Summary
Highlights
This unit provides an overview of terminology and definitions related to gender and gender roles in different cultural contexts. The plan includes exploring key gender concepts with the 'genderbread person', discussing gender roles and cultural meanings, and analyzing power distance and masculinity/femininity.
To understand gender, it's crucial to differentiate it from sex. Sex refers to biological characteristics like genitals, hormones, and chromosomes, assigned at birth as male, female, or intersex. Intersex individuals have variations in sex characteristics that don't fit typical female or male definitions.
Gender is related to social and cultural characteristics and is associated with four key concepts: sex, identity, sexual orientation, and expression. Sex (male, female, intersex) is biological. Identity refers to how individuals perceive themselves, such as a woman, man, or genderqueer. Gender identity is distinct from physical sex.
Gender identity, like 'woman-ness' or 'man-ness', is about how one feels about oneself, not their physical reality. Gender expression, on the other hand, is about how one presents as feminine, masculine, or androgynous. People learn to act and dress in gendered ways from a young age, though older individuals may exhibit more androgynous expressions.
Sexual orientation describes to whom one is sexually, romantically, or emotionally attracted. This includes heterosexual (opposite sex), homosexual (same sex), bisexual (both sexes), and pansexual (all people regardless of sex or gender identity). 'Queer' is an umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities, encompassing all gender diversity outside binary definitions.