Our Gendered Identities

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Our Gendered Identities
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Gendered Identities

• Sex
• Gender identity.
• Gender (or gender role)

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Gendered Identities

• Intersexed individuals have ambiguous genital
  anatomy.
• Transsexual and transgendered individuals are
  uncomfortable with the gender that society has
  assigned them.

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Cultural Gender Expectations

• Gender differentiation is apparent in our
  cultural expectations about how men and women
  should behave.
• Masculine people are often thought to have
  instrumental (or agentic) character traits
• Feminine people are thought to embody expressive
  (or communal) character traits

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• Language is one of the most powerful tools people
  use both deliberately and inadvertently to
  establish and maintain rigid gender roles.

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Traits of Males Females from Gallup Poll
Trait More True of Men More True of Women
Aggressive 68 20
Courageous 50 27
Ambitious 44 33
Easygoing 55 48
Intelligent 21 36
Creative 15 65
Patient 19 72
Talkative 10 78
Affectionate 5 86
Emotional 3 90
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New Cultural Models for Women

• The professional woman
• The superwoman
• The satisfied single

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To what extent do women and men follow cultural
expectations?

• Psychologist Janet Hyde (2005) found
• males and females are similar on most
  psychological variables.
• virtually no difference on most traits, a few
  moderate differences, and very few large
  differences.

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Race/Ethnic Diversity and Gendered Expectations

• Traditional gender stereotypes were based on a
  white, middle-class, heterosexual experience.
• Different norms pervade according to immigration
  patterns and experiences as well as within
  different ethnic groups and social classes.
• Black men and women express preferences for
  egalitarian relationships.

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Gender and Socialization

• Socialization
• Process by which people develop their human
  capacities and acquire a unique personality and
  identity and by which culture is passed from
  generation to generation

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Theories of Socialization

• Classic Interactionist Constructionist
  Perspective
• Social Learning Theory

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Theories of Socialization

• Self-identification theory
• Gender Schema Theory

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Love and Choosing a Life Partner
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Love and Commitment

• Love is viewed as the primary reason for getting
  and staying married.
• Loving involves the acceptance of partners for
  themselves.
• Loving requires empathy and commitment.

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Love and Commitment

• Commitment is characterized by a willingness to
  work through problems and conflicts as opposed to
  calling it quits when problems arise it involves
  consciously investing in the relationship.

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Sternbergs Triangular Theory of Love

• Three components develop at different times
• Passion.
• Intimacy
• Commitment.

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Sternbergs Triangular Theory of Love

• Consummate Love

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Attachment Theory and Loving Relationships

• A secure attachment style is associated with
  better prospects for a committed relationship.
• An insecure/anxious attachment style entails
  fear of abandonment with possible consequences
  such as jealousy or trying to control ones
  partner.
• An avoidant attachment style leads one to pass up
  or shun closeness or intimacy.

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Mate Selection The Process of Selecting a
Committed Partner

• Positive attitudes about the relationship,
  coupled with realistically positive assessments
  of a spouses personality traits, are important
  to marital stability.
• Supportive interaction results in greater marital
  satisfaction.

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A Sequential Model of Mate Selection
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The Marriage Market

• Individuals enter the market armed with
  resourcespersonal and social characteristicsand
  then bargain for the best buy that they can
  get.
• Arranged Marriages
• Free-choice Culture

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Limitations of Dating

• Dating leads to intimacy but not necessarily to
  commitment
• Dating tends to skip friendship, which should be
  the foundation of a stable relationship
• Dating focuses on romantic attraction

Source Harris, J. (2003). I kissed dating goodbye
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Limitations of Dating

• Dating focuses on enjoying love and romance
  solely for their recreational value
• Dating often isolates a couple from other vital
  relationships
• Dating takes a lot of time and energy
• Dating creates an artificial environment

Source Harris, J. (2003). I kissed dating goodbye
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Contemporary Trend Hooking Up

• National study and in-depth interviews of more
  than 1000 college women
• Marriage is a major life goal for the majority of
  college women.
• 2. Most women would like to meet a spouse while
  at college.
• 3. Relationships between college women and
  college men are often characterized by either too
  little commitment or too much.

Source Glenn, N. Marquardt, E. (2001). Hooking
up, hanging out, and hoping for Mr. Right
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Contemporary Trend Hooking Up

• 4. Hooking up is a distinctive
  sex-without-commitment interaction between
  college students and has many levels ranging from
  only kissing to oral sex and intercourse.
• 5. The ambiguity of the phrase hooking up is
  part of the reason for its popular appeal.
• 6. Hooking up is widespread on most campuses.
• 7. Dating carries multiple meanings from hanging
  out (being together) to a high level of
  commitment.
• 8. It is rare for college men to ask women out on
  dates or to acknowledge when they have become a
  couple.
• 9. In areas such as marriage aspirations, getting
  advice from parents, and hooking up, college
  women from divorced families differ significantly
  from women who grew up in intact families.

Source Glenn, N. Marquardt, E. (2001). Hooking
up, hanging out, and hoping for Mr. Right
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Internet Dating and Matchmaking Services

• Some services call themselves relationship
  services
• charge a fee applicants fill out forms,
  describing their traits and the traits they want
  in a partner some services videotape applicants
  responses

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Choosing a Mate

• Age
• Birth Order
• Endogamy
• Exogamy