Module 4 – The Digital Self – NOT ON FINAL EXAM (from her announcement 7/29)

Table of Contents – Week 5 Notes (Mods 4 & 5)

 

 

The Digital Self – Zhao

Student’s Presentation of Self in Online Classes (MOOCS) – Becker

The Presentation of Self Online – Guy

Emotion Work – Hochschild

Ted Talk “Alone Together” – Sherry Turkle

 

Module 5 – Identity and Inequality – FINAL EXAM*

Young Children’s Racial and Ethnic Definitions of Self – VanAusdale – incomplete, need notes

Borderwork Among Girls and Boys – Thorne

Invisible Inequality – Lareau

Salvaging Decency – Kusenbach

Hillbilly Elegy (3 works) – Vance – 1 short essay (Final Exam) – need notes

Gender and Sexuality – Chapter Text

Videos:

Anderson Cooper Doll Study

How Children View Race

 

 

MODULE 4

 

The Digital Self – Zhao

 

• Existing research on the self in cyberspace has focused mostly

on issues related to the presentation of self.

• symbolic interactionism
  • others serve as a looking glass in which we see ourselves
• Others communicate their attitudes towards us via the expressions they give us
  • Through verbal & nonverbal cues: voice, facial expressions
• Corporeal presence
  • telepresence: interact in a way that is not physically present. Interactions are from a

distance in disembodied environment

• *essay concept* Apply Zhao’s “4 characteristics of the digital self” to the case of online learning.

1. Inwardly oriented
   1. Focusing on thoughts, feelings, personalities (inner world characteristics)
   2. People are more willing to be vulnerable in telepresence .
      1. Online correspondence is assumed to be anonymous
      2. People believe that they can conceal their real identity online
         1. They can  share  with  others  their

private  thoughts  without  losing  privacy.

2. Narrative in nature
   1. We are obligated to provide a self-description; not required in face to

face interactions

1. Thank Digital self begins to take shape as we narrate to others who we are

and what we do

1. Requires level of introspection and reflectivity

1. Screen name generates “first impression”
   1. Takes place of social cues that are acquired in FTF interactions
2. Retractable
   1. The digital self constructed online is detached from the corporeal body
   2. Separation of the self from the body in telepresence

allows  individuals  to  remain  unidentified

1. making it possible for them to retract an undesirable self and build a new one

without resorting to physical relocation and social uprooting.

1. cycle through”  multiple  versions  of  their  self  in  the  online  world  while

avoiding  potential  punitive  repercussions.

1. This comes at a price
   1. To retract a self is to abandon all

the resources that are associated with it:

1. time and energy one has invested in building one’s self
2. Relationships that sustain one’s social existence

4. Multiplied
   1. Internet has brought entire world to our fingertips
      1. But most of us only go online to look for what we want
         1. This happens because
            1. There is too much to be seen
            2. We are more free to choose what we see
         2. Overflow of info + freedom of personal choice
            1. = creation of a self-selected online environment
         3. Self-selection
            1. Block lists
               1. Excluding those they do not want to interact with
            2. “Buddy” or “close Friends” lists
               1. Includes people you want to hang out with

• Online Chat
  1. Names
     1. Help people decide whether or not to join a chatroom
     2. Public channels of rooms used to screen who users can

Relate to

1. Private channels: intimate discussions
   1. People who are more like minded

• Presentation of self: influenced by whether we believe others can directly see us or not
• self-concept: influenced by the extent to which we are able to directly see others and

how they respond to us

 

 

 

 

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Student’s Presentation of Self in Online Classes – Becker

• Converting to online education, students exhibit different motives and functions
  • Impression Management of teachers and students through online self-representation

1. Teaching the humanities online
   • Face to face *holistic education approach*
     • philosophy class fosters personal development among students
     • This knowledge acquisition aims to transform the learner
     • Teacher provides challenging, yet supportive environment – a “safe space” for

students’ self-expression and interaction with each other

• Teacher acts as midwife in guiding students toward an authentic relationship with

others and themselves

• Online *holistic education approach*
  • Concentrates on knowledge construction
  • Presence of teacher is crucial for student engagement
  • Online instructor “there” for the learners,
    • In a timely manner needs to fulfill a variety of roles like:

1. planner
2. role model
3. Coach
4. Facilitator
5. Communicator
   • Needs to encourage social presence of students
     • Sharing personal characteristics leads to social connectedness
     • Personal introduction
     • Icebreaker techniques: share pictures and hobbies, fav travel destinations

 

• Online makes it difficult for a teacher to tell the authenticity of a student
  • Teacher faces difficulties to address students as persons and encourage self-realization

 

2. Online self-representation and impression management

• Impression management: monitoring and influencing how others perceive us
  • the product of highly overlearned habits or scripts
• Goffman: theater metaphor: everyone presents themselves on the stage of everyday life
• Impression management on social networking sites:
  • Identity categories – used to create online selves
  • Self-representation online
    • Ex: be seen as academically fit

3. Students Self-Representation in online classes

• Students feel like they are not sidetracked by looks, age, tone of voice and body language

when online

• By not focusing on classmates appearance, students can concentrate on course topic
• With impression management FTF more senses are involved
  • Online you have to only deal with written words
  • Paralinguistic clues: username, writing styles,
    • more cautiousness and strategic thinking in interaction
    • computer-mediated self-image is more permanent and difficult to correct
  • Indirect strategies: students can initiate discussions online
    • This is not always done to understand something better but to display knowledge and wit
  • Hypercriticism: hampers the learning of the student who wants to appear smart
    • In FTF, teachers can intervene when indirect self-representation diverts attention from

material

• Moderating convo raises attention for what a teacher does FTF
  • Online: misses ability to read body language, tones of voice, leaves teachers

With little actions when keeping material on track

 

4. Impression Management: Motives, Functions, and Pedagogical Intervention

• Motives

1. Audience-oriented: need to be liked or to gain power
   1. “Pleasing audience” manipulate interactions to reach personal goals but also fit in

• FTF: Teacher is able to facilitate individual learning processes and group dynamics.
• Online: Impossible due to written interaction being more difficult to interpret but lowers

Concern of getting along

1. Identity development and self-construction
   1. socially validate our identity
   2. Make one’s actual self be as close to ideal self

• self-descriptions can become internalized to produce changes in the self-concept

1. Self-experimentation
   1. Internet makes it possible for people to try out different personalities
   2. Social lab for experimenting with the constructions & restrictions of self

• Benign disinhibition effect: outgoing behavior and fosters self-realization
• Dress rehearsal: ability to ask dumb questions anonumously online
• FTF: it is impossible for teachers to detect certain traits of students through online class
  • FTF: students are able to stay after class, teachers are able to address student in

private if there is an issue

• Online: teachers tend to hold back when it comes to challenging students’ online self-representations

5. The Pedagogic Potential of Impression Management in MOOC’s: conclusions & suggestions

• Students may apply more impression management online
  • Little counter measures against limitless self-representation
  • Positive effects:
    • It is easier to present oneself in a way that does not trigger social/culture prejudices
    • Being in control over one’s image is encouraging for anxious students
    • Safe playground for existential learning – since students are able to create the persona

they want to be

• Gender, race, nationality, etc can become identity experimentation

• Negative effects:
  • Raised opportunities for impression management = evasive behavior
    • Students do not learn to face their anxiety
  • Less impression management than in real classroom
  • Endless opportunities to start fresh with someone *potential interaction partners*
  • Impossible for teacher to detect and interpret students’ impression management

 

 

 

 

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The Presentation of Self Online, Guy

1. Turkle
   • the disembodied nature of the interactions lets people have more control over

how they are “seen” by others

• Computer-mediated communication is predictable even in the ways it is unpredictable (Turkle)
  • people seek out this predictability in preference to face-to-face interactions,

and in preference to facing emotional vulnerability.

• Turkle’s argument assumes we have full understanding & control of digital systems/audience
• This argument neglects:
  • Unpredictable humans
    • w/ conflicting interests/motivations
  • Desire to express an idealised version of the self (technology provides this)

2. Keen

• Individuals become trapped by technology
  • They don’t have an understanding or control of the tech
• Become prisoners of curated digital hyperreality
• “Fantasy gets in the way of real progress”
• Catfishing
• Online world is not a mirror of the real world
• Online profiles can feed into one’s sense of self

 

• People’s self confidence drops after viewing online profiles of others -negative impact
• Butler lies: common use of simple lies to manage communications
• Deception: tailoring presentation to audience

 

 

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EmotionWork_Hochschild

• Human emotions vary
• Emotions are subject to social regulation
  • Emotion work: Individuals try to not only express but feel what they think they should be feeling
    • It is more than surface level emotional expression
    • Involves deep acting of suppressing and evoking the feelings from which

emotional expression flowers

• Surface acting & deep acting guided by feeling rules
  • These rules are not written – but individuals remind one another
  • Should, should not, must be feeling
• Emotions: It is not the true self but social experience that speaks
• Conventions of feelings
  • Ex: sad at funeral, happy at party
  • Rules govern how people try or try not to feel given appropriate situation

1. The interactive account of emotional and social psychology

• Managing act of emotions and feelings
• Emotive experience – goffman
  • Individual is negotiating a course of action
  • Goffman’s actors manage outer impression but not inner feelings
• Goffman’s two types of acting

1. Direct management of behavioral expression
   1. Given off sigh, shoulder shrug
2. Management of feeling – expression follows
   1. Thought of hopeless project

• Surface acting
• Deep acting
• Inappropriate affect – used to point to aspects of the individual’s ego functioning and not used to point

to the social rules according to which a feeling is or is not deemed appropriate to a situation

• Emotion-management perspective – attention to how people try to feel,
  • Goffman: how people try to appear and to feel.
  • freud: how people feel unconsciously

 

2. Emotion Work : act of trying to change in degree or quality an emotion or feeling.

• To “work on” emotion is the same as emotion management or deep acting
• Effort – act of trying – even if successful or not
  • This effort suggest an active stance vis-a-vis feeling
    • “I tried hard to not feeling disappointed” “ i made myself have a good time”
    • “I let myself feel sad” -actively passive
  • Differs from emotion control or suppression -this says that one is preventing feeling
  • Emotion work: act of evoking or shaping + suppressing, feeling in oneself
  • Two types of emotion work
    • Evocation : cognitive focus is on a desired feeling which is initially absent
      • “Made myself like him” but lowkey hate him….
    • Suppression: cognitive focus is on an undesired feeling which is initially present
  • Emotion-work system
    • Ex: telling friends all the bad things about a person and going to them for reinforcement of this
    • Can be done by self upon the self, upon others, oneself
  • Emotion work techniques

1. Cognitive: attempt to change images, ideas, thoughts to change the feelings

associate with it

1. Bodily: attempt to change somatic or other physical symptoms of emotions

(shaking)

1. Expressive: trying to change expressive gestures in service of changing inner

feeling (trying to smile or to cry)

 

3. Feeling Rules

• “I should feel”
• Social guidelines that direct how we want to try to feel can be described as a set of socially

shared, although often latent (not thought about unless probed) rules

• Sense of what we can expect to feel in a given situation + a rule that is known by our sense

of what we should feel

• Rule reminders
  • Claims and callings for an account
  • Ex: opinion about what feeling fits a situation, question feeling in a situation,
• Rights and duties – clue to the depth of social convention > social control

1. Extent
   1. Too angry or not angry enough
2. Direction
   1. Ex: feel sad when should feel happy
3. Duration
   1. Of a feeling, given the situation against which it is set

• Wedding day example

 

 

 

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Sherry Turkle’s Ted Talk “Alone Together”

• The beginning of technological world was great (1996) wrote a book that celebrated life on the internet (chatrooms, online virtual communities, exploring diff aspects of ourselves) then you unplugged
• Expected that we would use what we found out about ourselves/identity online, to live better in the real world
• Now (2012) we’re letting technology take us places we don’t want to go
• Found that these devices are psychologically powerful. They change what we do and who we are. Normalization of things that might’ve have been disturbing before:
  • text, shop, email, go on facebook during board meetings, classes…etc.
  • imp skill of maintaining eye contact while texting
  • parents on phone at dinner: kids complaining about not having their full attention
  • kids being “together” but all on their phones: denying each other their full attention.
• We expect more from technology and less from each other:
  • appeals to us because we’re vulnerable; lonely but scared of intimacy

Consequences

• New way of being alone together, customize their lives
• Hiding from each other
• We get to edit, delete, retouch
• Sacrifice conversation for connection
• Wish for a more advanced siri to become a best friend, someone who listens: no one is listening
• Developing “sociable” robots specifically designed to be companions

What’s wrong with having a conversation?

• Takes place in realtime
• Can’t control what you’re gonna say

Phones offer 3 gratifying fantasies

• Ability to put our attention wherever we want it to be
• We will always be heard
• We will never have to be alone

“I share therefore I am”

• Use technology to define ourselves by sharing our thoughts and feelings as we’re having them.
• Before it was “I have a feeling, I want to make a call” now it’s “I want to have a feeling, I need to send a text.” If we don’t have connection we don’t feel like ourselves.

Solution: connect more and more but setting ourselves up for isolation

We went from conversation (in real life) to connection (online) which is leading us to isolation

 

Takeaway: reconsider how we use our devices, develop a more self-aware relationship with them, each other and ourselves.

 

 

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Essay 2 Self and Society Concept Definitions

 

• impression management- we manage information in order to present a particular impression to those with whom we interact
• roles

o   found in module 1 Social Structure and the Individual

• social role- set of expectations about the behavior and attitudes of people who occupy a particular social status

o   ex- your position on a basketball team

• embarrassing interactions

o   inappropriate identity– damage personal reputation, not living up to role expectations

• ex- going to wrong class, debit card declined

o   loss of poise– clothing, the body

• ex- food in teeth, tripping

o   maintaining confidence– disturbance of the assumptions one made about another person in social transactions

• ex- assuming that someones wife is their daughter, assuming someone is pregnant when they are not
• feeling rules– unwritten rules that allow individuals to inform one another of what they should, should not, and must be feeling

o   the social guidelines that direct how we want to try to feel

• emotion work– individuals attempt not only to express but also to feel what they think they should be feeling

o   involves surface acting of emotional expression, suppressing and evoking the feelings from which emotional expression flows

• guided by feeling rules

o   “the act of t trying to change in degree or quality an emotion or feeling”

• 4 characteristics of the digital self

o   defined in great detail above in this doc^^^^^

• self-concept- influenced by the extent to which we are able to directly see others and how they respond to us

o   the totality of the individual’s thoughts and feelings about the self as an object.

• social status

o   definition found in module 1 Social Structure and the Individual

• a person’s or groups socially determined positions within a larger group or society.
• stigma
• A mark of disgrace
• Results from the failure to live up to social expectations
• The discrepancy between one’s virtual and actual social identity

o   Goffman outlined 3 major types of stigma

• Bodily disfigurements
• Blemishes of individual character (addiction or mental disorder)
• Group affiliation (race or religion)

o   ??? from current articles???

 

 

MODULE 5

 

Young Children’s Racial and Ethnic Definitions of Self – VanAusdale

Using Racial and Ethnic Concepts: The Critical Case of Very Young Children

 Debra Van Ausdale; Joe R. Feagin

• Stage models explain children’s acquisition of self (includes race)

 

• Since 1930s – social science has examined children’s attitudes toward race
  • – how they form racial identities
  • Create in-group racial and ethnic orientations
  • Form attitudes toward others
  • And use race in friend selection
• Picture or doll tests to get info on racial identities – observations of behavior in controlled settings and third-party reports of behavior
  • Age-related progression in ability to interpret racial/ethnic info – children under 5 not used
  • Observations not long term or in-depth accounts – limits investigations… assume children incapable of abstract concepts until age 7 — this egocentric (Piagetian) label neglects social worlds
  • Spencer (1987) points out that framing children’s attitudes as immature limits knowledge of their attitudes.
• Corsaro (1979) – Informed actors in social production
  • Sullivan, Zaitchik, Tager-Flusberg (1994) 3-year old’s – complex mental belief systems
  • Dunn (1993) – children create complex network of relationships
  • Corsaro and Miller (1992) – demonstrate effectiveness of interpretive approaches – how kids understand meanings, propose multidimensional theory emphasizing children’s collective participation in culture-making

 

THE RESEARCH APPROACH

• Unstructured field observations and recorded everyday behaviors – 58, 3-5-year-old kids – large preschool in southern city – 11-months in 1993 – diverse group

o                    White = 24,

o                    Asian = 19,

o                    Black = 4,

o                    biracial = 3,

o                    Middle Eastern = 3,

o                    Latino = 2,

o                    and other = 3.

• Extensive field notes: Author (Debi) observed racial contexts and noted what they said and with whom they spoke (more in-depth than traditional tests with context/time given to behavioral observations)
  • Assumed the role of nonauthoritarian observer and playmate – kids reacted naturally, unlike with parents and other teachers
  • Did not asked predetermined questions – ethnic/race issues arose naturally
• Data contradicted the expectations — that young kids display no knowledge or race/ethic concepts and any concepts used would be naive

 

USING RACIAL AND ETHNIC CONCEPTS TO EXCLUDE

 

• Rita (3.5 – white/Latina) says Elizabeth (3.5 – Asian/Chinese) can’t play in playhouse, because only people who speak Spanish are allowed – even though Sarah (4 – white) is playing with her
  • Debi (adult playmate) asks Rita (following in her thought process) – then why is Sarah allowed? – so Rita amends her answer – to say either English or Spanish speakers
  • Debi reminds her that Elizabeth can play – she speaks English — Rita amends that to people who speak 2 languages (which Elizabeth does)
  • Rita rejects playing with Elizabeth even though she can play according to her rules – grabs Sarah and plays shopping –à language was the ethnic marker here
    • Created a social rule based on significant understanding of ethnic markers
    • 2 language rule did not acknowledge that Sarah only spoke English – Rita’s choice of language was exclusionary device to prevent Elizabeth from entering – not at maintaining a bilingual play space
  • Exclusion of others can involve — preventing associations with unwanted others, as in Rita’s case, or removing oneself from the presence of unwanted others
  • Adults: teachers/parents focused more on origin of racial slur by child and each insisting that she didn’t learn it from them – instead of the development of those behaviors

o                    Adults, like children, reshape their conceptions collaboratively

 

USING RACIAL AND ETHNIC CONCEPTS TO INCLUDE

 

• The children also used racial and ethnic understandings and concepts to include others- to engage them in play or teach them about racial and ethnic identities
• One girl, Ling, engages numerous students and teachers in teaching her Chinese language book; other children embrace new characters and incorporate into their activities – racial and ethnic understandings develop in social contexts
  • Demonstrates she is aware of non-Chinese and they do not know hot to read the language, including herself until recently
• Jewel, used language to engage others in play and increased interaction with an adult and created a new world of ethnic meanings – by catching his attention with language he did not understand, she shaped his actions for some time
  • Interpretive capability: She understood his perspective and evaluated his knowledge of language
  • —- her phrase did not mean “pants on fire” by most likely her name in another language

 

 

USING RACIAL AND ETHNIC CONCEPTS TO DEFINE ONESELF

 

• The use of racial and ethnic concepts to include or exclude others is often coupled with the use of these concepts to describe and define oneself.
  • racial and/or ethnic identity is an important aspect of themselves (children)
• Renee, very pale, gets a tan and kids discuss and conjecture whether she will stay that color or get darker – parents/Debi tell her the color is temporary
  • Unconvinced she brought up her racial identity for weeks – more than fleeting interest, unlike mainstream cognitive theorists would predict
  • Renee reframed the meaning of skin color by questioning others on their thoughts and comparing her skin to others
• Corinne, biracial/bilingual – leader, often initiates activities and other often defer to her
  • Identifies bunnies gender based on their color, similar to her parents – with the mixed bunnies like her so a “girl” – incorporating her understandings of color, race and gender
  • She displayed an understanding of the idea that an offspring’s color reflects the colors of its parents, a knowledge grounded in her experience as a biracial child
  • Exchange theory ignores the often-playful nature of children’s interactions
    • The interactive prodding of the other children about the spotted bunny allowed for her creativity – showed ability to handle questions about race and gender
  • Jie, bring Chinese food for Chinese people and doesn’t think student employee would like it because he’s not Chinese – beginnings of explanations for differences between racial and ethnic groups
  • transmitted view that physical differences are accompanied by differences in cultural tastes and behavior.

 

 

USING RACIAL AND ETHNIC CONCEPTS TO DEFINE OTHERS

 

• We observed many examples of children exploring the complex notions of skin color, hair differences, and facial characteristics.
  • They often explore what these things mean and make racial and/or ethnic interpretations of these perceived differences

 

 

USING RACIAL CONCEPTS TO CONTROL

 

• The complex nature of children’s group interactions and their solo behaviors demonstrates that race and ethnicity are salient, substantial aspects of their lives.
• “Blacks can’t have whites” was her social rule. – in response to hearing the Mike had a white rabbit — The power of skin color had become a tool in Brittany’s hands that she used to dominate interaction with another child.
• When confronted by a teacher, Brittany withdrew, refusing to disclose what was going on between her and the Black girl.
  • Brittany had created a tool to dominate others, a tool based on a racial concept coupled with a social rule.
• In addition, all three children were highly selective about the adults with whom they shared their racially oriented views and behavior.
• children are aware of the power and authority granted to Whites – knowledgeable about the racial hierarchy
  • The children were not confused about the meanings of these harsh racial words and actions

 

 

ADULT MISPERCEPTIONS

 

• Children’s use of racial and ethnic concepts often goes unnoticed — even by adults in daily contact with them
• Reports by Debi had some teachers claiming “not out children” – and the director even trying to guess the identity, determined to discover the culprits so unlearning might begin
• Adults’ strong need to deny that children can use racial and ethnic concepts
• During the “what are you” convo between Rita and louis
  • The adult interruption silenced Louis completely and made Rita defensive and wary. As other research has demonstrated, adult in­volvement in children’s discourse can result in changes in the nature of the children’s re­lations
  • Joanne per­ceived as an argument based on racial differ­ences. However, the children were engaged in an appropriate discussion about their ori­gins.
  • Louis is indeed Black and views Rita as White. Rita seemed to be try­ing to extend the concept beyond skin color and thus to educate Louis (on her mixed heritage), until the teacher interrupted.
  • Joanne’s assumption seemed to be twofold: that Rita was confused and that as a teacher Joanne must act preventively.
    • Here the teacher focused on quashing preju­dice rather than seizing an opportunity to lis­ten to the children and discuss their racial and ethnic perspectives
    • Adults tend to con­trol children’s use of racial and ethnic con­cepts —- and interpret children’s use of these concepts along prejudice-defined lines
  • 2 children, Jason (3, white) and Dao (4, chinese) – don’t speak the same language but are inseparable – teachers wonder how they communicate…?
    • Boys maintained a cross-ethnic friendship by speaking a version of both English/Chinese, a little learned from each other
    • Jason’s mother thought he was speaking gibberish and mad that he was slipping back into “baby talk” and the teacher assumed “attention-speaking” behavior because she was pregnant
    • If they were adults it would have been simply interpreted as — pidgin language the simplified language that develops be­tween peoples with different languages liv­ing in a common territory
    • Jason’s ability to develop a language in interaction with Dao was empowering for Dao: the language was the cement that bonded the boys together.
    • Collaborative actions – boys were natural multiculturalists

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

• the racial nature of children’s interactions becomes fully appar­ent only when their interactions are viewed over time and in context
• children’s relationships are complex and multidimensional, even within their own families
• Jason/Dao – interactions were not only complex and incomprehensible to adults, but also evolved over time
• For these very young children, who are having their first extensive social experiences outside the fam­ily, racial and ethnic differences became powerful identifiers of self and other.
• Children can explore the meaning of social authority, social rules, and status —- when separated from adults and older siblings they are in contact with at home.
• Social status and its accompanying power and prestige become important to very young children at a pre­school.
• In the classroom hierarchy, teachers have the highest status, and children ac­knowledge this by acquiescing to teachers.
  • However, much research suggests that chil­dren behave differently when an adult is present —- than they do when they are involved with only other children
• Racial knowledge is situational, and children can interact in a race-based or race-neutral manner, accord­ing to their evaluations of appropriateness
• surveys and observations of children in natural set­tings demonstrate that three-year-old chil­dren have constant, well-defined, and nega­tive biases toward racial and ethnic others (Ramsey 1987).

 

 

 

 

 

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Borderwork among Girls and Boys – THORNE

• Self imposed segregation between boys and girls when they define themselves as boy or girl in preschool
• When they do interact:
  • Constructs symbolic barrier between them called borderwork pattern
    • Chasing games
      • Chase and kiss, cooties
    • Creates gender division
    • Boys and girls treat each other opposing teams
    • Gender identity over personal identity ex: boy screaming: help a girl is chasing me

rather than the name of girl.

• Gender stereotypes
• Men and women resemble similar border work

• Elementary school observation
• Borderwork: helps conceptualize interaction across (gender boundaries)
• Gender boundaries:
  • Boys and girls vs the boys and the girls – separate and reified groups
  • Boys vs girls
  • When evoked accompanied by stylized forms of action, sense of performance,

Mixed and ambiguous meanings

• Recurring themes come from this (they’re rooted)

 

• Cross-gender chasing
  • Affirms boundaries
  • Safety zones
• Cooties
  • Individual boy + girl may be stigmatized and treated as contaminating
  • Boys treat objects that have to do w girls as polluting
  • Boys mark hierarchies by using “girl” as a low status label
    • Boundary: one group stigmatizes another in order to define itself as superior
  • invasions – final type of borderwork.
    • Boys invade girls’ groups much more than vice versa
      • Teasing girls
      • Ruin games girls are playing
    • Antagonistic social division

 

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Invisible Inequality by LAREAU

 

• Effects of social class on interactions inside the home
• Middle class parents
  • Concerted cultivation
  • Organized leisure activities
    • Too many activities where child might feel overwhelmed
  • Use reasoning – negotiate
  • Parents tailor their plans according to child’s activities
• Working class + poor parents
  • Accomplishment of natural growth
  • Provide the conditions in which children can grow
  • Leaving activities to children
  • Use directives
  • Family interdependence
  • Life revolves around the home
  • Free-flowing, informal play
  • Children were subordinates to parents
• Cultural logic
• Race was not a powerful aspect in children’s lives as much as social status

 

• Concerted cultivation and natural growth
  • 3 key dimensions of childrearing
    • Organization of daily life
    • Use of language
    • Social connections

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Salvaging Decency by KUSENBACH

 

• Othering
  • One group stigmatizes another in order to define itself as superior
  • In this process, compare oneself to another group and transform them into a social foil
  • In-group “Us” vs out-group “them”
  • Secures membership in dominating group
  • Creates winners and losers
• Social stigma – being othered
  • Demographic (where we live, ex: mobile home)
    • “Trailer trash”
    • Challenges residents’ sense of self-worth and moral decency
    • Deal with this by socially distancing
  • Bordering and fencing *Kusenbach*
• Stigma and mobile homes in previous research
  • Stigma management
    • Aimed at avoiding or reducing the impact of a neg. Image on one’s public or private self
    • Stigma: deeply discrediting attribute
    • Racial implications (trailer stigma) & personal integrity when it comes to labels
  • Mobile home residents’ strategies of managing stigma
    • Distancing
      • Distance oneself from others who they considered less worthy
      • Identity ambivalence *goffman*
        • Repulsed and shamed by appearances and behaviors
        • Lowers self esteem
      • Bordering
        • Refer to accounts and actions aimed at erecting boundaries between one’s

own community and geographically, culturally, and/or structurally distant others

• ppl reject trash associations altogether
• (where they live vs the kind of people they are)
• They are nothing like trailer trash bc.. (all the reasons)

• Fencing
  • Subtle and complex
  • Requires construction of internal differences within a given location or community
  • Distinctions within the same locale, some recognition of trailer trash
  • See trashy residents as a threat from the inside
  • Distance themselves and claim they aren’t like “them” “those people”

 

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Hillbilly Elegy (3 works) – VANCE

 

JD Vance – autobiography, reflection of hillbilly roots and strong influence from his Papaw and Mamaw and his later struggles with feeling like he didn’t quite belong at Yale

 

• “Hillbilly highway” displanted many Kentucky natives to (Ohio and that region) from coal to steel, from poverty to prosperity for those who relocated, but not instantly – though not without troubles
  • His grandparents young and without much family to help them, lived passionately if not aggressively at times but always loyal to family – outsiders don’t need to know “our business” — his mother’s father was during her childhood a drunk and her mother had become a foul-mouthed hoarder, who openly fought inside the house (never in public)
  • His uncle, a product of a fighting home life, eventually turned this around and got the first corporate job later in life
  • His aunt ran from one abusive home life to an abusive husband, before getting help from the family to leave and eventually found a nice husband with an “oddly nice” family that doesn’t yell at each other
  • His mother, was a wild-child with a temper who after a couple marriages and domestic fights with her new husband (his step-dad), eventually adopted a more promiscuous attitude with several men
    • His sister also needed an escape and often didn’t come home until midnight, but understood his feelings regarding the hard home-life and comforted him the last time their mother had an opportunity to attack him and beat down the door from a neighbor he had escaped to (before this incident she had been driving with him on their way to get ice cream, an apology for past transgressions/temper)
    • The courts were involved – he, with the encouragement of his grandparents lied that his mother never threatened or abused him before, with the understanding that he would only live with his mother when he wanted, otherwise would live with his grandparents — in an effort to keep his mother out of jail.
    • His Mamaw and Papaw were better parents after their daughter was grown – his grandfather stopped drinking, and his Mamaw stood by her grandkids friendly against their daughter if needed. — without their help he wouldn’t have survived his childhood as he did
  • Fast-forward to Yale, and JD doesn’t feel like he belongs or should be there, an outsider who had the privilege of being allowed in.
    • Even traveling to different states, he never felt this dissociation – but when he traveled to California for the 1st time he noticed those other states were descendants of similar Kentucky-like transplants who were familiar with habits like his family, so he always felt a certain commonality and belonging even with strangers.
  • Yale, was an Ivy league school with a different set of mores and norms that had to be learned through trial and error — the amount of error depended on the strength of social network
    • Never felt completely at home, but learned to accept that he earned the right to be there and was not an academic fraud — being at Yale was an opportunity unlike any other, with regular visits from prestigious leaders/politicians — Hollywood Hogwarts of nerds
    • In other ways he recognized fellow students’ privilege like the time they left a mess at a diner, and he felt compelled to stay behind as he couldn’t imagine leaving that for someone to clean (a fellow working-class student stayed to help)
      • — and their perspective of hillbilly culture; like cracker barrel was a greasy spoon, but it was his and his Mamaw’s fav restaurant
    • His social network provided the social capital to supply connections to bigger and better opportunities but also imparted the knowledge of how the “game”, of the American Dream worked, and how to succeed (during interviews). That information provided insight into unspoken rules and the reasons behind which jobs to accept or not, what dress or manners were appropriate,
      • Elites can bypass certain normal “workings of the game”, like get an education, send out resumes and wait for employers to call you – instead elites utilize their networks, and call friends/family to make sure their resume is seen first (the resume still matters) — but their social capital increases their chances of an interview
      • His social network helped him decide:
        • Professor told him the Yale Law Journal was for those who wanted to work for a judge or be an academic, otherwise a waste of time
        • Later, explained not to take a clerk position because it was for a particular career path (she knew he wanted the prestigious credential more) and that the work was hard, with long hours and no sick days — and personally, it meant a separation from his new girlfriend — he took the advice and a job more suited to him
        • The professor gave him permission to be himself and finally accept his place at this unfamiliar institution – he charted his own path and put a girl (who he later married) above some short-sighted ambition — learned how to prioritize his options with help from his social network
          • Later decided he wanted to clerk, but instead of doing so blindly, he knew what he wanted out of the experience — and both he and his wife went through a clerkship process and were married by their judicial bosses (whom they liked) where they eventually ended up — in Kentucky, not too far from where he grew up

 

 

 

 

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Gender and Sexuality – Chapter Text Mod 5

• If you want to skim this section, avoid these types of bullets and focus on the #s and abc’s OR simply skip to the bottom of each section (3) for in-text key terms/takeaways

 

INTRO

 

• 2016, Jamie Shupe petitioned US to be legally recognized as non-binary (not exclusively masculine or feminine)
  • was a married father before being transgendered
  • Mother used social control to enforce gender norms – slapped for “being a sissy”

 

1. Transgender:
   1. refers to people whose gender identity and expression are different from what they were assigned at birth
   2. May not necessarily feel “fully female” if a transgender woman —-or fully male if a transgender male

• Oregon 1st state to offer gender-neutral driver’s license – “X”
  1. Cisgender:
     1. someone whose gender is in line with the sex they were assigned at birth

 

• Gender flexibility is being more widely accepted:
  • A survey from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) reports that people identify as something other than strictly straight and cisgender
    1. – 20% of millennials
    2. – 7% for baby boomers
  • Social understandings of gender and sexuality continue to evolve – gender is the primary way people organize the social world
• Gender based scripts about marriage, family and sexual orientation — lie in traditions and games, even gifts
  • Pink or blue for babies
  • Nursery rhymes like “sitting in a tree… K-I-S-S-I-N-G” – first comes love, then comes marriage, then baby in a baby carriage – script for life*
  • Segregated gender events like bridal showers and bachelor parties

 

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES OF GENDER

1. Nature, nurture, neither?

• Caster Semenya a Gold medal runner – was subjected to gender verification testings because she was “too fast” and “just look at her”
  • She had Hyperandrogenism and appeared too male that her gender was in doubt (unable to participate for a year)
• Some believe: you are what you’re birth certificate says you are: M or F, only
  • Birth certificate indicates biology (sex)

1. Sex:
   1. different biological and physiological characteristics of males and females, such as reproductive organs, chromosomes, and hormones.
2. Gender:
   1. socially-constructed characteristics of women and men – such as norms, roles, and relationships among and between groups of women and men
   2. Gender is produced to appear natural – not fact (Judith Butler, author of Gender Trouble)
3. Nature – biological influences
4. Nurture – social influences
5. Socialization:
   1. Learned traits that we attribute to others – ex. Boys learn how to be “men”
   2. we learn about gender from family, peers, teachers, coaches, and other influential people in our lives

 

• gender perceptions are generally assumed to match our biological sex which can be deceiving
  • learn gender messages from media; commercials, TV shows, movies, songs, video games, internet memes and magazines…
• Believe it or not — early 1900s, pink was considered a boy ’s color and blue a girl ’s color!
  • 1940s switched to what we know today — people still have choices but color scheme is entrenched in American society
    • Pink = Girl (Victoria Secrets)
    • Boy = Blue (clothes, toys, bikes)

 

1. Gender norms:
   1. social definitions of behavior assigned to particular sex categories
      1. Suppose to look or sound like
      2. How strong or emotional you are
      3. What your interests are
   2. *change through time, place, and context

• Commonality: socially-determined and socially-enforced

• 1 in 1500 or 1 in 2000 births can be sexually ambiguous (genitalia only way to determine sex difference)
  • Intersex conditions are rare but still happen more than you think
  • High levels of testosterone can make women appear stronger or more aggressive

 

2. Social construction of gender
   1. social construction of gender:
      1. refers to how meanings of gender are created through social interaction and social norms
      2. (Expectations of appropriate conduct) Teaching, learning, performing, and policing gender behavior

• Ex. giving a baby a name or color – sex category become gender status (treated as gender)

• SAY WHAT? – Linguists speak:
  • Associated with women, mainly younger
    • High-rising terminal: aka uptalk, raise your voice at the end of a sentence, sounding like a question
    • Vocal-fry: ending sentences with words in low/croaky tones
      • stereotyped as less trustworthy/competent
    • Vocal fry and uptalk are associated with women – even though both genders do it

 

1. Do gender:
   1. we perform actions that produce gender;
      1. Men stretch out
      2. women sit to take up less space — or “duckface” selfies
   2. we do gender in interactions with others,

• and we take into consideration what is believed to be appropriate for our gender
  1. Idea developed by: Candace West and Don Zimmerman
  2. girl reprimanded for not being “ladylike” (not crossing legs in dress)
     1. Boys have to “man up” and not play with dolls
     2. Boys often call each other faggot if behaviour isn’t “mascualine”

• Celebrities more likely to stretch the boundaries of gender (fashion/art/music) – which is one way of challenging the gender-binary
  1. Gender binary: fixed gender
     1. the classification system that allows for only two separate gender categories
     2. One of many gender systems

• FB expanded gender options to 58 labels

1. Androgynous:
   1. incorporating both feminine and masculine characteristics
   2. Style: makeup and dresses like David Bowie or 80’s hair bands – M/F traits
2. Intersectional perspectives of gender
   1. Intersectionality: (perspective)
      1. refers to the ways in which different types of social relations are linked together in complex ways – creating different experiences for different groups
      2. argues that gender, race, class, (dis)ability, sexuality, geography, and other characteristics intersect and interact to shape individual experience

• Developed by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw

• Gender can never be examined or understood without outside influence (singular perspective isn’t practical)
  • We always have other identities, interactions, and relations that affect who we are and how we experience the world
    • Obama’s rise to First Black President
      • Had to make America comfortable – represented exceptional black achievement not “lazy/irresponsible” stereotypes
    • Filipiano (American) families held up gender norms as a means to regain the power they’d been denied because of their race
      • young women expected to uphold the image of a “good Filipino girl” —- protectors of cultural authenticity
      • Example of intersectional lens on gender
      • Expected to maintain gender norms and ethnocultural ones

 

1. Ethnocultural:
   1. refers to cultural influences of the ethnic groups to which we belong

• Understanding people’s experiences: we can’t separate/remove gender, race/ethnicity from the equation
  • We can’t forget to account for geography, time period, language – all intersect to create gendered reality

 

Key terms Recap:

• Transgender – People whose gender identity and expression are different from what they were assigned at birth.
• Cisgender – Someone whose gender is in line with the sex they were assigned at birth.
• Gender – Socially constructed characteristics of women and men, such as norms, roles, and relationships of and between groups of women and men.
• Socialization – Ongoing social process whereby we learn social norms.
• Gender norms – Social definitions of behavior that society assigns to particular sex categories.
• Social construction of gender – Process whereby meanings of gender are created through social interaction and social norms.
• Doing gender – Our activity that produces gender, in interaction with others and with consideration of what is thought to be appropriate for our gender category.
• Gender binary – System that allows only two gender categories.
• Androgynous – Incorporating both feminine and masculine characteristics.
• Intersectionality – Social theory that examines how social relations are inextricably linked.
• Ethnocultural – Cultural influences of the ethnic groups to which we belong that affect our behavior.

Key Points:

• The sociological perspective focuses on how the social world impacts our gender development. Gender is learned from family, peers, teachers, media, and other sources in our environment.
• Meanings of gender are created through social interaction. We socially construct ideas about appropriate gender behaviors. We’re held accountable for our gender conduct and are at risk of judgment if we challenge gender norms.
• Gender is socially and culturally influenced and is subject to change.
• Gender can’t be understood in isolation from our other identities and social relations. We must consider how gender intersects and interacts with race, class, (dis)ability, sexuality, geography, etc. to shape our experiences and treatment in society.

 

 

INEQUALITIES AND PROGRESS

1. Feminism
   1. Gender Inequality:
      1. where individuals or groups are treated and perceived differently based upon their gender
   2. Feminism:
      1. refers to a collection of movements that advocate for equality for all sexes and genders
         1. the right to vote, receive an education, have custody of children, own property, get married/divorced when they wished, and have the same career choices as men
      2. Feminism has a long/persistent history of inequality – social, political, economic, interpersonal status
         1. Stereotyped as “angry women” instead of passionate activists

• (some) Fundamentals of feminism:
  1. Equal pay = equal work
  2. Reproductive freedom
  3. Reducing harrassment/violence against women
  4. Improving treatment/status of all women worldwide

 

• Intersectional feminism (different perspectives):
  • Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (feminist) only spoke about her intersectionality (perspective) – upper-class white women
    • Disadvantaged: Poor white women (sexism) and women of color (sexism/racism)
  • “Mississippi Appendectomies”: coined by civil rights legend, Fannie Lou Hamer
    • Forced sterilization among Native/African American women
  • Intersectional feminists are inclusive:
    • Accounting for the needs of all women and their differences — race, social class, religion, gender expression, body type, and (dis)ability

 

2. Institutional inequality

 

• Work based gender inequality
• For women in corporate environments, it’ s not uncommon to have their authority questioned, be interrupted in meetings, face expectations that they be nice and never complain, and experience unwanted sexual advances.
• Women in tech:
• computer/info science majors has lowered — NOW: 18% ___1984: 37%
• 25% of computing/math jobs in US – leave industry at 2x the rate of men
• SURVEY: 210 women in the industry (specifically Silicon Valley):
  1. 47% of the women reported being asked to do lower-level tasks that male colleagues were not asked to do, such as taking notes and ordering food;
  2. 87% experienced demeaning comments from male colleagues;

• 66% felt excluded from networking opportunities because of their gender;

1. 60% reported unwanted sexual advances (many coming from a superior).

• PAYDAY (wage gap earnings by order of most to least earning) – Asian-American men, white men, white women, black women
  • Women of color are heavily represented in low-wage jobs — teachers/cashiers..
  • Few low-wage jobs for men + they pay more – drywall installers/butchers..
  • “Men’s work” and “Women’s work” – shaped by discrimination and social norms
    • Family members, peers, and mentors encourage/discourage our job interests
    • For example, computer programming, a set of jobs initially held primarily by women, became more lucrative as it became more male dominated.

 

1. Motherhood penalty:
   1. the systematic disadvantages in wages, benefits, and other career factors that are associated with motherhood
   2. costs of raising a child are disproportionately felt by women – with a 7% wage penalty per child

• No wage penalty for Hispanics but penalty for black women after 2 children
  1. Already earn less than white women – “floor” – may not be room for wages to fall more

1. Fatherhood bonus:
   1. benefit in wages and perceived competence – fathers were sometimes seen as more competent (mothers less so), with an increase in Fathers’ paychecks from being a parent.
   2. Less for black men, than white or latino
2. Glass ceiling:
   1. metaphor to describe barriers that women face in the workplace that prevent them from reaching higher positions – the sky’s the limit, except for women
   2. *phrase originated in 1979 from a conversation between two women who worked for Hewlett-Packard

• Problems:
  1. being excluded from an important meeting or informal networking session that takes place between men on a golf course,
  2. not being offered an executive position even after a series of promotions,
  3. blatant stereotypes about women being unfit for management, and assumptions that women would prioritize family over career
• Came close to breaking through the glass ceiling — BUT TRUMP happened*
  • – despite saying he grabs women by the pussy, he won the 2016 election
• 39 women have served as Governors in the US
  • 2011: first women of color to serve (no African-Americans)
• Even in the highest courts women are treated differently — Supreme Court (from oral transcripts): male justices interrupt female justices 3x as often as male judges
• Life expectancy: why do women live longer? Even with higher rates of chronic disease and violence
  • Does estrogen protect against cholesterol?
  • Or do men simply avoid the doctor to appear masculine? – no pain, no complain
• Gender inequality
  • Not a biological result but produced/embedded in our institutions – If it were natural it would be the same in all times/places
  • We don’t experience gender the same way we build inequality, so we can dismantle it too

 

 

3. Gender and violence

 

• Violence/assult disproportionately affect transgender people (especially of color)
  • Office for Victims of Crime reports – ½-⅔ trans will be assaulted in their lifetime
  • Human Rights Campaign on trans women of color:
    • intersections of racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia conspire to deprive them of employment, housing, healthcare and other necessities, barriers that make them vulnerable
  • Study (of 1,876 kids K-12 who identify as trans/non-conforming) reported high rates of:
    • 78% Harassment
    • 35% Assault
    • 12% Sexual assault
    • By students and teachers*
  • CDC (US): 1 in 5 women (19.3%) experience rape or attempted rape in her lifetime
    • Women who report: 40% 1st victimized before age 18
      • 28% 1st raped between 11-17
    • Other forms of sex violence – high rates:
      • 5% sexual coercion – verbal/nonverbal resulting in unwanted penetration
      • 3% unwanted contact (fondling/groping)
      • 1% unwanted sexual advances (verbal harassment)
    • Gender plays a role in school shootings – complex social factors (mainly males, not enough women to study)
      • Enforced masculine stereotypes
      • rejected/ridiculed by peers or romantic partners
      • Boys’ feelings of emasculation — lash out in anger/humiliation to reclaim themselves as powerful/masculine
      • Young women also capable of carrying out violence

1. Androcentric:
   1. traditional understandings of crime and violence – focuses mainly on the experiences of men
   2. Shaped by male experiences/understandings, these “general” theories of crime/deviance lack female experiences (as crime participant or victim)

• Juvenile justice system can criminalize survival behaviors of young women — girls more likely to suffer child sexual abuse
  • Delinquent behavior common to young girls is survival behavior from sex abuse trauma
    • Running away from home
    • Difficulties in school, truancy
    • Early marriage or promiscuity

Key Terms Recap:

• Gender inequality – Unequal treatment and perceptions of individuals or groups based on gender.
• Feminism – Movements that advocate for equality for all sexes and genders.
• Glass ceiling – Metaphor for barriers women face in the workplace that prevent them from reaching higher positions.
• Androcentrism – Centering the lives and experiences of men in our worldview and practices.
• Motherhood penalty – Systematic disadvantages in wages, benefits, and other career factors that are associated with motherhood.
• Fatherhood bonus – Benefits in wages and perceived competence that fathers experience in the workplace.

Key Points:

• Feminism is concerned with achieving equality between men and women. There are different kinds of feminisms, and people of all genders identify as feminists.
  • Intersectional feminists take into account that gender can’t be separated from other social relations.
• Gender inequality is produced, maintained, and embedded in our institutions. Sexism in the workplace is one example.
• Women make less money than men. For full-time and part-time workers in the U.S., women earned 83% as much as men in 2015.
• White men have higher wages than women of any race.
• Many jobs in the U.S. economy are low-paying and more likely to be held by women. Women of color are heavily represented in the low-wage job sector.
• The sorting of men and women into different occupations is partly shaped by discrimination and social norms.
• Studies of mothers who work show that the costs of raising a child are disproportionately felt by women. In no state do mothers, on average, make as much as fathers.
• There are differences in life expectancy based on gender and race. In general, women live longer than men, and Whites live longer than Blacks or Latinos.
• Violence and assault are disproportionately experienced by transgender people.
• 1 in 5 women in the U.S. has been the victim of rape or attempted rape.
• Girls are more likely than boys to suffer child sexual abuse.

 

 

 

SEXUALITIES

1. The creation of sexuality

• I was born this way — Fact or fiction? Nature or nurture?
  • 2016 Gallup polling (Americans):
    • 46% think gay/lesbians were born that way (13% in 1977)
    • 33% upbringing/environment (56% in 1977)
    • 12% both
  • Shamus Khan (sociologists): problem with “born this way” is it overstates the importance of biology – sexuality is impossible to understand without culture
    • BOTH biology/environment influence sexuality
  • Sexual behaviors vary historically/culturally:
    • Pederasty (adult men form sexual relationships with boys), practiced in Ancient Greece
  • Sexuality as a social construction – taught to express
    • driven by religion, tradition, local culture, or practical health concerns.
      • society guides (and often limits) our ideas about sexual behavior
    • We construct the labels: gay, lesbian, pansexual, bisexual, hetero…
      • Creates distinctions between acceptable/unacceptable behaviors
    • Early 1800s: sex was seen more for reproduction than pleasure
      • Later shifted away from production to consumer-based society (valued pleasure/libido)
    • Heterosexual term first appeared in US in 1892 – medical article by Dr. James G. Kiernan
      • Originally believed to be “perverted” – sex used for more than procreation
      • Homosexuals seen as deviant – followed sexual desires not gender norms
    • Everyday example of doing sexuality:
      • Trump: locker room “bragging” about sex conquests reinforces heterosexuality
      • Or compliment to homosexual followed by disclaimer of I’m “no homo”

 

2. Intersectional sexualities
   1. Colonialism:
      1. one country politically and economically controls the people and resources of another geographic area
      2. Used as a symbol of colonialism, Sara Baartman, from South Africa to England – signed papers allowing herself to be part of the “human freak show

• circuit” – displayed for mainly white Europeans, with elaborate song/dances in multiple languages

1. Black sexualities have been used to justify racism (slavery/Jim Crow laws):
   1. Jezebel caricature:
      1. portrayed Black women as highly sexual and “lusty.”
   2. Brute caricature:
      1. portrayed Black men as savage sexual predators

• Oversexualized stereotypes of black women justified slave owners continued rape
• Portrayed as dangerous predators – lynching/murdering black men was justified for even looking at a white woman
• Sexualized images still exist but more subtle
  • Modern times: shift from colonialism to capitalism – we racialize to sell
    • Spanish beer commercial plays on “hot” latina – picture of beer: Finally. A cold latina.
  • Stereotypes (oversimplify things) and help to rationalize/reproduce inequalities
    • Makes social relations more straightforward – but one-sided/exaggerated
    • With more exposure it becomes our reality — fairer world = breaking stereotypes

 

3. The social control of sexuality
   1. Puberty:
      1. process of becoming a sexually mature individual – biological event; capable of sexual reproduction
   2. Social control :
      1. refers to the way we enforce normative behaviors through social interaction, values and worldviews, and laws
      2. social and cultural institutions exert social control over sexuality

• Sexuality has been medicalized
  1. Medicalized:
     1. process in which society understands or defines a problem in medical terms – medical language to describe it and medicine to treat it
     2. Alcoholism, pregnancy, attention-deficit disorder, and even baldness were all initially understood as social problems, — but became understood as medical disorders.
  2. Phallocentrism:
     1. a worldview that centers the phallus in sexual acts and society more broadly
     2. Ex. attention given to erectile dysfunction (ED) pills/commercials –
        1. Medicalization of erections (or lack of) perpetuates the idea of ideal erection – that all men should have
     3. Phallus:
        1. the symbolic ideal of the penis
        2. – big, erect, penetrative power of strength and masculinity… cucumber shape*

• The medicalization of ED draws our attention toward phallocentrism, so much so that penile-vaginal intercourse is understood as the only sex act worth our attention.

 

1. Abstinence-only sex education:
   1. students are taught that abstinence is expected of them
   2. main characteristic — “has as its exclusive purpose teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity.

• Exclusive means: forbidden from including certain information, such as contraception (like condoms) – can only note failure rates** 🙁

1. social control in action — institutions (school) attempts to socialize populations (teens) to adopt specific behaviors

1. Comprehensive sex education:
   1. “stress[es] the value of abstinence while also preparing young people for when they become sexually active,” including information about how contraception works, so students can avoid unwanted pregnancies and sexually-transmitted infections.
   2. Includes info about STDs/STIs
      1. Also attempts to enforce behaviors (social control): like safe sex

• Social control has disagreements over what and who needs controlling
• Sexulaity linked to bodies but cultural factors affect how we express it
  • To understand gender and sexuality (or what shapes us – what we don’t see), we must examine the intersections of social life – from personal histories to historical power relations and everyday interactions + large-scale institutions

 

Key Terms Recap:

• Jezebel caricature – Stereotypical image that portrays Black women as extremely sexualized.
• Brute caricature – Stereotypical image that portrays Black men as savage sexual predators, especially of White women.
• Puberty – Process of becoming sexually mature.
• Social control – The way we enforce normative behaviors through social interactions, values and worldviews, and laws.
• Medicalized – When society understands a problem in medical terms.
• Phallocentrism – Worldview that centers the phallus in both sexual acts and society more broadly.
• Phallus – Symbolic societal idea of the penis.

Key Points:

• In a 2016 Gallup poll, when asked if being gay or lesbian is something a person is born with or due to factors such as upbringing and environment
  • 46% answered “born with,”
  • 33% answered “environment,”
  • and 12% answered “both.”
• The word “heterosexual” first appeared in the U.S. in a medical journal article in 1892.
• What we deem to be sexually appropriate behavior varies historically and culturally.
  • Sexual behaviors and expressions change through time and aren’t exactly the same across cultures.
• Like gender, sexuality is a social construction.
• Similar to how we can understand gender as activity that we “do” in everyday life —- we can think of sexual identity as a routine, daily accomplishment that we intentionally perform.
• Racialized sexual stereotypes perpetuate social, economic, and cultural inequalities.
• Among women who have ever had a child, the average age of first childbirth is 23 years old in the U.S.;
  • among men who ever have children, it’s almost 26 years old.
• Our social and cultural institutions exert social control over our sexuality.
• 2017 was the 4th consecutive year of increasing rates of gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis.
  • Abstinence only edu may be a contributing factor*

 

— Return to Table of Contents —

 

 

Videos:

Anderson Cooper Doll Study

 

• STUDY: Children asked to identify the pictures that matched the descriptions described
  • – range of dolls (female dolls) on a sheet of different colored dolls
• Are children color-blind in America?
  • Child appeared to pick their race for favorable descriptions (nice, smart)
  • and the most opposite of their race for unfavorable descriptions (mean, dumb)
• Bias is measurable even at an early age
  • White boy being asked why doll is bad: because she’s black
  • Black girl being asked why doll is mean: because she (white doll) makes fun of everyone else’s skin color
  • Kids believe adults feel this way:
    • Skin color most adults like?
      • White boy: pointed to white
    • Skin color most adults dislike?
      • Black girl: pointed to black
    • 1st doll study ignited controversy in the 1940s – (Psychologists: Kenneth & Mamie Clark) pioneered studies on the effects of segregation in schools
      • – by asking African-American kids to choose between black and white dolls
      • Doll test: black kids overwhelmingly preferred white over black
      • Center of the 1954 supreme court case (Brown vs Board of Edu) – which de-segregated schools
    • 60 years after segregation (Obama in WH) – how do kids see differences in race?
      • Margaret Beale Spencer (renowned child psychologist & University of Chicago researcher) – was asked to design pilot study for CNN/analyze results
        • Children are always near us and what we put out into society, kids report back (mimics)
        • 130 kids, 8 schools, different racial/economic backgrounds, ½ in the North & ½ in the South
          • 2 age groups & 2 races (white & black) – to allow better comparison to original doll study
        • Test (today 2008-2010?):
          • 4-5 year old children were asked a series of questions about doll images:
          • 9-10 year olds were asked the same as well as about a color bar chart (shades of skin color)
        • Major findings: (3 – other 2 will be continued in 2nd video below)
          • (1): White race as a whole responded with a high rate of what researchers call “white bias”
            • Their own skin as positive and others with darker tones as negative attributes
            • Dumb child: 76% of younger white children pointed to the 2 darkest skin tones
            • Mean child: 66% of younger white children pointed to the 2 darkest skin tones
            • Child with the skin color most children don’t like: 66% of younger white children pointed to the 2 darkest skin tones
            • Bad child: more than 59% of the older white children pointed to the 2 darkest skin tones
          • Some white children had more race neutral findings:
            • Good looking child: pointed to all dolls (said race wasn’t part of her decision for attractiveness she didn’t care if white, black or mixed – matters who they are)

 

 

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How Children View Race

 

• Major findings: ({3} – 1st is above in notes for 1st video )
  • (2): even black children as a whole have some bias toward whiteness, (but far less than white children)
    • Older children appear to be more neutral than younger kids
    • Little black girl shamed her own skin color – she doesn’t like how “brown” looks, nasty for some reason (not really but sometimes) – and that maybe some adults do like blacks… and maybe some don’t
    • What children think is the most bad on a boy: More than 70% of the older black children chose the 2 darkest skin tones
    • Skin tone that most people don’t like: More than 61% of the younger black children chose the 2 darkest skin tones
    • Show me the ugly child: More than 57% of the younger black children chose the 2 darkest skin tones
  • (3): Bias toward white is still embedded in culture – all kids are exposed to this stereotypes
    • what’s significant here: white children are maintaining the stereotypes much more strongly than black children
      • Younger and older children keep the same patterns of stereotyping
      • Normally at ages 5-10 a child develops – natural filter aids them in rethinking extreme stereotypic responses and less highly bias’
        • Kids are bombarded with stereotypes and adults in kids lives have to fight to override the deluge
        • – black parents might be more diligent about that, while white parents might not feel the need
        • – message is the same for all children and so the task is the same for all parents (have to reframe what children experience)
      • While all studies have issues in research, the study is still valid, sample size ample but like all studies still requires further research – it points to major trends but not the definitive word on children and race
        • Still they underline what Dr. Spencer sees as an alarming conclusion – where dark things are devalued and light things are valued

 

 

 

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