← Back to the Introduction to Sociology outline The Course Maker
← Introduction to Sociology outline
Week 11 · Module overview

Week 11 — Sex, Gender & Sexuality

Introduction to Sociology Free sample edition

Why this matters

A student comparing two job offers and a coach setting rules for a mixed youth league both meet this week's ideas.

In plain language

Many forms ask about your sex or your gender, and this week shows that those are two different questions. Sex (the body: anatomy, chromosomes, and hormones) is not the same as gender (what a society expects of women and men). You will see how people learn gender from family, friends, school, and screens, and how they keep doing gender (acting out those expectations in everyday moments) without noticing. You will meet sexuality (desire, attraction, and relationships) as a category a society shapes too. Then you will read a real 2024 pay figure one careful step at a time and weigh the competing explanations for it.

  • Already covered: Weeks 1 to 10 built the perspectives, the data questions, socialization, and race as a built category.
  • This week: sex versus gender, gender socialization, doing gender, three lenses, sexuality, and the 2024 earnings ratio.
  • How they connect: Week 2's four questions now read a real pay figure.
  • Where we're going next: Week 12, Family & Marriage, watches doing gender at home.

Focus

What is the difference between sex and gender, how is gender learned and done, and what does a pay ratio really compare?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

  • [ ] tell sex from gender and gender identity
  • [ ] spot gender socialization and doing gender
  • [ ] read gender inequality through three lenses
  • [ ] read the 2024 earnings ratio four ways

To-do

Plan your week

  1. Read Chapter 11 (about 45 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
  2. Work the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes) and the practice set (about 20 minutes).
  3. Do the Sociology in Action Workshop (about 90 minutes), the discussion, and the assignment.
  4. Take the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: explain why the 83% is not a same-job comparison.

You've got this

Take it in order, and ask your instructor early if you get stuck.

Built with The Course Maker · samples.thecoursemaker.com