EA 170 Week 1a (intro)

I. Intro to the class website and requirements

II. Gender stereotypes

A. What are some of the stereotypes about Japanese women?

B. What factors have influenced the lives of men and women in Japan?

1. family position:

2. class:

3. dominant religious and social values

4. the prevailing legal, economic and political institutions

C. Who is it that determines what are the stereotypes for appropriate gender behavior? Who determines it in America today?

III. The Difference Between Biological Sex, Gender, and Sexual Preference

A. What do you think "gender" means? How is your gender (masculine, feminine) different from your biological sex (male, female)?

B. Make a list of all the characteristics you can think of that are masculine/feminine. Are these traits natural or social?

IV. Characteristics of Gender

A. Gender is socially constructed.

B. Gender does not equal sexual preference.

C. Gender is relational (on a continuum).

D. Gender as a category of analysis does not exist in isolation.