Gender and Culture

Question 1

Define sex

Answer 1

: The biological makeup of an individual

Question 2

Gender definition

Answer 2

The cultural interpretation of sex (Morgenroth & Ryan, 2020); a construct that includes aspects of identity, expression, role and experience (Iantaffi, 2021)

Question 3

Gender identity

Answer 3

The self-categorization into groups, e.g. male, female, non-binary, etc

Question 4

Sexual orientation

Answer 4

a person’s identity in relation to the gender(s) they are attracted to (e.g. bisexual, gay, lesbian, asexual, heterosexual, etc

Question 5

what is the gender-sex binary

Answer 5

The belief that both sex and gender are binary and that gender follows directly from sex (Morgenroth & Ryan, 2020)

:Those born with two X chromosomes will grow up to identify as, and fulfil the social role of, women

.Those born with an X and a Y chromosome will grow up to identify as, and fulfil the social role of, men

Question 6

Is gender binary?

Answer 6

In terms of traits, abilities, interests and behaviours, men and women do not clearly fall into two distinct categories (Hyde, 2005)

Research suggests sex differences are dimensional, rather than categorical (Carothers & Reis, 2013; Reis & Carothers, 2014)

.Individual men and women exhibit and engage in a mix of both “feminine” and “masculine” attributes and behaviours (Hyde et al., 2019; Joel et al., 2015

Question 7

What if w think of gender in terms of gender identity?

Answer 7

then the self-categorisation of non-binary individuals and transgender individuals traversing gender offers clear evidence against gender being binary

Question 8

is the gender binary harmful?

Answer 8

Oppositional and discrete genders are seen as an essential part of humanness and those who fail to perform their gender “correctly” are punished by society (Butler, 1990)

Punishment aimed at a range of groups:

• Transgender, nonbinary, and intersex (Seelman, 2014)
• LGB community (DeSouza et al., 2017; Dyar & London, 2018)
• Cis women and men who violate gender norms (Moss-Racusin et al., 2010; Rudman et al., 2012)

Question 9

Is the gender binary harmful pt2?

Answer 9

Negative consequences can include economic and social penalties for behaving counter-stereotypically, including excelling at activities and roles previously denied to one’s group members (Rudman & Fairchild, 2004)

Research has found that when women exhibit agentic traits (e.g. competent, confident, assertive), perceivers dislike them more than agentic men (Phelan & Rudman, 2010; Rudman & Phelan, 2008)

Prejudice against agentic women places them in a ‘double bind’ – be disrespected or disliked (Eagly & Carli, 2007)

Question 10

The Status Incongruity Hypothesis

Answer 10

The status incongruity hypothesis proposes that agentic women are penalised for ‘status violations’

Status incongruence elicits backlash (e.g. hiring discrimination)

Rudman, Moss-Racusin, Phelan, & Nauts (2012) across several studies found support of the status incongruity hypothesis, arguing that backlash against agentic women functions to preserve male dominanc

Question 11

Status Incongruity Hypothesis - impacting man

Answer 11

Male nurses are frequent targets of bullying (Erikson & Einarsen, 2004)

Rudman & Mescher (2013) investigated male workers who request family leave

• Male leave requesters experienced ‘femininity stigma’
• Compared with controls, male leave requesters were viewed as higher on weak, feminine traits (e.g. weak and uncertain) and lower on agentic masculine traits (e.g. competitive and ambition

Question 12

Impacts of the gender-binary

Answer 12

For some groups, not performing in accordance with the gender binary is associated with harassment, violence, and in some cases death

.A meta-analysis found that 28% of LGB individuals reported being a victim of sexual assault because of their sexual orientation (Katz-Wise & Hyde, 2012)

Transgender individuals face heightened risks, reporting experiences of discrimination, harassment, and violence (Bachmann & Gooch, 2017

Question 13

Whats the gender-binary (Morgenroth and Ryan 2020)

Answer 13

argue that the gender binary goes beyond the direct impact for those who disrupt it sustains a gendered system of power imbalance that oppresses women and other marginalised groups, and encourages harmful behaviours in men, reflected in high levels of suicide and incarceration (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2019; National Institute of Mental Health, 201

Question 14

approaches to the study of gender - BOHAN 1993

Answer 14

identified that there are generally two approaches to the study and understanding of gender:(

1) An essentialist view – sees gender as being resident within the individual and entirely separate from a person’s ongoing experiences, social context, or any external pressures or influences;
(2) A social constructionist view – sees gender as not being a fixed trait, but is ‘societally made’, focusing on ‘transactions’ and ‘performances’ that are understood to be gender-specific

Question 15

Gender as a performance

Answer 15

‘Performing’ is central to social constructionist views of gender

Gender is something that is ‘done’ (Goffman, 1959; Deaux & Major, 1987), taking on a performative quality (Butler, 1988

Question 16

How is gender performed?What factors are important? (Morgenroth & Ryan, 2020)
example

Answer 16

Western countries, trousers were considered male clothing until 21st century, and laws prohibited women wearing them in many places (Drover, 2017)

Trousers were therefore clearly part of a man’s costume and women who wore them caused ‘gender trouble’
As more women started wearing trousers, perceptions changed
The imbalance created by women wearing this ‘costume’ was addressed by changing the way trousers were viewed

Question 17

Gender development - how do we learn about gender?

whats gender socialisation?

Answer 17

the process by which individuals are taught how socially behave in accordance with their assigned gender

Gender socialisation begins when we’re born, putting a person into one of two categories: male/female

Question 18

Gender development

Answer 18

children’s acquisition and development of gender-related cognitions tends to follow a systematic pattern (Martin et al., 2002)

At 2 years – verbal indications of gender concept appear

At 3 years – demonstrate knowledge of their own gender

Between 3-6 years – concept of gender becomes increasingly stable and consistent, and begin to form stereotypes

Question 19

SLT ( bandura 1977)

Answer 19

a child’s thinking is affected by reinforcement and imitation

Parents, peers, teachers, and the media play an important role

Gender behaviours are learnt through the process of observational learning and they may later imitate this behaviour

People respond with either reinforcement or punishment

The child takes into account what happens to other people – vicarious reinforcement

Question 20

media as a source of gender

Answer 20

Children’s books have an important role in the process of social learning and identity development (Frawley, 2008; McCabe et al., 2011

)Weitzman et al. (1972) examined children’s picture books and found gender stereotyping and underrepresentation of female characters.“

Children are bound to receive the impression that girls are not very important because no-one bothered to write books about them” (pp. 1129)

.Despite recent improvements, children’s books continue to represent genders in stereotypical ways and underrepresent females (Filipovic, 2018; McCabe et al., 2

Question 21

Gender in television programmes

Answer 21

Cultivation theory (Gerbner et al., 1994): media influences social reality

Kirsch and Murnen (2015)
Analysed programmes aimed at 5-12 year olds

Identified themes of objectifying and valuing girls based on their appearance

Gerding and Signorielle (2014) Content analysis of ‘tween’ television programmes
Females underrepresented in action-adventure genre

Females more concerned about appearance and received more comments about their looks

Question 22

Exposure to gender stereotypes

Answer 22

Williams (1986) carried out a natural experiment in an isolated community called Notel where TV was introduced for the first time

In the two years following, the children of Notel became much more stereotyped in their gender attitudes

Behaviour had become significantly more gendered, implying that the media and media stereotypes have an effect on how children think about their own and others gender

Question 23

Why is this important

Answer 23

Viewers can develop narrow conceptions about their range of possibilities in the world, limiting the scope of acceptable roles and behaviours, and normalizing gender inequalities (Adams et al., 2011

Question 24

gender across cultures

Answer 24

In many other cultures, more than two categories of gender are recognised (Lamg & Kuhnle, 2006)Halverson (2013)

reports that Ojibwe have four genders: Inini; okwe; agokwe; agowinini‘

Berdache’ in the Navajo culture who have considerable prestige and standing

The term berdache is not accepted by indegineous people – used to define first nations who varied from western norms that perceive gender, sex, and sexuality as binaries and inseparable

Meaning does not reflect the cultural and spiritual role of third or fourth gender people living in indigenous culture