SOCI 375 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Intersectionality

• School: Concordia University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOCI 375
• Professor: yaelglick

Document Summary

The notion of essentialism (this is who people are, this is how things are): is the idea that sex, sexuality and gender are nature-based, you are born with these specific characteristics. There is no choice in who you are, who you like, and how you represent yourself. We are forcefully encouraged to fit into a category. It can be anxiety provoking to associate with people who cannot be categorized. Instead of thinking about the binary, we can think about ourselves in multiple, intertwined ways. This helps us view ourselves in a variety of ways (dst), rather than in a limited, rigid way. Sex, gender, humanity are always generated through cultural discourse. Everything is different depending on who is talking about it i. e discussing sex medically versus religiously, in 2017 vs. 1917. Different norms, values sex/gender/humanity are not static things that can be defined in one way, it is constantly changing. Sexual and gender roles are attached to genitals.