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McIntosh_WhitePrivilege_1990.pdf

Peggy McIntosh is associate director of the Wellesley Collage Center for Research on Women. This essay is excerpted from Working Paper 189. "White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming To See Correspondences through Work in Women's Studies" (1988), by Peggy McIntosh; available for $4.00 from the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, Wellesley MA 02181 The working paper contains a longer list of privileges. This excerpted essay is reprinted from the Winter 1990 issue of Independent School.

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack Peggy McIntosh

"I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group"

Through work to bring materials from women's studies into the rest of the curriculum, I have often noticed men's unwillingness to grant that they are overprivileged, even though they may grant that women are disadvantaged. They may say they will work to women's statues, in the society, the university, or the curriculum, but they can't or won't support the idea of lessening men's. Denials that amount to taboos surround the subject of advantages that men gain from women's disadvantages. These denials protect male privilege from being fully acknowledged, lessened, or ended.

Thinking through unacknowledged male privilege as a phenomenon, I realized that, since hierarchies in our society are interlocking, there are most likely a phenomenon, I realized that, since hierarchies in our society are interlocking, there was most likely a phenomenon of while privilege that was similarly denied and protected. As a white person, I realized I had been taught about racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage.

I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege. So I have begun in an untutored way to ask what it is like to have white privilege. I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was "meant" to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools , and blank checks.

Describing white privilege makes one newly accountable. As we in women's studies work to reveal male privilege and ask men to give up some of their power, so one who writes about having white privilege must ask, "having described it, what will I do to lessen or end it?"

After I realized the extent to which men work from a base of unacknowledged privilege, I understood that much of their oppressiveness was unconscious. Then I remembered the frequent charges from women of color that white women whom they encounter are oppressive. I began to understand why we are just seen as oppressive, even when we don't see ourselves that way. I began to count the ways in which I enjoy unearned skin privilege and have been conditioned into oblivion about its existence.

My schooling gave me no training in seeing myself as an oppressor, as an unfairly advantaged person, or as a participant in a damaged culture. I was taught to see myself as an individual whose moral state depended on her individual moral will. My schooling followed the pattern my colleague Elizabeth Minnich has pointed out: whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work that will allow "them" to be more like "us."

Daily effects of white privilege

I decided to try to work on myself at least by identifying some of the daily effects of white privilege in my life. I have chosen those conditions that I think in my case attach somewhat more to skin-color privilege than to class, religion, ethnic status, or geographic location, though of course all these other factors are intricately intertwined. As far as I can tell, my African American coworkers, friends, and acquaintances with whom I come into daily or frequent contact in this particular time, place and time of work cannot count on most of these conditions.

1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

2. I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind or me.

3. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.

4. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.

5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

6. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.

7. When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.

8. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

9. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.

10. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.

11. I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another person's voice in a group in which s/he is the only member of his/her race.

12. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can cut my hair.

13. Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.

14. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.

15. I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.

16. I can be pretty sure that my children's teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms; my chief worries about them do not concern others' attitudes toward their race.

17. I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.

18. I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty or the illiteracy of my race.

19. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.

20. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.

21. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.

22. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.

23. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.

24. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the "person in charge", I will be facing a person of my race.

25. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.

26. I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children's magazines featuring people of my race.

27. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance or feared.

28. I can be pretty sure that an argument with a colleague of another race is more likely to jeopardize her/his chances for advancement than to jeopardize mine.

29. I can be pretty sure that if I argue for the promotion of a person of another race, or a program centering on race, this is not likely to cost me heavily within my present setting, even if my colleagues disagree with me.

30. If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn't a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.

31. I can choose to ignore developments in minority writing and minority activist programs, or disparage them, or learn from them, but in any case, I can find ways to be more or less protected from negative consequences of any of these choices.

32. My culture gives me little fear about ignoring the perspectives and powers of people of other races.

33. I am not made acutely aware that my shape, bearing or body odor will be taken as a reflection on my race.

34. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.

35. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.

36. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it had racial overtones.

37. I can be pretty sure of finding people who would be willing to talk with me and advise me about my next steps, professionally.

38. I can think over many options, social, political, imaginative or professional, without asking whether a person of my race would be accepted or allowed to do what I want to do.

39. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.

40. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.

41. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.

42. I can arrange my activities so that I will never have to experience feelings of rejection owing to my race.

43. If I have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem.

44. I can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of my race.

45. I can expect figurative language and imagery in all of the arts to testify to experiences of my race.

46. I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.

47. I can travel alone or with my spouse without expecting embarrassment or hostility in those who deal with us.

48. I have no difficulty finding neighborhoods where people approve of our household.

49. My children are given texts and classes which implicitly support our kind of family unit and do not turn them against my choice of domestic partnership.

50. I will feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social.

Elusive and fugitive

I repeatedly forgot each of the realizations on this list until I wrote it down. For me white privilege has turned out to be an elusive and fugitive subject. The pressure to avoid it is great, for in facing it I must give up the myth of meritocracy. If these things are true, this is not such a free country; one's life is not what one makes it; many doors open for certain people through no virtues of their own.

In unpacking this invisible knapsack of white privilege, I have listed conditions of daily experience that I once took for granted. Nor did I think of any of these perquisites as bad for the holder. I now think that we need a more finely differentiated taxonomy of privilege, for some of these varieties are only what one would want for everyone in a just society, and others give license to be ignorant, oblivious, arrogant, and destructive.

I see a pattern running through the matrix of white privilege, a patter of assumptions that were passed on to me as a white person. There was one main piece of cultural turf; it was my own turn, and I was among those who could control the turf. My skin color was an asset for any move I was educated to want to make. I could think of myself as belonging in major ways and of making social systems work for me. I could freely disparage, fear, neglect, or be oblivious to anything outside of the dominant cultural forms. Being of the main culture, I could also criticize it fairly freely.

In proportion as my racial group was being made confident, comfortable, and oblivious, other groups were likely being made unconfident, uncomfortable, and alienated. Whiteness protected me from many kinds of hostility, distress, and violence, which I was being subtly trained to visit, in turn, upon people of color.

For this reason, the word "privilege" now seems to me misleading. We usually think of privilege as being a favored state, whether earned or conferred by birth or luck. Yet some of the conditions I have described here work systematically to over empower certain groups. Such privilege simply confers dominance because of one's race or sex.

Earned strength, unearned power

I want, then, to distinguish between earned strength and unearned power conferred privilege can look like strength when it is in fact permission to escape or to dominate. But not all of the privileges on my list are inevitably damaging. Some, like the expectation that neighbors will be decent to you, or that your race will not count against you in court, should be the norm in a just society. Others, like the privilege to ignore less powerful people, distort the humanity of the holders as well as the ignored groups.

We might at least start by distinguishing between positive advantages, which we can work to spread, and negative types of advantage, which unless rejected will always reinforce our present hierarchies. For example, the feeling that one belongs within the human circle, as Native Americans say, should not be seen as privilege for a few. Ideally it is an unearned entitlement. At present, since only a few have it, it is an unearned advantage for them. This paper results from a process of coming to see that some of the power that I originally say as attendant on being a human being in the United States consisted in unearned advantage and conferred dominance.

I have met very few men who truly distressed about systemic, unearned male advantage and conferred dominance. And so one question for me and others like me is whether we will be like them, or whether we will get truly distressed, even outraged, about unearned race advantage and conferred dominance, and, if so, what we will do to lessen them. In any case, we need to do more work in identifying how they actually affect our daily lives. Many, perhaps most, of our white students in the United States think that racism doesn't affect them because they are not people of color; they do not see "whiteness" as a racial identity. In addition, since race and sex are not the only advantaging systems at work, we need similarly to examine the daily experience of having age advantage, or ethnic advantage, or physical ability, or advantage related to nationality, religion, or sexual orientation.

Difficulties and angers surrounding the task of finding parallels are many. Since racism, sexism, and heterosexism are not the same, the advantages associated with them should not be seen as the same. In addition, it is hard to disentangle aspects of unearned advantage that rest more on social class, economic class, race, religion, sex, and ethnic identity that on other factors. Still, all of the oppressions are interlocking, as the members of the Combahee River Collective pointed out in their "Black Feminist Statement" of 1977.

One factor seems clear about all of the interlocking oppressions. They take both active forms, which we can see, and embedded forms, which as a member of the dominant groups one is taught not to see. In my class and place, I did not see myself as a racist because I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by members of my group, never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth.

Disapproving of the system won't be enough to change them. I was taught to think that racism could end if white individuals changed their attitude. But a "white" skin in the United States opens many doors for whites whether or not we approve of the way dominance has been conferred on us. Individual acts can palliate but cannot end, these problems.

To redesign social systems we need first to acknowledge their colossal unseen dimensions. The silences and denials surrounding privilege are the key political surrounding privilege are the key political tool here. They keep the thinking about equality or equity incomplete, protecting unearned advantage and conferred dominance by making these subject taboo. Most talk by whites about equal opportunity seems to me now to be about equal opportunity to try to get into a position of dominance while denying that systems of dominance exist.

It seems to me that obliviousness about white advantage, like obliviousness about male advantage, is kept strongly inculturated in the United States so as to maintain the myth of meritocracy, the myth that

democratic choice is equally available to all. Keeping most people unaware that freedom of confident action is there for just a small number of people props up those in power and serves to keep power in the hands of the same groups that have most of it already.

Although systemic change takes many decades, there are pressing questions for me and, I imagine, for some others like me if we raise our daily consciousness on the perquisites of being light-skinned. What will we do with such knowledge? As we know from watching men, it is an open question whether we will choose to use unearned advantage, and whether we will use any of our arbitrarily awarded power to try to reconstruct power systems on a broader base.

__MACOSX/._McIntosh_WhitePrivilege_1990.pdf

soc1106WA_criticalanalysis_rubric.docx

SOC1106WA: Exploring Diversity in Canada Prof. J.E. Sawan, [email protected]

Critical Analysis Paper (20%)

DUE Thursday, July 29th, 11:59pm on Brightspace

Name:______________________ ID#_________________ Mark: _________________

Out of 100	Marks
Overview of topic & social issue (20 points) · Clear presentation of thesis statement and explanation of social issue · Summary of what will be included/excluded in your paper
Literature Review (30 points) · Summary of key literature on topic selected, including course materials & external sources. · Clear discussion of literature in relation to topic selected
Critical Reflection & Analysis (30 points) · Examination of topic in relation to everyday life – how can concepts/theories help to understand the social issue you are examining? · Reflection on the topic selected from your own experiences and observations
Organization, format & clarity (20 points) · Well-organized presentation of material · Clearly structured paper following APA format · Grammar, spelling and word usage · At least 4 scholarly references – 2 must be outside of course materials · Does not exceed four pages (not including title page & bibliography)
Total:

__MACOSX/._soc1106WA_criticalanalysis_rubric.docx

Fleras_Ch4.pdf

__MACOSX/._Fleras_Ch4.pdf

soc1106wa_CriticalAnalysisPaper.pdf

CRITICAL ANALYSIS PAPER OVERVIEW

SOC1106WA: Exploring Diversity in Canada

15 July 2021

School of Sociological & Anthropological Studies

University of Ottawa

Joseph E. ‘Youssef’ Sawan, Ph.D.

[email protected]

https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/1270

mailto:[email protected]

https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/1270

Administration

■ Midterm Exam, Thursday, July 15, 9am – 3pm (availability), 90 minutes duration

■ Critical Analysis Paper, due date extended, Thursday July 29th, 11:59pm

■ Office Hours & Group Discussion, Thursdays, 4pm - 6pm via Zoom

– July 15, 4 – 5pm – Critical Analysis Paper Discussion (will be recorded)

■ Brightspace : https://uottawa.brightspace.com

■ Email: [email protected]

https://uottawa.brightspace.com/

mailto:[email protected]

TA Cohorts – by last name

A – E

Ruishu (Arissa) Cao, [email protected]

F – Li

Dariel Helmesi, [email protected]

Lj – Sh

Marie Suzor-Morin, [email protected]

Si – Z

Gina Vukojević, [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Course materials

Required:

■ Anzovino, T., Oresar, J., Boutilier, D. (2019). Walk a Mile: A Journey Towards Justice & Equity in Canadian Society. 2nd Ed.

■ https://www.vitalsource.com/en-ca/products/walk-a-mile-experiencing- and-understanding-theresa-anzovino-v9780176798918

Recommended:

■ Fleras, A. (2017). Inequality Matters: Diversity & Exclusion in Canada. Toronto: Oxford University Press.

■ https://www.redshelf.com/book/545286/inequality-matters-545286- 9780199000876-augie-fleras

*In addition to the required & recommended textbooks, please be aware that additional required materials will be posted on Brightspace.

https://www.vitalsource.com/en-ca/products/walk-a-mile-experiencing-and-understanding-theresa-anzovino-v9780176798918

https://www.redshelf.com/book/545286/inequality-matters-545286-9780199000876-augie-fleras

Course structure & evaluation

Evaluation format Weight Date

Weekly reading response

15% 5 weekly reflections, due Friday

Midterm exam 30% Thursday, July 15

Critical Analysis Paper 20% Thursday, July 29th

Final exam 35% Thursday, August 5th, 9:30am – 12:30pm

Weekly Reading Response (15%)

■ Weekly participation on Brightspace (15%)

– 5 responses throughout course (one bonus week to make-up for missed marks)

– Due Friday, 11:59pm for the current week’s topic

– Week 1 & 2 DUE on Friday, July 2nd , 11:59pm

■ Each response should be around 300 – 500 words in length and include 1) a brief summary of required readings and 2) a reflection/analysis of the materials. A total of 5 reflections are expected to complete this assessment, with an opportunity for one bonus reflection for extra credit. Weekly reflections should be between 300 – 500 words in length.

■ You may not make-up missed marks without documentation

Critical Analysis Paper (20%)

■ DUE on Thursday, July 29th, by 11:59pm

■ Select one of the themes discussed throughout the course and provide a summary of key literature on the topic with a critical analysis.

■ Papers must be no longer than 4 pages, double-spaced, using APA format guidelines.

■ Papers must be submitted via Brightspace in Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx) or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format.

*All submissions via Brightspace (.doc, .docx or .pdf)

Rubric – Critical Analysis Paper Overview of topic & social issue (20 points)

• Clear presentation of thesis statement and explanation of social issue

• Summary of what will be included/excluded in your paper

Literature Review (30 points)

• Summary of key literature on topic selected, including course materials & external sources.

• Clear discussion of literature in relation to topic selected

Critical Reflection & Analysis (30 points)

• Examination of topic in relation to everyday life – how can concepts/theories help to understand

the social issue you are examining?

• Reflection on the topic selected from your own experiences and observations

Organization, format & clarity (20 points)

• Well-organized presentation of material

• Clearly structured paper following APA format

• Grammar, spelling and word usage

• At least 4 scholarly references – 2 must be outside of course materials

• Does not exceed four pages (not including title page & bibliography)

Starting strategies & purpose

■ What is the purpose of this piece of writing?

■ Who am I writing for?

■ What does the reader expect?

– To demonstrate understanding concepts/theories related to social inequality in Canada

– To apply a theory/concept to a social issue related to diversity in Canada

– To show your ability to think critically and reflect on your selected topic

(Northey et al., 2018, p. 2)

Developing a thesis statement

■ “…typically a single sentence that expresses what your essay or paper is about—a

big idea boiled down to one thought” (Northey et al., 2018, p. 5)

■ Avoid ambiguity, be precise – this is your opportunity to guide the structure of your

paper

■ The thesis Asserts; the writer must Be an insider; and the thesis must be Clear

What is a research question?

■ https://writingcenter.gmu.edu/guides/how-to-write-a-research-

question

■ A research question is a...

– clear

– focused

– concise

– complex

– arguable

■ ...question around which you center your research. You should ask a

question about an issue that you are genuinely curious and/or

passionate about.

https://writingcenter.gmu.edu/guides/how-to-write-a-research-question

Choosing a topic

■ Any theme from the required readings

■ Be clear about what you are addressing (and not addressing) in your paper

■ A research question can help guide your paper

■ Concepts, theories, social issues – important distinction when selecting your paper topic

Plagiarism & APA Formatting

■ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

■ Please follow APA guidelines from above site

■ Do not commit academic fraud! This includes (but not limited to)

paraphrasing without citations, quotations without quotes, copying

papers from other classes, submitting work produced by others…

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

Discussion

■ What topic are you considering for you Critical Analysis Paper?

■ What is the main challenge you are facing in writing your paper?

■ Do you have a research question? Have you found sufficient scholarly articles?

__MACOSX/._soc1106wa_CriticalAnalysisPaper.pdf

soc1106wa_03_Gender&Sexuality (1).pdf

WEEK 03: GENDER & SEXUALITY

SOC1106WA: Exploring Diversity in Canada

6 July 2021

School of Sociological & Anthropological Studies

University of Ottawa

Joseph E. ‘Youssef’ Sawan, Ph.D.

[email protected]

https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/1270

mailto:[email protected]

https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/1270

Administration

■ Midterm Exam, Thursday, July 15, 9am – 3pm (availability), 90 minutes duration

■ Lecture delayed this week – video will be posted by Wednesday morning

■ Office Hours & Group Discussion, Thursdays, 4pm - 6pm via Zoom

– July 8th, 4 – 5pm – Midterm Review (will be recorded)

■ Brightspace : https://uottawa.brightspace.com

■ Email: [email protected]

https://uottawa.brightspace.com/

mailto:[email protected]

TA Cohorts – by last name

A – E

Ruishu (Arissa) Cao, [email protected]

F – Li

Dariel Helmesi, [email protected]

Lj – Sh

Marie Suzor-Morin, [email protected]

Si – Z

Gina Vukojević, [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Course materials

Required:

■ Anzovino, T., Oresar, J., Boutilier, D. (2019). Walk a Mile: A Journey Towards Justice & Equity in Canadian Society. 2nd Ed.

■ https://www.vitalsource.com/en-ca/products/walk-a-mile-experiencing- and-understanding-theresa-anzovino-v9780176798918

Recommended:

■ Fleras, A. (2017). Inequality Matters: Diversity & Exclusion in Canada. Toronto: Oxford University Press.

■ https://www.redshelf.com/book/545286/inequality-matters-545286- 9780199000876-augie-fleras

*In addition to the required & recommended textbooks, please be aware that additional required materials will be posted on Brightspace.

https://www.vitalsource.com/en-ca/products/walk-a-mile-experiencing-and-understanding-theresa-anzovino-v9780176798918

https://www.redshelf.com/book/545286/inequality-matters-545286-9780199000876-augie-fleras

Course structure & evaluation

Evaluation format Weight Date

Weekly reading response

15% 5 weekly reflections, due Friday

Midterm exam 30% Thursday, July 15

Critical Analysis Paper 20% Friday, July 23

Final exam 35% Thursday, August 5th, 9:30am – 12:30pm

Weekly Reading Response (15%)

■ Weekly participation on Brightspace (15%)

– 5 responses throughout course (one bonus week to make-up for missed marks)

– Due Friday, 11:59pm for the current week’s topic

– Week 1 & 2 DUE on Friday, July 2nd , 11:59pm

■ You may not make-up missed marks without documentation

Midterm exam (30%)

■ Thursday, July 15, 90 minutes to complete,

available from 9am – 3pm on Brightspace

■ Once you begin the exam, you must complete it

within 90 minutes.

■ If you require a deferral, you must submit

documentation to the department.

■ Exam will be 90% MC/TF and 10% Short Answer

Critical Analysis Paper (20%)

■ DUE on Friday, July 23rd, by 11:59pm

■ Select one of the themes discussed throughout the course and provide a summary of key literature on the topic with a critical analysis.

■ Papers must be no longer than 4 pages, double-spaced, using APA format guidelines.

■ The rubric will available on Brightspace and discussed in class. Papers must be submitted via Brightspace in Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx) or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format.

*All submissions via Brightspace (.doc, .docx or .pdf)

Rubric – Critical Analysis Paper Overview of topic & social issue (20 points)

• Clear presentation of thesis statement and explanation of social issue

• Summary of what will be included/excluded in your paper

Literature Review (30 points)

• Summary of key literature on topic selected, including course materials & external sources.

• Clear discussion of literature in relation to topic selected

Critical Reflection & Analysis (30 points)

• Examination of topic in relation to everyday life – how can concepts/theories help to understand

the social issue you are examining?

• Reflection on the topic selected from your own experiences and observations

Organization, format & clarity (20 points)

• Well-organized presentation of material

• Clearly structured paper following APA format

• Grammar, spelling and word usage

• At least 4 scholarly references – 2 must be outside of course materials

• Does not exceed five pages (not including title page & bibliography)

Final Exam (35%)

■ Thursday, August 5th, 9:30am – 12:30pm, 3 hours to complete.

■ Exam will be available on Brightspace, between 9:30am – 12:30pm. Once you begin, you must complete within 3 hours

■ 90% multiple choice & true/false, 10% short essays

■ If you require a deferral, you must submit documentation to the department.

CH 4: GENDER (Anzovino et al, 2019)

Overview

■ Distinguish between the biological determination of sex and the social

construction of gender

■ Discuss the primary agents of gender socialization and how they

influence dominant forms of masculinity and femininity

■ Analyze the forms and causes of gender inequality

■ Examine how notions of gender identity and gender expression are fluid

rather than fixed between male and female or placed along a continuum

between these two binaries

Gender

■ Historically, as a society we have had rigid categories to define what it means to be a

man or a woman

– Segmented, binary groupings into which males and females were supposed to fit

– People who strayed from those categories were labelled as deviants and treated as

such

■ Other cultures have different categories

■ Many Indigenous North American subcultures (e.g., the Sioux, Lakota, and Cheyenne)

live with two-spirited people as a third gender

Gender as a Social Construct

■ Sex

– The biological components, chromosomal, chemical, and

anatomical, that are associated with males and females

■ Gender

– A social construct that refers to a set of social roles, attitudes, and

behaviours that describe people of one sex or the another

Gender as a Social Construct

■ Gender Identity

– The internal perception of an individual’s gender and how they

label themselves

■ Gender Expression

– The external display of gender that is generally measured on a

scale of masculinity and femininity

■ Sexuality

– All the ways in which individuals express and experience

themselves as sexual beings

Gender as a Social Construct

■ Two-Spirited

– An umbrella term used by Indigenous North American people to

recognize individuals who possess qualities or fulfill roles of both

genders

■ Third Gender

1. A person who does not identify with the traditional genders of “man”

or “woman,” but identifies with a third gender

2. The gender category available in societies that recognize three or

more genders

Gender as a Social Construct

■ Gender Roles

– A set of behaviours that are considered acceptable, appropriate,

and desirable for people based on their sex or gender

■ Gender Socialization

– The process by which males and females are informed about

gendered norms and roles in a given society

Agents of Gender Socialization

■ As Early as 2 Years Old

– Children are capable of distinguishing between boys and girls and learn to

evaluate them differently

■ Toddlers

– Begin to recognize and adopt gender-stereotyped behaviours

– Their understanding of gender is quite flexible

• Lacks the permanence associated with rigid classifications of male and female, masculine and feminine

Agents of Gender Socialization

■ Media

– Tend to reinforce the misconception that gender is inexplicably tied to sex

■ Males should be masculine

■ Females should be feminine

Agents of Gender Socialization

Hegemonic Masculinity & Emphasized Femininity

■ Hegemonic Masculinity

– The version of masculinity that is set apart from all others

– Considered dominant or ideal within society

■ Often associated with toughness, bravado, aggression, and violence

■ Emphasized Femininity

– The acceptance of gender inequality

– A need to support the interests and desires of men

– Often associated with empathy, compassion, passivity, and focused on

beauty and physical appearance

Agents of Gender Socialization

Hegemonic Masculinity and Emphasized Femininity

■ Killing Us Softly 4 (2010) - The Film

– Advertising’s images of women are examined

– 160 print and television ads reveal the dominant message for women is

■ Physical appearance is most important

■ Ideal female beauty is absolute flawlessness

– Created through cosmetics, airbrushing, and digital editing

■ https://uottawa.kanopy.com/video/killing-us-softly?pos=1

https://uottawa.kanopy.com/video/killing-us-softly?pos=1

Picture This…

How does the media

and popular culture’s

portrayal of what Jean

Kilbourne terms “a

cult of thinness”

impact young girls and

boys in Canadian

society?

https://mom.me/kids

/28513-why-photo-

daughter-cutting-fat-

https://mom.me/kids/28513-why-photo-daughter-cutting-fat-hits-home/

Agents of Gender Socialization

■ Kilbourne Advertising Research Revealed

– Men’s bodies are not as scrutinized and criticized

– Objectification of men has increased

– Men are increasingly presented as bigger, as stronger, and as

perpetrators of violence

– Eroticized violence, featuring women in bondage, battered, or even

murdered, exists

Agents of Gender Socialization

■ Do images and advertisements

that eroticize violence desensitize

people to violence in the real

world?

■ Are people who are exposed to

violent images more likely to

engage in aggressive behaviour?

Gender Inequality

■ Patriarchy

– Historically, any social system that was based on the authority of the heads of

the household, which were traditionally male

– Recently, the term has come to mean male domination in general

Education

■ Years ago

– Canadian women did not have the same access to education as men

– Result: men with higher educational attainment than women

■ Today

– The situation is somewhat different

Education

Women with a University

Degree

■ 1991 - 15%

■ 2015 - 35%

Women with a

College Diploma

■ 1991 - 14%

■ 2015 - 26%

Ltd. 27

Education

Men with a

University Degree

■ 1991 - 19%

■ 2015 - 30%

Men with a

College Diploma

■ 1991 - 9%

■ 2015 - 19%

Ltd. 28

Employment & Government

■ Precarious Employment

– Employment that includes, but is not limited to

■ Part-time, temporary, or contract work with uncertain hours, low wages, and

limited to no benefits

■ Glass Ceiling

– An invisible barrier

– Prevents women and minorities from advancement in organizations

Employment & Government

■ Best and Worst Cities to Be a Woman in Canada

– What are the consequences of this disparity?

– How would you feel knowing that employees working next to you do the same

job as you but earn more or less money based solely on whether they are male

or female?

Violence Against Women

■ Jackson Katz – It’s a Men’s Issue

– Violence against women is an issue for men that requires a paradigm-shifting

perspective

■ Tough Guise 2 (2013)

– https://uottawa.kanopy.com/video/tough-guise-2?pos=2

https://uottawa.kanopy.com/video/tough-guise-2?pos=2

Violence Against Women

Gender-Based Violence

■ Is a serious problem in Canada

– Both police-reported and self-reported data indicate that women are more likely

than men to experience violence, such as

■ Intimate partner violence

■ Spousal violence

■ Sexual violence

Violence Against Women

■ Campaigns challenging violence against women and promoting gender equity

– hashtag #BeenRapedNeverReported

– HeForShe

– Walk a Mile in Her Shoes

– The White Ribbon Campaign

The –Ness Model: Deconstructing the Binary and the Continuum

■ A gender model that differentiates between

1. Gender identity

2. Gender expression

3. Biological sex

4. Sexual attraction

5. Romantic attraction

■ Presents two spectrums for each concept ranging from

• “0,” “Null,” or “Nobody” on the one side to

• Woman-ness/man-ness, femininity/masculinity, and female-ness/male-ness on the other

Gender Identity

■ Cisgender

– A description of a person whose gender identity, gender

expression, and biological sex align

■ Transgender

– A blanket term used to describe anyone who does not identify as

cisgender

Gender Identity

■ Genderqueer

– A blanket term used to describe people whose gender falls outside of the

gender binary

– A person who identifies as both a man and a woman

■ Or as neither a man nor a woman

■ Often used in exchange with transgender

■ Bigender

– A person who fluctuates between traditional gender-based behaviours and

identities

– Identifies with both genders or sometimes a third gender

Gender Identity

■ Genderfluid

– Describes an identity that is a fluctuating mix of the options available

■ Genderless

– A person who does not identify with any gender

Gender Expression

■ Androgyny

– A gender expression that has characteristics of both masculinity and femininity

■ Agender

– A person with no (or very little) connection to traditional systems of gender

– Someone who sees themselves as existing without gender

■ Sometimes called gender neutral or genderless

Gender Expression

■ Gender Non-conforming

– Refers to a gender expression that indicates a non-traditional gender

presentation

■ Cross-dressing

– Wearing clothing that conflicts with the traditional gender expression of your

sex and gender identity

Gender Expression

■ Drag King

– A person who consciously performs traditional masculinity, presenting an

exaggerated form of masculine expression; oftentimes done by a woman

■ Drag Queen

– A person who consciously performs traditional femininity, presenting an

exaggerated form of feminine expression; oftentimes done by a man

■ Metrosexual

– A man with a strong aesthetic sense, who spends more time on appearance

and grooming than is considered gender normative

Biological Sex

■ Intersex

– A person whose physical anatomy does not fit within the traditional definitions

of male or female

■ The number of people whose bodies differ from the standard definitions of male or

female is

■ Approximately 1 in every 100 births

Biological Sex

■ This challenges the notion that

– Sex is binary and a person is either exclusively male or exclusively female

■ “Nature doesn’t decide where the category of ‘male’ ends and the category

of ‘intersex’ begins, or where the category of ‘intersex’ ends and the

category of ‘female’ begins…humans decide”

Biological Sex

■ Transsexual

– A person who psychologically identifies with a sex/gender different from the one they were assigned at birth

– Often wish to transform their physical bodies with

1. Puberty suppression

2. Hormone therapy

3. Surgery, to align with their inner sense of sex/gender

■ Gender Confirmation Surgery

– Refers to a group of surgical options that alter a person’s biological sex

– Also referred to as sex alignment surgery or sex reassignment surgery

Discussion

■ How do you feel about living in a traditional “binary” world when it

comes to gender?

■ Are you aware of alternatives to the traditional dichotomies of male

and female, man and woman, masculine and feminine?

■ In your opinion, what do you think are the best and worst aspects

associated with being male or female in a society that polarizes

gender?

CH. 5: SEXUALITY

(Anzovino et al., 2019)

Overview

■ Distinguish between the terms gender, sex, and sexuality

■ Analyze the social construction of sexuality

■ Investigate a broad spectrum of sexual identities, including gay and lesbian, heterosexuality, bisexuality, pansexuality, and asexuality

■ Compare and contrast monogamous and polyamorous sexual relationships

■ Examine current issues in sexuality, such as technology and intimate relationships, sexual education, and sexual violence in Canada

Sexuality

■ Sexuality

– Refers to all the ways in which individuals experience and express themselves

as sexual beings

– As with gender

■ Sexuality is socially constructed

■ We learn what is deemed appropriate and inappropriate through our

culture and our experiences

Sexuality

■ Sexual Scripts

– Culturally created guidelines that define how one should behave

as a sexual being

– Sociologists John Gagnon and William Simon

■ 1973

■ Cultural Scripts

– Indicate appropriate sexual roles, norms, and behaviours in a

given society

– Largely conveyed through mass media and other social

institutions, such as government, law, education, family, and

religion

Sexuality

■ Interpersonal Scripts

– Created when individuals use the general guidelines they have learned from

cultural scripts and adapt them to specific social situations

■ Intrapsychic Scripts

– The ability to mentally rehearse outcomes before they occur

– Are internal and can include fantasies, memories, and mental rehearsals of

interpersonal scripts

Sexual Identities

■ Sexual Identities

– An all-encompassing concept that can include how we view ourselves as

sexual beings

– Are not restricted to a choice between the two binary oppositions of

heterosexual or homosexual

– Nor do they have to fall somewhere on a continuum between these two

dichotomies

Sexual Identities

■ Sexual Expression

– The ways in which we engage in sexual behaviours

■ Sexual Orientation

– The romantic, emotional, and sexual attractions that we experience

Sexual Identities

■ Gay

– Someone who is emotionally and physically attracted to a member

of the same sex

■ Lesbian

– A woman who is sexually attracted to women

■ The term “homosexual”

– Has been placed on a list of offensive terms

– News agencies encouraged to restrict the use of the word

altogether

Sexual Identities

■ Heterosexuality

– Or straight

– The state of being sexually attracted to members of the opposite sex

■ Heteronormativity

– The concept for compulsory heterosexuality

Sexual Identities

■ Heterosexism

– The belief in the natural superiority of heterosexuality as a way of life

– Its logical right to social dominance

■ Homophobia

– The irrational fear, dislike, hatred, intolerance, and ignorance toward and the

marginalization of non-heterosexuals

– Reinforces the belief in the natural superiority of heterosexuality as a way of

life

Sexual Identities

■ Bisexuality

– A person who is romantically and/or sexually attracted to people of their own

gender as well as another gender

■ Asexuality

– People who do not experience sexual attraction to any group of people

The Power of Language

■ Language is an important aspect of culture

– Words are saturated with meaning and can hold power over people

■ LGBTQQIP2SAA

– lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer, intersex, pansexual,

two-spirit (2S), androgynous, and asexual

– Sometimes there is a third A used to represent allies

Intimate Relationships

■ Intimate relationships are socially organized

– Some are considered appropriate and are encouraged and valued within

society

– Others are deemed problematic and are discouraged and stigmatized within

society

Intimate Relationships

■ Monogamy

■ Sexual exclusivity

■ Held as the gold standard of relationships

■ Expect and assume everyone wants to pursue a relationship built on

romance, love, and sexual exclusivity

■ Monogamish

– Relationships where couples can be sexually attracted to others outside of

their monogamous relationships

– Without stepping outside of the relationship sexually

Intimate Relationships

■ Polyamory

– The state of being in love or romantically involved with more than one person

at the same time

■ Polygamy

– Meaning multiple wives

■ Polyandry

– Meaning multiple husbands

Intimate Relationships

■ Polygamy

– Is illegal in Canada

■ No one can be married to more than one person at the same time

■ Polyamory

– There is nothing in the Criminal Code that prevents three or more consenting

adults from forming a family relationship in whatever way they see fit

Intersectionality

Gender and Sexuality

■ The Sexual Double Standard

– The belief that there are different rules and standards of sexual behaviour for

women and men

■ How do ideas/beliefs about gender and sexuality result in systemic discrimination

and inequality in society?

Discussion

■ How does the social construction of gender impact individuals’ capacities to express

their identity?

■ How does an intersectional approach provide a more complete understanding of

social inequality?

Homework

McIntosh_WhitePrivilege_1990.pdf

__MACOSX/._McIntosh_WhitePrivilege_1990.pdf

soc1106WA_criticalanalysis_rubric.docx

__MACOSX/._soc1106WA_criticalanalysis_rubric.docx

Fleras_Ch4.pdf

__MACOSX/._Fleras_Ch4.pdf

soc1106wa_CriticalAnalysisPaper.pdf

__MACOSX/._soc1106wa_CriticalAnalysisPaper.pdf

soc1106wa_03_Gender&Sexuality (1).pdf

__MACOSX/._soc1106wa_03_Gender&Sexuality (1).pdf