Gender Flashcards
Distinguish sex and gender
Sex is the classification of being male or female. It is biologically determined and caused by sex chromosomes. Unlike sex, gender is not fixed, as a social construct it is flexible and open to change. Gender refers to the psychological sense of feeling either masculine or feminine, this can be influenced by both social and psychological factors.
Gender identity disorders occur when someone’s gender identity is not in accordance with their biological sex.
Outline sex role stereotypes
The fact that most people view their gender as being in accordance with their sex can lead to sex-role stereotypes, where certain traits are characteristics are seen as either typically male or female.
Some stereotypes may have a biological explanation such as men being more aggressive, whereas stereotyping women as wearing skirts and men wearing trousers can have a cultural explanation.
Discuss sex-role stereotypes
Research support to provide evidence for sex-role stereotypes. Lloyd et al conducted a naturalistic experiment to observe the influence of sex-role-stereotypes on mother’s toy choices for babies. It was found that mothers consistently chose to give “boys toys” eg: a truck to the infants masculinely dressed and the doll to those dressed femininely. This suggests that adults hold sex-role stereotypes on gendered behaviour and that these norms are socialised to children from infancy.
Lacks temporal validity: it could be argued that as modern day society has progressed and less emphasis is beginning to be placed on sex gendered behaviour, theories on sex-role stereotypes may no longer be as relevant.
However, despite this progress, we still exist in a patriarchal society where sex-role stereotypes about women can be used to provide a justification for discriminatory practices, such as the denial of certain job opportunities based on an opinion of what their sex is capable of. Therefore, understanding such consequences of sex-role stereotypes is still an important area of discussion, in order to prevent these issues.
Define androgyny
When someone shows an equal balance of male and female characteristics. From an appearance perspective, androgynous individuals look neither explicitly masculine nor feminine.
Bem argues that androgynous personalities are advantageous as the individual will be equipped with both positive feminine and masculine characteristics making them well adapted to a range of different situations.
Outline the BSRI
Developed by Bem, the Bem Sex Role Inventory is a self-reported survey used to characterise someone’s personality as more stereotypically masculine, feminine or androgynous.
Containing 60 items each third representing stereotypically male, feminine and neutral characteristics.
male: ambitious, independent
female: affectionate, sympathetic
neutral: sincere, helpful
Evaluate the BSRI
In a pilot study, the BSRI results were consistent with the answers of participants. This suggests that the BSRI is a reliable method for measuring gender identity. Moreover, the pilot sample consisted of over 1000 students. This is advantageous as a large sample size reduces the margin of error and prevents data being skewed from anomalous results. Therefore increasing the validity of the BRSI.
Methodological issues: the sample Bem used consisted of American students, therefore this sampling bias can be seen as ungeneralisable and so the BRSI may not be an accurate measurement of gender for older people or individuals from other cultures.
Temporal validity: Bem’s survey was created over 40 years ago, therefore current gender norms may no longer match her criteria.
Contradictory theories: Bem argues that androgyny may be advantageous as having a mix of masculine and feminine traits enables a person to adapt and excel in more situations. However, Adams and Sheer argue in a male dominated society where competitiveness is valued, masculine personalities may be more advantageous. Bem’s suggestion may only be relevant in a more gender neutral and equal society.
The BSRI can be seen to oversimplify a complex social construct such as gender by reducing it down into something that can be objectively measured. The way we behave is often context dependent, for example, we may portray more masculine traits at work but more feminine when working with young children. The BSRI cannot account for this fluidity and therefore may not be the most accurate way of measuring gender identity.
Benefits: Bem’s work provides a greater understanding of distinguishing biological sex from gender. Moreover, the positive portrayal of androgyny can lead to a positive social change and potentially reduce discrimination towards gender non-conforming behaviour.
Outline the role of chromosomes in gender
Most people have 23 pairs of chromosomes, with the final pair being responsible for determining your sex. Whether someone, has either an XX or XY chromosome will also determine the development of secondary sexual characteristics. For example, one region on the Y chromosome is responsible for the development of testes which later produce male androgens, leading to additional sex differences.
Differences between male and female chromosomes has also been thought to influence observable behavioural differences, as their different coding for neural structures and hormone levels can influence the expression of gender.
Outline the role of hormones in gender
Testosterone - androgen typically 9x higher in males.
Role in sex: responsible for secondary sexual characteristics
Role in gender: linked to higher levels of aggression.
Oestrogen - female sex hormone responsible for the menstrual cycle and the development of secondary sexual characteristics.
Role in gender: linked with behavioural characteristics such as irritability during menstruation.
Oxytocin - hormone provoking closeness and intimacy. After child birth, skin-to-skin contact is strongly encouraged between the mother and child to promote bonding as well as decrease cortisol levels which will have been heightened due to the stressful and strenuous act of childbirth.
Role in gender: oxytocin is typically found in higher levels in females then males; this could contribute towards stereotypes such as women being more affectionate and men valuing sex over intimacy.
Outline atypical chromosome variations and conditions
AIS - androgen insensitivity syndrome
is when during prenatal development a genetic male does not receive any dihydrotestosterone, a hormone responsible for stimulating the growth of the penis. As a result, when born the baby is thought to be biologically female.
CAH - congenital adrenal hyperplasia
When occurring in females, CAH can result in an excess production of androgens leading to more masculine traits and often ambiguous genitalia.
XXY - Klinefelter’s syndrome
Typically occurs in 1/660 boys.
Physical characteristics: taller, longer limbs, less facial hair and smaller testes.
Psychological: cognitive difficulties such as dyslexia, can be passive but prone to getting easily upset and having emotional outbursts.
XO - Turner’s syndrome
Rare
Physical characteristics: shorter, wider chest, short webbed neck, limited breast development and immature appearance.
Turner’s syndrome prevents the individual’s menstrual cycle beginning thus meaning they are sterile.
Psychological: high reading ability but poor in visuo-spatial tasks and with social interactions tend to behave more immaturely.
Discuss atypical chromosome variations
Research into rare chromosome variations has led to the production of drug therapies to help with some of the developmental and behavioural problems which can occur from these syndromes.
Reductionist: conclusions made about behaviours associated with the syndromes being due to chromosomes may be oversimplified. For example, girls with Turner’s syndrome behaving more immaturely may be due to their physical younger appearance leading to differential treatment from others.
For example, Dessens found when surveying 250 CAH females, 95% of these were content with their female gender identity. Despite CAH resulting in them having increased androgen levels and thus more masculine traits, this research suggests environmental influences and social factors were more of a contributing factor when determining gender identity, than hormonal ones.
Outline Kohlberg’s cognitive theory of gender development
A child’s perception of gender will become more advanced and accurate as they mature and progress through the stages of gender development.
Gender identification: 2-3
A child can identify themselves as either a boy or girl and begins to assign others gender labels, but does not yet understand the permanence of gender and that it remains constant across different situations and times.
Gender stability: 4-5
A child begins to recognise that their own gender is constant but doesn’t understand this of others. This may mean confusion occurs when they see gender non-conforming appearances.
Gender consistency: 6+
A child now recognises that their own and others genders are fixed and constant. They will begin to actively seek out same-sex role models to reinforce their beliefs on gender normative behaviour. During the gender consistency stage a child may begin to learn sex-role stereotypes as they observe and imitate the behaviour of role models society has deemed appropriate representations of their gender.
Evaluate Kohlberg’s cognitive theory of gender development
Research support: Thompson
Found when asking children aged 2-5 to identify the gender of others, the older children were more accurate. This supports Kohlberg’s prediction that a child’s perception of gender becomes more accurate as they progress through the stages of gender development.
Research support: Slaby and Frey
When observing a same sex model on a screen along with a model of the opposite sex, researchers found children aged 5-6 spent more time observing the same sex role model. This was in contrast to the younger children who were said to be in the gender identification stage, who showed no such preference. This supports Kohlberg’s hypothesis that children in the gender consistency stage will actively seek out same sex role models.
Methodological issues:
Kohlberg’s theory of gender development was built off the interviews conducted with children as young as 2 years old. This means an inaccurate portrayal of younger children’s gender perception may have been concluded. For example, a young child may have a sophisticated concept of gender but would be unable to effectively articulate this due to limited vocabulary. Moreover, Kohlberg conducted the interviews, meaning they could be subject to researcher bias; Kohlberg knew what he expected to find and had preconceived ideals of the cognitive development of children. These beliefs could have led to inaccurate interpretations of interviewees responses.
Contradictory evidence:
GST posits that children gain an advanced understanding of gender at a younger age than Kohlberg suggested. This is supported by research from Bussey and Bandura. They found that children as young as 4 were more comfortable when playing with toys deemed appropriate for their gender. This counters Kohlberg’s prediction that children only begin to display gender-appropriate behaviour once they have reached the gender consistency stage.
Biologically reductionist:
Kohlberg’s theory of gender development places a large emphasis maturational and neurodevelopmental changes which were said to trigger transitions between stages. This ignores social and learning factors which can influence someone’s gender identity. For example, media portrayals or the extent a child’s own parents identify with their gender.
Outline gender schema theory
Proposed by Martin and Halverson, GST suggests that once a child reaches the gender identification stage at around 2-3, they begin to actively develop their gender schemas through their interactions with their environment.
Gender schemas refer to one’s mental representations about what gender is and stereotypes towards gendered behaviour. A child’s gender schema will influence how they themselves behave, keeping their actions in alignment with what they perceive gender appropriate behaviour to be. Their schemas will also influence how they automatically expect others to behave.
Martin and Halverson outline two types of gender schema, in-group and out-group. A child will tend to only identify with and pay attention to their gendered in-group, and actively look for information to behave more like the members of their in-group. Initially, a child will ignore members of the outgroup as they recognise their schemas to be inconsistent with their own. As a child matures and cognitively develop they will begin to recognise out-group schemas and not hold as binary views on gender.
Information that is in alignment with one’s schema is more likely to be remembered.
Evaluate gender schema theory
Research support: Martin and Halverson
When showing 6 year olds images of either gender-consistent or inconsistent behaviour, Martin and Halverson found that when asked to recall these images a week later, recall accuracy was higher for those shown the gender consistent behaviour. It was also found that those shown inconsistent behaviour switched the sex shown in the photo upon recall, to match the gendered activity. This supports the idea that we have gender schemas about what is considered to be gender normative behaviour can act as default expectations and influence memory recall.
Martin and Little:
Found that children as young as 3 showed strongly sex-stereotyped behaviour and attitudes. eg: preference to toys in alignment with their own gender. This suggests that children form gender norms and behaviours as young as GST predicts and that they only need to reach the gender identification stage in order to develop a concept of gender. This therefore weakens Kohlberg’s theory.
Bauer found that young boys could recall significantly more stereotypical male behaviour opposed to female. This supports GST’s suggestion that children pay more attention to and have a better understanding of their in-group.
Methodological issues:
Like Kohlberg, GST used findings from things such as interviews with children to develop their cognitive theory. This can reduce the objectivity of findings as children may be more subject to demand characteristics and only giving responses they assume the researcher wants to hear.
Alternative biological explanation:
Biological explanations propose that gendered behaviour is instinctual and the result of innate processes. This could better account for the fact that despite cultural differences we tend to see similar expectations in most societies of what masculine behaviour is (competitive, dominant) and what feminine behaviour is (nurturing and affectionate)
This alternative explanation has supporting evidence from Alexander and Hines. They found that without any prior experience male vervet monkeys showed a significant preference towards masculine toys (truck), the same was said for female monkeys (doll.)
Outline Freud’s psychodynamic explanation for gender development
Freud’s psychodynamic approach assumes behaviour is shaped and driven by unconscious drives, his psychoanalytic theory applies this to gender development, outlining how gendered behaviour develops as a result of unconscious thought processes.
Freud proposes that an individual’s sexuality develops as they progress through the 5 psychosexual stages, in particular gender development occurs when a conflict is resolved during the 3rd phallic stage at the age of around 5 and where the focus of the libido is on the child’s genitals.
During the phallic stage, boys will have to resolve the Oedipus Complex. This occurs when they develop sexual feelings towards their mother and thus view their father as a sexual rival. Out of fear that the father will find out of their desires, the boy will have castration anxiety, fearing his father will castrate him out of punishment for his desires. These sexual feelings and anxieties are eventually repressed once the child sees his father as a role model; internalising his attitudes, and behaviours, a boy will begin to develop a masculine gender identity, leading to the eventual resolution of their complex.
Similarly, Jung proposes that girls face their own complex in the Phallic stage. During the Electra complex girls believe to have been castrated by their mother, resulting in desires for a (penis) and feelings of resentment towards their mother. In turn, they instead become attached to their fathers and view themselves in competition with their mother for the father’s sexual attention. Eventually, she learns to see her mother as a role model and internalises their values and begins to emulate her behaviour. In turn previous desires for a penis are replaced by feminine, maternal desires for a baby.
Freud concludes that when a child resolves their Oedipus or Electra complex, they will have internalised and identified with the role of their same-sex parent, meaning they emerge out of the Phallic stage with the gendered behaviours and attitudes of their mother or father.
