Sex & Gender
- Created by: Bananna20
- Created on: 24-02-16 18:08
Key Terms
Sex - biological term which tells us if someone is male or female
Gender - the psychological term that tells us if someone is masculine, feminine or androgynous
Masculinity - behaviours and ideas considered to be male characterstics
Femininity - behaviours and ideas considered to be female characterstics
Core theory: Biological Approach
Males Females
XY Embryo conceived with different sex chromosomes **
Gonads - testes 6 weeks, gonads develop Gonads - ovaries
Testosterone Gonads produce hormones Oestrogen
Maths & map reading Hormones affect brain English & speaking
Aggressive Hormones affect behaviour Sensitive
Core theory: Biological Approach (2)
Evolutionary theory
- Women have 400 eggs so are choosier with partners
- Women raise the child so are more caring and communicative
- Men had to hunt and gather so are aggressive, athletic & spatially aware
Evaluation
- Ignores that gender roles can be learnt
- Different people have different traits - all men have XY chromosomes but masculinity varies
- Gender roles can change - men and women are more androgynous now - men have more pride in appearance and men do 'male' jobs
Alternative theory: Psychoanalytic approach
- Freud believed early experiences & the unconscious mind help to develop sense ofbeing male or female
- It states that between ages 3 and 6, a child lusts after its opposite sex parent which leads to them developing gender identity
Oedipus complex
- The boy fears that the father will discover his lust for his mother and be angry
- The boy thinks that the father will cut off his penis - castration anxiety
- Boy identifies with father & develops gender identity
Electra complex
- The girl desires her father and his penis - penis envy
- Girl blames mother for not having a penis
- Realises she won't get a penis so desires a baby instead - penis substitute
- Girl identifies with mother & develops gender identity
Core study: Diamond & Sigmundosn
- Aim: to show that you can't be socialised into being the opposite sex
- Method: case study
- Participant: Bruce/Brenda/David Reimer
- Procedure: at 8 months old, Bruce's penis was burnt off in a circumcision operation so he was raised as a girl, as suggested by Dr Money. His penis was reconstructed into a vagina and Bruce became Brenda.
- Results: at puberty Brenda became more manly, liked sports and girls. At age 13 she was told she was born a boy and lived the rest of her life as David.
- Conclusion: Gender is nature, not nurture so supports the biological theory.
Limitations
- Small sample - case study only based on one person's experiences - can't be generalised
- Experimentor bias - Dr Money didn't publish all the findings - results he gave were a false representation of what really happened
- Lack of control - parents told to raise Bruce as a girl but the family had infrequent visits to Dr Money - had to take parents' word that Bruce was raised as Brenda
Application: Equal Opportunites
Education
- In the 1980s males did better at school than females because females weren't encouraged to be successful as they were expected to be housewives
- Now females do better than males at GCSEs and A-Levels - this called the gender gap
- Boys are naturally disadvantaged at reading and girls are naturally disadvantaged at maths but are educated in the same way
Workplace
- Men went to work and womenwere expected to be housewives
- Now women are more business-minded and work-orientated
- However, men do better in the work place as they are paid more and get promotions
Sport
- Sport was seen to be for men as it is male-dominated
- Women are entitled to do the same sports but are paid a lot less
- Given the same opportunities
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