FEM 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Margaret Mead, Femininity, Masculinity

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Women's Studies
• Course: FEM 1100
• Professor: Corrie Scott

Document Summary

Sex the biological designation of male or female. Gender the cultural designation of feminine or masculine. Those assigned a male sex are expected to be masculine, in gender expression as well and be attracted to women. Those assigned female sex are expected to be feminine in gender expression as well and be attracted to men. Nothing can be changed or challenged, this is what you were assigned. Reducing groups of people down to supposedly innate biological differences. Pre-colonial gender roles in indigenous societies varied from tribe to tribe but unlike western cultures, indigenous women were equal to men (in economics and governance) Different cultural expectations for men and women occurred differently in other cultures (in some cultures men were made to be dependent and emotional, and women were managerial. Personality traits are as likely linked to sex as are clothing assigned to either sex. Masculinity and femininity are flexible, changing with time and depending on culture.