SOCA02H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Essentialism, Gender Role, Masculinity
Document Summary
Current society often functions through an understanding that men and women are fundamentally different: movies are gendered chick flicks and action , communication styles, modes of dress, hobbies we partake in, meal preferences. Overall, while grossly exaggerated, the construction of difference is found in everyday sphere. The gendering of the body is normalized as it is a feature we are all taught to notice. This often leads to broader normalizations including ideas about how we share space. Gender: the feelings, attitudes, desires, and behaviours that are associated with a particular sexual category performative and socially constructed. Gender role: behaviour that conforms to widely shared expectations about how members of a particular sexual category are supposed to act. Functionalism: claim that traditional gender roles help to integrate society. Men as assertive, rational, and competitive creators. Women as caretaking, sensitive, and passive caretakers: gender roles: defined in relation to attractiveness to opposite sex.
