fandomhigh | Sexual Anthropology, Tuesday, 6/9, Period 2

There were signs posted in the classroom today asking the boys in class to sit on one side of the aisle, and the girls on the other.

"Today," Brennan said, as she passed out posterboard and markers to the two groups, "we're talking about gender roles, identity and stereotypes. Those are really big subjects; I can't do much more than glance at the stereotypes here in class today. If you're interested and want to keep reading, I can recommend some books after class."

"Gender roles are the set of perceived behavioral norms associated particularly with males or females, in a given social group or system. It can be a form of division of labor by gender, as in classic hunter/gatherer societies in which men go out to hunt and women watch children and gather fruits and grains, or in a modern single-income family in which the woman stays at home and the man acts as a breadwinner. Almost all societies, to a certain effect, have a gender/sex system, although the components and workings of this system vary markedly from society to society." She went on to briefly review current research into the establishment and reinforcement of gender roles in society.

"Gender identity, meanwhile, is how a person defines him or herself in terms of gender. While this usually matches physical gender, some people identify as transgendered -- a male brain in a female body, or the reverse -- or as neither male nor female. Someone who believes their mental gender does not match their physical gender may be said to have gender identity disorder."

"The last thing we want to talk about, and the basis of your exercise today, is gender stereotypes. Stereotypes are simplistic generalizations about the roles of individuals in groups that help to feed into traditional gender roles. A simple gender stereotype is 'boys don't cry' or 'women can't drive.'"

"What I would like for you to do today is, working in your gender-segregated groups, come up with lists of male and female stereotypes and what reinforces them. For example, if your stereotype is that women are bad drivers, you might write down that popular jokes give that message. At the end of class we'll ~~probably handwavily~~ compare the lists and see where they differ and where they overlap. I'm around if you have questions."

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"When you're only allowed to have two children except in extenuating circumstances," Valentine said, "you've got to make it count, I guess."

"Over population?"

"That," Valentine said, "and population control."

"Why else would you need population control?"

"By that I mean control of the population. If families are only popping out two kids a piece, it's easier to keep track of them. It also restricts people with less...desirable traits from reproducing too much. The 'at least two kids' limits lets it dodge sounding too much like complete eugenics."

Leda winced. Control. It was almost a dirty word to her. "Not sure I cold live there. I'm not much for letting people control me."

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Valentine asked.

"Nope. Nor parents. Well by blood anyway."

Valentine nodded a little. "Well, that's good. If you had siblings, you probably wouldn't even have been able to live with it."

"How are orphans regarded back home?"

"They've got orphanages," Valentine said. "Government run. More efficient in America than some of the European countries; they have a higher problem with orphans raiding the streets in cities like Amsterdam. But America is the country that the IF seems to have the biggest hand in. Or seemed to. We've got a new Hegemon now, so who knows where he'll take things, especially now that the wars are over."

Leda couldn't help but grin at the idea of Orphans raiding the streets. "What kind of wars?"

"The Formic Wars," Valentine said with a nod. "Formics are an alien race threatening Earth, so we've been at war with them until recently, when they were defeated for good."

"Real life Alien invaders? Cool, were they anything like in the movies?"

"Big giant bugs and everything."

"I think I've seen that movie."

Sexual Anthropology, Tuesday, 6/9, Period 2

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