Download Gender Roles and Sexuality

Gender Roles and Sexuality
Ethnic Variation
• gender roles are a product of culture
– cultural heritage, social & economic conditions
• gender roles are not uniform
– different ethnic groups define gender roles differently
Gender Schema Theory
• set of ideas we associate with males & females
– behaviors, personality, appearance
• influences how we process information
– dichotomize information on the basis of gender
– leads us to distort or fail to remember stereotype inconsistent information
• indicates difficult, slow process of changing stereotypes
Socialization
• ways in which society conveys norms or expectations for behavior
• socializing agents: parents, peer group, media
– encourage conformity to gender role standards
• although gender roles are universal (all societies have them), the content of these roles varies from
one culture to the next, from one ethnic group to another, & from one social class to another
Psychological Differences
• physical & verbal aggressiveness
– difference decreases with age
• self-disclosure
– changes among college students
• understanding nonverbal behaviors
Differences in Sexuality
• masturbation
• attitudes about casual sex
• arousal to erotica ?
• orgasm consistency
• sex drive
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Reasons for Differences
• differences are real, but not as large as previously believed
– self-reporting is shaped by cultural expectations
• biological factors (anatomy & hormones) ?
• cultural factors
– double standard
– gender roles
– marital & family roles
• other factors
– fear of pregnancy
– ineffective techniques of stimulating the woman
– women’s inexperience with masturbation
– “erotic dependency”
Differences over the Life Span
• peak of sexual interest, intensity, response
– males in their twenties and declines
– females in their thirties and maintain plateau
• person-centered vs. body-centered sex
– these patterns are culturally , not biologically, produced
Transsexualism
• transsexual: believes he/she was born with the body of the other gender (mtf, ftm)
– transsexualism is a problem of gender and gender identity, not sexual behavior
– gender reassignment process
• counseling and evaluation
• hormone therapy
• real life experience
• surgery (ftm change is more complex and less successful)
• passing
• majority of those who go through the entire process are satisfied with the outcome of
their surgery
• transgender: broader category of people (including transexuals) whose gender identity does not
match their physical gender, but do not seek gender reassignment surgery
– may prefer hormone treatments
– may prefer to leave their body unaltered and consider themselves as third gender category
• causes of transsexualism
– no definite cause has been found
– gender identity disorder found in children as young as 2 or 3 years old
– mtf outnumber ftm by ratio of 2:1
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