Chapter 12 Gender Roles and Sexuality
Biological sex – physical characteristics that define male and female
Gender – the features that a society associates with or considers appropriate for men and women
Virtually all societies expect the two sexes to take on different gender roles
Patterns of behavior that females and males should adopt in a particular society
Each society’s norms generate gender stereotypes
Overgeneralized, largely inaccurate beliefs about what males and females are like
Example: “men never ask for directions”
Sex and Gender – Gender Roles and Stereotypes
In many societies, women’s role of nurturer and childbearer shape their gender-role norms
At the heart of the nurturer role is communality, or communion
Orientation that emphasizes connectedness to others and includes traits of emotionality
and sensitivity to others
Girls who adopt communal traits will be prepared for the roles of wife and mother
The central aspect of the male gender role is agency
An orientation toward individual action and achievement
Emphasizes traits of dominance, independence, assertiveness, and competitiveness
Agentic traits are central to the traditional roles of husband and father – providing for the
family and protecting it from harm
Sex and Gender – Gender Differences or Similarities?
Early research on gender attempted to quantify differences between men and women
Hyde (2005) proposed that it was more accurate to focus on gender similarities
According to the gender similarities hypothesis, “men and women, as well as boys and girls,
are more alike than they are different”
Research measuring group differences or similarities showed
Females sometimes display greater verbal abilities than males, but on most verbal tasks, the
difference is small
Females consistently outperform males in reading
Males outperform females on many tests of spatial ability
Females and males perform similarly on most standardized math tests, and females obtain
slightly higher math grades in the classroom than males
Girls display greater memory ability than boys
Beginning as early as 17 months of age, males engage in more physical and verbal
aggression than females
Before birth and throughout childhood, boys are more physically active than girls
Boys are more developmentally vulnerable
Due to prenatal and perinatal stress and to diseases and disorders such as reading
disabilities, speech defects, hyperactivity, emotional problems, and mental retardation
Girls are more tactful and cooperative, as opposed to being forceful and demanding, and are
more compliant with requests from adults
Females are reported to be more nurturant and empathic; sex differences in behaviors are small
but show females empathizing more than males
Females are more prone to develop anxiety disorders, depression, and phobias, and males are
more likely to display antisocial behaviors and drug and alcohol abuse
Males use computers more than females and express greater confidence in their computer
abilities
Eagly’s (1987) social-role hypothesis suggests that differences in the typical social roles of women
and men support gender stereotypes
We see characteristics of the social roles (nurturant or agentic) that cause men and women to
behave differently, and begin to think that the behaviors are "by nature"
The Infant – Differential Treatment
Differences between males and females at birth are small and inconsistent
Soon after birth, infants begin to receive differential treatment
Language-Describe boys in masculine terms and comment on their strength and Describe girls
as soft, cuddly, adorable
Clothing, sex-appropriate hairstyles, toys, and room furnishings
The Infant – Early Learning
Infants learn the categories of female and male and then associate themselves with the social category
to which they belong
By 18 months, most toddlers seem to have an emerging understanding that they are either like
males or like females
Almost all children can give verbal proof that they have acquired a basic sense of gender
identity by age 2½-3
As they acquire gender identities, boys and girls begin to demonstrate preferences for genderappropriate activities and toys
The Child
Through gender typing, children acquire awareness of their biological sex
Motives, values, and patterns of behavior that their culture considers appropriate for members of
their biological sex
Gender differences should not be attributed to biological causes – could be caused by differences in
the way females and males are perceived and raised
The Child – Acquiring Gender Stereotypes
Around the time children become aware of their basic gender identities, they begin to learn society’s
gender stereotypes
In a research study, children as young as 3 knew that girls play with Barbie dolls and boys play
with GI Joes
In a research study, 4- and 6-year-olds expressed positive emotions at the thought of holding
gender stereotypic adult occupations and negative emotions regarding holding gender
counter-stereotypic occupations
Rigidity about gender stereotypes is especially high during the preschool years (around ages 4
to 7), but decreases over the elementary school years
The Child – Gender-Typed Behavior
Children begin to favor same-sex playmates as early as 30 to 36 months of age
This preference strengthens during the elementary-school years
Gender segregation – separate boys’ and girls’ peer groups and greater levels of same-sex
interaction
Partly because of incompatibility between girls’ and boys’ play styles
Girls don’t like boys’ rowdy, domineering, unresponsive styles
Children who insist most strongly on clear boundaries between the sexes and avoid consorting with
the opposite sex tend to be socially competent and popular
Children who violate gender segregation rules tend to be less well adjusted and run the risk of peer
rejection
Boys face stronger pressures to adhere to gender-role expectations than girls do
In our society, boys are ridiculed and rejected if they do not conform to the agentic role
The Adolescent – Adhering to Gender Roles
Adolescents return to a level of intolerance and stereotypic thinking about gender roles and genderrole violations
Adolescents experience gender intensification
Associated with puberty and increased pressure for gender conformity in order to appeal to the other
sex for dating
Boys begin to see themselves as more masculine and girls begin to emphasize their femininity
The Adolescent – Explaining Gender-Role Development
Theories about the development of gender roles
Biosocial theory proposed by Money and Ehrhardt (1972) highlights the ways biological
events influence development and how early biological events and social reactions relate to
gender roles
Once a biological male or female is born, social labeling and differential treatment of girls and
boys interact with biological factors to steer development
Parents and other people label and begin to react to children on the basis of the appearance of
their genitalia
If children’s genitals are abnormal and they are mislabeled as members of the other sex, this
incorrect label will affect their future development
At puberty, biological factors are again influential when large quantities of hormones are
released, stimulating the growth of the reproductive system and the appearance of
secondary sex characteristics
These events, with a person’s earlier self-concept as a male or female, provide the basis
for adult gender identity and role behavior
Evidence supports the role of biological factors in the development of males and males in many
species of animals
Evolutionary psychology points out that most societies socialize males to have agentic traits and
females to have communal traits
Concluded that traditional gender roles may be a reflection of species heredity
Research suggests that individual differences in agency and communality may be partly genetic
Biological influences on development are evident in studies of children who had prenatal exposure to
excess androgens
Androgenized females are masculinized as a consequence of their prenatal exposure
Masculine-like appearance of genitals, preferences for boys’ toys and activities, higher
performances than other females on tests of spatial ability
According to social-learning theorists, children learn gender identities, preferences, and behaviors
through two processes
Differential reinforcement – children are rewarded for sex-appropriate behaviors and are
punished for behaviors considered more appropriate for members of the other sex
Observational learning – children adopt the attitudes and behaviors of same-sex models
Differential reinforcement
Mothers and fathers may discipline their sons and daughters differently, with fathers more
likely to use physical forms of discipline (spanking) than mothers, and mothers more likely
to use reasoning to explain rules and consequences
Parents who show the clearest patterns of differential reinforcement have children who are
relatively quick to label themselves as girls or boys and to develop strongly sex-typed toy
and activity preferences
Fathers are more likely than mothers to reward children’s gender-appropriate behavior and to
discourage behavior considered more appropriate for the other sex
According to Eccles and colleagues (1990), differential treatment may explain why girls are
less likely to enroll in math and science courses and are underrepresented in math/science
occupations
Parents expect their sons to be more interested and to do better in math in science than their
daughters
Parents attribute their sons’ successes in math to ability but credit their daughters’ successes to
hard work
Children internalize their parents’ views because they think they lack ability, girls become less
interested in math, less likely to take math courses, and less likely to pursue math-related
careers
Social-learning theorists emphasize the role of observational learning in gender typing
Children observe and imitate same-sex models
Children learn from the media – radio, television, movies, books, video games
Perhaps the strongest traditional stereotypes are found in video games
Kohlberg’s (1966) cognitive theory of gender typing includes two themes
Children must acquire certain understandings about gender before they will be influenced by
their social experiences
Children engage in self-socialization; they actively socialize themselves rather than being the
passive targets of social influence
Kohlberg suggested that children progress through three stages as they acquire gender constancy (an
understanding of what it means to be a boy or girl, man or woman)
Basic gender identity is established by age 2 or 3, when children can recognize and label
themselves as males or females
Usually by age 4, children acquire gender stability – the understanding that gender identity is
stable over time
Boys invariably become men, and girls grow up to be women
The gender concept is complete between ages 5 and 7, when children achieve gender
consistency and realize that their sex is also stable across situations
Sex cannot be altered by superficial changes such as dressing up as a member of the other sex
or engaging in cross-sex activities
Martin and Halverson (1981, 1987) proposed an information-processing theory to explain children’s
understanding of gender
Gender schema – organized sets of beliefs and expectations about males and females that
influence the kinds of information children will attend to and remember
Children acquire a simple ingroup/outgroup schema that allows them to classify some objects,
behaviors, and roles as appropriate for males and others as appropriate for females
Once gender schemata are in place, children will distort new information in memory so that it
is consistent with their schemata
The Adult – Changes in Gender Roles
Males and females fill their agentic or communal roles throughout their lives, and the specific content
of those roles changes considerably over the lifespan
The roles of women and men become more distinct in marriage, especially in parenthood
Wives typically do more housework then husbands
7-8 hours more per week
400 hours more in a year
10,000 hours more in 25 years
The Adult – Androgyny?
David Gutman (1987, 1997) proposed that gender roles and gender-related traits in adulthood are
shaped by the parental imperative
The requirement that mothers and fathers adopt different roles to raise children successfully
“Masculine” qualities needed to feed and protect families
“Feminine” qualities needed to nurture the young and meet the emotional needs of families
At midlife, women and men are freed from the demands of the parental imperative
Men become less active and more passive, take less interest in community affairs, focus
more on religious contemplation and family relationships, and become more sensitive
and emotionally expressive
Women become more active, domineering, assertive, and become stronger forces in their
communities?
Androgyny shift is another explanation for changes in gender roles at midlife
Women and men retain their gender-typed qualities and add qualities traditionally associated
with the other sex – thus, they become more androgynous
Sexuality Over the Lifespan
Are infants sexual beings?
Freud said that infants are born with a reserve of sexual energy, that we are sexual beings from
birth
Infants have been observed to touch and manipulate their genital areas, to experience physical
arousal, and to undergo what appear to be orgasms
However, they are not aware that their behavior is “sexual”
Sexuality Over the Lifespan – Childhood Sexuality
When children learn that sexual anatomy is the key differentiator between males and females, they
begin to acquire a vocabulary for discussing sexual organs
Children construct their understanding of sex and reproduction by assimilating and accommodating
information into their existing cognitive structures
With cognitive maturity, their understandings become more accurate
According to Freud, Preschoolers in the phallic stage of psychosexual development are interested in
their genitals and masturbate for pleasure
School-age children in the latency stage repress their sexuality and focus on school and same-sex
friendships
Research does not substantiate Freud’s view of the latency period
School-age children continue to be curious and to experiment sexually
The research of Herdt and McClintock (2000) provided evidence that
Age 10 is an important point in sexual development
A milestone that appears to be influenced by the maturation of the adrenal glands
A time when many boys and girls experience their first sexual attraction to a member of
the other sex or to a member of their own sex
A study of Adverse Childhood Experiences conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (2010) indicated that 25% of women surveyed and 16% of the men surveyed had
been sexually abused at some time
Other research suggests that 20-30% of survivors – both boys and girls – experience effects that
include anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, aggression, acting out, withdrawal, and school
learning problems
No single distinctive “syndrome” of psychological problems characterizes abuse survivors, but two
problems predominate
Sexualized behavior, such as sexual acting out, public masturbation, and/or seductive or
promiscuous behavior
Posttraumatic stress disorder, which is characterized by nightmares, flashbacks to the
traumatizing events, and feelings of helplessness and anxiety in the face of danger
The most difficulty is experienced by children
When the abuse involved penetration and force and occurred frequently over a long period
When the perpetrator was a close relative such as the father
When the child’s mother did not serve as a reliable source of emotional
Children are likely to recover better if they have high-quality relationships with their mother
and friends
Awareness of one’s sexual orientation – preference for sexual partners of the same or other sex or
both – is part of establishing a sexual identity in adolescence
Sexual orientations typically are described as primarily heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual
For adolescents who are attracted to members of their own sex, the process of accepting a
homosexual or bisexual orientation and establishing a positive identity in the face of negative
societal attitudes can be difficult
Many have an initial awareness of their sexual preference before puberty but do not accept being gay
or lesbian and are not able to tell others until their mid-20s
The Development of Sexual Orientation
Biological factors may predispose an individual to have certain psychological traits, which in turn
influence the kinds of social experiences the person has, which in turn shape sexual orientation
Genetic factors- Identical twins are more alike in sexual orientation than fraternal twins
Environmental factors-Many gay men and lesbian women expressed strong cross-sex
interests when they were young, even in the face of the usual pressures to adopt traditional
gender roles
Hormonal influences during the prenatal period
Three generalizations emerge from the research on sexual attitudes
Approximately 3 out of 4 adolescents believe that sex with affection in the context of a
committed relationship is acceptable
The double standard – the view that sexual behavior that is appropriate for males is
inappropriate for females – has declined (but has not disappeared)
Adolescents receive mixed messages about sexuality and form their own codes of behavior
Research on adolescent sexual behavior has revealed certain themes
Rates of sexual activity climbed in the 1960s through the 1980s, leveled off, and then declined
somewhat from the mid-1990s
The percentages of both males and females who have had intercourse increased steadily over
the past century
The sexual behavior of females has changed more than that of males, and now there is little
difference in experience between females and males
Today’s male and female teenagers begin having sex at about the same age
Researchers have identified antecedents of too-early sexual behavior
Part of a general pattern of problem behavior that started at birth with a mother who was
unmarried
High-risk teens grew up in homes that were characterized as less emotionally responsive
They were rated by teachers as engaging in more externalizing behaviors at ages 9 and 12
At age 13, compared to sexual abstainers, high-risk teens looked more mature and were more
involved in romantic relationships
Compared to sexual abstainers, high-risk teens were more likely to drink alcohol at age 16
Cooper (2010) identified factors that contribute to the changes of engaging in risky sex
Within-person factors: low levels of impulse control and communality, and high levels of
adventuresomeness and negative emotionality
Situational factors: alcohol use
Interactions of within-person and situational factors
Factors associated with adolescents’ delay in beginning sexual activity include
Close relationship with parents, especially their mothers
Having closer parental supervision
Parent-teen communication, particularly when mothers point out the negative consequences of
too-early sexual activity
Adult Sexuality
Men have more sexual partners and report more sexual activity than women during adulthood
Most members of both sexes have just one sexual partner at a time
Married couples report a small decline in quality of sex over the course of marriage
Married women report somewhat less satisfaction with their sex lives than do married men
On average, married middle-aged couples have sex about once a week and report that they
would have sex more often if they were not so busy and tired from their jobs and raising kids
We tend to stereotype older adults as sexless or asexual
However, in a survey of adults aged 25 to 85, many adults reported being interested in sex and
sexually active (Lindau & Gavrilova, 2010)
Older adults’ failures to use safe sex practices can have unexpected consequences: the rate of
sexually transmitted diseases among those 45 and older has doubled
“In our experience, old folks stop having sex for the same reason they stop riding a bicycle—general
infirmity, thinking it looks ridiculous, and no bicycle” (Comfort, 1974, p. 440).
Infirmity: poor physical and mental health
Social attitudes that view sexuality in old age as ridiculous or inappropriate may be internalized,
resulting in suppressed desire
No bicycle: lack of a willing, desirable partner
Especially for elderly women, there are not enough older men
Masters and Johnson’s (1966, 1970) “use it or lose it” principle also can explain reduced sexual
activity in late life
An individual’s level of sexual activity early in adulthood predicts his level of sexual activity in
later life
Middle-aged and elderly adults who experience a long period of sexual abstinence often have
difficulty regaining their sexual capacity