Slides Week 8

Question 1

Gender and Sexuality

Answer 1

• Gender:
  
  • Terminology; Flexibility; Typing; Consolidation; Gender and Ageing.
• Sexuality:
  
  • Sexual orientation, Sexual behaviour.

Question 2

Identity Domains -

Answer 2

• Erikson (1968):
• The identity crisis associated with the stage of adolescence in resolved in THREE domains:
  
  • Vocation (Occupation).
  • Ideology (Religion/Morality/Politics).
• Resolution of the crisis in the domain of interpersonal relationships involves:
  
  • The consolidation of a gender role.
  • A decision about sexual orientation

Question 3

Erikson Stages of Development - Gender & Sexuality

Answer 3

• Intimacy v. Isolation.
• Generativity v. Stagnation.

Question 4

Gender Definition

Answer 4

• The cultural way of performing biological sex
• Traditionally considered Male/Female Binary
• Integral part of everyday life routines
• Construction of ‘gender’ begins at birth and is continually shaped throughout lifespan.
• Can be regarded in most cultures as a main status indicator
• Argued that gender is a fundamental component of the “structure of domination and subordination and division of labour in the family and economy” (Lorber & Farrell, 1991, pp. 1-2) ​

Question 5

Doing Gender

Answer 5

• Competence of men and women as gendered beings is often determined on the basis of how well they demonstrate the qualities/characteristics associated with maleness and femaleness.
• Taught/learned at a very young age of what girls versus boys should do.
• Institutions (e.g., school, family, religious organisations) have a great level of influence on shaping expectations around gender.
• It can be argued that institutions promote these expectations to maintain modes of operations and values in society.

Question 6

Gender

Answer 6

• Many individuals use the term gender synonymously with sex
• Gender is a social construct based on biological features pertaining to genitalia.
• Constantly modified through human interactions in a myriad of social contexts
• In most cultures/societies an individual’s gender is considered binary oppositions:

Question 7

Binary Oppositions

Answer 7

• Traditional conceptions of genders:
• Masculine: Assertive, independent, aggressive, leadership, protective.
• Feminine: Nurturing, warm, passive, dependent.

Question 8

Gender Stereotype

Answer 8

• Fixed, oversimplified and distorted ideas about women and men based upon their presumed biological sex.
• Assumption is that gender must be consistent with biological sex.

Question 9

Gender Flexibility

Answer 9

• Greater flexibility in behaviours that are permissible among males and especially females in contemporary society compared with fifty years ago, gender stereotypes continue to be widespread across Western countries.
• However, there is less consistency in what constitutes appropriately gendered behaviour for men and women when research based upon non-Western cultures is considered.

Question 10

Mead 1935 - Gender Flexibility

Answer 10

Mead (1935): Lived and worked in three tribal societies in Papua New Guinea.

• Mundugmor (head hunters).
  
  • Men and women both aggressive.
  • Women disdained child rearing and child bearing because it interrupted participation in warring parties against neighbouring villages.
• Arapesh.
  
  • Men and women both gentle and peaceful.
  • Both men and women nurtured children.
• Tchambuli/Chambri
  
  • Men were engaged in rearing of children, gossiping, beautification rituals, and bickering.
  • Women were responsible for providing food for the family (fish), kept heads shaven, disdained ornaments, and were more highly sexed and aggressive than the men.

Question 11

International Gender Flexibility

Answer 11

Cultures with more than two genders

• Maori culture. Wakawahine: men who engage in traditionally feminine occupations. Wakatane: females who pursue traditionally male roles.
• Filipino culture. Bakla: biological males who adopts the dress, mannerisms and social roles of females.
• Samoan culture. Fa’afafine: biological males with strong feminine gender orientation.
• Gender roles understood differently than in West.
• Therefore, gender is not fixed according to biology, but flexible.

Question 13

Gender Typing

Answer 13

• Individuals develop a gender identity that is consistent with his/her biological sex
• The process by which females become feminine, and by which males become masculine.
• ‘Getting their gender right’ = being normal
  
  • Those who adopt identities outside the dominant versions of gender
  • Those who do not perform within socially accepted boundaries of masculinity and femininity risk marginalisation

Question 14

Gender Typing

Answer 14

• Etaugh & Rathus (1995):
• Children acquire awareness of gender role stereotypes by the ages of 2 and a half to 3 and a half years
• When asked to describe differences between boys and girls, boys and girls agree that:
  
  • Boys: Build things, play with transportation toys, enjoy helping fathers, hit other children.
  • Girls: Enjoy playing with dolls, helping their mothers cook and clean, are talkative, depend on others for help, are nonviolent. ​
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