Choices in Relationships

1. Choices in Relationships Chapter Two: Gender in Relationships

2. Sex Gender Gender identity Gender roles Gender role ideology Gender dysphoria Transgenderism Transgendered Cross-dresser Transsexuals Terminology of Gender Roles

3. Theories of Gender Role Development • Sociobiology • Emphasizes that social behavior and therefore gender roles have a biological basis in terms of being functional in human evolution. 2.Social Learning • Derived from the school of behavioral psychology, social learning theory emphasizes the roles of reward and punishment in explaining how a child learns gender role behavior.

4. Theories of Gender Role Development 3. Identification • Children acquire the characteristics and behaviors of their same-sex parent through a process of identification. 4. Cognitive-Developmental Theory • The cognitive-developmental theory of gender role development reflects a blend of biological and social learning views. According to this theory, the biological readiness, in terms of cognitive development, of the child influences how the child responds to gender cues in the environment

5. Agents of Socialization • Different sources influencing your gender socialization: • Family • Race/Ethnicity • Peers • Religion • Education • Economy • Mass Media

6. Gender Roles in Other Societies • Gender Roles of Women in Afghanistan under the Taliban • Afghan women go uneducated, become child brides, produce children, and rarely expect their daughters’ lives to be different. • Gender Roles among Chinese-Americans • As a result of immigration, industrialization, and urbanization, gender roles of Chinese-Americans have become more egalitarian. • Both women and men are now breadwinners, which has resulted in the “downward shift of the husband’s occupational status” with more sharing of housework.

7. Gender Roles in Other Societies • Gender Roles in Punjab, Pakistan • Pakistani women reported that they had limited control over their lives, as evidenced by the expectation of early marriage, quick conception, and limited access to contraceptives. • The women also expressed a strong preference for sons, which reflected women’s subordinate position in society.

8. Gender Roles in Other Societies • Gender Roles in Sweden • The Swedish government is strongly concerned with equality between women and men. • In 1974 Sweden became the first country in the world to introduce a system that enables mothers and fathers to share parental leave (paid by the government) from their jobs in any way they choose.

9. Gender Roles in Other Societies • Gender Roles in Africa • Many African women who believe in and desire better lives will not call themselves “feminists” for fear of social censure. • Change for people whose lives are based on tradition and “fitting in” can be very traumatic.

10. Consequences of Traditional Gender Role Socialization

11. Consequences of Traditional Gender Role Socialization • The Feminization of Poverty • The term feminization of poverty refers to the disproportionate percentage of poverty experienced by women living alone or with their children. • Single mothers are particularly associated with poverty.

12. Consequences of Traditional Gender Role Socialization • The Feminization of Poverty • The process is cyclical—poverty contributes to teenage pregnancy, since teens have limited supervision and few alternatives to parenthood. • Such early childbearing interferes with educational advancement and restricts their earning capacity, which keeps them in poverty. Their offspring are born into poverty, and the cycle begins anew.

13. Consequences of Traditional Gender Role Socialization

14. Female Genital Mutilation • The reason for the practice is cultural—parents believe that female circumcision makes their daughters marketable for marriage. • Many daughters view it as a rite of passage and of improving their chance for marriage.

15. Consequences of Traditional Male Role Socialization

16. Changing Gender Roles • Androgyny • Androgyny refers to a blend of traits that are stereotypically associated with both masculinity and femininity. • Positive androgyny is devoid of the negative traits associated with masculinity (aggression, hard-heartedness, indifference, selfishness, showing off, and vindictiveness) and femininity (being passive, submissive, temperamental, and fragile).

17. Changing Gender Roles • Gender Role Transcendence • Although females are becoming more masculine, in part because our society values whatever is masculine, men are not becoming more feminine.

18. Changing Gender Roles • Gender Postmodernism • Gender postmodernism - whereby there would be a dissolution of male and female categories as currently conceptualized in Western capitalist society. • A new conceptualization of “trans” people would call for new social structures “based on the principles of equality, diversity and the right to self determination.”