HDFS 4700 TEST 2
What is the double bind and how do attacks again female politicians illustrate it?
Double bind is a situation in which cultural expectations are contradictory. Satisfying only one or the other expectation inevitably means failure, and it is impossible to do both. It refers to the idea that to be powerful is to fail as a woman and to succeed as a woman is to give up power. • Hillary Clinton was called a "ballbuster" and skewered by the media for being too masculine. She was told to go back to the kitchen and "make a sandwich" and depicted as a nut cracker. • Sarah Palin was called the "Caribou Barbie". She emphasized her femininity with long hair, stylish fitted clothes, and a cheerful demeanor. Her performance was incompatible with the masculine image of a smart, strong and effective politician.
What are bystander intervention programs and how successful are they?
Educate students about sexual assault and teach them how to spot likely incidents and safety intervene - are effective in reducing rates of sexual assault. The success of these programs is proof that students can make colleges more inclusive, safer spaces for personal growth.
What are ways the patriarchy is still expressed in terms of how men and women are seen; what is one sign that we live in a modified patriarchy?
Patriarchy is men have the power and women do not. They do what the man wants. Women don't have the same rights. One sign that we live in a modified patriarchy is many people believe, is accepting the basic political equality of individuals. We live in societies that are characterized by patriarchal relations.
Compare the happiness of stay-at-home moms to those who work outside the home and what does this lead to?
Stay-at-home moms are decidedly less happily than moms who work, even if they really wanted to be a stay-at-home wife. These marriages end in divorce more often than any other kind.
What is the push-and-resist dynamic?
men press sexual activity consistently in the direction of increasing intimacy (whether he wants to or not) and for women to stop or slow down the accelerating intimacy when he's going "too far" (whether she wants to or not).
What is the rape culture and what are some examples of it (men are naturally sexually aggressive is one)
An environment that justifies, naturalizes, and even glorifies sexual pressure, coercion, and violence. The idea that men are naturally aggressive is part of rape culture, as are jokes that trivialize sexual assault, advertisements that glamorize scenes of sexual force, sex scenes in which women say no and then change their minds, and the persistent belief that sexual crimes are falsely reported more often than other crimes (their not).
What is androcentrism and how is it different than sexism?
Androcentrism is gender-based prejudice: granting of higher status, respect, value, reward, and power to the masculine compared to the feminine. Its different from sexism because the rewards are not limited to people with one body or another.
What is the orgasm gap? Compare the gap in heterosexual relations to when women are alone or in a same-sex relationship.
A phenomenon in which women involved in heterosexual relationships report fewer orgasms than men. When women are alone they reach orgasm between 80 and 96% of the time. Women in same sex relationships report having 2 to 3 times as many orgasms as women in heterosexual ones.
What is the "care chain"
A series of nurturing relationships in which the care of children, the disabled, or the elderly is displaced onto increasingly disadvantaged paid or unpaid careers.
What does hegemony mean - and when is an idea considered to be hegemonic; what, then, is hegemonic masculinity?
A sociological concept used to help us understand the persistence of social inequality. An idea is hegemonic only when it is widely endorsed by both those who benefit from the social conditions it supports and those who do not. Hegemony, then, means widespread consent to the social disadvantage of some. Hegemonic masculinity refers to a type of man, idealized by men and women alike who functions to justify and naturalize gender inequality.
What is hyper-masculinity and where do we tend to see it nurtured?
Extreme conformity to the more aggressive rules of masculinity. ex. fraternities, military units, police squads, gangs and prisons. We see it among some poor, urban men and some male politicians or CEO's whose masculine performances often included aggressive posturing and bullying, and in athletes.
What is the rug rat race?
Fear of falling behind drives parents to do as much as they can and no amount is ever deemed too much. If they have the resources, many mothers will choose to disinvest in their careers, at least in the short run.
How is the hierarchical nature of the gender binary bad for both men and women?
For men more than woman, it narrows the range of life experience that seem acceptable and right. For woman more than men, it results in reduced social status, lower material rewards and an expectation that men's needs and interest should take priority.
Why are men who are subordinated in other hierarchies vulnerable to being judged as failing on the hegemonic ideal; why will all men eventually fail?
Hegemonic man, implicitly embodies the positive end of all hierarchies in a society, not just the gender hierarchy. They will fail because hegemonic man is an impossible fiction, a jumble of idealized contradictory elements & because no one can/will all the time.
How does outsourcing housework intensify the inequalities among different kinds of women?
Helps women mediate some of the loss of status, power, and economic well-being, but it also intensifies inequality among different kinds of women. When families outsource housework and child care, the people they hire are almost always female, and more disadvantaged than the family members who are buying their services. (nannies, maids, ect.)
What is the heterosexual male gaze? Compare sexual subjectification and sexual objectification.
Heterosexual male gaze = designed to appeal to a hypothetical heterosexual male; a way of looking at society from the perspective of a hypothetical heterosexual male. Sexual subjectification = people are told what their internal thoughts and feelings should be. Sexual objectification = the reduction of a person to his or her sex appeal
What impacts does the rape culture have on the rapist, the people targeted (discuss the results of fighting back as well), and the view of rape as a crime, prosecution, and whether victims will be believed.
It gives rapist plausible excuses for their actions and also makes it difficult for people who are targeted to understand that they can fight back. The laws and prosecutions aimed at reducing sexual assault and penalizing perpetrators are, at best, weakly enforced.
Why do men who are not at the top of the male hierarchy hold on to male privilege?
It may be the only kind of privilege they have
What are the bargains women make and why would those bargains be precarious?
Just like men, women make patriarchal bargains in order to maximize their autonomy and well-being the face of sexism, androcentrism and subordination. ex: trading power for protection and support (emphasized femininity) , gold diggers, take money and have sex for models. The position of those who preform emphasized femininity is always precarious; they cant control how much reward men offer and on what terms.
What is male flight? How does this relate to education?
Male flight- a phenomenon in which men abandon feminizing arenas of life. Women are now outperforming men at all levels of schooling, they are more likely to be identified as "gifted and talented" in elementary school, about half as likely to be held back a year in middle school, and less likely to drop out of high school. There is no level of higher education in which men dominate.
Why do men follow gender rules? What are the reasons many men do not feel particularly powerful?
Men follow gender rules not to impress women but to avoid the censure of other men. The reasons many men do not feel powerful because they often feel disconnect between who they are, and the power that "men" are said to have.
Why are women increasingly opting to be child-free?
Response to the demand of the ideology of intensive mothering (sacrifice). Also attractive to middle and upper class women because it gives them the opportunity to do other interesting things. Women got the opportunity to excel in challenging respected careers once abortion and contraceptives became legal. having children is no longer the only way for women to feel like their doing something valuable with their lives. Ambivalence
Compare the amount of time employed men and women spend on labor and on leisure.
The average mom spends 53 hours a week on paid and unpaid work combined. The average employed mother spends 71 hours a week on paid and unpaid work. They have half the leisure time of men and spend 10 more hours per week multitasking.
What is hostile sexism; describe what happens when women don't respond "properly" to men's comments. What does the text mean when suggesting that benevolent and hostile sexism are plans A and B?
The condemnation of women with negative stereotypes and the use of threats and violence to enforce women's subservience to men. The "compliments" turn into insults and threats if they are not met with the response the men desire. These types of sexism go hand in hand; benevolent sexism is plan A for ensuring women's subordination. If it fails, hostile sexism is plan B.
What is the ideology of intensive mothering? Has it been the traditional norm? What was responsible for the birth of intensive mothering?
The idea that (1) mothers should be the primary caretaker of their children, (2) child-rearing should include "copious amounts of time, energy, and material resources," and (3) giving children these things takes priority over all other interest, desires, and demands. Puts child in the center of a woman's life.
What is the impact in terms economic status? What is the "mommy tax?'
The lost wages, benefits, and social security contributions that come with taking time out of the workforce to raise small children and then re-entering it with less momentum.
What is the feminine apologetic?
The requirement that women balance their appropriation of masculine interest, traits, and activities with feminine performance. Ex: women who are highly respected for accomplishments in masculine fields pose for fashion and beauty magazines.
What impact does doing femininity have on women's status?
They are subordinate, they allow men to do things for them; women routinely advertise their subordinate status with their body language
How do gay men navigate the male bargain?
They can either emphasize their masculinity so as to maximize the power that comes with being men or align themselves with women and other marginalized men against the gender binary.
Why do men defend the rules of masculinity even though they find them to be strict and arbitrary?
They defend instead of challenge them because each man's position in the hierarchy depends on upholding them. They have to choose between following the rules or being seen as a failure.
What is the difference between being sexy and being sexual?
To be sexy is to be an object of desire for others; to be sexual is have the capacity to experience sexual desire. Most of us want to feel both desire and to be desired.
What are traditional, neo-traditional and egalitarian views. What happens when people who prefer sharing can't pull it off?
Traditional = they ascribe to the values of the breadwinner/housewife marriage that emerged with industrialization and came to be seen as "traditional". Traditionalists believe that men should be responsible for earning income and women for housework and child care. Neo-traditionalist = embrace a modified version of traditionalism: they think that a women should be able to work if she desires, but only if it doesn't interfere with her "real" duty to take care of her husband and children. Egalitarians - people who prefer relationships in which both partners do their fair share of breadwinning, housekeeping, and child-rearing.
What percent of women on campus experience a completed or attempted sexual assault and what % of the perpetrators are acquaintances?
Women who attend college face higher risk of sexual assault than women who don't. 1/4 female college students experience a complete or attempted assault, compared to 1/6 overall. Women who actively participate in hookup culture are more likely to be assaulted than women who opt out. 90% of college victims know their attackers.
What is meant by the asymmetric emphasis on women's appearance and what does it suggest? How does that translate into who men and women (in heterosexual couplings) seek?
Women's value in the erotic marketplace is less tied than men's to who they are and what they do, and more tied to how they look. Men's desirability is less centrally dependent on his appearance, such that he can make up for mediocre looks by being funny, smart, or rich. Women can't easily do this.
