bisexuality - Answers sexual attraction to both men and women
sexual orientation - Answers a person's attraction to and desire for people of a given sex/ what gender
people are attracted to
-usually conceived as binary between heterosexuality and homosexuality
-3 categores: hetero, homo, bisexual
sexual scripts - Answers ideas we have about how people should engage in sexual activity
-ideas/stereotypes about men and women created in our society about their proper roles in terms of
sexual behavior/activity
compulsory heterosexuality - Answers -rule that all men should be attracted to women and all women
be attracted to men
-the idea that heterosexuality, as the norm, can and should be adopted by people regardless of their
personal and sexual preferences. Heterosexuality is rewarded with social privilege
-term coined by adrienne rich
-makes coming out difficult
heteronormativity - Answers -heterosexuality is the norm and the belief that fall into distinct
gender(man and woman) with natural roles in life
-form of power that exerts itself through the assumed naturalness of specific practices and institutions
Ex: discriminating laws, lack of gay visibility in the media
-a racialized concept in which white people are implied as the normative subjects of heterosexual
experience
homophobia - Answers the fear and hatred of sexual minorities (homosexuals/individuals)
heterosexism - Answers bias in favor of heterosexuality(cultural); tied to homophobia
-disadvantages minorities, advantages heterosexuals
queer - Answers unifying sociopolitical umbrella term that refers to sexual identities that are not
"Straight"
-denaturalizes and calls into question the stability of identity categories based on sexual orientation
, heteroflexibility - Answers presumably heterosexual women hinting at or experimenting with the same-
sex sexuality (Katy Perry's "I kissed a girl")
Male gaze - Answers -males do the gazing and females are the objects of the gaze
-"men act and women appear. Men look at women, women watch themselves being looked at".
-Men= active Women=passive
-John Berger- Ways of Seeing
-Women receive the gaze, return it but never act on it
The Beauty Myth - Answers the cultural imperative for women to be beautiful has taken the place of the
cultural imperative that women maintain the domestic sphere. Beauty myth not aout women but about
men's institution and male power.
-images are not real and are unattainable
Cosmetic/plastic surgery - Answers -Previously done on men for war/industrial accidents
-now used by women for aesthetic purposes
-Number of plastic surgeries increase every year, while the average age of those seeking it drops
-One of the most performed is breast augmentation- linked with cultural notions of femininity
-"Restored youth" "permanent beauty"
Eating disorders - Answers -range of psychological disorders characterized by abnormal or disturbed
eating habits
-8 million people in U.S. have eating disorders, 10% are high school and college-age youth, 90-95% are
female
-labeled one of the hardest mental illnesses to treat
Anorexia Nervosa - Answers -refusal to maintain weight
-intense fear of fat
-starvation
-absence of 3 consecutive menstrual cycles
Bulimia Nervosa - Answers -Recurrent episodes of binge eating (2-3 times a week, 3 months)
-Loss of control around food