himself or herself according to society’s

LESSON 2 standards and norms.

Levelling Off: Gender and Sexuality
Sex – in the Biological sense, is a Gender Stereotypes develop when
category for living beings specifically different institutions reinforce a biased
related to their reproductive functions. perception of a certain gender’s role.
For most living creatures, there are two Types of Gender Stereotypes:
sexes – the male and the female. 1. Sex Stereotype – a generalized view
of traits that should be possessed by
Characteristic Males Females
men and women, specifically physical
Genitalia Penis Vagina and emotional roles.
Chromosomes XY XX 2. Sexual Stereotype – assumptions
Progesterone regarding a person’s sexuality that
Hormones Testosterone reinforces dominant views.
and Estrogen
Heteronormativity – the assumption that
Sex Cell Sperm Cell Egg Cell
all persons are only attracted to the sex
• There are instances where people opposite theirs.
could have higher levels of the opposite 3. Sex-Role Stereotype – the roles that
sex’s hormone. men and women are assigned to based
A man with higher levels of on their sex and what behaviors they
progesterone and estrogen is called an must possess to fulfill these roles.
effeminate man; and a woman with 4. Compounded Stereotype –
higher levels of testosterone is called a assumptions about a specific group
masculinate woman. belonging to a gender, and vice versa.
Example: lady guard, old men, young
Gender – a socially learned behavior women, etc.
usually associated with one’s sex.
Based on how people see themselves SOGIE – Sexual Orientation and
and on their tendency to act along either Gender Identity and Expression
a masculine or feminine line. 1. Sexual Orientation – covers three
Gender Role Socialization – the process dimensions of human sexuality. Involves
of learning and internalizing culturally who one is attracted to and how one
approved ways of thinking, feeling and identifies himself/herself in relation to
behaving. this attraction which includes both
romantic and sexual feelings.
i) Sexual attraction, behavior, and
Types of Gender Roles Socialization: fantasies
1. External Regulation – involves ii) Emotional and social preference; self-
various institutions (family, society, identification
church, State, etc.) dictating what is iii) Heterosexual and Homosexual
proper and normal based on one’s lifestyle
identity. 2. Gender Identity – refers to one’s
2. Internal Regulation/ Internalized personal experience of gender or social
Social Control – a person polices relations.
3. Gender Expression – determines how
one expresses his/her sexuality through describe homosexual males but
the actions or manner of presenting lesbians may also be referred to as gay.
oneself.
Bisexual Bisexuality is romantic
attraction, sexual attraction or sexual
LGBTQIA – an initialism movement behavior toward both males and
meaning: females, or romantic or sexual attraction
Lesbians – women attracted to women to people of any sex or gender identity;
Gays – men attracted to men this latter aspect is sometimes termed
Bisexuals – people who are attracted to pansexuality.
either sex
Transgenders – people who are Transgender Transgender is an
transitioning umbrella term for people whose gender
Queer/Questioning – people who are identity differs from what is typically
not yet sure associated with the sex they were
Intersex assigned at birth. It is sometimes
Asexual – people who have no sexual abbreviated to trans.Transsexual
feelings experience a gender identity
Gender Equality – the recognition of the inconsistent or not culturally associated
State (government) that all human with the sex they were assigned at birth.
beings are free to enjoy equal conditions Two-Spirit Two-Spirit is a modern
and fulfill their human potential to umbrella term used by some indigenous
contribute to the State and to the North Americans to describe gender-
society. variant individuals in their communities,
specifically people within indigenous
communities who are seen as having
both male and female spirits within
them.
Queer Queer is an umbrella term for
sexual and gender minorities that are
not heterosexual or cisgender. Queer
was originally used pejoratively against
those with same-sex desires but,
beginning in the late-1980s, queer
scholars and activists began to reclaim
the word.

Lesbian A lesbian is a female Questioning The questioning of one’s

homosexual: a female who experiences gender, sexual identity, sexual
romantic love or sexual attraction to orientation, or all three is a process of
other females. exploration by people who may be
unsure, still exploring, and concerned
Gay Gay is a term that primarily refers about applying a social label to
to a homosexual person or the trait of themselves for various reasons.
being homosexual. Gay is often used to
Intersex Intersex is a variation in sex
characteristics including chromosomes,
gonads, or genitals that do not allow an and “male” personas, feminine and
individual to be distinctly identified as masculine respectively; others find that
male or female. they identify as two genders
simultaneously.
Asexual Asexuality (or nonsexuality) is
the lack of sexual attraction to anyone, Gender Variant Gender variance, or
or low or absent interest in sexual gender nonconformity, is behaviour or
activity. It may be considered the lack of gender expression by an individual that
a sexual orientation, or one of the does not match masculine and feminine
variations thereof, alongside gender norms. People who exhibit
heterosexuality, homosexuality, and gender variance may be called gender
bisexuality. variant, gender non-conforming, gender
diverse or gender atypical, and may be
Ally An Ally is a person who considers transgender, or otherwise variant in their
themselves a friend to the LGBTQ+ gender expression. Some intersex
community. people may also exhibit gender
Pansexual Pansexuality, or variance.
omnisexuality, is sexual attraction, Pangender Pangender people are those
romantic love, or emotional attraction who feel they identify as all genders.
toward people of any sex or gender The term has a great deal of overlap
identity. Pansexual people may refer to with gender queer. Because of its all-
themselves as gender-blind, asserting encompassing nature, presentation and
that gender and sex are insignificant or pronoun usage varies between different
irrelevant in determining whether they people who identify as pangender.
will be sexually attracted to others.
Sexism is defined as the prejudice
Agender Agender people, also called against a certain sex
genderless, genderfree, non-gendered,
or ungendered people are those who Gender Equality The recognition of the
identify as having no gender or being State (government) that all human
without any gender identity. This beings are free to enjoy equal conditions
category includes a very broad range of and fulfill their human potential to
identities which do not conform to contribute to the State and to the
traditional gender norms. society.
Gender Queer Gender Queer is an
umbrella term for gender identities that
are not exclusively masculine or LESSON 3
feminine—identities which are thus Instinct and Culture
outside of the gender binary and
cisnormativity. × Human beings, unlike animals, are not
heavily dependent on instinct.
Bigender Bigender is a gender identity
where the person moves between × Humans possess systems of
feminine and masculine gender meanings that tell what is right or wrong,
identities and behaviours, possibly and good and evil. Most of what people
depending on context. Some bigender do is shaped or determined by these
individuals express two distinct “female” systems
Culture-the system of symbols that allow connected knowing ✘ Constructed
people to give meaning to experience. It Knowledge: integrating the voices
is malleable and adaptable – meaning,
culture can change. Women’s Ways of Knowing:
1. Women and Silence – silence
Culture-Provides systems of shortcuts
indicates an absence of thought or
for meaningful interpretations and
reflection. Women who live in silence
responses. It takes the place of instinct
are often disconnected from their
to give people a quick representation
families and communities due to their
and response based on collective
situation which brings about the lack of
experience to the things that confront
space for constructive thought. Women
them
who learn through silence lack the ability
Microaggression hostile, derogatory, or to understand abstract thought. They do
negative racial slights and insults that not enjoy introspection.
can cause potentially harmful or
2. Received Knowledge: Listening to
unpleasant psychological impacts on the
the Voice of Others – developed by
target person/group.
absorbing knowledge (like a sponge).
Women who learn through receiving
knowledge listen to friends and
LESSON 4 authorities (community leaders and/or
their husbands), and understand what is
Women’s Ways of Knowing
being said enough for them to repeat
words. They are able to do the right
 The role of universal
thing by following rules of authority
caregiving has been given to
figures, but they lack the ability to
women.
comprehend paradoxes (if two or more
 Girls learn by copying their
of her authority figures have
mothers; boys learn through
contradicting information, she cannot
disassociation.
distinguish which is correct).
 Women learn through
empathy; men learn through 3. Subjective Knowledge: The Inner
separation. Voice and the Quest for Self – women
learn to trust their “inner voice and
How Women Know infallible gut.” Women who learn through
this are those who have awakened to
According to Belenky and colleagues, the previous abuses they have suffered.
women use the following perspectives to They realized that following rules will not
see the world and to understand make them
knowledge and truth ✘ Silence ✘ happy. They depend on their selves and
Received Knowledge: listening to the their experience to attain truth (use of
voice of others ✘ Subjective Knowledge: intuition).
the inner voice ✘ Subjective Knowledge: 4. Procedural Knowledge: Voice of
the quest for self ✘ Procedural Reason and Separate and Connected
Knowledge: voice of reason ✘ Knowing – women who learn through
Procedural Knowledge: separate and process, and they learned well from
formal systems of knowledge, enough Example: “mankind” assumes that men
for are representatives of all people of the
them to excel. They learn to defend their planet.
beliefs and rationalize their thoughts,
and they focus on the method more, and
less on the problem. • The assumption that certain functions
or jobs are performed by men instead of
5. Constructed Knowledge: Integrating both genders.
the Voices – women need the ability to
reflect on and accept themselves. Example: “The farmers and their wives
Women must learn to value their own tilled the land.” This assumes that men
methods of knowing and their own can have jobs as farmers, and women
constructed knowledge. They must turn who do the same jobs are still called as
inward. wives.

• The use of male job titles or terms

LESSON 5 ending in ‘man’ to refer to functions that
may be given to both genders.
Gender-Fair Language
Example: “chairman,” “congressman”
Language – a primary symbol for
communication, and for how humans Trivialization of Women
understand and participate in the world. • Bringing attention to the gender of a
• Language defines men and women person, if and only if that person is a
differently as seen in common woman.
adjectives (his, him, she, her, etc.)
associated with these genders. Example: “lady guard,” “working wives”

Violations of Gender-fair Language

• The perception that women are
Sexist Language – a tool that reinforces immature.
unequal gender relations through sex-
role stereotypes, microaggressions, and Example: “baby,” “darling”
sexual harassment.
Example: “women cannot be engineers,” • The objectification, or likening to
“men cannot take care of children.” objects, of women.
Example: “honey,” “sugar,” “tart”

Invisibilization of Women – rooted in the

assumption that men are dominant and Fostering unequal gender relations
the norm of fullness of humanity, and
women do not exist. Example: The use of “man and wife”
assumes that men are still men and
 The generic use of masculine women’s identities subsumed and
pronouns or the use of a shifted into beings in relation to their
masculine general. husbands
Gender polarization of words in use if
adjectives Example: Both men and
women did the same activity but were
described differently.
Hidden Assumptions Example: The
statement “the father is babysitting his
children” assumes that the father is not
a caregiver, and that any attempt he has
at parenting is temporary as the mother
is the main caregiver

Identities and Naming Things – naming

things give them power.
Example: sexual harassment was never
seen as an issue until it was given a
name. The same thing goes with “date
rape,” prior to naming as such, it is just
referred to as “rape.”
Towards a Gender-fair Language
GABRIELA (General Assembly Binding
Women for Reforms, Integrity, Equality,
Leadership, and Action) Women’s Party
national president and party-list
representative Liza Maza called for a
ban of sexist language in all official
communication and documents in the
House of Representatives. The creation
of a comprehensive gender-fair
language policy and the evaluation of
the effectiveness of gender-fair
language in institutions are indicators for
a genderfair institution. These actions
are small steps one can take in ensuring
that institutions are indeed gender-fair