Chapter 12
Gender
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/socialization – how a
person acquires appropriate gender
behavior
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
Gender – Biological Influences
– Testosterone
Sex & violence
– Violent criminals have high levels
– Pro-players have higher levels
than ministers
– Social Gregariousness
– Math & Spatial Ability
Gender
– Social Influence & Learning Theories
 Social role theory
– Power & status
 Social-cognitive theory of gender
– Observation, imitation &
reinforcement
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
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
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
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
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
Gender Differences - SocioEmotional
 Boys are more physically aggressive
 Equally verbally aggressive
 Girls are more relationally aggressive
 Boys are more active, adventurous
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 visualspatial
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
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
What is Androgyny?
 Bem Sex-role Inventory
– Androgynous
– Masculine
– Feminine
– Undifferentiated
 Gender-role transcencence
Gender Socialization
 Boys get earlier & more intense
socialization
 Male role models are less accessible
to young boys
 Socialization more flexible for girls
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
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?
Gender in Adulthood
 Women
– Role overload
– Role conflict
 Men
– Role strain
– Contradictory, inconsistent demands
– Poorly-defined role
Problems with health & relationships
)
What is Gender Identity Disorder
and 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)
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
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.
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.
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.
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
Transgender
– An umbrella term coined by activists
to describe individuals who are:
Heterosexual cross-dressers
Homosexual transvestites
Transsexuals
–She-males
Gender Bill of Rights
Second International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment
Policy, Houston, Texas, 1993
“All human beings carry within themselves an everunfolding 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.”
Gender Bill of Rights
 Based upon the statement on the previous
slide, the following rights are claimed:

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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
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.
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.