Gender- Gender, sex and adrogony Flashcards
Define sex
Whether a person is genetically male (XY) or female (XX)
Define gender
An individual sense/ self representation of maleness/femaleness, a social + psychological construct
What are sex role stereotypes?
The shared expectations within a society+ social group regarding what is appropriate behaviour for men and women
What are stereotypes?
Fixed beliefs about a particular group of people
What are stereotypical roles?
The behaviours individuals show in a particular situation which are affected by expectations
What was the aim of Smith and Lloyds research?
To investigate how mothers treat baby girls + boys differently due to sex role stereotypes
What was the procedure for Smith and Lloyds research?
-Mothers videotaped for 10 minutes while playing with the babies
-Baby was 6 months old and was named + dressed as a boy/girl , this was not consistent with their sex
-If mother thought she was playing with a boy she encouraged more motor activity and offered more gender appropriate toys
-Naturalistic observation
What were the findings for Smith and Lloyds research?
-Mothers responded to the perceived sex of infant, inline with gender expectations
What was the conclusion of Smith and Lloyds research?
-Parental behvaiour could impact learning of sex role stereotypes
What is androgny?
a balance between masculine and feminine characteristics
What does BEm argue about androgny?
-Breaking down socially constructed ideas of gender is good for mental health
-People should be able to adopt whatever masculine/feminine characteristics suit their personality
What was the Bem sex role inventory a measure of?
Androgny
What did the Bem sex role inventory initially involve?
-University students had to choose the 20 most femmenine + masculine traits and 10 most undeseriable + undeseriable gender neutral traits
-had to rate themselves for each adjective on a scale of 1-10
What were the 4 categories for the BSRI?
-Maculine= high M, low F
-Feminine= low M, high F
-Androgenous= high M, high F
-Undifferentiated= low M, low F
Give an example of research which used the BSRI?
-Flaherty + Duesk
-A group of teenagers did the BSRI and self esteem questionnaires
-Androgenous teenagers had higher self esteem, better wellbeing + more adaptable behaviour
-Supports Bems theory (adrogony leads to better well-being)
Give an evaluation point (Real world application)
-If adrogony is better for physical and psychological health it should be applied to real world
-Encourage parents to raise their children gender free
-Idividual cases- British couple raised son in a gender neutral manner, child was aware of their sex as the biological facts cannot be hidden but the child did not identify as any other gender apart from male
-however there were accusations of child abuse surrounding this case which shows how strongly people feel about gender stereotypes
Give an evaluation point (Real life evidence)
-Shows the prevalance of sex role stereotypes
-Sood et al- only 12% of primary teachers + 3% of nursery staff in Britain are male due to early years teaching being a female dominated profession
-Females nurturing abilities + unsuitability of males due to their intimidating + threatening personalities
-Strength as it shows that sex role stereotypes exist in todays society as they impact individuals job/ career choices
-Significant impact on society as these created ‘suitable job’ categories place restrictive barriers on positive role models which moth males and females could play
Give an evaluation point (support for Bems theory)
-Bems theory
-Prakesh- tested 100 married females in India in terms of masculinity/feminity
-Outcomes were related to physical health, depression, anxiety and perceived stress
-masculinity and feminity was measured using the personal attritube scale (which assese adrogony)
-Females with high masculinity had lower depression scores
-Supports the view that adrogony has a psychoprotective effect as those with a better sense of both masculinity and feminity were better in terms of overall health
Give an evaluation point (Valdity of BSRI)
-confounding variable= self esteem
-Most adjectives on BSRI are socially desirable, therefore people who score highly on both M+F traits would be higher in self esteem
-Suggests that it does not explain psychological healthiness
-As the adjective are socially desirable, response bias is an issue
-Liberman+ Gaa analysed data from 133 graduate students who classed themselves as androgenous, only had a higher overall score so just gave themselves a higher ranking for each adjective
-Temporal validity- adjectives are outdated, 1970s, may not be relevant to todays society and other cultures
Why is research conducted on adrogony considered ethnocentric?
-research conducted on WEIRD (western, educated,industrialized,rich, democratic) communities
-assumptions that androgyny, and especially the masculine traits associated with it, is the ideal gender identity are culturally biased and should not be imposed on other cultures
-More research into gender identity in non-Western cultures would need to be conducted to know what the ideal gender identity would be in these cultures.
Give an advantage of adrogony (linked to issues and debates)
-Holistic
-Inclusion of masculine and feminine traits into an individual’s identity
What part of issues and debates does gender stereotypes link to?
Nature/nurture
