sex
The biological differences between males and females.
gender
A cultural construction that makes biological and physical differences between male and female into socially meaningful categories.
sexual dimorphism
Anatomical and psycho-emotional differences between biological males and females. Women have two X chromosomes and men have an X and a Y chromosome.
hermaphrodites
Individuals born with one testis and one ovary and possess a mixture or male and female genitalia.
cultural construction of gender
The fundamental sense of how a person feels about his or her identity, whether male, female, or blended.
Margaret Mead
She began to question the biologically determined nature of gender. She performed a project called "Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies". She studied the Arapesh, the Mundugamor, and the Tchambuli. She found that many of the behaviors, emotio
sexual orientation
Heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, asexuality.
androgyny
Refers to unisex image, neither entirely male nor female but a blending of characteristics of appearance; not an indication of sexual orientation; considered sacred and powerful in some societies.
transvestism
Refers to cross-dressing as a form of inhabiting the opposite gender and engaging in homosexuality.
transexual
Refers to either a man or a woman who has been surgically changed through medical procedures into the opposite sex of their birth.
eunuch
Also known as "perfect servant". Refers to a castrated man who served as a safe attendant to harems in Byzantium.
two-spirits
Most often a man who dressed in women's clothing, engaged in women's work, and was often considered to have special supernatural powers and privileges in society.
hijras of india
Neither man nor woman". They are born as men, but they dress and live as women. They undergo an operation in which their genitals are removed, but this does not turn them into a woman.
xanith of oman
A third gender role of anatomical males who speak of themselves as "women". They wear clothes that are neither male nor female, their clothes and dress seem in-between. This gender role is not necessarily forever.
kathoeys of thailand
A third gender role represented primarily as transsexual males who dress in women's clothes and take on the feminine role in society. This karmic destiny is inherited and unalterable.
samoan fa'afafines
Boys who are raised as girls in order to fulfill a traditional role in Samoan culture. They are not only accepted but they are appreciated.
balkan sworn virgins
Born females who assume male gender roles and activities to meet societal needs when there was a shortage of men.
Franz Boas
Anthropologist who described changes in skull form (rounder heads) among the children of Europeans who had migrated to North America.
skin color
-A biological similarity does not necessarily indicate recent common ancestry.
-Natural selection plays a key role.
-A complex and biological trait which is influenced by several genes.
RACE Project
The AAA's (American Anthropological Association) view statement on race. The program's three key messages are that (1) race is a recent human invention (2) race is about culture, not biology (3) race and racism are embedded in institutions and everyday li
social construction of race
Races are ethnic groups assumed (by members of a particular culture) to have a biological basis, but actually race is socially constructed.
ethnic group
One among several culturally distinct groups in a society or region.
ethnicity
Identification with an ethnic group.
race
Ethnic group assumed to have a biological basis.
racism
Discrimination against an ethnic group assumed to have a biological bias.
burakumin
A stigmatized group of at least 4 million outcasts, sometimes compared to India's untouchables. They are physically and genetically indistinguishable from other Japanese.
nation
Society sharing a language, religion, history, territory, ancestry, and kinship.
state
Stratified society with formal, central government.
nation-state
An autonomous political entity; a country.
nationalities
Ethnic groups that have, once had, or want their own country.
colonialism
Long-term foreign domination of a territory and its people.
n�gritude
Black identity. Can be traced to the association and common experience in colonial times of youths from Guinea, Mali, the Ivory Coast, and Senegal at the William Ponty school in Dakar, Senegal.
assimilation
Describes the process of change that a minority ethnic group may experience when it moves to a country where another culture dominates. It is incorporated into the dominant culture to the point that it no longer exists as a separate cultural unit.
plural society
A society combining ethnic contrasts, ecological specialization (use of different environmental resources by each ethnic group), and the economic interdependence of those groups.
multiracialism
View of cultural diversity as valuable and worth maintaing.
gender roles
The tasks and activities that a culture assigns to each sex.
gender stereotypes
Oversimplified, strongly held views about males and females.
gender stratification
Unequal distribution of social resources between men and women.
domestic-public dichotomy
Work at home vs. more valued work outside.
matrilineal descent
Descent traced through women only.
patrilineal-patrilocal complex
Male supremacy based on patrilineality, patrilocality, and warfare.
patrilineal descent
Descent traced through men only.
patriarchy
Political system ruled by men.
intersex
Pertaining to a group of conditions reflecting a discrepancy between internal and external genitals.
transgender
Describing individuals whose gender identity contradicts their biological sex at birth and the gender identity assigned to them in infancy.
refugees
People who flee a country to escape persecution or war.
genocide
Deliberate elimination of a group through mass murder.
ethnocide
Destruction of cultures of certain ethnic groups.
cultural colonialism
Internal domination by one group and its culture or ideology over others. The dominant culture makes itself the official culture.
ethnic expulsion
Aims at expelling from a country groups who are culturally different from that country's dominant ethnic group.