SEXUALITY BINARIES POWER PRIVILEGE Week Fourteen Sociology 1301

SEXUALITY, BINARIES, POWER & PRIVILEGE Week Fourteen Sociology 1301: Introduction to Sociology

Sexual Orientation Questions What were the messages in your home regarding who you were expected to date/fall in love with? What messages did you receive about what being gay was? What were the consequences in your community of coming out as gay?

What would they say? Symbolic Interactionist Perspective… Structural Functionalist Perspective… Social Conflict Perspective…

Heterosexual Privilege Unearned, often unconscious or taken for granted benefits afforded to heterosexuals in a heterosexist society based on their sexual orientation.

Heterosexual Privilege is… I am not identified or labeled — politically, socially, economically, or otherwise — by my sexual orientation. No one questions the “normality” of my sexuality or believes my sexuality was “caused” by psychological trauma, sin, or abuse. I do not have to fear that my family, friends, or co-workers will find out about my sexual orientation, and that their knowing will have negative consequences for me. My sexual orientation (if known to others) is not used to exclude me from any profession or organization (teaching, coaching, the military, Boy Scouts). In the event of my partner’s death, I can inherit automatically under probate laws. I am not accused of being deviant, warped, perverted, or psychologically confused, or dysfunctional because of my sexual orientation. I am allowed to add my partner to my health, auto, and homeowner’s insurance. I can have immediate access to my loved ones in the hospital in the event of accident or illness. People don’t ask me why I chose my sexual orientation, and why I choose to be so open about it. I can walk in public, holding my partner’s hand, hug my partner, and even kiss my partner in front of others without disapproval, comments, laughter, harassment, or the threat of violence. I can talk about my sexual orientation in casual conversation and not be accused of flaunting it, or pushing it on others.

Gender/Sexuality Binary: an either/or category, like either black or white, with no shades of grey between two mutually exclusive categories. Socially constructed. Male Masculine Male Heterosexual Sex Binary Gender Binary Sexual Orientation Binary Female Feminine Female Homosexual

Sex Binary Male Sex Binary Female Intersex: A person born with both male and female physiological or anatomical sex characteristics. There around 17 different types of intersex conditions. Statistics from the ISNA (Intersex Society of North America) � Total number of people whose bodies differ from standard male or female – one in 100 births � Total number of people receiving surgery to “normalize” genital appearance – one or two in 1, 000 births Source: http: //www. isna. org/faq/frequency

Gender Binary Masculine Male Gender Binary Feminine Female Transgender: An “umbrella term” for someone whose selfidentification, anatomy, appearance, manner, expression, behavior and/or other’s perceptions of challenges traditional societal expectations of congruent gender expression and designated birth sex. � T. M. Witten, Executive Director of the Tran. Science Research Institute, focused on the broader transgender spectrum and found that, of a random international sample, 8 percent of respondents self-identified as something other than strictly "male" or "female. “ Sources: http: //www. jessicapettitt. com (definition of Transgender) Witten, T. M. (2003). Transgender aging: An emerging population and an emerging need. Review Sexologies, XII, no. 4: 1520

Gender Normative Privilege is… Strangers do not assume they can ask me what my genitals look like and how I have sex. My validity as a man/woman/human is not based on how much surgery I have had or how well I “pass” as a non-transperson. When initiating sex with someone, I do not have to worry that they will not be able to deal with my parts, or that having sex with me will cause my partner to question his or her own sexual orientation. People do not disrespect me by using incorrect pronouns even after they have been corrected. I do not have to worry about whether I will experience harassment or violence for using a bathroom or whether I will be safe changing in a locker room. I do not have to choose between being invisible (“passing”) or being “othered” and/or tokenized based on my gender. When I go to the gym or a public pool, I can use the showers. If I end up in the emergency room, I do not have to worry that my gender will keep me from receiving appropriate treatment, or that all of my medical issues will be seen as a result of my gender. (“Your nose is running and your throat hurts? Must be due to the hormones!”) My health insurance provider (or public health system) does not specifically exclude me from receiving benefits or treatments available to others because of my gender. My identity is not considered “mentally ill” by the medical establishment. I have the privilege of being unaware of my gender normative privilege.

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