Sex, Gender And BSRI

Question 1

Sex

Answer 1

A biological status, either male or female. It is defined by chromosomes, hormones and anatomical differences (reproductive organs, hair growth).
INNATE

Question 2

Gender

Answer 2

A psychosocial that refers to notions about the expected roles, behaviours and attitudes of males and females within a society. Social structure that can change. (NURTURE).

Question 3

Gender dysphoria

Answer 3

When a person’s sex does not reflect the way they feel inside and the gender they identify themselves as being.

Question 4

Sex - role stereotypes

Answer 4

• Social expectations shared by a culture on how males and females should behave. They are not valid and can lead to sexist attitudes and incorrect assumptions.

Question 5

Media and sex-role stereotypes

Answer 5

Furnham and Farrager (2000) found that men were more likely to be shown in autonomous context in professional roles whereas women were more likely to be seen in familial roles with domestic settings. Reinforces sex roles.

Question 6

Ingalhaiker: MRI

Answer 6

Mapped female and male brains with MRI.
- female brains have better connections across hemispheres.
- male brains have better connections within hemispheres.

Question 7

Rubin: parental stereotyping

Answer 7

• looked at when stereotyping occurred
• parents were asked to describe their new baby after the first 24 hours.
  Girls: described as soft/delicate
  Boys: described as strong/ alert.
• stereotyping happens even earlier on now with “gender reveals” from 16 weeks.

Question 8

Batista boys “penis at 14”

Answer 8

4 boys from the Dominican republic were born with ambiguous genitalia (due to chemicals from a nearby factory). Genitalia looked female so they were raised as female. However, during puberty they “became male”. Their sex was XY (later found out). They socialised were and fine and went on to marry/ have kids (could be due to patriarchal views in DR).

Question 9

Androgyny

Answer 9

A balance of masculine and feminine traits (physically and mentally). That can be adapted to a situation.

Question 10

Bem’s sex role/inventory (BSRI)

Answer 10

The BSRI has 60 questions, 20 male, 20 female and 20 neutral and a 7 point scale to rate each trait (1 being always true and 7 being never true).
- in total there are 4 categorisations that can be made:
• masculine (high masc score)
• feminine (high fem score)
• androgynous (high score on both masc and fem)
• unclassified (low score on both masc and fem)

Question 11

AO3 of BSRI:

Answer 11

+ pilot study used: 100 people judged 200 traits and agreed on 60 masculine, feminine and neutral = VALID. One month later, test and retest is agreed, reliable! (Counts as 2 marks)

• lacks temporal validity: societal views of sex-roles have changed since the 1970s.
• Cultural bias: developed in USA which is a western individualistic culture, not generalisable.
• Self-report: people may lie to be classed as one that they considers desirable.
• Reductionist: reduces the complexities of gender down to 60 traits. We should consider interests, jobs, hobbies to fully understand.