PowerPoint Presentation
prepared by
Terri Petkau, Mohawk College
CHAPTER FOUR
Gender and Sexuality
Rhonda L. Lenton
INTRODUCTION
Copyright © 2011 by Nelson Education Ltd
• Will examine:
 Difference between sex and gender
 Gender identity and gender roles
 Sexuality, sexual attitudes and behaviour,
and sexual scripts
 Theoretical explanations for origins of
gender differences
 Gender socialization
 Male violence against women
 Sexual pluralism*
4-3
DEFINING MALE AND
FEMALE: SEX AND GENDER
• Sex: Biological differences between
males and females
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• Gender: Attitudes, beliefs, and
behaviours we associate with
masculinity and femininity*
4-4
SUMMARY OF BIOLOGICAL
SEX DIFFERENCES
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4-5
GENDER IDENTITY
AND GENDER ROLE
• Gender identity: One’s identification with, or
sense of belonging to, a particular sex biologically, psychologically, and socially
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• Gender role: Widely shared expectations about
how males or females are supposed to behave
 Little change over past 40 years in expectations
 Significant pressure to conform*
4-6
SEXUALITY
• Sexuality: Activities intended to lead to erotic
arousal and produce genital response
• Sexual behaviour guided by set of “social scripts”
that tell us:
 Who we should find attractive
 When and where it is appropriate to be aroused
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 What is permissible
 How to behave sexually
• Scripts are linked to gender roles*
4-7
COMPULSORY
HETEROSEXUALITY
•
Compulsive heterosexuality: Assumption
individuals should desire only members of the
“opposite” sex
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•
i.
Places strong sanctions on:
Homosexuals: Those who desire members of
same sex
ii. The transgendered: Those who wish to alter
gender by changing appearance or resorting to
medical intervention, and
iii. Transsexuals: Those who identify with and want to
live fully as members of the “opposite” sex*
4-8
SEXUAL ATTTITUDES AND
BEHAVIOUR
• Traditional sexual scripts teach us to:
 Meet a member of the opposite sex
 Fall in love
 Get married, and then
 Have intercourse with our spouse
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• Yet scripts largely ignored today in Canada:
 Premarital sex widely accepted by Canadian public
 Majority of Canadians approved unmarried
cohabitation*
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ANNUAL FREQUENCY OF
SEXUAL INTERCOURSE AND
SATISFACTION IN 26
COUNTRIES, 2006
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4-10
FREQUENCY OF SEXUAL
INTERCOURSE AMONG
CANADIANS BY AGE AND SEX
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4-11
OFFICIAL POSITION OF
MAJOR WORLD RELIGIONS
ON SEXUAL ISSUES
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4-12
MEASURES OF SEXUAL
ORIENTATION AMONG CANADIAN
AND AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS
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4-13
CHANGING SEXUAL
SCRIPTS
• Increasing tolerance of homosexuality, same-sex
marriage, and civil union
Copyright © 2011 by Nelson Education Ltd
• Attitudes more conservative towards extramarital
affairs than those about homosexuality
 Reflect trend towards wanting and having fewer
sexual partners (re: concern about HIV/AIDS)
• Change from relatively liberal sexual attitudes of
1960s and 1970s
• Evidence of wide variation in attitudes towards sex
and sexual conduct over time and place*
4-14
PREVENTATIVE MEASURES TAKEN
BY CANADIANS AGAINST SEXUALLY
TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS, IN
PERCENTAGE)
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4-15
DOES SEX DETERMINE
DESTINY: ORIGINS OF
GENDER DIFFERENCES
•
Two main perspectives:
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1. Essentialism: Views as natural and universal
male-female differences in sexual scripts,
domestic and workplace division of labour, mate
selection, sexual aggression, jealousy,
promiscuity, and fidelity
2. Social constructionism: Views gender and
sexuality as products of social structure and
culture*
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VARIANTS OF
ESSENTIALISM
i. Brain studies
ii. Sociobiology
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iii. Freudian theory…*
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1. ESSENTIALISM:
i. BRAIN STUDIES
• Male-female differences in brain structures
account for male-female differences in
behaviour and achievement:
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 Males: Supposedly best at jobs requiring logic &
visual-spatial manipulation (e.g., reason why
more male scientists, mechanics, pilots)
 Females: Supposedly best at jobs requiring
empathy, intuition, and language skills (e.g.,
reason why more women stay home to raise
children, and why more female teachers,
nurses)*
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1. ESSENTIALISM:
ii. SOCIOBIOLOGY
• Assumption: All human beings instinctually want to
ensure their genes are passed on to future
generations
• Different reproductive status of men and women
has led them to develop different adaptive
strategies
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• Over time, masculine and feminine behaviours
became genetically encoded, including:
 Men’s desire for casual sex, men treating women’s
bodies as property, men beating or killing women
who incite male sexual jealousy, and women being
greedy for money*
4-19
1. ESSENTIALISM:
iii. FREUD
• Sexuality is main human instinct that:
 Motivates human behaviour
 Accounts for development of distinct masculine
and feminine gender roles
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• Male develops strong masculine personality out of
identifying with father and repressing sexual
desires for mother
• Female develops immature and dependent
personality out of identifying with mother and
experiencing “penis envy,” which promotes sense
of inferiority*
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CRITIQUE OF
ESSENTIALISM
i.
ii.
iii.
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iv.
v.
vi.
Ignores historical and cultural variability
of gender and sexuality
Ignores reality of rapid decline in gender
differences in many societies
Appeals to research evidence that often
is deeply flawed
Tends to generalize from the average,
ignoring variations within gender groups
Exaggerates degree to which gender
differences are unchangeable
Ignores role of power*
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DISTRIBUTION OF MALE
AND FEMALE
AGGRESSIVENESS
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4-22
2. SOCIAL
CONSTRUCTIONISM
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•
Following sociohistorical changes led to
development of gender inequality:
i.
Long-distance war and conquest: Catered to
men’s strengths and greatly enhanced male
power and authority
ii.
Plow agriculture: Required strong adults (i.e.,
males) remain in fields all day for much of year;
males assumed land ownership
iii. Separation of public and private spheres:
Industrialization moved men into public sphere;
women remained in domestic or private sphere*
4-23
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APPROXIMATE
AREA FOR
EARLY
CIVILIZATION
OF OLD
EUROPE
4-24
CONSTRUCTING GENDER
THROUGH SOCIALIZATION
Copyright © 2011 by Nelson Education Ltd
i.
Primary socialization:
•
Boys and girls treated differently by parents
from moment of birth
•
Girls more likely to be characterized as
delicate, beautiful; boys as strong, alert, wellcoordinated
•
Boys encouraged to engage in boisterous and
competitive play; girls in co-operative play
•
Gender patterns reinforced by design of child’s
room, clothing, and toys*
4-25
CONSTRUCTING GENDER
THROUGH SOCIALIZATION
Copyright © 2011 by Nelson Education Ltd
ii.
Secondary socialization:
•
Girls and boys channelled into roles culturally
defined as appropriately feminine and
masculine respectively
•
Gendered behaviour reinforced by teachers
who tend to:
Assume boys better in science and
mathematics, and girls better in languages
Praise boys more than girls and offer more
help


•
Also reinforced by peer-group interactions*
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CONSTRUCTING GENDER
THROUGH SOCIALIZATION
iii. The mass media:
• Representation of gender creates and
reinforces gender stereotypes
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• Stereotypes evident in:
 Children books and movies (e.g., Snow
White and Prince Charming)
 Magazines and romance novels (e.g.,
Harlequin)
 Advertisements, TV shows, movies, and
music*
4-27
GENDER SOCIALIZATION
AND SEXUALITY
• Little formal socialization regarding sexuality
 Result: Tendency to express sexuality in
framework defined by early, informal gender
socialization
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• Persistence of passive sexual scripts for women:
 Rooted in girls learning sexuality something to be
feared (e.g., unwanted pregnancy, sexual assault)
• Men still more likely than women to adhere to
sexual scripts emphasizing fun, conquest, and
orgasm rather than love, tenderness, and
emotionality*
4-28
BODY IMAGE AND
EATING DISORDERS
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• Social construction of gender involves defining
standards of physical attractiveness for women
and men (standards reinforced by media):
 Women more likely than men to be judged on
basis of appearance
 Men more likely than women to be assessed in
terms of status and power
• Obsession with weight and “cult of thinness” for
women:
 Resultant eating disorders, dissatisfaction with
body, and disinterest in sexual activity*
4-29
MALE VIOLENCE AGAINST
WOMEN
• Socially constructed gender and sexual
scripts affect frequency of male violence
against women
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• Sexual assault:
 Perpetrators typically male
 Victims (typically female) selected
because of availability and
powerlessness*
4-30
MALE VIOLENCE AGAINST
WOMEN
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•
Sexual harassment  Are two types:
i.
Quid pro quo sexual harassment: When sexual
threats or bribery made condition of
employment decision
ii.
Hostile environment sexual harassment:
Sexual jokes, comments, touching that
interferes with work or creates unfriendly work
setting
•
Relatively powerless women most likely to be
sexually harassed (e.g., women who are
young, unmarried, employed in
nonprofessional jobs)*
4-31
INTIMATE VIOLENCE IN
CANADA, 1993–2004
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4-32
SEVERITY OF SPOUSAL
VIOLENCE BY SEX OF VICTIM,
CANADA, 2004
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4-33
LOOKING AHEAD: TOWARD
A NEW SEXUAL ETHIC
• Growing attitude towards sexual pluralism:
 Sexual acts assessed only by their meaning for
participants
 Encourages people to see sexuality positively
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• Does not negate need for regulating sexual
behaviour
 Continues to oppose abuse of power in sexual
relations & recognizes need for state to punish and
help prevent sexual crimes
• Examination and redefinition of sexuality is
important step in process of achieving gender
equality**
4-34