Five Feminist Challenges to Mainstream Psychology

1. Five Feminist Challenges to Mainstream Psychology • 1- Psychology is a poor science: it has mismeasured women. • 2- The problem is not women, but women’s internalization of oppression. • 3- We can gain a different perspective by listening to women’s voices.

2. 4- We should displace the question of sex differences. • 5- We should reconstruct the question of sex differences.

3. Methodology • 1 – The Myth of Objectivity • 2- A Method is A Theory • 3- Critique of Politics of Psychology

4. Principles of Feminist Research (Worell and Etaugh, 1994). • 1 - Challenging the Traditional Scientific Method. • a) Correcting the bias in the research process. • b) Expanding samples beyond White middle class participants. • c) Acknowledging the legitimacy of both quantitative and qualitative methods.

5. 2-Focusing on the experiences of women. • a) Examining diverse categories of women. • b) Investigating topics relevant to women’s lives. • c) Attending to women’s strengths as well as their concerns.

6. 3-Considering gender imbalances in power. • a) recognizing that women’s subordinate status is arising out of a power imbalance, not deficiency. • b) attempting to empower women.

7. 4- Recognizing gender as an important category for investigation. • a) Understanding that a persons gender can influence expectations about and responses to that person

8. 5- Recognizing the importance of language. • Changing language to be inclusive of women. • Understanding that language can both influence thought and be influenced by thought.

9. 6- Promoting Social Change • creating a science that benefits women. • Guiding action that will lead to justice for women.

10. Gender: refers to psychological characteristics and social categories that are created by human culture. (e.g. Gender roles). • Sex refers only to the physiological characteristics related to reproduction (i.e. Sex chromosomes or sex organs).

11. Karraker et al., 1995 1 2 BG 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Strong Weak 1 2 3 4 5 B 6 G7 8 9 Large Featured Fine Featured 1 2 3 B 4 5 G 6 7 8 9 Hardy Delicate 1 2 B 3 4 5 6 7 8 G 9 Masculine Feminine **Average ratings for newborn girls and boys on four dimensions.B = boy G= girl

12. Theories of Gender Development • 1- Social Learning Theory • children are rewarded for gender appropriate behavior and they are punished for gender inappropriate behavior; • and children watch and imitate the behavior of the gender of other people of their own gender.

13. Cognitive Developmental Approach • focuses on thoughts. • children are active thinkers who seek information from their environment and try to make sense of this information and organize it in a coherent fashion. • Acquire gender schemas which teach gender appropiate behaviour

14. Essentialist vs. Nonessentialist discovered vs. invented biological vs. social inherent vs. product of interaction unalterable vs. easily changed enduring vs. transient universal vs. individual mutually exclusive traits vs. overlapping alpha bias vs. beta bias (minimizing differences)

15. Interaction Theory • local biology • “… this notion derives from a perspective on human embodiment grounded in the ‘lived body’, a body that is ‘simultaneously a physical and symbolic artifact’, both naturally and culturally produced. The position taken by Lock also acknowledges the plasticity of human biology, particularly at the level of physiology and chemistry, and its interdependence with culture” (Stoppard, 1997, p. 27).

16. What Shapes Gender Typing? • Parents • Peers • School • Media including TV and Cartoons • Clothing • Toys • Books

17. Sexualization of Girls

18. Gregory Smith (1985) • attractive girls more like to receive prosocial treatment • less attractive girls more likely to be hit, pushed and kicked. • no correlation between attractiveness and prosocial treatement for the boys • Lesson: physical attractiveness is important for females and pretty girls and women will receive better treatment. • Boys learn that physical attractiveness is not really relevant to their lives.

19. Rosa Brooks • “First, we darted into Abercrombie & Fitch, joining a gaggle of preteens checking out the T-shirts. Perhaps a slinky pink number that coyly declared "The Rumors Are True"? Or maybe the masculine gray one emblazoned with "Something About You Attracts Me — I Wish I Could Put My Finger On It"? Well, no thanks. We headed toward Limited Too, where we found thong-like underwear sized for 7-year-old girls. My 4-year-old was entranced: "Mommy, those underpants have no walls!"We soldiered on, through Old Navy (where the toddler section carries clothes that make 2-year-olds look like Britney Spears), through Toys R Us (where ads for the scantily clad Bratz Babyz dolls, with their bottles and their painted toenails, boast that these "Babyz already know how to flaunt it, and they're keepin' it real in the crib!"), and past the Disney Store (where little girls can covet seashell bikinis like those worn by the Little Mermaid and glittery halter tops like those worn by Princess Jasmine in the surprisingly broad-minded sultanate of Agrabah).

20. By the time we made it to CVS Pharmacy, I thought we were out of the woods. Wrong. Those bare-midriffed Disney princesses are everywhere — even, it turns out, on diapers sized for people weighing 18 to 34 pounds. • In our hyper-commercialized consumerist society, there's virtually no escaping the relentless sexualization of younger and younger children. My 26-month-old daughter didn't emerge from the womb clamoring for a seashell bikini like Princess Ariel's — but now that she's savvy enough to notice who's prancing around on her pull-ups, she wants in on the bikini thing. And my 4-year-old wasn't born demanding lip gloss and nail polish, but when a little girl at nursery school showed up with her Hello Kitty makeup kit, she was hooked.

21. In a culture in which the sexualization of childhood is big business — mainstream mega-corporations such as Disney earn billions by marketing sexy products to children too young to understand their significance — is it any wonder that pedophiles feel emboldened to claim that they shouldn't be ostracized for wanting sex with children? On an Internet bulletin board, one self-avowed "girl lover" offered a critique of this week's New York Times series on pedophilia: "They fail, of course, to mention the hypocrisy of Hollywood selling little girls to millions of people in a highly sexualized way."

22. In your groups, answer the following questions. • What are beauty pageants about? What does it say about what the culture values? What messages do beauty pageants send to girls ? Why don’t boys participate in beauty pageants? • Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why or why not? “Popular media sends the message to girls and young women that sexuality is power and that in turn you can buy this power by dressing provocatively and purchasing the necessary items such as clothes, make up and the ‘right’ toys” • Do you think the sexualization of girls is harmless? Empowering? Neutral? Why or why not? • In less than a page write out your groups response to the following two questions and hand it in the beginning of next week’s class to Catalina. What in your view are the short and long term effects of the sexualization of girls on their psychological well being? b) Why is the Little Miss Sunshine clip ironic?