Chapter 11

Gender Roles and Sexuality

Modified: 2025-07-03 8:09 PM CDST

I. Sex and Gender (p. 338)

• A. Sex and Gender
  • 1. Biological sex—physical characteristics that define male and female
  • 2. Gender—all features that a society associates with or considers appropriate for being men or women
  • 3. Menstruation in females and larger muscle mass in males are sex differences.
  • 4. Women earning less than men is a gender difference.
  • 5. Zygote receives sex chromosome from each parent.
  • 6. Genetically, XX is female and XY is male.
  • 7. Some individuals with XXY and XYY pattern
  • 8. Sex chromosomes impact prenatal hormone levels.
  • 9. Hormones responsible for genitalia
  • 10.Females can bear children and live longer.
  • 11.Males typically larger, taller, more muscular
• B. Gender Roles, Stereotypes, and Identity
  • 1. Gender roles—patterns of behavior for males and females expected by society
  • 2. Gender-role norms—societal expectation standards (what males and females should be like)
  • 3. Gender-role stereotypes—overgeneralizations or inaccurate beliefs about what males and females are like
  • 4. Feminine gender role
  • 5. Communality (communion)—orientation emphasizing connectedness to others (e.g., emotionality, sensitivity)
  • 6. Preparation for role as wife and mother
  • 7. Masculine gender role
  • 8. Agency—orientation toward individual action (e.g., independence, assertiveness, competitiveness)
  • 9. Roles tied to husband and father including providing for family and protecting family from harm
  • 10.Gender stereotypes still exist.
  • 11.Boys more likely to endorse traditional stereotypes
  • 12.Males and females continue to define themselves differently.
  • 13.Gender identity—internal awareness of gender
  • 14.Cisgender—individuals whose internal sense of gender matches their assigned sex
  • 15.Transgender—individuals whose internal sense of gender does not match their assigned sex
  • 16.Non-binary—gender nonconforming
• C. Differences or Similarities?
  • 1. Gender similarities hypothesis (Hyde and others)—males and females are similar on most psychological variables
  • 2. Differences are often group differences (i.e., not all members of a sex display the same levels of a trait).
  • 3. Research findings concerning gender differences
  • 4. Females sometimes display greater verbal abilities than males, but on most tasks the difference is small.
  • 5. Females tend to consistently outperform males on reading tasks (occurs across many cultures, and difference often quite large).
  • 6. Males outperform females on many tests of spatial ability.
  • 7. Some differences often emerge in adolescence.
  • 8. Differences in mental rotation seen in childhood.
  • 9. Training can reduce or eliminate gender differences on most spatial tasks.
  • 10.Historically, males outperformed females on average tests of mathematical ability, but difference has disappeared in the United States and many other countries.
  • 11.Males and females perform similarly on most standardized math tests.
  • 12.Females tend to score slightly higher grades in math classes.
  • 13.Educational opportunity differences may explain gender differences in math in some cultures.
  • 14.More males are also low math achievers.
  • 15.Girls display greater memory abilities than boys.
  • 16.Female advantage at remembering object location and recalling facial features
  • 17.Women have advantage in odor recognition.
  • 18.Males engage in more physical and verbal aggression than females, starting as early as 17 months.
  • 19.Effect found in nearly all countries
  • 20.Males commit more serious and violent crimes.
  • 21.Females tend to use more subtle relational forms of aggression (e.g., gossip) but so do males.
  • 22.Boys are more physically active and more hyperactive.
  • 23.Boys more developmentally vulnerable (prone to illness or death)
  • 24.Girls more tactful, cooperative, and compliant
  • 25.Males and females view females as more nurturant and empathic.
  • 26.Females more prone to anxiety disorders, depression, and phobias
  • 27.Males more likely to engage in antisocial behavior and to abuse drugs
  • 28.Differences tend to be small and in “average” levels of behaviors between females and males.
  • 29.Impossible to accurately predict a behavior if all you know about someone is their sex
  • 30.Most sex differences small
  • 31.Gender stereotypes bias our perceptions (notice behaviors confirming our perceptions).
  • 32.Eagly’s social-role hypothesis—different roles males and females play in society create and maintain gender-role stereotypes
  • 33.Traditional business and industry role of men requires dominance and forcefulness.
  • 34.Traditional role of homemaker requires nurturance and sensitivity.
  • 35.Differences part of social role not one’s “nature”
  • 36.Reversing roles may result in different gender roles.
  • 37.Men in role of homemaker perceived to be just as caring and affectionate as women in same role
  • 38.Gender segregation in workforce (e.g., women more likely to be in nursing profession, men more likely to be construction workers) may contribute to notion of gender roles.
  • 39.Although many gender stereotypes are unfounded, they still have a great impact on the way we perceive ourselves and others.
  • 40.Society does steer each sex toward different goals.
  • 41.In childhood, boys and girls conform to gender roles, segregating themselves by biological sex and developing different interests and play activities.
  • 42.Women remain under-represented in many traditionally male-dominated fields.
  • 43.Occupations remain highly gender segregated (e.g., 2009 top U.S. female professions are secretary, nurse, teacher, cashier, and nursing/health aide).
  • 44.Despite significant social change, couples tend to divide labor along traditional lines.

II. The Infant (p. 343)

• A. Early Experiences
  • 1. Young infants actively trying to know the social world
  • 2. 3- to 8-month-old infants—males look longer at trucks while females look longer at dolls
  • 3. May represent a rudimentary recognition of gender stereotypic information
  • 4. By end of first year, infants look longer at a face when it matches the correct sex (i.e., male face and male voice), indicating possibility of cross-modal association of gender-related information.
  • 5. By 24 months, look longer at gender-inconsistent information (e.g., male putting on makeup)
  • 6. Begin early categorization of the sexes and begin to figure out which sex they are
  • 7. Development of gender identity, awareness that you are a boy or girl, by age 2½ to 3 years
  • 8. Gender identity awareness accompanied by differences in behavior (e.g., toy selection)
• B. The Beginnings of a Sexual Self
• 1. Freud championed idea of infant sexuality (a seemingly outrageous claim)
• 2. Infants in oral stage are biologically equipped and derive pleasure from oral activities and genital stimulation.
• 3. Infants find stimulation of genitals pleasurable; they enjoy touching all parts of their body, and appear to experience orgasms, but are not aware that their behavior is sexual.
• 4. Infants will continue to touch themselves unless discouraged by parents or other grown-ups.

My daughter in the hospital nursery. Picture this: our third child was our only girl. On her first day of life the staff at the hospital had put a pink ribbon on her head. When I saw that through the window I rapped on it to gain the nurse's attention. I indicated to her that I wanted the ribbon removed. My wife and I were determined to treat all of our children the same. FYI, she and her two brothers all work as engineers.

III. The Child (p. 344)

• A. The Child
  • 1. Young children rapidly acquire gender stereotypes (ideas about what males and females are supposed to be like) and show tendencies to favor “gender-appropriate” activities and behaviors through the process of gender-typing.
  • 2. Gender-typing—awareness of biological sex and acquisition of motives, values, and patterns of behavior that a culture considers appropriate for members of one’s biological sex
  • 3. Susie learns the gender norm that women should be good mothers and adopts traditional role by devoting herself to the task of mothering.
• B. Acquiring Gender Stereotypes
  • 1. Child learns gender stereotypes around the time they become aware of their basic gender identities.
  • 2. 3-year-olds understand masculine stereotype (boys play with GI Joe dolls) and feminine stereotypes (girls play with Barbie dolls).
  • 3. 4- to 6-year-olds understand masculine (car mechanic) and feminine (secretary) stereotyped occupations
  • 4. Children see those in gender-stereotype role (e.g., male pilot) as more competent that those from the other sex (e.g., female pilot).
  • 5. Rigid adherence to gender norms and stereotypes at ages 4 to 6 years may be followed by more flexibility in thinking by age 8 or 9.
  • 6. Some children are particularly offended when a peer steps outside of traditional gender-stereotypic behavior and will act to “enforce” the correct role.
  • 7. Rigidity about gender stereotypes highest in preschool years and then decline
  • 8. Young children may exaggerate gender roles to help cognitively clarify them; once gender identity more firmly established, they can be more flexible in their thinking about what is “for boys” or “for girls.”
  • 9. Some believe that rigidity about a gender-role violation may depend on how essential the behavior is to a given gender identity.
  • 10.Bad for boy to wear a dress because that is strongly associated with being feminine, but alright to play in the kitchen because that is not an essential aspect of the feminine gender role

My oldest child, a boy, were shopping at a toy store when he was not yet in school. He was staring at the fullsize Barbie doll (3' tall) and just a little shorter than he. He asked if we could buy it. I said, "sure." He thought about it a while and then decided not to get it. He knew, already, that he would be violating a gender stereotype.

• C. Gender-Typed Behavior

• 1. Behaving in “gender-appropriate” manner often precedes establishment of clear sense of own identity (e.g., a baby has a preference for “boy toys” before having clearly established a clear male identity)
• 2. In childhood, gender-congruent toy preference still evident, but rules are violated (e.g., girl prefers a “boy toy”)
• 3. Young children tend to prefer and form friendships with same-sex partners.
• 4. Gender segregation—strong preference for interactions with same-sex peers
• 5. Gender-segregation occurs in a variety of cultures
• 6. Gender roles incompatible due to differences in play styles (e.g., boys are too rowdy and domineering to suit the tastes of many girls)
• 7. Socialization pressure may encourage drift into boy-only or girl-only playgroups.
• 8. Strong adherence to gender-role boundaries tend to be seen in children who are socially competent and popular while children who violate gender-segregation rules tend to be less well-adjusted and run risk of peer rejection.
• 9. Boys face stronger pressure to adhere to gender-role expectations.
• 10. Sexual behavior
• 11. Phallic stage (Freud) is time of genital interest (including masturbation).
• 12. Sexual interest quite common
• 13. Latency stage (Freud) time when sex drive is repressed
• 14. Freud was correct that preschoolers are curious about their bodies, masturbate, and engage in same- and cross-sex sex play.
• 15. Freud was wrong to believe that such activities occur infrequently among school-age children (two-thirds of adolescents have masturbated by age 13 and some are engaging in “light” sexual activity).
• 16. Around 10, children often experience first sexual attraction (can be heterosexual or homosexual).
• 17. May be influenced by adrenal gland development and release of androgens
• 18. Comes well before maturation of sex organs
• 19. Society does little to encourage sexual thoughts in younger children (especially about the same sex), so hormones may be best explanation of early sexual interest.
• 20. Societal differences contribute to diversity in sexual attitudes and behaviors.
• 21. Teens less likely to use condoms if sexually active friends do not use them
• 22. “Teen permissive” and “sexually conservative” societies impact teens in different ways.
• 23. Sexual behavior driven by hormones and mediated by social context and personal beliefs
• 24. Learn how to relate to other sex using peers
• D. Explaining Gender-Role Development
  • 1. Biosocial theory
    • a. Biosocial theory of gender-role development focuses on ways in which:
      • i. Biological events influence the development of boys and girls
      • ii. Early biological developments influence how people react to a child
    • b. Suggests that these social reactions have to do with children’s assuming gender roles
    • c. Research evidence suggests that biology does not dictate gender-role development.
    • d. Gender-role development evolves from the complex interaction of biology, social experiences, and individual behavior.
    • e. Androgenized females—girls prenatally exposed to excess androgens
  • 2. Social learning theory
  • a. Social learning theory—children learn masculine or feminine identities, preferences, and behaviors through two processes:
    • i. Differential reinforcement
    • ii. Observational learning
  • b. Differential reinforcement—children are rewarded for sex-appropriate behaviors.
  • c. Punished for behaviors considered more appropriate for members of the other sex
  • d. By second year of life, parents discourage cross-sex play.
  • 3. Observational learning
  • a. Children see which toys and activities are “for girls” and which are “for boys.”
  • b. Imitate individuals of their own sex
  • c. Learn from the media—Internet, television, movies, and video games
  • 4. Cognitive theories
  • a. Gender-role development depends on cognitive development.
  • b. Children must acquire understanding of gender.
  • c. Children actively socialize themselves.
  • d. Actively seek same-sex models and a range of information about how to act like a girl or a boy
  • e. Kohlberg believes children progress through three steps to acquire gender constancy.
  • f. Basic gender identity established by 2 or 2½ years
  • g. Around age 3, children acquire gender stability
  • h. Gender is stable over time.
  • i. Age 5 to 7, children achieve gender consistency
  • j. Realize that their sex is also stable across situations
  • k. Not all research supports Kohlberg’s theory of gender development
  • 5. Most controversial claim
  • a. Only when children fully grasp that their biological sex is unchangeable do they seek same sex models.
  • b. Only a rudimentary understanding of gender is required before children learn gender stereotypes and preferences.
  • 6. Gender schemata theory
  • a. Similar to Kohlberg
  • b. Children are intrinsically motivated to acquire values, interests, and behavior consistent with cognitive judgments about self.
  • c. Different than Kohlberg
  • d. Self-socialization begins as soon as children acquire a basic gender identity.

Here's an old riddle. A father and son were on their way to a ball game when their car was hit by a train. The father was killed and the son was rushed to the ER. When time came for the surgery, the doctor said, "I cannot operate on that boy, he's my son." Who is the doctor? [The answer is at the bottom of this page.]

• E. Childhood Sexuality

• 1. Young children construct their own understandings of reproduction before being told:
• 2. By assimilating and accommodating information into their existing cognitive structures
• 3. As young people mature cognitively:
• 4. They are able to construct ever more accurate understandings of sexuality and reproduction
• 5. Freud is correct that preschoolers are highly curious about their bodies.
• 6. Freud is incorrect that these activities occur infrequently among school-age children.
• 7. Age 10 is an important point in sexual development; many experience their first sexual attraction.
• F. Sexual Behavior
  • 1. Freud believed preschoolers were interested in sexual behaviors.
  • 2. Half of all children engage in sexual play between 2 and 5 years.
  • 3. Boys and girls experience first sexual attraction at age 10 years.
• G. Sexual Abuse
  • 1. Prevalence and reporting
  • 2. Estimates of prevalence vary, but may be widespread (one study found that 27% of women and 5% of men experienced sexual abuse).
  • 3. Many children do not tell anyone (one estimate is that only one in four children report being abused within first 24 hours of abuse, while one in four remain silent forever).
  • 4. Impact
  • 5. No one distinct “syndrome” for all abuse victims, but rather many common problems like anxiety, depression, aggression, withdrawal, and school learning problems
  • 6. Many aftereffects involve a lack of self-worth and difficulty trusting.
  • 7. Sexual acting out, behaving seductively, and promiscuously (one-third of victims)
  • 8. Some display post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms—clinical disorder involving nightmares, flashbacks, helplessness, and anxiety
  • 9. In a few cases, result of abuse is severe psychological damage.
  • 10.Impact may be most severe when abuse involves penetration, force, occurs over a long period of time, and perpetrator is close relative.
  • 11.Recovery factors
  • 12.High-quality relationship with mom and friends may lead to better recovery.
  • 13.Psychotherapy aids in treatment of abuse victims.
  • 14.Some offenders are juveniles taking advantage of peers or somewhat younger children.
  • 15.Can learn acceptable behaviors
  • 16.Effective intervention involving working with the survivors, the offenders, and all children on prevention of sexual abuse may be behind recent decline in reports of abuse.
  • 17.Post-traumatic stress

IV. The Adolescent (p. 356)

• A. Adhering to Gender Roles
  • 1. Adolescents tend to continue to be highly intolerant of certain gender-role violations.
  • 2. Tend to make negative judgments about peers who violate rules by engaging in cross-sex behavior or cross-sex interests
  • 3. Study on boy wearing a barrette or girl with a crew haircut; kindergartners and adolescents judged behavior as most wrong while third and fifth graders were more tolerant
  • 4. Adolescents begun to conceptualize gender violation as sign of psychological abnormality.
  • 5. Gender intensification—sex differences are magnified by increased pressure to conform around the time of puberty (linked to hormonal changes)
  • 6. Higher levels of “femininity” found in teen girls vs. teen boys
  • 7. Teen boys and girls report similar levels of “masculinity”
  • 8. Peers critical as conforming to traditional roles seen as appealing to opposite sex; traditional roles linked to popularity
  • 9. “Tomboy” may feel need to become more feminine and attract boys.
  • 10.Social pressure to conform to traditional roles may explain more noticeable differences in cognitive abilities in adolescence.
  • 11.Social pressure to conform to gender stereotypes does not have to be real to have an impact (i.e., perceptions of pressure just are influential).
  • 12.Later adolescence, more comfort with identity and more flexibility in thinking
• B. Alternate Paths: Transgender Youth
  • 1. Being transgender can exacerbate challenges of adolescence.
  • 2. Transgender is a multifaceted concept.
  • 3. Different people have different definitions of transgender.
  • 4. Being transgender does not determine sexual preference.
  • 5. Transgender individuals, regardless of sex at birth or perceived gender later in life, can be attracted to men, women, transmen, transwomen, or have no preference.
  • 6. For example, a woman may transition to a man who is sexually attracted to other men .
  • 7. Two-thirds of trans-youth report being bullied or harassed by peers or adults (can even be their own parents)
  • 8. Social support is helpful but doesn’t completely alleviate risk or impact of bullying.
  • 9. The balancing act of transgender identity
  • 10.Internal feelings about gender weighed against societal consequences of living as a transgender person
  • 11.Unique personal journey shaped by personal traits and by resources available
  • 12.No single correct path for embracing transgender identity
  • 13.Bockting & Coleman (2016) model—five stages common in the process of adopting transgender identity
  • 14.Pre-coming out
    • a. Characterized by confusion
    • b. Unable to meet expectations of society regarding gender norms
    • c. May not understand or be able to articulate feelings about their gender
  • 15.Coming out
    • a. Acknowledgement of transgender identity to self and others
    • b. Can occur at any stage of life
  • 16.Exploration
    • a. Research and reflection on life as a transgender person
    • b. Questioning decisions, such as hormones, surgery, choosing a new name, clothing choices, etc.
  • 17.Testing boundaries
  • 18.Intimacy
    • a. Tends to be easier for heterosexual transgender people to navigate than homosexual transgender people
    • b. Tends to be easier for transgender men to navigate than transgender women
  • 19.Identity Integration
    • a. Union of the public and private self
    • b. Living comfortably in transgender identity
    • c. Typically gender identity is similar to those of non-transgender people with same expressed gender (e.g., transgendered boy and non-transgendered boy have similar self-perceptions)
    • d. Loved ones of transgender individuals similarly require support and resources as they go through their own journey of acceptance.
    • e. Parents list top needs as medical information and professional support.
    • f. Schools have to make accommodations to create a supportive and safe environment for transgender students.
• C. Attaining Sexual Maturity
  • 1. Adolescents must:
    • a. Incorporate into their identities concepts of themselves as sexual males or females
    • b. Figure out how to express their sexuality in relationships
    • c. Become aware of their sexual orientation
  • 2. Sexual orientation is stable across the lifespan for those who identify as 100% heterosexual and 100% homosexual.
• D. Sexual Orientation
  • 1. Sexual orientation—preference for sex partner as same, opposite, or either sex
  • 2. Continuum of sexual orientation, although our culture tends to recognize only three: heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual
  • 3. Most teens establish heterosexual orientation
  • 4. Establishing homosexual orientation more difficult
  • 5. Establishing a positive attitude in the face of negative societal attitudes can be long and torturous.
  • 6. Often do not “come out” until after high school (mid-20s)
  • 7. Sexual experimentation with same sex may be common, but only about 5–6% establish an enduring homosexual or bisexual orientation.
  • 8. Homosexuality influenced by genetic and environmental factors
  • 9. Identical twins more alike in sexual orientation than fraternal twins (indicates a genetic link), however, environmental factors contribute at least as much as genes
  • 10.Gay men and lesbian women show strong cross-sexed interest when young despite pressure to adopt traditional gender role.
  • 11.Being masculine or feminine in childhood not a predictor of later sexual orientation
  • 12.Lesbian and bisexual orientation tends to be an enduring characteristic.
  • 13.Not the result of domineering mom and weak dad, or seduction by older adult, as older stereotypes might suggest
  • 14.Having a gay or lesbian parent has little impact on a child’s sexual orientation.
  • 15.Prenatal hormones like androgens may predispose an individual to an orientation.
  • 16.It is unclear which pre- or postnatal environmental factors contribute with genes to produce a homosexual orientation.
• E. Beliefs about Sexuality
  • 1. Sex with affection in the context of a committed relationship is acceptable.
  • 2. Sexual double standard has declined but not disappeared.
  • 3. Confused about sexual norms because of mixed messages
  • 4. More tolerant and open-minded
• F. Sexual Behavior
  • 1. Rates of sexual activity depend on type of activity and sexual identity.
  • 2. Disagreements on what sex is
  • 3. Some do not view oral sex as sex.
  • 4. Sexual activity is a normal part of development.
  • 5. Some teens engage in risky sexual behaviors.

V. The Adult (p. 364)

• A. Changes in Gender Roles
  • 1. In early adulthood, male and female gender roles differ little because both sexes play similar roles (i.e., single and in school or working).
  • 2. Roles tend to become more distinct in adulthood, especially in married couples with children.
  • 3. Wives typically do most of the housework (about 17–18 hours per week for her and about 10 hours for her husband, adding up to 400-hour difference a year).
  • 4. Birth of a child makes even egalitarian couples adopt more traditional gender-role attitudes.
  • 5. Women have primary responsibility for child care and household tasks.
  • 6. Men focus energy on providing for the family.
  • 7. Roles tend to become more similar starting in middle age (when children are grown and the nest empties).
• B. Changes in Sexuality
  • 1. Parental imperative—gender-role distinctions often adopted by parents to successfully raise their children
  • 2. Young and middle-aged men often must emphasize masculine qualities to feed and protect family; young and middle-aged women often must express feminine qualities to nurture the young and meet emotional needs of the family.
  • 3. After children leave, and in order to free themselves from the parental imperative, men often shift to become more passive and sensitive while women often shift to become more assertive (i.e., the two sexes flip-flop).
  • 4. Androgyny shift—don’t give up old traits in middle age, simply retain old and add traditional qualities associated with the other sex (more androgynous)
  • 5. Some support for this hypothesis in grandparents
  • 6. Compared to young age groups, men over 70 are more likely to view androgyny positively and to adopt androgynous traits; interesting since the younger generation grew up in an era of more flexible gender norms.
  • 7. Adult sex lives quite varied
  • 8. Some many partners, some few
  • 9. Small decline in quality of sex life for married couples
  • 10.Men’s satisfaction with sex tied to frequency of activity
  • 11.Middle-aged women report more positive moods and less stress levels on days following sexual behavior with a partner.
  • 12.Tend to stereotype older individuals as sexless or asexual
  • 13.Most people are sexual beings throughout the lifespan.
  • 14.Older men appear to be more sexually active and interested in sex than their female age peers.
  • 15.Activity level does decline with age.
  • 16.Longer and healthier life spans have increased sexual activity in middle and older adults with some unexpected consequences.
  • 17.STD rates in those 45 and older have doubled.
  • 18.Many older adults do not get tested for STDs nor get potential life-saving treatment.
  • 19.Jane Fowler—story of 47-year-old divorcee who dated and contracted HIV from a man she knew, prompting her to found the organization HIV Wisdom for Older Women
  • 20.Explanations for declining activity
  • 21.Physical changes
  • 22.Male sexual peak responsiveness is in teens and 20s (i.e., more intense organism and shorter refractory period—period of time before one is again capable of sexual activity)
  • 23.Older male is slower to arouse, ejaculate, and recover after ejaculation
  • 24.Some decline in male hormone release with age
  • 25.Female physiological changes less dramatic (e.g., continuation of little or no refractory period)
  • 26.Menopause tends to not reduce interest in sex or sex activity.
  • 27.Infirmity, diseases, and disabilities may limit function (e.g., may lead to impotence in men).
  • 28.Health problems like high blood pressure, coronary disease, and diabetes and psychological problems like stress and depression can result in impotence in middle-aged and elderly adults.
  • 29.Concerns about social attitudes (e.g., sex in old age is ridiculous) may contribute to a reduction in sexual activity.
  • 30.Elderly stereotyped as sexless or sexually unappealing (“dirty old men”)
  • 31.Negative attitudes may be internalized by elderly.
  • 32.Older females further inhibited by the double standard
  • 33.Lack of partner or willing partner will diminish sexual activity.
  • 34.Especially problematic for older women as number of available older men significantly declines
  • 35.Lack of sexual experience in young adulthood predicts less sex in later life (“use it or lose it”).

[Answer to the riddle, the doctor is his mother. How many of you realized that? This riddle indicates sex-role stereotyping. Women are doctors too.]

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