sex and gender, sex-role stereotypes and androgyny

Question 1

sex definition

Answer 1

biological term which refers to the biological differences between males and females including anatomy, physiology, hormones and brain chemistry

Question 2

gender definition

Answer 2

refers to social and cultural aspects associated with males and females including behaviour, personality traits and attitudes - gender can change over time and within cultures

Question 3

what did Archer and Lloyd find

Answer 3

3 year old’s who played with opposite sex games were ridiculed by peers and ostracised showing stereotypes have been passed down

Question 4

stereotypes evaluations

Answer 4

• can lead to discrimination for certain members, e.g women in work are less likely to become employed as its stereotyped that men are smarter, also healthcare women are given sedatives when men given painkillers - issue as it leads to restricted opportunities
• less sex-role stereotyping than previous generations, recently stereotypes have been challenged meaning it may be outdated

Question 5

androgyny definition and why could it be an advantage

Answer 5

when an individual shows male and female gender characteristics simultaneously - could be an advantage because can adapt to lots of situations

Question 6

bem sex role inventory explanation

Answer 6

1975 - Bem challenged idea that someone is either masculine or feminine with her androgynous hypothesis and that femininity and masculinity are two seperate dimensions rather than a continuum - list of 60 items, 20 stereotypically masculine traits/feminine and androgenous = people categorised as masucline, feminine, andogenous or undifferentiated

Question 7

research support by Rose and Montemayor

Answer 7

25-30% of us high school students defined themselves as androgenous with more girls then boys showing this pattern, more girls falling into masculine category than males in feminine category = supports idea that sex roles are less rigid among older children
however masculine traits are socially desirable whereas males dont want to be seen as feminine

Question 8

BSRI test evaluation

Answer 8

• good test-retest reliability, questionnaire and quantitative data so easy to compare results, research found when p’s did test a second time results were similar = more confident results are valid and accurate
• lack temporal and cultural validity, created in 1970’s in america with what they defined as masucline and feminine traits, only represents western cultures others will have different traits = lacks generalisability
• reducing masculinity and femininity to a single score is over-simplistic, gender is more than a trait its how we dress+hobbies etc = reductionist as gender is more complex = invalid