Exam Review

1
Exam Review

• Gender, Sex and Nature
• An Environmental Sociological Approach
• These slides will be posted this week.

2
When, Where, How Long?

• Our final 2 ½ hour (150 minutes) examination will
  take place on Earth Day
• Tuesday, April 22, 2008 Time 200-430
  p.m. Room Sobey 160

3
Today

• Artifact Presentations
• Handouts
• Overview of Exam
• Questions
• Course Evaluation last 10 minutes

4
PRESENTATIONS
5
HANDOUTS
6
REVIEW
7

• I will help you keep track of time during the
  exam. Below, time allotted for each section is
  offered as a guideline, which includes time for
  checking over your work. There will be some
  choice in sections 4, 5, and 6 below, and there
  will be a short BONUS Question worth 2 points
  (added to the overall exam mark). Each exam
  includes attached artifacts.
• 1 University of Victorias guidelines
  http//www.coun.uvic.ca/learning/exams/sociology-e
  xample.html

• Drawing from the University of Victorias (BC)
  sociology examination guideline, you will be
  expected to respond to what they call a 6-level
  learning style of exam.1 Likewise, here is how
  your exam will LIKELY be structured

8
SECTION 1

• 10 RECOGNITION (10-15 minutes)
• DO ALL.
• First, there are 10 multiple choice questions
  worth one-half point each. Choose the BEST
  response. Then, 1 matching question is worth 5
  points.
• Taken from lectures 1, 2, 3, 4.

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SECTION 2

• 10 RECALL (15-20 minutes)
• DO ALL.
• Use EACH of these 10 terms and concepts (in
  quotation marks) in one sentence to show me that
  you understand the sociological meaning and use
  of the term within the course readings listed
  below, even though you may or may not agree with
  the finding. Each sentence is worth one point.
  Use the reading title as a cue.
• CONCENTRATIONS Strathern on menstruation rites
  and the problematics of western research in other
  cultures, Rousseau on the education of children
  and on gender, Calverley on the Voyageurs,
  Calgary Stampede videos on the background and on
  pink
• Taken from lectures 5, 6, 7.

10
Section 3

• 10 APPLICATION (15-20 minutes)
• DO ALL.
• Based on the quotes given, write YOUR OWN BRIEF
  ANALYSIS in a sentence or two showing an
  understanding of how one group of people may be
  disadvantaged given that finding or if that
  finding turns out to be the reality for some
  groups as they interface with the natural world.
  Each is response is worth two-and-a-half points.
• CONCENTRATIONS Women and Farming during
  Depression, Lecture 10 section on Bell and
  Population, Louvs Last Child in the Woods
  video, Meston and Buss on Why Humans have Sex
• Taken from lectures 8, 10.

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Section 4

• 20 ANALYSIS (20-25 minutes)
• DO BOTH PARTS.
• Goffman offers us the dramaturgical analysis as a
  starting point for re-ordering knowledge about a
  taken-for-granted social situation. Apply three
  of Goffmans dramaturgical analysis elements of
  your choice to unpack several social facts for
  both of the following social contexts which we
  have reviewed in class. Write 2 or 3 sentences or
  point forms for each element to briefly analyze
  the situation. Tie-up your data with a Bottom
  Line statement that could inspire future
  research. Each section is worth ten points.
• CONCENTRATIONS Nude Beach, Botched Male
  Circumcision
• Taken from lectures 12, 13. Goffmans dramaturgy
  is outlined in Lecture 9.

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Section 5

• 25 SYNTHESIS (25-30 minutes
• Choicedo 2 out of 3)
• Foucault claimed that history is a genealogy of
  power the sane having control over the
  oppressed. As we have discovered, control over
  ones gender and sex and sexuality can impact how
  we interface with the natural world. Each of the
  choices contains questions related to specific
  readings do both questions in each of your
  choices. Worth 25 points.
• CONCENTRATIONS Boy Scouts, Gay Tourism, Outback
  Romance
• Taken from lectures 14, 17, 18. Foucaults
  genealogy of truth is outlined in lecture 14.

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Section 6

• 25 EVALUATION (20-25 minutes)
• Choice-do 1 out of 2
• Michael Bell believes that as long as people have
  dominated the natural environment, other people
  have been concerned about it. This section
  relates to our lectures on activism. Choose one
  out of the two questions below. Worth 25 points.
• Taken from lectures 19, 20, 21, 22.

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BONUS QUESTION

• On last page of exam you might want to work on
  this during responding to other parts of the exam
• Takes 1-3 minutes
• Optional
• Worth up to 2 points on final percentage mark
• You cannot study for this one.

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Next Slides

• REVIEWS BY THE WEEK
• Also, MAKE CERTAIN THAT YOU ALSO VIEW THE KEY
  VIDEO CLIPS FOR EACH WEEK to get the spirit of
  each.

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January The Ideal
17
WEEK 1

• It is impossible to agree on humans place in
  nature we are part of naturewe are not part of
  naturewe are sometimes part of nature(handouts)
• Since historical reports are generally exclusive
  to some groups of people and their interests, we
  cannot conclusively trust that we know what
  happened in society until now
• Like history, sociology has many shortcomings
  ethnocentric bends toward natural science in
  many respects did not question previous or other
  cultures relationships with nature has often
  considered success level or development level
  of societies according to a stereotyped gaze of
  overcoming the natural world around/in those
  societies. THIS HAS LED TO IDEAS OF PROGRESS
  BASED ON THE ABILIBITY OF INDIVIDUALS TO MAKE
  MONEY, GET AHEAD
• Nature, then, became to be socially constructed
  including mother nature.
• DO NOT MEMORIZE SLIDES 44-61

• Gender, sex, sexuality, nature, and even
  sociology are most often taken for granted. They
  have various definitions depending on in whose
  interest is the definition.
• Sociology and its interest in the natural world
  (one explanation of many)
• Comte (and Spencer) umbrella discipline we
  might understand society once we understand the
  wider natural laws seen through a positivist
  gaze society is like an organism
• Durkheim disagreed we might understand society
  once we identify patterns and themes of social
  facts wider natural laws are inadequate to
  understand society, but it is important to
  understand how the natural world is mediated
  socially be familiar with slides 21 and 22
• Marx took a critical look at industrialized
  European society and how natural materials
  figured into the production line, family
  dynamics, and city life
• Robert E. Park Human Ecology School emerged in
  the 1920s out of U. of Chicago because it was now
  agreed that human can either have a competitive
  relationship with nature but also a communicative
  one within certain groups this began an official
  sociology of space
• Environmental Sociology from a western
  perspective, has grown since the 1970s with most
  universities now offering related courses

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WEEK 2

• Handout Lecture 3 on sex characteristics, Marx,
  and Smith expect a question from the bottom of
  the handout (or a similar one) Do not memorize
  High Heels presentation
• Roughgarden
• Diversity in society
• Definition Gray areas in defining sex and gender
  is prevalent in both social definitions and
  scientific ones
• Sex and gender are not inherent (at least in all
  social contexts) it is through INTERACTION that
  we construct how we understand sex and gender
• Dozier Doing Sex
• Social interpretation of male/masculine and
  female/feminine is easily distorted when looking
  at experiences of some people, such as
  transsexuals its not necessarily what we expect
• The body plays a huge role in the social
  interpretation of masculinity and femininity
• Slide 13 example of Joe there are more
  pressures once judged as male pressure to
  conform to misogyny at work, for example. This is
  compounded by homosexuality, effemininity, race
  or ethnicity.
• West and Zimmerman Doing Gender
• Doing gender simultaneously produces,
  reproduces, sustains and legitimates the social
  meanings accorded to gender This introduces the
  concept that we are ACCOUNTABLE for each act we
  perform that is appropriate to ones sex
  category.
• Deutsch Undoing Gender
• If interaction is the site of doing gender, it
  can be the site of undoing it.
• Exam expect a question similar to those on Slide
  22

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WEEK 3

• Culture know definitions on Slide 12 place
  where interaction/
• socialization of gender, sex, and sexuality
  takes place
• Some claim that nature and culture are polar
  opposites that the first happens naturally
  outside of culture, and the second is constructed
  independent of nature

• Recall your timeline on when you were in nature
  and the cultural punctuations that affected this
  on the final exam, you could be given a timeline
  and asked to identify ideal, material, and
  practical aspects that could have potentially
  affected ones relationship to the natural world
• Strathern
• Poses the idea that there are no such things as
  nature or culture that researching one in
  comparison to the other sets up a false dichotomy
• Uses Hagen society to show that definitions and
  practices around culture and nature are not clear
  cut, but that they often are related to other
  perceived polar opposites female and male,
  domestic and wild
• Womens sexuality is often viewed as something
  closer to nature/wild and in need of being
  controlled through cultural norms
• Many researchers impose these dichotomous
  assumptions onto cultural research, based on
  their own interpretation of female/male,
  wild/domestic so, be careful and critically look
  at all research for biases
• Be familiar with Slides 23-30 (know at least
  three of Stratherns nine points)
• We begin to form our interpretations of gender,
  sex, sexuality, and nature as children as we
  gather social facts from out culture
• Rousseau
• Rousseau Father of Romanticisim Romantic
  notions of educating children involved heavy
  doses of the natural world, unlike the
  philosophies of many before him
• Form a general idea of the challenges to Emile on
  Slides 15-23 one sex is superior to another
  females are natural pleasers of males and must
  accept this females and males should not receive
  the same education (this is a prevalent idea
  still today) females should enjoy the natural
  world, but in a different way from males females
  should focus on developing their charms and
  creative skills females need to learn how to be
  under the power of others from an early age
  females are the ones to be taught the artistic
  endeavors, such as music and dancing

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February The Material
21

• Ideas can be powerful things
• The material aspects of Bells ecological
  dialogue help us understand how those ideas play
  out in the social world in ways that we can
  SEE/READ, HEAR, SMELL, FEEL, AND TASTE--- that
  is, what can we sense?

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Goffman believed that we could understand the
social world (macro) by assessing face-to-face
interaction (micro).

• This meant that he believed we could take things
  we already knew and re-order them this would
  lead to sociological discoveries. He was said
  to have begged, borrowed, and stolen from
  existing theories! (multidisciplinarity)
• This re-ordering is what Michael Bell is also
  asking us to do in order to raise new questions
  about how we use the natural world around us.

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• Persona a mask worn to project a particular
  image to an audience.
• Performance the activity "given off" by an actor
  for their audience
• Stage the makeup of the situation the location
  where a performance unfolds
• Setting the physical layout or background where
  interaction occurs, including "props
• Scene the action taking place within a specific
  setting (just like for a drama or play)
• Actor/Character/Performer a person in a given
  role, performing the duties that are consistent
  with that role
• Audience the people for whom we perform our
  roles-- note the audience members are also
  actors to each other
• Scripts our internalized categories and "labels"
  that we project when interacting can be very
  explicit, like when people who have certain jobs
  are expected to literally say specific lines...
  or like when you are in a relationship and one
  person says "i love you," you're expected to
  reply, "i love you, too.
• Backstage the "behind the scenes" (ex. in a
  restaurant, the kitchen is the "backstage")
• Impression Management how a person manages their
  peers impressions of how we act in interactions
• Dramatic Realization an attempt to make ones
  better qualities noticed when they might
  otherwise go unnoticed (ex. on a date, making
  sure to point out and talk about your
  achievements at school, sports, work, etc. to
  make a good impression.)
• Idealization portraying yourself to others in
  order to closely resemble the values of society
  (emphasizing your positive qualities to make
  yourself look better)
• Negotiation the process by which roles are
  established makes interaction possible
• Mystification the air of superiority that occurs
  when you conceal parts of yourself to create
  distance
• Accounts an explanation for ones actions or
  behaviors (aka excuses)

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The Material World of Choosing Gender/Sex of Baby
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MATERIAL IDEAL

• Latest technology
• Hollywood sign and famous people
• Two genders represented
• Reproductive medicine (PGD)
• Requires years of training (university teaching
  hospitals laboratories equipment)
• Fertility institutes
• Example of couple who had success - testimony
• Featured on many TV shows
• Remarkable 100 success is in the mission
  statement never gone wrong
• Based in beautiful Los Angeles
• All records are extremely firewalled and under
  video surveillance
• Travel and lodging arrangements in Mexico, USA
• Flexible payment arrangements

• Most/All parents shown/physicians represented as
  ideal white, SNAF (D. Smith)
• We will lookwe will resolve commitment
• world recognized/worlds largest/worlds most
  successful
• Most advanced care with continued commitment
• Board Certified procedure
• Prevention from passing on undesirable genetic
  diseases
• Highly specialized techniques done by
  scientists PhD Scientists international
• Choice is made available to parents, regardless
  of race, creed, sexual orientation, ethnicity
• Reproductive choices
• Most precious gift
• All records are confidential
• Long awaited boy or girl balances family

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Shettles Method of Choosing Gender of Baby

• What is the main message of the article? In whose
  interest is choosing the sex of a baby?
• Is choosing your babys sex Pro-nature or
  Anti-nature? Neithersomething else? Playing
  G/god?
• What are some social implications of the
  technology available that permit the choosing of
  babies sex? Think about religion, family as an
  institution
• How could choosing the sex of babies impact on
  natural environments in the future if the gender
  role ideals continue as they are right now?

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Bell on POPULATION

• We can count peoplethat means we can sense them.
  Thats why we can look at population as a
  material representation in society.
• What comes to your mind when you hear the words
  population or overpopulation?
• What do natural populations look like? Do they
  exist only in the wild? (Here, I use the term
  wild loosely to point to non-human/non-artificial
  environments, though artificial as a concept is
  also problematic)
• How close are the social aspects of population to
  the non-human/wild ones?

• Much debate exists regarding population,
  overpopulation, population control,
  underpopulation, immigration...

28

• So, since the world will never completely agree
  on whether to condone or condemn birth control,
  how will the natural environment be affected in
  the years to come?

29
Michael Bell 6 ways culture, sex, reproduction,
and population are related

• 1. Misanthropy
• 2. Demographic Competition
• 3. Anti-Religious
• 4. Sex is Taboo
• 5. The Population Issue is a Gender Issue
• 6. The family is extremely socially significant

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Materials around Ideas and Practices relating to
the body and its changes and drives

• Bean, M. Love Lessons from the Wild Kingdom
  Link to reading
• Are men more connected to nature than women or
  other sexes or genders?
• Are those love lessons or sex lessons? Is
  there a difference in the non-human animal world?
• What would the animals for women be?
• What would those animals mating habits be
  organized?
• What about animals and mating tips for gays and
  lesbians? For abstainers from sex? For
  transvestites? For divorced people? Widowers?
• What about for priests who cannot marry?
• So, is having sex natural?
• Power and Watts The Woman with the Zebras
  Penis
• Segregation in western culture between boys and
  girls
• Eland Bull Ritual for Girls and for Boys gender
  taboos similarities within the ritual for boys
  and girls
• Circumcision in general

31
Do Nude BodiesNatural Bodies?

• Is it possible for the body to escape social
  interpretations of gender, sex, and sexuality?
• Just as we do gender in interaction, we do
  nuditywe are body watchers and body
  interpreters! Holmes, in Bare Bodies, looks at
  the types of discourses within those
  interactions.
• Hence, the reading on Naked as Nature Intended
  demonstrates the scrutiny of the body in a
  different setting, such as how society perceives
  the body on Crystal Crescent Beach in a local
  example.

• Consider the naked body in/as a material part of
  nature (though it can be considered much more
  than that), and presentations of masculinity and
  femininity in that interaction.

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Consider how we constantly interpret nude bodies
in society -

• The Arts
• Myth
• Beauty
• Strength
• Eroticism
• Sexuality
• Taboo underground
• Religion
• Academic texts and popular press covers
• Health and medicine
• There is a Federation of Canadian Nudists (FCN)
• Famous Photo of ???? (photographer Annie
  Leibovitz)

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• Definitions
• naturism and nudism
• Control and Resistance
• Police and Legal organizations fight nudism at
  local Halifax area beach, Crystal Crescent

• Bathing suits
• Naturism and Nudism in Europe
• How it became taboo

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Jennifer Holmes articleBare Bodies, Beaches,
and Boundaries Abjected Outsiders and
Rearticululation at the Nude Beach

• FINDINGS
• More men than women visit the beach
• Swingers and gay men are generally not
  considered official naturists because of an
  assumed taboo around their sexuality practices
• Sexual talk between the naturists was generally
  discreet
• Women naturists were generally more passive than
  the men
• WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF STUDY in wider North
  American society, public nudity is used to
  explore others values around sexuality.
• Plan on a couple of Goffman-dramaturgy questions
  as applied to the nude beachif you come in to
  the exam knowing his elements of dramaturgy,
  youll do fine in the Goffman section.

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Sex Reassignment tampering with the natural
body?

• The Boy who was Raised as a Girl
• Watch the video
• Be able to discuss some of the nature and
  nurture problematics exposed in the video AND
  how Foucaults concepts could apply

• FOUCAULT
• Episteme
• Legitimate Knowledge
• Genealogy of Truth (The family tree of social
  facts)
• Institutions
• Power/Knowledge
• Control
• Panopticon

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Boy Scouts and Sexual Control

• Contradiction Boy Scouts urged to seek nature,
  but not natural urges
• Materials
• Books/text/rules
• Badges
• Uniforms

• Pryke, S. (2005). The control of sexuality in the
  early British Boy Scouts movement. Sex Education,
  5 (1), 15-28.
• Scouting, among other things, functioned to
  control adolescent sexuality through repressing
  masturbation viewed as unnatural, though
  everyone was doing it.
• This was carried out through ideals about what
  was natural and what was unnatural --- this was
  communicated through text, brotherhood and
  manhood, war, religion, nationhood, and sanity.
• Baden-Powell how he controlled the boys the
  controversy around his own sexuality
• Social Purity Movement How it affected not only
  the Boy Scouting movement, but society in
  general.

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March The Practical

• Murray on Sexuality and Tourism
• Little and Pinelli on Outback Romance and
  Sexuality
• Tindall, D.B., Davies, S. and Maboules, C.
  (2003). Activism and conservation behaviour in an
  environmental movement The contradictory effects
  of gender,
• Gender and Natural Disasters, such as Hurricane
  Katrina
• Ecofeminism
• Alaska Wolf Hunt and Tom Brown

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• Best of Luck!