Transcript Sex and Gender Identity

Sex and Gender Identity
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and Spice
And everything nice.
That is what little girls are made of.
What are little boys made of?
Snips and Snails
And puppy dog tails.
That is what little boys are made of.
► Sex-
classification of people as male or
female based on biological characteristics
► How are you assumed to look?
► How are you assumed to behave?
Quiz T/F
1.) Women talk more than men.
2.) Women are more likely than men to touch
each other.
3.) Women use less personal space than men.
4.) Men do not live as long as women.
Biological Determinism
► Belief
that the behavioral differences are the
result of inherited characteristics.
► Parents
often point out
- Muscular legs and broad shoulders in baby
boys
- Long eyelashes, rosebud mouth, delicate
curls in girls
Parents stress characteristics of the ideal male
or female: modes of dress, ways of walking,
ways of talking, play activities, life goals,
etc.
Gender Identity
A sense of being male or female based on learned
cultural values.
Biology Differences
► Muscle
to bone ratios
► How fat is stored
► Reproductive organs
► Ability to impregnate or be impregnated
► Can you think of any more?
Brains
► Men
► Women
-more activity in the
region of the brain for
adaptive evolutionary
response (fighting)
- More specialized,
process verbal tasks
on the left side
- Use the right ear to
listen
-
More activity in the
region of the brain for
emotional expression
- Less specialized, use
both sides of the brain
simultaneously
- Use both ears to listen
Does this lead to different Social
Behavior?
► Female
babies are more sensitive to sound
► Male children are more likely to hit or shout
in their early forms of play
Across Cultures
► Males
► Females
Value physical
appearance in a mate
- Prefer women slightly
younger than
themselves
-
-
Value social class and
income in a mate
- Prefer men slightly
older than themselves
Is this Biological or Cultural?
► How
do sociologists see it?
-Cultural
Margaret Mead
► Studied
the Arapesh, Mundugmar and
Tchambuli cultures in New Guinea.
► Arapesh:
Females conditioned to be
cooperative, unagressive, and empathetic
► Mundugumor:
both men and women are
“masculine”: aggressive, ruthless,
unresponsive to eachother’s needs
► Tchambuli:
women were dominant and
aggressive , men were dependent and
submissive
► Mead concludes: gender roles are not
fixed at birth
Other research
► Case
-
studies have been conducted on
children raised as the opposite gender.
Children can be socialized as the opposite
gender fairly easily
After a few years they strongly resist
switching
Criticism of Gender research
► Often
sex.
fails to note the variation within each