Gender v Sex Chapter 12 Gender Gender Socially influenced psychological dimension of being male or female Ex Clothes colors hair length Sex Is biologically influenced narrow dimension Ex Ovaries testes Gender role Set of expectations that prescribes how females and males should think act feel Ex Women should be frail Men shouldn t cry Gender Stereotypes Widely held beliefs about characteristics that are deemed appropriate for males and females Women shouldn t be promiscuous Men shouldn t hit women Gender identity Sense of being female or male Gender Typing Association of objects activities roles or traits with biological sex in ways that conform to cultural stereotypes of gender Gender Stereotypes Personality Stereotypes Instrumental Traits Competence independence rationality assertiveness Men worker role Expressive Traits Warmth caring sensitivity Women caretaker role Physical Stereotypes Males Tall strong sturdy Females Soft dainty graceful Occupation Stereotypes Males Truck driver Doctors Lawyers Manual Labor jobs Females Secretary Nurse Maids Nanny Models Hairstylists Early Childhood 18 months they become self aware At age 2 Notice children start to make subtle associations like men are rough and sharp and women are soft and round Men have beards and mustaches Age that they label themselves as boys or girls is 19 months to 3 years External characteristics and activities determine gender One study showed that preschoolers linked toys articles of clothing tools household items games occupations and colors with one sex or the other Rigid rules Can t have long hair or wear a skirt and be a boy Study from 2003 A little girl thought that girls can t be rough or be a doctor Shows that it is still prevalent in recent times Middle Childhood and Adolescence Shift from external to internal Stereotypes move to less obvious areas like personality and achievement The rules become more flexible however they still respond harshly to boys being girly Personality traits assign masculine and feminine characteristics to either male or female figures Achievement areas Girls Reading spelling music Boys Math science athletics Sex Differences Males and Females are more alike than different and don t vary in general intelligence but do vary in specific abilities Where differences do occur Mental abilities Verbal abilities girls a little head of boys little research why there s a research Mathematical abilities girls early years boys later years Spatial abilities if girls play more video games their spatial abilities become equally as good Personality trait Emotional sensitivity self report girls more than boys Usually anger in men is not labeled as emotional Self report surveys are flawed as it relies on self assessment Aggression boys more than girls Relational aggression bad mouthing excluding Influences on Gender Development Cross Cultural Studies take out the bias of social enculturation Most societies do promote instrumental traits competitiveness rationality assertiveness in males and expressive traits in females Strength magnitude of the traits is going to vary depending on culture Great diversity exists in the strength of this difference Small village Kenya Sweden boys are expected to take care of younger siblings equally as older sisters Boys and girls will have equal distribution of instrumental and expressive traits Because cultural influence is so strong researchers are mostly not comfortable saying that biology alone explains gender differences The differences we see among cultures makes this work inconclusive in supporting the biological perspective Sex Hormones Estrogens Androgens Chemical substances produced by cells in the body and have regulatory effect on the activities of certain organs Congenital adrenal hyperplasia CAH Genetic defect produces unusual high amounts of androgens Girls are born w enlarged clitoris or small penis surgery at birth and then take hormones to try to fix it In one study 25 female infants w CAH had the corrective surgery and were raised as girls They tended to engage in behaviors that are typically characterized as masculine and related to boys and had a higher activity rate liked cars blocks trucks athletics prefer boys as playmates still IDed themselves as girls though Suggestion hormones play a role in gender BUT CRITICAL THINKING some girls tom boy no research has been done on hormone levels of these girls Case where biological sex and prenatal hormones match but sexual reassignment occurs David Reimer on Oprah Circumcision burnt off penis malfunction of apparatus New Zealand Dr John Money sex change surgery trans sexual women on TV Parents thought here is our hope Dr Money had radical idea about baby is essentially gender neutral during 1st two years he would need twins to test his theory Reimer twins were the answer Testes were amputated and parents told to raise Bruce as Brenda nurture vs nature Mother thought I could nurture my child to be feminine Dr Money worked at John s Hopkins said never tell her she is actually a boy Cookie baking female activities were pursued During interview w psychologist theory seemed to have worked girls don t fight back Brenda s brother was seen as the boy It appeared that nurture was more important than nature HOWEVER Reimer s life didn t continue like predicted Brenda was quite masculine Brenda played w brother s toys Dr Money did only publish positive results She hit kicked and acted male The year after book published Money asked gender questions How to tell difference between boy and girl only depicted hair dresses but couldn t tell gender physical differences Showed pictures of birth when very young to Brenda but parents didn t know Brenda would still resist to being a girl Dr Money s approach let s have another surgery fix it up let s have another doc look down there Brenda felt everything was good why do I need surgery Was terrified of surgery Doc feels pressure in puberty new surge of androgens if not convinced that she s a girl Estrogen therapy until 14 to develop female sex characteristics miserable in school taunted made fun of Brenda becomes David then David meets women then has children Brian twin brother commits suicide later David does too Different theories why that occurred Dr Money took clothes off from children to take pictures Gender NEUTRALITY was Dr Money s theory 0 2 yrs most crucial phase of gender identity according to his theory Boys girls are treated completely different right from the
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