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2. Describe the nature versus nurture debate regarding sex differences and give two reasons for why the debate is missing the point.
-on the "nature" side are people who believe that observed differences between men and women are biological; on the "nurture" side are people who believe that these differences are acquired through socialization. The "nature" side is premised on the idea that men and women are born different, and the "nurture" side presupposes that male and female human beings are not very different biologically, but that men and women become different. The argument is a seductive one, but ultimately both sides—nature and nurture—are wrong. -First, if we're not careful, the nature/ nurture debate escalates into an argument over how to explain something for which we don't have strong evidence: the gender binary. Both the nature and nurture sides of the debate presuppose that there are important differences between men and women that need explaining. -Second, the nature/nurture debate is a deadend argument because nature and nurture are always working together to produce whatever behavior or trait is being considered.
1. The concept of "real gender differences" can be slippery. Explain why asking whether a difference observed between women and men is "real" is a misleading question. What would you argue is a better way to think about sex differences and why.
Penises: real difference, innate, and excluding some subset of trans people (trans men, pre-op trans women) and a very few tragic medical cases, everyone who has one is male, and everyone who doesn't isn't. Upper body strength: it exists, it's innate (at least mostly), but not every man is stronger than every woman (even excluding "freak" cases at the extremes). Wearing feminine vs masculine clothing: it exists, it is most definitely *not* innate (what is feminine vs masculine clothing is culturally defined), and it *obviously* is not universal. The idea that men are smarter than women, or that women are smarter than men: it's not real by any reasonable measure. In terms of general/overall intelligence, men and women are roughly equal, though there tend to be differences in both what areas men vs women excel at, and in the range of male vs female intelligence (women tend to be closer to the average, there are both more male geniuses and more male idiots) "Real" is sort of undefined. It's better to use terms that narrow things down to exactly what you're actually talking about.
8. Describe four elements that make-up or sustain rape culture.
an environment that justifies, naturalizes, and even glorifies sexual pressure, coercion, and violence. The idea that men are naturally sexually aggressive is part of rape culture. #1: Power, Anger, & Hyper-masculinity Our society values men most when they adhere to the harsh expectations of hyper-masculinity. Being hyper-masculine has a lot to do with power. Men learn that they should always be dominant, and if their dominance is threatened, they should express the only emotion they are allowed - anger. Research shows that most rapes are exercises of power or anger. #2: Sexual Objectification of Women's Bodies Our society's obsession with the appearance of women's bodies sustains rape culture. Girls learn from a young age that what matters most about them is the way they look, and boys are taught to value this in girls above all else. Because of our culture's relentless focus on appearance, women are constantly turned into objects. Women literally are hamburgers in some advertisements, or are cut into sexualized pieces in others. This obsession with women's appearance causes women to look at their own bodies as sexual objects,the problem with turning women's bodies into objects is that objects are less than human. Objects don't have feelings or attitudes or intelligence - objects are there for us to use. Once a woman is seen as an object, it is much easier to commit violence against her. #3: Systemic and Institutional Support When we say that something is a "systemic" problem, we mean that it spreads throughout the entire system, and when we say that something is "institutional," we mean that there are structures and mechanisms in place to maintain something. Rape culture is both. For example, when rape victims seek help, they must often answer invasive and offensive questions to defend the circumstances of the rape. Police may ask: "What were you wearing?" "Were you drinking?" "Did you flirt?" "Did you say 'no' loud enough?" "Did you fight back?" "Did you scream?" Furthermore, in hundreds of thousands of instances, victims' rape kits have never been analyzed. This isn't one victim, one rapist, one police officer - it's not an individual problem. This is embedded in our very systems of social order. #4 the gendered sexy/sexual binary justifies a focus on the male orgasm since it's his desire that supposedly drives and is sated by sexual activity. This lets men off the hook for female orgasms, but it also discourages women from pursuing their own.And women in the position of responding to sexual activity but not initiating it. men expected to push for sex and women expected to hold out for love. This dynamic makes manipulative and even coercive behavior seem normal, creating fertile ground for sexual violence.
4. What is hegemonic masculinity? What makes it unattainable in practice? If it can't be real, what social purposes does this idea serve? Why would men uphold it, even at the price of their own subordination?
hegemonic masculinity refers to a type of man, idealized by men and women alike, who functions to justify and naturalize gender inequality.34 the hegemonic man is the "real man" in our collective imagination who theoretically embodies all the most positive traits on the masculine side of the gender binary. He has the athlete's speed and strength, the ceO's income, the politician's power, the Hollywood heartthrob's charm, the family man's loyalty, the construction worker's manual skills, the frat boy's tolerance for alcohol, and the playboy's virility. We then attribute these individual traits to the category "man" men's ability to perform hegemonic masculinity is always at risk, no matter how privileged they seem. and all men will fail sooner or later. they will fail, first, because the hegemonic man is an impossible fiction, a jumble of idealized, contradictory elements. a person can't be both a perfect husband and a playboy, responsible and devil-may-care, or hard bodied and hard drinking. no single man will ever be able to approximate the full scope of hegemonic masculinity. they will fail, second, because no one can win all the time. a man's masculinity is potentially undermined by competitive losses (at sports,jobs, fights, fathering children, or any other masculinity-defining activity), and aging and disability always threaten to rob men of the body of a "real man." Because hegemonic masculinity pressures men to be a particular kind of impossible person, it is a significant source of oppression for men. as a result of the expectation that men live up to an impossible ideal, the uneven way in which masculine power is distributed, and the pressure upon men to be someone they're not, many individual men do not feel particularly powerful at all. many feel downright powerless in many areas of their lives: at work, in their relationships, and in relation to other men, on whose judgment their status in the hierarchy depends.
5. What are some ways in which power is symbolically linked to masculinity in our society? Discuss three original examples in which power is conflated with masculine traits or performances.
societies that symbolically equate the exercise of power with masculinity. in both patriarchies and brotherhoods the right of an individual to act in the world authoritatively was contingent on being male. to have power was to be a man. in other words, power itself was gendered.it's still that way. in contemporary american english, masculinity and femininity are synonyms for power and powerlessness, respectively. according to thesaurus.com, synonyms for the word power include male, manful, manlike, manly, and masculine, while synonyms for weakness include effeminate, effete, emasculate, and womanly. Sexism is prejudice against people based on their biological sex. it is the best word to describe valuing male over female children, the belief that men are naturally better at math, or the conviction that men are better suited for public office.10 androcentrism is gender-based prejudice: the granting of higher status, respect, value, reward, and power to the masculine compared to the feminine. androcentrism is very different than sexism because the rewards are not limited to people with one body or another. instead, in a society characterized by androcentrism, rewards accrue to anyone who can do masculinity. Subordination, this placing of women into positions that make them subservient to or dependent on men is called subordination. relation of power, men and women are brought together into hierarchical relationships, often through conformity with gendered expectations
3. Why do men and women act so differently so often if gender differences are not biological predispositions? Explain the notion of gender performance and how a man really can "pass" as a woman or a woman as a man and why is this kind of transgressive performance so rare?
societies. Women were formally excluded from competing in marathons for almost 100 years. In that time, men got much faster (the current record holder beat the winner of the first marathon, held in 1896, by almost an hour). When women were first allowed to compete, they were much slower than men, but they've gotten faster, too. People who crossdress earnestly, with the intent to pass as the other sex, challenge gender rules and undermine other people's ability to determine their sex in a binary way. People who are committed to a gender binary trust these signs as markers of something real and important about others, so they may feel betrayed and act violently to punish people whom they feel are essentially lying to them. The risks of nonconformity may be much higher than attracting ridicule or being unpopular. We may fear losing friends, lovers, or the support of our parents. We may be fired or passed over for jobs or promotions because our gender display doesn't please clients or coworkers. Gender policing can also be emotionally and physically brutal.
7. In what ways do women make patriarchal bargains in order to promote their well being and autonomy? When and how do men also engage in such bargains? Compare and contrast a pair of patriarchal bargains―with one for women and one for men―in their purposes and usefulness for people of each gender.
women make patriarchal bargains in order to maximize their autonomy and well-being in the face of sexism, androcentrism, and subordination. Whereas men are presented with essentially one bargain, adopting hegemonic masculinity as much as one is able and can tolerate, women can choose among three types of bargains. (how)Patriarchal bargains are ways for men to try to enhance or protect their well-being in a system that, in fact, is pretty hard on most of them. even if they are low in the hierarchy, though, (when)patriarchal bargains often offer them a little bit of status and, at the very least, protect them from the negative consequences of challenging the system. this is one important reason why so many men con spire to defend the rules of masculinity. Gay men, for example, are disadvantaged in a system that defines masculinity in part through the successful pursuit of women. Frequently considered lesser men, gay men have a choice: 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. One bargain involves trading power for protection and support. to do so, some women perform emphasized femininity, an exaggerated form of femininity "oriented to accommodating the interests and desires of men. emphasized femininity is an adaptation to the fact that men, in general, have more power and resources than women. With this strategy, a woman attempts to offer feminized traits in exchange for the support of a high-status man who will share his privilege with her.
