Staff View
Blind to sameness

Descriptive

TypeOfResource
Text
TitleInfo (ID = T-1)
Title
Blind to sameness
SubTitle
the socio-optical construction of male and female bodies
Identifier
ETD_2740
Identifier (type = hdl)
http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10001600001.ETD.000056346
Language
LanguageTerm (authority = ISO639-2); (type = code)
eng
Genre (authority = marcgt)
theses
Subject (ID = SBJ-1); (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Sociology
Subject (ID = SBJ-2); (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Sex differences
Subject (ID = SBJ-3); (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Visual perception
Subject (ID = SBJ-4); (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Social constructionism
Subject (ID = SBJ-5); (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Attribution (Social psychology)
Subject (ID = SBJ-6); (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Transgender people
Subject (ID = SBJ-7); (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Gender identity
Abstract (type = abstract)
In this dissertation I explore two central questions: how does perception work sociologically and how does perception specifically function in the case of sex attribution? To capture the normally taken-for-granted process of sex attribution, I interviewed “outsiders” – people who either do not participate in sex attribution or do it very differently – and “experts” – people who are unusually self-conscious and deliberate about sex attribution. I chose to interview blind people because they literally cannot see sex, and as such their narratives reveal rarely-foregrounded non-visual perceptions of sexed bodies. I chose to interview transgender people as experts on sex attribution who view the human body in light of the possibility of transitioning between sexes. As a result, they are deeply aware of the underlying similarities between male and female bodies as well as their most recalcitrant differences. They offer an account of sexed bodies that is similar in its sensory content to the dominant perceptual experience (in that it is visual), but with a heightened awareness of sex cues that non-transgender people take for granted, and a unique point of view that brings some of the normally unseen similarities between male and female bodies into the foreground. In short, both groups, for reasons of circumstance, speak from unique perspectives that magnify the social construction of visual perceptions of sex. While sex attribution is my case, I also use my data to advance a more general theory of how – through what specific cognitive processes – visual perception is shaped by social categories and expectations. I argue that selective attention is a fundamental mechanism of the social construction of perception and that this dialectic of attention and disattention is most evocatively represented by the metaphor of a filter. In addition to capturing what I believe is going on interpretively when we see sex, or more broadly when we see anything as something, the filter metaphor also provides a new way to think about the relationship between social constructionist perspectives and material realities, one that captures the interaction of biology and culture without denying either one.
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
Extent
ix, 267 p. : ill.
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
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text/xml
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note (type = vita)
Includes vita
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Asia M. Friedman
Name (ID = NAME-1); (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Friedman
NamePart (type = given)
Asia M.
NamePart (type = date)
1974-
Role
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author
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Asia Friedman
Name (ID = NAME-2); (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Zerubavel
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chair
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Advisory Committee
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Eviatar Zerubavel
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Cerulo
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Karen
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internal member
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Advisory Committee
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Karen Cerulo
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Gerson
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Judith
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internal member
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Advisory Committee
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Judith Gerson
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NamePart (type = family)
Stein
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Arlene
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Arlene Stein
Name (ID = NAME-6); (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
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Lynn
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
outside member
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
Lynn Chancer
Name (ID = NAME-1); (type = corporate)
NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
Name (ID = NAME-2); (type = corporate)
NamePart
Graduate School - New Brunswick
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
school
OriginInfo
DateCreated (qualifier = exact)
2010
DateOther (qualifier = exact); (type = degree)
2010-10
Place
PlaceTerm (type = code)
xx
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore19991600001
Location
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NjNbRU
Identifier (type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T3M32VJ0
Genre (authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights

RightsDeclaration (AUTHORITY = GS); (ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
RightsHolder (ID = PRH-1); (type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Friedman
GivenName
Asia
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent (ID = RE-1); (AUTHORITY = rulib)
Type
Permission or license
DateTime
2010-05-24 10:06:45
AssociatedEntity (ID = AE-1); (AUTHORITY = rulib)
Role
Copyright holder
Name
Asia Friedman
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject (ID = AO-1); (AUTHORITY = rulib)
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
RightsEvent (ID = RE-2); (AUTHORITY = rulib)
Type
Embargo
DateTime
2010-10-31
Detail
Access to this PDF has been restricted at the author's request. It will be publicly available after October 30th, 2012.
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Technical

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ETD
MimeType (TYPE = file)
application/pdf
MimeType (TYPE = container)
application/x-tar
FileSize (UNIT = bytes)
1986560
Checksum (METHOD = SHA1)
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