Chapter 12

1. Chapter 12 Gender

2. What is Gender? • Sex is being biologically male or female • Gender is the social psychological dimension of sex • Gender role – set of expectations of how a person will act, think & feel because of their sex • Gender typing – how a person acquires appropriate gender behavior

3. Gender – Biological or Plastic? • Prenatal hormone theory • CAH (congenital adrenal hyperplasia) • Androgen insensitive males • Pelvic field defect • Missing penis • Castrated & raised as girls • Do not accept this identify

4. Gender – Biological Influences • Testosterone • Sex & violence • Violent criminals have high levels • Pro-players have higher levels than ministers • Social Gregariousness • Math & Spatial Ability

5. Gender – Social Influence & Learning Theories • Social role theory • Power & status • Social-cognitive theory of gender • Observation, imitation & reinforcement

6. Gender– Cognitive Influence Theories • Cognitive developmental theory • Must have a masculine or feminine identity • Gender constancy • Gender schema theory • Organize the world as male/female

7. Gender Stereotyping • Gender stereotyping is pervasive • Men – dominant, aggressive, independent, achievement-oriented, enduring • Women – nurturing, affiliative, less esteemed, more helpful in distress Williams & Best (1982) 30 countries

8. Example Gender Differences • Physical – men taller, less body fat; stronger; more stress hormones; shorter life expectancy • Cognitive – men better in math/spatial; women in verbal • Communication – women like rapport talk; men report talk • Social-emotional – women read & express emotions more

9. Gender Differences – Emotional Expression • Elementary School • Boys hide emotions like sadness more • Girls hide disappointment • Adolescence • Girls feel more sadness, shame, guilt • Boys deny their emotions

10. Gender Differences - Emotional Regulation • Boys regulate their emotions more poorly than girls do. • This leads to • More behavior problems, aggression, teasing, low cooperation, overreaction to frustration

11. Gender Differences - SocioEmotional • Boys are more physically aggressive • Equally verbally aggressive • Girls are more relationally aggressive • Boys are more active, adventurous

12. Gender Differences - Brain • Females brains smaller, more surface • Larger corpus callosum; more bilateral use • Emotional expression areas more active; more general activity • Males • Larger area on hypothalamus related to sex drive • Larger parietal lobe area for visual-spatial

13. Are Gender Differences Important? • Janet Shifley Hyde (feminist psychologist) • Gender differences are exaggerated • Meta analyses minimize the verbal, math, etc. • Largest differences are in motor skills, sex, physical aggression

14. Are Gender Differences Important? • Sometimes. • Nurses vs. architects & engineers • Men have more accidents • Should women be in combat? • Women often disrespected • Double standard (morality) • Women have babies; men do not

15. What is Androgyny? • Bem Sex-role Inventory • Androgynous • Masculine • Feminine • Undifferentiated • Gender-role transcencence

16. Gender Socialization • Boys get earlier & more intense socialization • Male role models are less accessible to young boys • Socialization more flexible for girls

17. War on Boys? • Told to act tough and not show feelings • Pollock 1999 • Others – “War on Boys” • Not allowed to be active, aggressive • Over-diagnosed ADHD • Do not do well in school

18. Are gender roles important? • The “weaker sex” • Women as property • Influence of Christianity • Influence of Technology • Women in the workforce • Changing the work team dynamics • Changing the family team dynamics • Who’s minding the children?

19. Gender in Adulthood • Women • Role overload • Role conflict • Men • Role strain • Contradictory, inconsistent demands • Poorly-defined role • Problems with health & relationships

20. What is Gender Identity Disorderand What Causes It? • Normal sex role development and adjustment may be hampered by father absence (Rekers, 1986) • Gender Identity Disorder of Childhood (American Psychiatric Association,1980)

21. A Study on Gender Identity Disorder • Young children try out a variety of sex-role behaviors • Four pathological patterns have been identified • Hyper masculine (male) • Violent, destructive, uncontrolled & lacking in social sensitivity • Hyper feminine (male) • Feminine movements, girls clothes, girl playmates, childbearing fantasies

22. A Study on Gender Identity Disorder • In one NIMH study of 70 gender-disturbed boys, the boys were found to be physically normal • However, 80% of mothers and 45% of fathers had a history of mental problems/psychiatric treatment.

23. Gender Identity Disorder & Father Absence • Findings • Fathers were absent in all cases of the most disturbed boys, and 54% of those less disturbed. • 75% of most disturbed & 37% of less disturbed had no father or father substitute present in the home • Average age of separation from the father was 3.55 years; the most common cause was divorce. • Where a father or father substitute was present, he was described as “psychologically remote” in 60% of the cases.

24. A Study on Gender Identity Disorder • The same study reports results of treatment/intervention that appears to have been successful. • If untreated, by late adolescence or adulthood, about three-fourths of boys with a childhood history of Gender Identity Disorder report a homosexual or bisexual orientation, but without concurrent GID.

25. A Study on Gender Identity Disorder • Recommendations include: • Better communication of research on the effects of divorce of the parents on the children • Using preventive education to teach fathers the value and importance of their active, warm, emotional involvement with their children • Further research on claims regarding the therapeutic effects of religious conversion and church support on curing transsexualism

26. Transgender • An umbrella term coined by activists to describe individuals who are: • Heterosexual cross-dressers • Homosexual transvestites • Transsexuals • She-males

27. Gender Bill of Rights Second International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment Policy, Houston, Texas, 1993 “All human beings carry within themselves an ever-unfolding idea of who they are and what they are capable of achieving. The individual’s sense of self is not determined by chromosomal sex, genitalia, assigned birth sex, or initial gender role. Thus the individual’s identity and capabilities cannot be circumscribed by what society deems to be masculine or feminine behavior. It is fundamental that individuals have the right to define, and to redefine as their lives unfold, their own gender identity, without regard to chromosomal sex, genitalia, assigned birth sex, or initial gender role.”

28. Gender Bill of Rights • Based upon the statement on the previous slide, the following rights are claimed: • Free expression of gender identity. • Right to control and change one’s body. • Competent medical & professional care. • Freedom from psychiatric diagnosis or treatment. • Right to sexual expression. • Right to form committed, loving relationships and enter into marital contracts • Right to conceive or adopt children & have custody of children & parental rights

29. Are Transgenders Mentally Disordered? • The DSM still lists transsexualism and transvestism as paraphilias. • (Homosexuality was removed from the DSM in 1973.) • At the APA meeting in San Francisco in 2003, a case was presented that these along with sado-masochism and bestiality should be removed from the DSM since there is no longer a “baseline” for judging normal behavior. • However, it has been pointed out by opponents of this idea that sex/gender is determined in the DNA and is essentially unchangeable despite surgeries, hormone therapies and alternate lifestyles.

30. New Hate-Crimes Legislation • Gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation have been added to the list of protected categories/behaviors. The definition of these terms is unclear, permitting a broad interpretation.