Family Life and Sex Ed Chp 2 Lecture Notes PDF

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Summary

This course is taught online by Susie Stone using "Intimate Relationships, Marriages, and Families" 9th Edition textbook by Stinnett, Stinnett, Degenova and Rice.
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Family Health Chp. 2- Gender: Roles and Identity  Gender: personality traits and behavior that characterize us as men (masculine) or women (feminine)  Gender role: a person’s outward expression of maleness or femaleness  Gender identity: a person’s personal, internal sense of maleness of femaleness, which is expressed in personality and behavior  Transgender people: their gender identity occasionally or permanently by cross-dressing  Transsexuals: a transgender person who seeks to live as a member of opposite sex with help of hormones and surgery

Environmental Influences on Gender  Masculinity: personality and behavioral characteristics of male according to culturally defined standards of maleness  Femininity: personality and behavioral characteristics of female according to culturally defined standards of femaleness Environmental Influences on Gender

 Societal expectations o As soon as the child is born, society expects him or her to begin thinking and acting like a boy or a girl; in the U.S, expectations vary by class and race  Parental influences o Parental identification and modeling (the process of which the child adopts and internalizes parental values); children receive different care from each and observe how they interact with others in their environment  The influence of popular press, television and movies o Stereotypical depictions of gender roles in the media, children’s books and movies

 School influences o Boys tend to be geared towards math and science while girls are geared toward literature

Theory of Gender Role and Identity  Social Learning Theory o a theory that emphasizes that boys develop “maleness” and girls develop “femaleness” through exposure through influences of parents, T.V, school and peers that teach them what it means to be a man or woman in their culture o Parental models, especially those offered by same-sex parents, are the most influential at shaping gender  Cognitive Developmental Theory o A theory that suggests that gender roles and identities can’t be learned until children reach a certain stage of intellectual development o Based on cognitive aspects, such as knowledge of stereotypes and flexibility in applying them  Gender Scheme Theory o A theory that suggests that people have definite ideas about how males and females should look and behave o Shaped through the socialization of children o Builds on cognitive development theory and social learning theory  Social Structure/Cultural Theories o Theories that suggest that most of the differences between male and female gender roles are established by power and division of labor  Evolutionary Theories o Theories that suggest that genetic heritage is more important than social learning in the development of gender roles o Proponents believe that female and males genes have adapted to meet sex’s reproductive goals with little empirical support  Biological Theories

o Research that suggests genetic, hormonal and neurological bases for some of differences in behavior for males and females

Traditional Masculine and Feminine Stereotypes  Problems with gender stereotypes o Individual personalities can be distorted o Different expectations of employment and pay for males and females  Females earn lower hourly wages and are chosen for femaledominated jobs with lower earning potential  Adherence to traditional male roles is associated with higher levels of suicide, substance abuse, health problems, stress and emotional illness

Gender Roles and Body Image  “Body image” refers to positive or negative feelings about specific parts of the body and to overall appearance  Contemporary society encourages less modesty about male and female bodies through T.V and in the movies  Cultural expectation for females leading to preoccupation with weight and perfectionism, increasing the number of eating disorders and growing steroid use among men

Race, Class and Gender  Much of the research is done of middle-class, white females  White girls are cited as losing their essence in adolescence, while black adolescents are often described as being assertive, powerful and resilient  Importance of culture in understanding how Mexican American girls negotiate gender roles

Changing Roles of Women and Men  Changes in the way women perceive themselves and their roles  2 major problems women face today: o Role ambiguity: the uncertainty felt when choosing a gender role o Role strain: the stress of trying to meet the demands of many roles

 As the role of women change, men must redefine their roles

Gender Roles in the family Roles in Marriage  Traditional role relationship  Egalitarian marriage: equality rather than strict role definition; shared power and shared work  Couples who have achieved gender-role congruence report higher marital quality than those who don’t o Gender role congruence: agreement between partners gender-role expectations and performance Housework and child-care roles  Even women who work as many hours as their spouses outside of the home act as the primary care giver and responsible for most of the housework Gender, marriage and depression  Differences in causes of depression o Chemical imbalance, personality, situational factors, and stressors in interpersonal relationships  Differences in recognition of symptoms and coping strategies between men and women

Androgyny  A blending of male and female characteristics and roles  Advantages to both sexes  Our gender self-concept is likely contextually dependent...