Sexuality and Gender Flashcards
Sex
Biology of a person.
Sexuality
Term used to refer to sexual behavior.
Biological sex
Chromosomes, genes, genitals, hormones.
Gender
The psychological aspects of being male or female.
Gender roles
The cultures expectations for masculine and feminine behavior that includes:
Attitudes
Behaviors
Personality traits
Gender identity
Differs from sexual preference
Refers to an individual’s feeling of being male or female.
Forms at a very early age.
Once formed, gender identity is very resistant to change.
Biological influences
Hormones
Example: Female prenatal exposure to androgens (male hormones).
Brain functioning
Example: Male limbic reactions to sexually arousing stimuli found to be more active than female reactions. Evolutionary response suggested as possible cause.
Gender role expectations
More pressure on males to be masculine than is found on females to be feminine.
Example: Term “tomboy” for girls. Equal term for boys? (nope)
Research indicates fathers are more concerned with their male offspring showing male gender behavior than female offspring showing female gender behavior.
Traditional view
Women are seen as responsible for domestic duties. Men are seen as responsible for external activities (i.e., working, farming, physically strenuous labor).
Women are seen as responsible for domestic duties. Men are seen as responsible for external activities (i.e., working, farming, physically strenuous labor).
Trending toward more non-traditional gender-roles.
Collectivist cultures
Remain more traditional in gender-role expectations.
Cognitive differences
Males superior in mathematical and spatial skills.
Females superior in verbal skills (decreasing differences).
Emotional expression
Males tend to talk with each other in a “report” style.
Females tend to talk to each other in a “relate” style.
Gender identity disorder
Disorder characterized by the individual feeling that they occupy the body of the wrong gender.
Transsexualism
Individual experiences an intense desire and need to change their sexual status, including their anatomical structures.
Found in 1/100,000 men and 1/400,000 women.
Problem typically surfaces in puberty (maturational changes).
Non-transsexual gender identity disorder
Discomfort about there assigned gender, often cross-dress, but are not preoccupied with getting rid of their primary and secondary sexual characteristics.
Paraphilias
Sexual disorder in which the person’s preferred method of sexual arousal and fulfillment is through sexual behavior that is unusual or socially unacceptable.
Fetishism
Most fetishists are solitary in their behavior.
Some commit crimes to acquire objects.
Almost always male.
Fetishes vary widely (rubber is particularly popular).
Often begins in adolescence.
Transvestic fetishism
(cross-dressing)
Often uses clothing as a sexual stimulant or fetish.
Most are heterosexual men.
When not cross-dressing, engage in masculine behavior and interests.
Some wear a single item under masculine clothing, others are more involved.
Sadist
Achieving orgasm depends on humiliating others or inflicting pain on them (discipline).
Masochist
Sexual gratification depends on suffering, humiliation, pain, and ill treatment at the hands of others.
Four themes characterize many cases of sadism and masochism
Displays of hypermasculinity and toughness
Administration and receipt of pain
Physical restriction of one person by another
humiliation
Four features are found in most cases of sadomasochism
Agreement as to which partner is to be dominant and which submissive.
Awareness by both partners that they are role-playing.
The consent of both parties.
A shared understanding by both participants that their behavior is sadomasochistic.
Voyeurism
Individual experiences an irresistible, repetitive urge to spy on others through windows or doors, in public bathrooms, parks, beaches.
Individual is typically male, and achieves sexual gratification from doing something forbidden.
Can evolve into flashing, requests for contact.
