SOCA02H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Friedrich Engels, Conflict Theories, Social Constructionism
Document Summary
Says he could assign babies a male or female identity: world"s first sex change clinic at john hopkins. Social learning of gender begins very early in life. Heterosexuality is the preference for members of the opposite sex as sexual partner. Women are greedy for money while men want causal sex, treat women"s bodies as their property, and react violently to women who provoke male sexual jealousy. Functionalist view: learning the essential features of femininity and masculinity integrates society and allows it to function properly. Conflict and feminist theorists disagree sharply with the essentialist theory (4 criticisms): s. It tends to generalize from the average, ignoring variations within gender groups. For example: one of the best-documented gender diff. is that men are more verbally and physically aggressive than women. Essentialists make it seem as if that is true of all men and women: little or no evidence directly supports the essentialists" major claims.
