Contemporary gender roles

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GENDER.ppt
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Gender

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Gender = Sex?

  • Biological sex
  • Female/Male
  • Genetics: chromosomes, XX, XY
  • Hormones: Estrogen, Testosterone
  • Brain chemistry

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Female Brain & Male Brain

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Concept of Continuum

  • Re: Biological Sex – Genotype/Phenotype

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We All Start Out Female

  • More female sperm in a man’s body
  • At conception, the fertilized egg is proto-female (sex differentiation occurs after 7-8 weeks, not visible with ultrasound until 18-20 weeks)
  • More female babies are born
  • More female babies live beyond 1 year
  • Females have longer life expectancy

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Population Figures

  • 51% of world’s population is female
  • 49% is male
  • Why?

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Gender Identity

  • The gender with which a person identifies
  • A psychological feeling
  • More useful to conceptualize a continuum

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Gender Identity Independent of Sexual Orientation

  • All people, regardless of their sexual orientation, deal with issues of gender
  • Gender identity does not create sexual orientation
  • Masculine and feminine heterosexuals, homosexuals, bisexuals, transgendered people can identify w/ any sexual orientation

Selected Gender Terms

  • Gender Binary/Non-Binary
  • Gender Identity Gender Fluid
  • Gender Identity Dysphoria Cisgender
  • Gender Role Pangender
  • Gender Stereotype Transgender
  • Gender Role Socialization Intersex
  • Gender Role Conflict

Binary vs. Non-Binary

  • Binary - Concept that gender identity can only be conceptualized in terms of Masculinity/Femininity (belief that there are only two genders and that one's sex or gender assigned at birth will align with traditional social constructs, expression, and sexuality)

  • Non-Binary - Non-binary gender identity is just one term used to describe individuals who may experience a gender identity that is neither exclusively male or female or is in between or beyond both genders (some use term Gender Queer)

jackie behn (jb)

Cisgender

  • People whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth. For example, someone who identifies as a woman and was assigned female at birth is a cisgender woman. The term cisgender is the opposite of the word transgender.

Pangender

  • Pangender is a term for people who feel that they identify with all genders available to them.

Transgender

  • Term used to describe a broad range of people who experience and/or express their gender somewhat differently from what most people expect.
  • It is an overarching term that includes those with gender characteristics that don't correspond with those traditionally ascribed to the person's sex.

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Transgender

  • Medical term describing people whose gender and sex do not line up and who can seek medical treatment to bring their bodies and gender identities into alignment

  • Christine Jorgensen, Had sex reassignment surgery in 1951 (Used term transexual then)

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Renee Richards

  • Dr. Renée Richards is an American ophthalmologist and former tennis player who had some success on the professional circuit in the 1970s, and became widely known following male-to-female sex reassignment surgery, when she fought to compete as a woman in the 1976 US Open

Laverne Cox
Emmy-nominated actress, documentary film producer + prominent equal rights advocate

Caitlin Jenner
1976 and 2015

Most trans people are not famous…

Intersex

  • Intersex people are born with sex characteristics (including genitals, gonads and chromosome patterns) that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies.

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Gender Identity Disorder

  • Gender dysphoria – being uncomfortable with one’s assigned sex
  • Most cultures disapprove of cross-gender behavior which creates problems for the individual

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Gender Role

  • Expected behaviors for each gender
  • Created by both socially enforced rules and values, and individual disposition

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Gender Role Stereotype

  • Socially determined behaviors for each gender
  • Caused by expectations of others and
  • Pressure to conform by others

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Gender Role Socialization

  • Process by which we learn our gender roles
  • When does it begin?
  • Lifelong

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Influence of Groups

  • Primary groups – small, intimate, we hold membership, significant; Examples?
  • Secondary groups – larger, we hold membership, can be less significant but still important; Examples?
  • Reference groups – small or large, we don’t necessarily have to hold membership; Examples?

Agents of Gender Role Socialization

  • Parents
  • Peers
  • School
  • Media
  • Any social institution/group

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Toys

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School

  • Girls lower aspirations as they age
  • Link between sexuality and achievement

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Media

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Types of Gender Roles

  • Traditional/Bipolar
  • Males – Instrumental
  • Females – Expressive
  • Androgynous
  • Contemporary

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Traditional/Bipolar Gender Roles

  • Rigid gender roles assigned to each gender
  • Opposites

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Grandaddy of all Gender Roles

  • Boys Don’t Cry!
  • Basis of relationships is emotion
  • That we differ in such dichotomous ways regarding expression of emotion is detrimental to healthy relationships

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Stop Crying Or…

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Unless You Win or Lose in Sports…

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And, of course, it is acceptable for men to hug in sports

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Then There’s The Group Hug…

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Androgynous Gender Roles

  • Possessing both male and female gender roles/characteristics

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Contemporary Gender Roles

  • Flexible
  • Not limiting

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Women can even run for President and V.P

And Men Can…

Consequences of Traditional/Bipolar Gender Roles

  • Limiting
  • Lowers self-esteem
  • Us vs. Them Mentality
  • Hostility Towards the Other
  • Violence

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Earliest Cultural Variation’s Influence on Gender Studies

  • Margaret Mead (1901-1978)
  • Sex & Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (New Guinea,1936)
  • Is aggressiveness/passivity universal?

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Arapesh

  • Men and women both passive, no war

  • Mundugumor, men and women both aggressive, warlike

Tchambuli

  • Men 'primped' and spent their time decorating themselves while the women worked, hunted

Arapesh, Mundugumor, Tchambuli

  • Arapesh, men and women both passive, no war
  • Mundugumor, men and women both aggressive, warlike
  • Tchambuli, men 'primped' and spent their time decorating themselves while the women worked, hunted

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Other Cultural Variation Studies Related to Gender

  • Comparing 25 countries, Williams and Best (2000) ranked Japan 11th on egalitarian attitudes toward gender roles.
  • Japan values traditional gender role ideologies. Men were considered more important, more in control and more dominant than their female counterparts.

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Ranking of Countries from Contemporary to Traditional

  • Contemporary: Netherlands, Sweden
  • Androgynous: France, England, Spain, Portugal
  • Traditional: Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and…
  • The U.S.

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Regional Differences – U.S.

  • Southern states have more traditional gender role beliefs
  • East/West Coast, more androgynous and contemporary gender role beliefs

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CONSEQUENCES OF SCORING HIGH ON EITHER END OF SEX ROLE INVENTORIES

  • Scoring high on either end of any Sex Roles Inventory Questionnaire (Bem Sex Roles Inventory) doesn’t just mean identifying with masculine or feminine roles…
  • It usually means a rejection of the other
  • This often leads to conflict, violence, etc.

Theories of Sexuality

  • Biological (Hormonal, Genetic, Brain Chemistry)
  • Psychological (Psychoanalytic, Learning/ Behavioral Theory)
  • Sociocultural
  • Biopsychosocial

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Gender vs. Sexual Orientation

  • Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956)
  • Kinsey Scale (0 to 7), 1950s
  • 0-1 exclusively heterosexual
  • 6-7 exclusively homosexual

  • Most fall between 1 and 5 (bisexual)
  • Continuum of attraction and behavior

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No Matter Who We Are, How We Identify Ourselves is the Foundation of Ourselves

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