Gender & Sexuality
Week 1 - Reading report + extra’s
- Een matriarchaat is een hypothetische maatschappijvorm waarin vrouwen en
vrouwelijke cultuur, met name op basis van hun moederschap, domineren.
- Patriarchaat is een sociaal systeem waarin mannen de primaire macht hebben en
de overhand hebben in rollen van politiek leiderschap, moreel gezag, sociaal
privilege en controle over eigendom.
De Beauvoir, S. ‘Introduction to The Second Sex’
On p.13, de Beauvoir writes: “Thus, humanity is male and man defines woman not in herself
but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous being. […] He is the Subject,
he is the Absolute – she is the Other”
What do you think de Beauvoir means? Try to think of an example.
In my opinion Beauvoir is trying to state that human beings as a species revolve
around the idea and the depiction of the male gender. The female gender is in that sense
never seen as a gender form ‘’an sich’’, but always as a divergent gender in relation to the
male gender. This means the male gender is seen as the dominant one and the female
gender as the inferior or subordinate one. The female gender always understands itself with
respect to the male gender and not as an autonomous being.
An example to illustrate this is that women who become a CEO, are seen as a
woman who was able to make it in a male dominated world. She is often labelled with
negative stereotypes such as bossy, dominant, cold etcetera. In the case of a male CEO that
would not be the case, as it is standard, logical and nothing divergent.
hooks, b. ‘Continued Devaluation of Black Womanhood’
Hooks’ analysis of the position of black women in the United States shows us that women
are not one group with the same experiences and problems: important differences exist
among groups of women and race is a crucial example of such a difference.
Which myths and stereotypes about black women does hooks identify? Can you think of
examples from your own everyday life of the devaluation of women of colour?
Hooks identifies the following negative stereotypes: black women are seen as sexual
savages, unsuitable marriage partners and non-humans. This stereotype is based upon
certain negative myths, such as (bad) black woman are:
- Eager for sexual exploits (sexually loose)
- Voluntarily ‘loose’ in their morals (immoral)
- Incapable of fidelity
- Heightened sexuality
- Masculinized sub-human creatures
- Matriarchs
, I can think of the following example of the devaluation of women of colour in my own
everyday life: when there is a black woman walking around the university she will fall victim
to prejudice easier than a white woman.
Jackson, S. “Gender, sexuality and heterosexuality’’
“Heteronormativity defines not only a normative sexual practice but also a normal way of
life” (p. 107). Come up with one example of how heteronormativity impacts you.
Since I am queer, it is often that I feel alienated from the concept of
heteronormativity, whilst also being constantly consumed by it. In the simplest little things
you can bump into a heterosexual standard. Ever since meeting my girlfriend, we’ve been
getting the question of ‘who is the man in the relationship’. It is a simple, funny meant
question that is usually answered with ‘me’, simply because I am taller. The whole point is
though, that there is no man in our relationship. We are both women. But for friends, family
member or strangers, you are still compared to the standards of a heterosexual relationship.
Simply because that is the dominant form and the framework for understanding.
Lecture 1
First wave 1890 to 1920s
Second wave 1960s
Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986)
-> Wrote ‘Le Deuxieme Sexe’
● Notion of the woman as ‘Other’
● Women are particular, in that they are
○ More bodily, speaks from her hormones (not her brain)
-> Resistance to womanhood as destiny (biological, psychological)
BUT, womanhood is not an essence, but a social construct.
SO ‘’One is not born a woman, one becomes one’’
Betty Friedan
-> Wrote The feminine Mystique (1963)
-> Myth that any woman should find happiness in being a mother and a housewife
BUT they found themselves at home and bored
SO women should go out and have the same opportunities
The Gender Unicorn
,Gender
= Part that we play in society. A social division and cultural distinction, giving meaning in
everyday actions. There is no natural existence to the categories.
Sex
= Assigned at birth. Purely biological.
Sexuality
= All erotically significant aspects of social life and social beings, such as desires, practices
etc. It assumes fluidity, since what is sexual is NOT fixed. Context bound. No clear
boundaries.
bell hooks
-> Wrote the devaluation of black womanhood
How do we categorize people as a society?
NOT possible to just look at your own society from a female (etc) perspective
Concept of intersectionality:
, Concept of heteronormativity:
‘The privileging of heterosexuality through its normalization’
-> What most people are like
-> And what is right/should be like
‘Heterosexuality depends upon and guarantees gender division’
‘Heterosexuality is, by definition, a gender relationship, ordering not only sexual life but also
domestic and extra-domestic divisions of labour and resources’
Example question for midterm
De Beauvoir (2011 [1949]: 13) writes: “Thus, humanity is male and man defines woman not
in herself but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous being. [...] He is the
Subject, he is the Absolute –she is the Other”.
Summarize this mechanism in your own words. How does hooks’ analysis of the devaluation
of black womanhood build on AND challenge this analysis by De Beauvoir?
Seminar
Beauvoir
‘One is not born a woman, one becomes a woman’ -> SO it is a social construct!
Woman is the other, she does not exist without men.
The woman is the anti-man, the non-man = very negative!!
VB) Eve was born out of a bone of Adam
They (women) have accepted it themself, they don’t fight this oppression.
Vb) Female CEO, female basketball player, female rapper, ‘you are funny for a woman’,
urinals in the city for men
bell hooks
Her analysis of the position of black women in the US shows us that women are one group
with the same experiences and problems: important differences exist among groups of
women and race is a crucial example of such a difference.
- Black women are sexualized, angry etc. -> They can’t really do much right [Maybe
she’s angry because she is scared of the white men]
- White women help white men to uphold the white patriarchy.
Jackson
‘Heteronormativity defines not only a normative sexual practice but also a normal way of life.
Week 2 - Reading report & extra
Lorber (1993). “Believing is Seeing: Biology as Ideology”
1. What does Lorber mean when she claims that “physical differences between male and
female bodies are socially meaningless until social practices transform them into social
facts”? (p. 576)
Week 1 - Reading report + extra’s
- Een matriarchaat is een hypothetische maatschappijvorm waarin vrouwen en
vrouwelijke cultuur, met name op basis van hun moederschap, domineren.
- Patriarchaat is een sociaal systeem waarin mannen de primaire macht hebben en
de overhand hebben in rollen van politiek leiderschap, moreel gezag, sociaal
privilege en controle over eigendom.
De Beauvoir, S. ‘Introduction to The Second Sex’
On p.13, de Beauvoir writes: “Thus, humanity is male and man defines woman not in herself
but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous being. […] He is the Subject,
he is the Absolute – she is the Other”
What do you think de Beauvoir means? Try to think of an example.
In my opinion Beauvoir is trying to state that human beings as a species revolve
around the idea and the depiction of the male gender. The female gender is in that sense
never seen as a gender form ‘’an sich’’, but always as a divergent gender in relation to the
male gender. This means the male gender is seen as the dominant one and the female
gender as the inferior or subordinate one. The female gender always understands itself with
respect to the male gender and not as an autonomous being.
An example to illustrate this is that women who become a CEO, are seen as a
woman who was able to make it in a male dominated world. She is often labelled with
negative stereotypes such as bossy, dominant, cold etcetera. In the case of a male CEO that
would not be the case, as it is standard, logical and nothing divergent.
hooks, b. ‘Continued Devaluation of Black Womanhood’
Hooks’ analysis of the position of black women in the United States shows us that women
are not one group with the same experiences and problems: important differences exist
among groups of women and race is a crucial example of such a difference.
Which myths and stereotypes about black women does hooks identify? Can you think of
examples from your own everyday life of the devaluation of women of colour?
Hooks identifies the following negative stereotypes: black women are seen as sexual
savages, unsuitable marriage partners and non-humans. This stereotype is based upon
certain negative myths, such as (bad) black woman are:
- Eager for sexual exploits (sexually loose)
- Voluntarily ‘loose’ in their morals (immoral)
- Incapable of fidelity
- Heightened sexuality
- Masculinized sub-human creatures
- Matriarchs
, I can think of the following example of the devaluation of women of colour in my own
everyday life: when there is a black woman walking around the university she will fall victim
to prejudice easier than a white woman.
Jackson, S. “Gender, sexuality and heterosexuality’’
“Heteronormativity defines not only a normative sexual practice but also a normal way of
life” (p. 107). Come up with one example of how heteronormativity impacts you.
Since I am queer, it is often that I feel alienated from the concept of
heteronormativity, whilst also being constantly consumed by it. In the simplest little things
you can bump into a heterosexual standard. Ever since meeting my girlfriend, we’ve been
getting the question of ‘who is the man in the relationship’. It is a simple, funny meant
question that is usually answered with ‘me’, simply because I am taller. The whole point is
though, that there is no man in our relationship. We are both women. But for friends, family
member or strangers, you are still compared to the standards of a heterosexual relationship.
Simply because that is the dominant form and the framework for understanding.
Lecture 1
First wave 1890 to 1920s
Second wave 1960s
Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986)
-> Wrote ‘Le Deuxieme Sexe’
● Notion of the woman as ‘Other’
● Women are particular, in that they are
○ More bodily, speaks from her hormones (not her brain)
-> Resistance to womanhood as destiny (biological, psychological)
BUT, womanhood is not an essence, but a social construct.
SO ‘’One is not born a woman, one becomes one’’
Betty Friedan
-> Wrote The feminine Mystique (1963)
-> Myth that any woman should find happiness in being a mother and a housewife
BUT they found themselves at home and bored
SO women should go out and have the same opportunities
The Gender Unicorn
,Gender
= Part that we play in society. A social division and cultural distinction, giving meaning in
everyday actions. There is no natural existence to the categories.
Sex
= Assigned at birth. Purely biological.
Sexuality
= All erotically significant aspects of social life and social beings, such as desires, practices
etc. It assumes fluidity, since what is sexual is NOT fixed. Context bound. No clear
boundaries.
bell hooks
-> Wrote the devaluation of black womanhood
How do we categorize people as a society?
NOT possible to just look at your own society from a female (etc) perspective
Concept of intersectionality:
, Concept of heteronormativity:
‘The privileging of heterosexuality through its normalization’
-> What most people are like
-> And what is right/should be like
‘Heterosexuality depends upon and guarantees gender division’
‘Heterosexuality is, by definition, a gender relationship, ordering not only sexual life but also
domestic and extra-domestic divisions of labour and resources’
Example question for midterm
De Beauvoir (2011 [1949]: 13) writes: “Thus, humanity is male and man defines woman not
in herself but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous being. [...] He is the
Subject, he is the Absolute –she is the Other”.
Summarize this mechanism in your own words. How does hooks’ analysis of the devaluation
of black womanhood build on AND challenge this analysis by De Beauvoir?
Seminar
Beauvoir
‘One is not born a woman, one becomes a woman’ -> SO it is a social construct!
Woman is the other, she does not exist without men.
The woman is the anti-man, the non-man = very negative!!
VB) Eve was born out of a bone of Adam
They (women) have accepted it themself, they don’t fight this oppression.
Vb) Female CEO, female basketball player, female rapper, ‘you are funny for a woman’,
urinals in the city for men
bell hooks
Her analysis of the position of black women in the US shows us that women are one group
with the same experiences and problems: important differences exist among groups of
women and race is a crucial example of such a difference.
- Black women are sexualized, angry etc. -> They can’t really do much right [Maybe
she’s angry because she is scared of the white men]
- White women help white men to uphold the white patriarchy.
Jackson
‘Heteronormativity defines not only a normative sexual practice but also a normal way of life.
Week 2 - Reading report & extra
Lorber (1993). “Believing is Seeing: Biology as Ideology”
1. What does Lorber mean when she claims that “physical differences between male and
female bodies are socially meaningless until social practices transform them into social
facts”? (p. 576)
