, molestation, etc. -women experience sexual violence at high rates -1 in 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime (14.8% completed, 2.8% attempted) -82% of juvenile victims of rape are female -90% of adult victims of rape are female -hard to measure for many reasons, mainly fear of reporting and subsequent underreporting

Typification

-Abstract notions that groups physical objects into manageable categories -doesn't just have to do with people (not exclusively talking about the social world) -engage in it out of necessity to simplify our complex world -example of a desk (can't keep an image of every single desk in our minds because we can't possibly memorize what every desk in the world looks like. So we pick a generic image or idea of a desk and apply it to all different types to understand what it is -when it comes to people, "what you believe is true or typical is based on the biases of your own cultural experience" -"Once we have developed notions of the typical, we focus our attention on the typical, not the aberration, often even the aberration is common"

Legal consequences of rape culture

-All forms of sexual and relationship violence are under-reported -all forms of sexual and relationship violence are under-prosecuted -often, even in cases of successful prosecution, victims continue to suffer psychological, emotional and social harm

Characteristics of hegemonic masculinity

-Authority and dominance over others -economic stability -labor market success -heterosexuality

The Problem with "Women's Work"

-Despite the rise in labor force participation, we see several inequalities when comparing men's and women's employment -sexual harassment -stalled mobility (the glass ceiling) -occupational segregation -the pay gap -motherhood penalty

Gender as Socially Constructed

-Does not discount the role of biology -Difference between men and women that we identify as significant are products of the social world, not nature (ie. women have long hair, men have short hair. Women wear dresses, men don't. Women typically wear pink, men stay away from that color) -We assign specific meanings in a social context, meanings are not static (they change) -gender expectations change over time and across cultures -gender is a by-product of countless human choices -we are placed into gendered categories before we are even born (color of nursery paint, baby clothes, baby shower colors, gender reveal parties, language (strong, bouncing baby boy, sweet angelic baby girl) -We often think of gender as primarily an attribute belonging to a person -Gender is the rationale for and outcome of various social arrangements (bathrooms) -Once the differences have been constructed, they are used to reinforce "essentialness"" of these differences

The Stalled Revolution (Stone, Cotter, Harmsen, Vanneman)

-Even though we have an increase in women's labor force participation, it's stalled bc from the 1990's to today, we have an interesting phenomenon where we expect women's labor force participation to keep increasing, but starting around the late 80's early 90's it started flattening/stalling out. In most recent years, it has been decreasing

Occupational Segregation

-Many jobs tend to be segregated along gender lines -to be segregated along gender lines, it must fit these criteria: -to be considered predominately male: at least 75% male -to be considered predominately female: at least 75% female -"pink collar jobs" reflect essentialist gendered expectations of the types of work women/men can or should do -these expectations have changed dramatically over the last several decades. Still, inequalities exist -speech language pathologists is occupation with highest % of women, then elementary and middle school teachers, then social workers, marketing/event planners, tailors/dressmakers/sewers, psychologists, desk clerks, etc. -aircraft pilots, flight engineers, fire fighters, architects, engineers have lowest % women in the field -women overrepresented in different occupations than men -jobs filled predominately by women tend to have suppressed wages regardless of functional importance when compared to jobs filled predominately by men -men also suffer penalty for woking in female-dominated occupations compared to what they would earn in male-dominated or integrated occupations at the same skill level (i.e. nursing) -research suggests that occupational segregation is a major contributor to the gender wage gap -the most recent study by blau and kahn found that, after controlling for a # of individual factors, (occupation, education, age, geographical region, and hours worked) there is a persistent 8% wage gap between men and women that is unexplained

Unevenness of Change

-Predominately white and middle class women have advanced from these changes, but not always minority or lower class women -can't categorize all women together and say "all" have experienced progress -the glass ceiling

Masculinity and Sexist Oppression

-Sexist oppression is a social system that benefits men and works to devalue or control women/femininity -all men do, in some form, benefit from a system of sexist oppression but does this mean... -all men hold power over women? -all men benefit to the same degree? -men do not also suffer harm from constructions of gender? -ALL FALSE

MissRepresentation Movie

-Society is harmful to young girls with pressure it puts on them -self-deprecation harms political efficacy -women 51% of population but only 17% of congress (not enough representation) -etc.

Normative Femininity (Maracrida and Boulton)

-The ideal standards for femininity -expectations formed along RACIAL and CLASS lines -beauty, hair styles, outfits, behaviors, consumer products, interests, attitudes

Heteronormativity

-The taken-for-granted notion that heterosexuality is the only 'normal' form of sexual pleasure, intimate relationships, and sexual identity -system of beliefs that reinforces heterosexuality as the default -rooted in the gender binary Systems that reinforce it Individual Level: -assuming heterosexuality in interactions, saying a baby by is "flirting" when smiles at a woman, "boys will be boys," boyfriend jeans Institutional Level: -Many institutions are organized around the assumption of heteronormativity -examples from school: not allowing people to take same sex dates to school dances, prom kings and queens

Social Constructions of Gender/Sexuality/Family

-We make decisions based on perceptions of normalcy. We define what is normal -Height differences between men and women -Bathrooms

C.J. Pascoe's Ethnography "Dude You're a Fag"

-about high school boys "doing gender" -touches on intersections between gender, sexuality, and masculinity -immersed herself in a high school for a year and spent a lot of time with the students observing them -masculinity is established through use of the fag epithet -"doing gender" through labeling -used derogatory term "fag" to police gender and masculinity (not so much about sexuality. More about "fag" as a word associated with being feminine or non-masculine, "girly") -gender performances were visible through ritualistic sex talk, patterns of touch, games of "getting girls" -"by symbolically or physically mastering girls' bodies and sexuality, boys and men claim masculine identities"

Consequences of Educational Heteronormativity - Miceli

-exclusion and control of gay and lesbian students -allows stereotypes/misinformation -polices gender

The Mask You Live In

-how do constructions of masculinity negatively impact boys and men? -what institutions are responsible for perpetrating constructions of masculinity? -The film argues that we mistakenly equate masculinity with the following 3 qualities 1) athletic ability 2) economic success 3) sexual conquest film summar: -Masculinity ideas start early -Set them up to think that they cannot show emotion or talk about emotion -Rejection of all things feminine -Associate masculinity with athletic ability -Associate masculinity with economic success -Associate masculinity with sexual conquest -Parents reinforce this throughout childhood because they think it's what their son needs to survive -Put restraints on men that we don't put on women ("no homo" with friendships)

The Motherhood Penalty

-mothers less likely to be hired than non-mothers -mothers offered less money than non-mothers -mothers less likely to be promoted than non-mothers -corollary: fatherhood bonus (offered more money as a starting salary)

Labor Force Participatin

-since 1940, women's rates of workforce participation have gradually increased -to a lesser extent, men's labor force participation has declined -labor force participation in general has increased as a result

"Sexing the Intersexed" -Anne Fausto-Sterling

1 or 2 per 2,000 children are born with bodies considered appropriate for sex assignment surgery Vast majority of intersex children are sexed as female Our society operates on the basis that there are only 2 sexes that we are willing to recognize

Components of Gender

1) Gender Identity -the gender with which we identify (transgender, genderqueer, woman, non-binary, man) 2) Gender expression -how we present ourselves to the world (hairstyles, makeup, clothing, manner of speech)

"Doing Gender" - West and Zimmerman

1) Gender is not simply what a person is, it is something a person does. We "do gender" in interactions with others -"gender and sexual identities are interactional accomplishments 2) Ongoing activity -the ways we speak to and interact with one another 3) We are accountable for our gender performances. Masculinity and femininity are policed.

Causes of Change in Labor Force Participation

1) Institutional and economic changes -stagnated male incomes created demand for dual earner households -growth of the service sector -policies such as title IX and XII that bar discrimination in schools and workplaces on the basis of gender 2) Changing cultural ideologies of gender -the ideal of the "male breadwinner" began to erode in response to economic changes -the rise of the second wave of feminism in the 1960's and 1970's critiques the patriarchal organization of work

2 contradictory ideals of normative femininity according to Malacrida and Boulton

1) Women's bodies are expected to be heteronormative sites of pleasure and sexuality 2) Women are expected to be selfless sources of maternal nurturance -US Weekly and OK! Magazine examples of women's bodies after having children -satirical headlines about moms always busy helping others and making sacrifices for children

2 problems with dualistic thinking

1) dualism masks the complexity of our social world 2) we as humans rarely create equal and opposite opposing options (we rarely think of both sides being equal. We tend to think in hierarchies)

The Pay Gap

According to most recent report from the Bureau of Labor Stats, women make 80 cents for every dollar a man makes (stat for white and asian women compared to white men) -In 1963, this number was 59 cents -while telling, this number masks a great deal of variation across race, education, occupation, age, religion, etc. -hispanic and latino women make 90% of what hispanic and latino men make -gaps different by race -wage gap by education exists as well

Sex

Biological categorization/classification

How is the Gender Binary Reinforced?

By our social institutions: -Education -Media -Sports -Religion -Family -Law/legal system -Medical system - ex. Categorizing intersex individuals as male or female

Gender

Cultural categorization Societal expectations based on biological differences

Inventing Heterosexuality - Katz

Defining heterosexuality - "heterosexual designates a word and concept, a norm and role, a behavior and feeling, and a peculiar sexual-political institution particular to the late 19th-20th centuries" -the category "heterosexuality" represents a means to define "normal" and "abnormal" in the context of sexual pleasure and intimate relationships

The Gender Binary

Dividing ourselves and our world into 2 gender categories based on the presumptions of 2 biological categories -interests/hobbies: men: action movies & sports women: chick flicks & makeovers -displays of emotion men: not ok to cry women: normal and expected to cry -careers men: CEO, leadership, STEM, fireMAN, policeMAN women: teacher, secretary, nurse, etc. -life goals men: career women: family and children

Hegemonic Masculinity (Connell)

Dominant ideology of masculinity that implicitly sets the standard for all others -creates a hierarchy of appropriate forms of masculine gender performance -shapes social institutions -hegemonic masculinity operates in part by associating other gender performances with femininity -consequently, women and femininities are always subordinated to masculinity

Historicizing sexuality

Heterosexuality: the first years (1892-1900) - dr. kiernan and dr. krafft-ebbing Heterosexual hegemony (1945-1965) - challenged by research: Alfred Kinset and Masters & Johnson Heterosexuality Questioned (1965-1982)

Fausto-Sterling's Research Findings

IMPORTANT STATS -1 in 100 people are born with bodies that differ from the regular male or female standard -1 or 2 in every 1,000 people receive surgery to "normalize" genital appearance

Questions

In what ways is the gender binary limiting? For whom?

Rape Culture

The normalization of sexual violence in everyday life and the media -examples: jokes, rape as a metaphor, sexually objectifying advertisements -also: seemingly innocent norms/language related to intimacy, gender, and sexuality can reinforce victimization -components: victim blaming, sexual objectification, trivializing rape, denial of harm