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Sex, Gender, Sexuality. RHET 3108 T. Kenny Fountain. How does the film on gender/sex roles define or construct sexual difference? What makes men different from women? What traits or needs do men and women share? What does the film seem to say about sexual knowledge?
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Sex, Gender, Sexuality RHET 3108 T. Kenny Fountain
How does the film on gender/sex roles define or construct sexual difference? What makes men different from women? • What traits or needs do men and women share? • What does the film seem to say about sexual knowledge? • How does the film hint at non-heterosexual sexuality? • What are the parents’ responsibilities to their children as far as gender/sex roles are concerned? • How does the film approach dating, sexuality, and marriage? • How might this film be considered progressive today? • How might it be considered conservative?
Gender: a term for the social cultural and historical construction of sexual difference. As such, gender is to be distinguished from essentialist conceptions of sexual identity or subjectivity founded on a natural ‘core’ of biological sex or the body. A Concise Glossary of Cultural Theory Sex: either of the main divisions (male and female) into which living things are placed on the basis of their reproductive functions. The Oxford American Dictionary Sexuality: the term is related to but distinct from ‘sex’ (used to refer to the physical distinction between men and women and sexual intercourse) and ‘gender’ (the social and cultural distinctions between men and women). Sexuality is used rather…to refer to erotic desires, practices and identities or aspects of personal and social life which have erotic significance. A Concise Glossary of Cultural Theory (slide adapted from a presentation by Jane Blocker)
Sex and Gender Quiz • What are the differences between biological sex, cultural gender, and sexuality? • What are the basic differences between Fausto-Sterling’s three types of intersexed categories (herms, merms, and ferms)? • What does she later say is the problem with her categories? • What do doctors usually do with an infant who has ambiguous genitalia? What is the guiding protocol? • What is problematic about this procedure?
Fausto-Sterling’s “The Five Sexes” & “The Five Sexes, Revisited” • What is the point of her essay? • How does she prove her point? What evidence does she use? • What are the differences between the three types of intersexed categories (herms, merms, and ferms)? • What do we think of her suggestion to the problem? • What percent of the population is born with ambiguous genitalia? • What does it mean to promote “therapy, not surgery”? • What is the usually criteria for defining whether gender assignment has worked properly?
Sexual Identity • your biological (e.g. chromosomal) sex, male or female; • your self-perceived gender assignment, male or female (supposed to be the same as your biological sex); • the preponderance of your traits of personality and appearance, masculine or feminine (supposed to correspond to sex and gender); • the biological sex of your preferred partner; • the gender assignment of your preferred partner (supposed to be the same as his/her biological sex); • the masculinity or femininity of your preferred partner (supposed to be the opposite of your own); • your self-perception as gay or straight (supposed to correspond to whether your preferred partner is your sex or the opposite); • your preferred partner’s self-perception as gay or straight (supposed to be the same as yours); • your procreative choice (supposed to be yes if straight, no if gay);
your preferred sexual act(s) (supposed to be insertive if you are male or masculine, receptive if you are female or feminine); • your most eroticized sexual organs (supposed to correspond to the procreative capabilities of your sex, and to your insertive/receptive assignment); • your sexual fantasies (supposed to be highly congruent with your sexual practice, but stronger in intensity); • your main locus of emotional bonds (supposed to reside in your preferred sexual partner); • your enjoyment of power in sexual relations (supposed to be low if you are female or feminine, high if male or masculine); • the people from whom you learn about your own gender and sex (supposed to correspond to yourself in both respects); • your community of cultural and political identification (supposed to correspond to your own identity); Eve Sedgwick, Tendencies, 1993.
The Seven Components of Sexual Identity • Chromosomal Sex (inside) • Hormonal Sex (inside) • Anatomical Sex (outside) • Psychological Sex/Psychological Gender (inside/outside) • Cultural Gender (outside) • Sexuality (inside/outside) • Cultural Norms (imposed on the human)
