Gender Identity Module

Transcription

GENDER
IDENTITY
Gender identity
is a complex concept
that is affected by:
•
Biological Factors
•
Cultural Influences
•
Social Influences
Ivy, K. K. & Backlund, P. (2008). Gender Speak: Personal Effectiveness in Gender Communication, 4th Ed. Boston, MA: Pearson.
GENDER IDENTITY:
is the psychological
sense of being male or
female.
Rathus, S.A., Nevid, J.S., Fichner-Rathus, L., Herold, E.S., & McKenzie. (2007). Human Sexuality in a World of
Diversity (2nd Ed.). Canada: Pearson Education.
GENDER IDENTITY:
includes how someone views
himself/herself in terms of sexuality
or sexual orientation, how he/she
relates to culturally defined notions of
masculinity and femininity, and how
he/she defines appropriate roles for
men and women in society.
Ivy, K. K. & Backlund, P. (2008). GenderSpeak: Personal Effectiveness in Gender Communication, 4th Ed. Boston, MA: Pearson, p. 61.
GENDER IDENTITY:
is how we feel about and express our
gender and gender roles through
clothing, behavior, and personal
appearance. It is an identity that we
have as early as age two or three.
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/sexual-orientation-gender/gender-gender-identity-26530.htm
NATURE VERSUS NURTURE:
As we look at gender identity, the
question comes up, “Do people behave
the way they do because they were
born that way (Nature), or because
they were socialized and educated to
be that way (Nurture)?
Ivy, K. K. & Backlund, P. (2008). GenderSpeak: Personal Effectiveness in Gender Communication, 4th Ed. Boston, MA: Pearson.
NATURE VERSUS NURTURE:
“[Gender]Identity is actually the product of the
fusion of your genetically determined tendencies
and your culturally determined socialization.
In other words, [gender] identity is created through
the combination of your biology [Nature] and your
external social environment [Nurture].”
Ivy, K. K. & Backlund, P. (2008). GenderSpeak: Personal Effectiveness in Gender Communication, 4th Ed. Boston, MA:
Pearson, p. 54.
According to Myers and Sweeney
(2004), the Essential Self includes
our essential meaning-making
processes in relation to life, self,
and others. Third-order factors of
the Essential Self include
spirituality, gender equity,
cultural identity, and self-care.
Biological Factors
Each person has a sex, a gender, and a gender identity.
While these aspects of who you are different, they are
related.
Sex is biological. It includes our genetic makeup, our
hormones, and our body parts, especially our sex and
reproductive organs.
Gender refers to society's expectations about how we
should think and act as girls and boys, and women and
men. It is our biological, social, and legal status as women
and men.
SEXUAL IDENTITY:
is related to the biological
properties of being male or female.
At birth, children are labeled ‘male’
or ‘female’ based on anatomy
(genitalia).
SEXUAL IDENTITY:
“…at the beginning of creation
God ‘made them male and
female.’…”
Mark 10:6, New International Version
Prenatal Sexual Differentiation:


Sexual differentiation begins before birth.
Sex hormones involved in the sexual
differentiation process are: androgens,
testosterone, and dihyrotestosterone.
Diversity, (2nd Ed.). Canada: Pearson Education.
Gender Differences in Brain Functioning:
Sex differences in the brain begin before we are
born. Women’s brains are approximately 11%
smaller than men’s brains. However, there is no
significant difference in the IQs of males and
females.
“Some brain structures that are prominent in
females, such as the massa intermedia of the
thalamus, are smaller or even entirely absent in
males. In one study comparing the massa
intermedia in women and men which included only
men who had a massa intermedia--the massa
intermedia was, on average, 53% larger in the
females, despite the fact that the male brains were
on average 8% larger than the female brains.”
Messner, R., Kipfer, E., & Witzig, T., Jr. Women’s Seminar, Apostolic
Christian Counseling and Family Services, www.accounseling.org
“Male brains consistently show more hemispheric
asymmetry: the left hemisphere looks different
from the right hemisphere. In women, the two
hemispheres are much more alike. In women,
there is proportionately more grey matter, and less
white matter; vice versa for men. Women have a
higher concentration of grey matter in the
neocortex (the phylogenetically 'newer' part of the
cerebral cortex), whereas men have
proportionately more grey matter in the entorhinal
cortex, one of the 'older' areas of the brain.”
While the differences in what women and men can
do is small, the differences in how we do things is
large.
The Female Brain

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


Female brains develop sooner than males.
Female brain development starts in the right
hemisphere of the brain and moves to left hemisphere.
The corpus collosum is 20% larger in girls, which
means that females can transfer data between the
right and left hemisphere faster than males.
Females take in more sensory data.
Females are better at verbal communication.
Females think from the left hemisphere.
Females send messages to cortex for processing
and complex thought.
Ivy, K. K. & Backlund, P. (2008). GenderSpeak: Personal Effectiveness in Gender Communication,
4th Ed. Boston, MA: Pearson.
The Male Brain

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
Males are more impulsive with behavior.
Males have greater spatial abilities.
Males are better at non-verbal
communication.
Males think from the right hemisphere.
Boys send messages from the inner brain to
the brain stem for processing--fight or flight.
The fight or flight response is a natural
response to danger that protects an
individual.
Ivy, K. K. & Backlund, P. (2008). GenderSpeak: Personal Effectiveness in Gender Communication,
4th Ed. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Brain Activity Excercise:

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
Fold a piece of 8 ½ x 11” paper in half like a
book.
On the left side of the paper draw a map
showing driving directions from the grocery
store to your home.
On right side of the paper describe in words
the driving directions from the grocery
store to your home.
Saucier, D., et al., (2002). “Are sex differences in navigation caused by sexually dimorphic strategies
or by differences in the ability to use the strategies?” Behavioral Neuroscience, 116: 403-410.
Interpretation of Brain Activity
Exercise:
Women usually give directions using visual
descriptions that include buildings and other
landmarks. For example, if asked to explain how to
get to her office, a woman might say: go to the first
red light on Highway 19 and turn left by the
McDonalds; go two blocks and when you see the
Shell station on the right, take the street to the left.
The first building on the right that faces that street is
a two-story dark red brick building with a large sign
with the company name in front; my office is on the
first floor.
Exercise:
Men usually give directions using more
abstract concepts such as mileage or
direction. For example, a man who works in
the same building as the woman in the
previous slide might say, go 4.3 miles on
Highway 19, turn left and travel north for two
blocks; then turn left on College Street; my
office building is 2546 College Street and my
office is 114.
Exercise:
“These different strategies for giving directions
correlate with different brain regions. Neuroscientists
have found that women and men use different areas
in the brain when they are given problems to solve
which require navigational skills. Women use the
cerebral cortex -- mostly the right parietal cortex -while men do not use the parietal cortex but instead
use primarily the left hippocampus, a nucleus deep
inside the brain which is not activated in the women's
brains during navigational tasks.”
Men tend to be more visually
stimulated,
while women tend to be more
emotionally stimulated.
Gender Differences in Cognitive
Abilities:
In most cases, the differences in cognitive
ability based on gender are small. These
differences may be a result of environmental
influences and cultural expectations rather than
actual gender differences.
Gender and Learning:


70% of the students identified for special
education services are boys. (Business Week, May
2003)
Once a boy becomes a freshman in high school, he
is 30% more likely to drop out, 85% more likely to
commit murder, and 4 to 6 times more likely to kill
himself than his female counterpart. Boy suicides
have tripled since 1970.
Campbell, D. Gender, Equity, and Educational Practice, Kentucky Department of Education.
Gender and Learning:
For 350 years, men outnumbered women on
college campuses. Now women earn 57% of all
BAs and 58% of all master’s degrees in the U.S.
There are 133 girls getting BAs for every 100 guys
according to the U.S. Education Department.
Gender Differences in Health:
Male fetuses experience many more
developmental difficulties and birth
defects, average an hour longer to
deliver, and have a higher death rate
than female fetuses.
For the top fifteen leading causes of
death in the U.S., men have higher
death rates than women.
Ivy, K. K. & Backlund, P. (2008). GenderSpeak: Personal Effectiveness in Gender Communication, 4th Ed. Boston, MA:
Pearson, p. 64.
Gender Differences in Health:
* Gender
differences in health exist
in the areas of food selection,
weight, binge drinking, stress, and
resilience to illness.
* Females have a longer life
expectancy than males.
Gender Differences in Personality
Gender differences in personality exist in
communication styles. One difference that has
been identified is the amount of disclosure
when talking about personal matters. In
general, females tend to disclose more.
Gender differences in personality also exist in
levels of aggressiveness including bullying.
Males generally exhibit higher rates of
aggression.
Cultural Influences
Sex and race, because they are
easy and visible differences,
have been the primary ways of
organizing human beings into
superior and inferior groups…
Gloria Steinem, author/political activist
The Emergence of Gender Roles
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After the development of agriculture, the
concern over family lines of inheritance led to
the idea that women should be controlled to
prevent them from becoming pregnant by a
number of men.
According to the Women’s International
Center, women have been fighting for equal
rights in society since the 1800’s. In the
workplace women have made progress but
there are still barriers that create an
inequality.
GENDER ROLE
STEREOTYPING:

Gender roles are the ways culture and society
expect males and females to behave.

Stereotypes are fixed, oversimplified, conventional
ideas that are used to generalize behaviors of a group
of people.
Ivy, K. K. & Backlund, P. (2008). GenderSpeak: Personal Effectiveness
in Gender Communication, 4th Ed. Boston, MA: Pearson, p. 61.
GENDER ROLE
STEREOTYPING:
can present barriers for women or for
men. For example, for many years
men were not accepted into nursing
schools because nursing was a
“woman’s” job and women were not
expected to attend medical school to
become a doctor because a doctor was
a “man’s” job.
FOUR BASIC KINDS OF GENDER STEREOTYPES
Personality traits — Women are often expected to speak
softly and be agreeable and men are often expected to speak
directly and be forceful.
Domestic behaviors — Cooking meals is often considered
best done by women, while mowing the lawn is often
considered best done by men.
Occupations — Until very recently nurses and secretaries
were usually women, and most doctors and construction
workers were usually men.
Physical appearance — For example, women are expected
to be small and graceful, while men are expected to be tall
and broad-shouldered.
Feminine traits are ways of behaving
that our culture usually associates
with being a girl or woman.
Masculine traits are ways of behaving
that our culture usually associates
with being a boy or man.
WORDS COMMONLY USED TO DESCRIBE FEMININITY
dependent
emotional
passive
sensitive
quiet
graceful
innocent
weak
flirtatious
nurturing
self-critical
soft
sexually submissive
accepting
WORDS COMMONLY USED TO DESCRIBE MASCULINITY
independent
non-emotional
aggressive
tough-skinned
competitive
clumsy
experienced
strong
active
self-confident
hard
sexually aggressive
rebellious
“Society’s categories for what is
masculine and feminine may not capture
how we truly feel, how we behave, or
how we define ourselves. All men have
some so-called feminine traits, and all
women have some so-called masculine
traits. And we may show different traits
at different times. Our cultures teach
women and men to be the opposite of
each other in many ways. The truth is
that we are more alike than different.”
Psychological Androgyny:
occurs when a person has what are
considered stereotypical masculine
traits and stereotypical feminine traits.
Diversity, (2nd Edition) Canada: Pearson Education.
Psychological Androgeny
Beginning in the early 1970s Sandra
Bem began conducting research on
gender roles. Through her research she
developed the Bem Sex Role Inventory
(BSRI) which measures both feminine and
masculine characteristics of an individual.
The BSRI includes twenty feminine
characteristics, twenty masculine
characteristics, and twenty neutral
characteristics. An individual may score
high on both the feminine and masculine
scales because they are scored separately. A high score on
both scales indicates androgeny which means the person
can apply either masculine or feminine characteristics
appropriately to different situations. Bem believed
androgynous individuals who possess both masculine and
feminine traits are more effective and are able to function
better than individuals who possess either predominantly
masculine or predominantly feminine characteristics.
Bem, S. L. (1993). The lenses of gender: Transforming the debate on sexual inequality. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Additional research using the Bem
Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) found
that:
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Androgenous individuals have:
1) Higher marital and life satisfaction.
2) A more positive attitude toward sexuality than sextyped individuals.
Androgenous males are more likely to be
complimentary than predominantly masculine males.
Androgenous females are better at saying “no” to
unreasonable requests and report enjoying sex more
than predominantly feminine women.
Bem, S. L. (1993). The lenses of gender: Transforming the debate on sexual inequality. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Take the BSRI to determine your
level of androgeny:
At the following web site you can take the
BEM Sex Role Inventory free (Note: You
will be asked if your responses can be used
as part of a research study and if you would
be interested in participating in additional
research):
http://personality-testing.info/tests/BSRI.php
Social Influences
“Biology defines
sex. Society
defines gender.”
― Eresi Ann Uduka
“Gender is cultural and is the term
used when referring to women and men
as social groups.”
American Psychological Association, 2006, p. 73.
Transition from Childhood to Adulthood
Adulthood
Childhood
is a universal process that varies by individual and by culture.
This transition process involves physiological, psychological,
cognitive, and social changes.
Gender Typing:
Children acquire behavior that is considered
appropriate to their gender such as boys playing
with guns and girls playing with dolls.
Children acquire gender typing through
socialization, interacting with other children
and adults, and through modeling behavior of
other children and adults.
“When a man
gives his
opinion, he's a
man. When a
woman gives
her opinion,
she's a bitch.”
― Bette Davis
Sexism
Prejudgment that because of gender, a person
will posses certain negative traits. For
example, women will be emotional and not be
able to make logical decisions and men will be
tough and not be able to express emotions.
Research about Gender Issues in the
work place:
Combining forty-five studies conducted on
managers in business and educational
organizations, Eagly found that one
disadvantage is stereotypes. Men are in a
natural leadership role within organizations
because management positions are more male
dominated. While over the years this
disadvantage has decreased, it has not fully
disappeared.
Eagly, A.H. (2007). Female Leadership Advantage and Disadvantage:
Resolving the Contradictions. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31, 1-12.
work place:
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
Madeline Heilman found that the reason there were
few women in top level organizational positions was
because of gender bias. Although a woman may be as
competent as a man, she may not advance to the same
level in the organization as a man might hold.
Top level jobs are often stereotyped as requiring a
“male”.
Heilman, M.E. (2001). Description and Prescription: How Gender Stereotypes Prevent Women’s
Ascent Up the Organizational Ladder. Journal of Social Issues, 57 (4), 657-674.
work place:
In 2006, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported that women occupied 24% of chief
executive positions, 37% held managerial
positions, and 43% of individuals were in
management type positions.
Eagly, A.H. (2007). Female Leadership Advantage and Disadvantage: Resolving the Contradictions.
Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31, 1-12.
Questions to help you develop
your own gender base line:
1. Are men and women treated differently in any way in society?
2. What roles do you believe women and men should play in society?
3. What are the primary differences between women and men? Primary
similarities?
4. Does sexism still exist in modern American society?
5. What do you think of when you hear the term "feminism?" "Men’s
movement?”
Additional References:
Kilmartin, C. T. (2006). The Masculine Self, 3rd Ed. Boston: McGraw Hill.
Kimmel, M. S. & Messner, M. A. (2012). Men’s Lives. Pearson.
Renzetti, C. M., Curran, D. J., & Maier, S.L. (2011). Women, Men, and Society, 6th
Ed. Pearson.
Skinner, E. (3rd Ed.). (2010). Women and the National Experience: Sources in
American
History. Pearson.
Worell, J., & Remer, P. (2003). Feminist perspectives in therapy: Empowering
diverse women. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Internet resources for additional
information about gender
identity:
Child Gender Identity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHuEpcmXvG0
Feminist Majority Foundation
http://www.feminist.org/
Gender Identity: Is Nature vs Nurture Dead?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9KCoJE9R6k
Planned Parenthood
Questions and Answers with Dr. Cullins
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/ask-dr-cullins6602.htm

Gender Identity Module

Transcription

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