The New Gender Rules???

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Gendered Identities

A. Overview

1. Gender influences virtually every aspect of people’s lives and relationships.

2. “Traditional sexism” has been replaced by “modern sexism.”

3. Sex refers only to male and female physiology.

4. Gender (or gender role) describes societal attitudes and behaviors expected of and associated with the two sexes.

5. Gender identity refers to the degree to which an individual sees herself or himself as feminine or masculine based on society’s definitions of appropriate gender roles.

B. Gender Expectations

1. Gender expectations and scripts are socially constructed and internalized by individuals.

2. Male traits are often thought to be agentic or instrumental. They are traits that lead toward the accomplishment of tasks or goals (i.e., independent, competitive, assertive, achievement oriented).

3. Female traits are often thought to be communal or expressive. They are traits that lead toward the accomplishment of improved relationships (i.e., warm, sensitive, tender, empathy).

C. Cultural Messages

1. Masculinities

a. Men are expected to distance themselves from anything feminine.

b. Men are expected to be occupationally successful.

c. Men are expected to be tough, confident, and self-reliant.

d. Men are expected to defeat, humiliate, and seek adventure.

e. “Liberated male” – originating in the ‘80s, this new option allows men to be emotionally sensitive and expressive.

2. Femininities

a. Women are expected to be attentive, good listeners, and facilitators of their husband’s accomplishments.

b. “Professional Woman” – emerging over the past twenty years, women are expected to be independent, ambitious, and confident.

c. “Superwoman” – recent expectation is that women are to be great mothers and also attain career success.

d. “Satisfied Single” – emerging option for women is to be happy in remaining single.

D. Gender Expectations and Diversity

1. The view of men as instrumental and women as expressive was based primarily on people’s images of white, middle-class heterosexuals. But there are racial-ethnic variations in gender expectations.

2. Research indicates that racial/ethnic differences in role expectations and behaviors, particularly for males, are actually not as strong as either stereotypes of sociohistorical perspectives have suggested.

3. Black men and women express preferences for egalitarian relationships.

4. Similarly complex gender patterns are observed in Latino families.

E. To What Extent Do Individual Women and Men Follow Cultural Expectations?

1. Today “typical” men and women overlap in their masculine and feminine qualities.

2. Depending on the situation, males and females may or may not act according to cultural expectations.

3. Differences among women or among men (“within-group variation”) are usually greater than the differences between men and women (“between-group variation”).

F. The Gender Similarities Hypothesis

1. Males and females are similar on many levels.

2. Psychologist Janet Hyde (2005) has discovered that “men and women, as well as boys and girls, are more alike than they are different.”

II. Gender Inequality

A. Male Dominance

1. Interpersonally defined as male authority over females – males dominate verbally, use familiar forms of address, and touch more.

2. Socially defined as male control and influence over society’s institutions.

a. Institutional-men hold higher political offices, hold religious authority, and are more economically advantaged.

b. In 2002, employed women earned 77% of what employed white men earned.

c. The earnings gap between men and women has narrowed some in recent decades.

d. Men continue to dominate corporate America.

B. Biologically-Based Arguments—Is Anatomy Destiny?

1. Biological theories of gender differences were initially offered by ethologists who study human beings as an evolved animal species. In baboon research, males have been found to be dominant.

2. Some research on brain lateralization supports genetic differences.

3. Society and socialization may still play a role.

Meanwhile, in sociology, biosocial theorists point to evolution, to behavioral endocrinology, and to behavioral genetics as influences on family-related behavior.

B. The Interaction of Culture and Biology

1. Strong support exists that gender-linked characteristics result from the interaction of culture learning and biological hormones. Testosterone also exists in females as well, but in lower levels.

2. Aggressiveness

a. Testosterone-women with stereotypic feminine personality linked with lower levels of testosterone. Women with more stereotypic male traits have higher levels of testosterone. Males with higher levels of testosterone may be more likely to divorce and/or experience lower quality spousal interaction.

b. Environment can influence hormone secretion levels. Husbands who batter their wives have increased secretions of testosterone.

III. Gender and Socialization

A. The Power of Cultural Images

1. Socialization-process by which society influences members to internalize attitudes and expectations.

2. Language-accentuates male and female differences through names, titles, and adjectives.

3. Media-promotes traditional gendered expectations through television programming (especially for children). Men outnumber women as leads and dominate in commercials.

B. Theories of Socialization

1. Social Learning Theory

a. Children learn gender roles from parents, schools, and media.

b. Subtle parental rewards and punishments may be the key to child behavior patterns.

c. Fathers have stronger expectations for gender than do mothers.

d. Little association found between children’s personality and parent’s characteristics.

2. Self-Identification Theory

a. As a child becomes aware of behaviors appropriate for their sex through the family, media, and outside world, they adopt the same behaviors.

b. Children socialize themselves from available cultural materials.

3. Gender schema theory posits that children develop a framework of knowledge about what girls and boys typically do.

4. Chodorow’s Theory of Gender

a. During infancy, children learn to differentiate psychologically and emotionally between themselves and their primary caregiver – their “primary identification.”

b. Because most primary caregivers are women, task of separation is more difficult for boys who may be angry and disappointed over the emotionally charged detachment from the mother. Gradually they come to value their father’s instrumental traits.

c. Task of separation is easier for girls as expressive behavior is allowed and fostered.

C. Girls and Boys in the Family

1. Among African Americans, both sexes are socialized toward independence, employment, and child care.

2. Among middle-class whites, parents rear boys and girls differently.

a. Parents handle infant sons more roughly and respond more to the cries of baby girls.

b. Toddler girls are more likely to be given dolls; boys given equipment and tools. Parents, especially fathers, discourage children, especially sons, from playing with opposite sex toys.

c. Boys are given more toys that develop spatial ability and construction, physical activity, and independent play. Girls are given toys that encourage social skills that elicit closer physical proximity.

d. Parents allocate household chores differently – girls do more indoor chores; boys more outdoor chores.

e. Cross-sex play is more common in families with different-sex siblings.

D. Play and Games

1. Girls play more in small groups and their play is relatively cooperative, however, it offers life opportunity for leadership, decision making, or rule enforcement.

2. Boys play more in large groups that require competition, and complex organization.

3. As children age, peer status for girls is often associated with popularity with the boys, peer status for boys is often associated with disassociation with girls.

E. Socialization in Schools

1. School Organizations – with men in most positions of school authority and women in most positions of service (teachers, aides, secretaries), school organization models male dominance.

2. Teachers – overall, teachers pay more attention and give more encouragement to male students, reinforcing the idea that male and female students are more different than similar.

3. College and university women tend to be marginalized on the fringes of power and involvement.

4. Women and Men in College – college students found to be more stereotyped at the end of their college years than at the beginning. Male dominance may be associated with fraternity membership.

F. What About Boys?

1. Girls have long been the primary focus of attention in examining the possible bias of educational institutions. In recent years, attention has turned to boys.

IV. Gender in Adult Lives

A. Gender and Stress

1. Traditional gender roles have resulted in stress for both males and females.

2. Many women report feeling depressed, inadequate, and dissatisfied with life. Suicide attempts, depression, mental illness, and eating disorders are more common in women.

3. Overemphasis on competition and achievement contribute to anxiety that may negatively influence male life expectancy. When males ignore anxiety and hide tenderness, they block avenues to intimacy and create isolation that limits their potential to feel positive about themselves.

B. Gender and Personal Change

1. Sometimes adults reconsider the choices they made earlier in their gender roles.

2. Adult choices may be contingent on opportunities available in the society.

3. Childhood socialization and early goals do not necessarily predict adult lifestyles.

C. Options and the Women’s Movement

1. The “separate sphere” ideology of gender predominated into the 50s and 60s.

2. The civil rights movement of the 1960s provided a model of activism.

3. Women vary in their attitudes toward the women’s movement.

4. African American women are more critical of gender inequality than white women.

5. Research suggests that “post-feminism” is a myth.

6. Despite considerable progress, both men and women who choose nontraditional roles may still experience discrimination and negative sanctioning.

D. The Men’s Movement

1. The focus of the movement is on the changes men want in their lives and how best to get them.

2. The men’s movement may be divided into three fairly distinct camps.

a. Antifeminists – who work to restore the “natural order” they see as disturbed by the women’s movement.

b. Profeminists – these men support feminists in their disdain for patriarchy.

c. Masculinists – who work to develop a positive image of masculinity, combining strength with tenderness.

E. Ambivalence, Confusion, and Hope

1. People have mixed feelings about new gender roles and how desirable it is to change.

2. Women often express conflict in wanting men to be emotionally expressive but also self-assured and confident.

3. Women experience conflict over female expectations for nurturing others and for pursuing their own goals.

4. Males often experience ambivalence, confusion (and even anger) over male expectations to be successful and also emotionally expressive.

5. Moving toward gender equality brings potential for ambivalence and confusion – as well as greater personal and family happiness – in marriage and its alternatives.

How are gender differences represented in the media?

http://youtu.be/JlypcNJ3YJo