SOC101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Intersex, Binary Opposition, Y Chromosome
24 Dec 2015
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Document Summary
Sex and gender are terms used interchangeably (yet they have significant connotations) In biology, sex referred to as biology (physical bodies) but we distinguish between female & male. This division of human population into 2 categories is a binary construction= a given idea is located within 1 or 2 mutually categories. Categories based on binaries = implies groups are diametrical opposites ( opposite sex ) Feminist theorists argue between biology & social effects of biological differences. That"s why term gender is used & refers to socially constructed characteristics between girls & boys, women & men (called masculinity & femininity) This concept ^ of gender refers to only 2 possible categories. Sex understood as binary opposition between masculinity & femininity. Feminist theorist now agree that biology & biologically discoveries is socially shaped (basically, our attempts to understand our physical bodies in terms of chromosomes, hormones are burden with the ideas of gender (cannot dissociate one from the other)
