Gender and Culture Flashcards
Define sex
: The biological makeup of an individual
Gender definition
The cultural interpretation of sex (Morgenroth & Ryan, 2020); a construct that includes aspects of identity, expression, role and experience (Iantaffi, 2021)
Gender identity
The self-categorization into groups, e.g. male, female, non-binary, etc
Sexual orientation
a person’s identity in relation to the gender(s) they are attracted to (e.g. bisexual, gay, lesbian, asexual, heterosexual, etc
what is the gender-sex binary
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
Is gender binary?
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
What if w think of gender in terms of gender identity?
then the self-categorisation of non-binary individuals and transgender individuals traversing gender offers clear evidence against gender being binary
is the gender binary harmful?
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)
Is the gender binary harmful pt2?
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)
The Status Incongruity Hypothesis
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
Status Incongruity Hypothesis - impacting man
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
Impacts of the gender-binary
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
Whats the gender-binary (Morgenroth and Ryan 2020)
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
approaches to the study of gender - BOHAN 1993
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
Gender as a performance
‘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
How is gender performed?What factors are important? (Morgenroth & Ryan, 2020)
example
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
Gender development - how do we learn about gender?
whats gender socialisation?
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
Gender development
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
SLT ( bandura 1977)
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
media as a source of gender
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
Gender in television programmes
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
Exposure to gender stereotypes
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
Why is this important
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
gender across cultures
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
