SEX TYPING : PSYCHOSOCIAL DETERMINANTS

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SEX TYPING PSYCHOSOCIAL DETERMINANTS

• MARIA MUSTAFA
• LECTURER,
• GWS DEPTT.,AIOU.

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SEX TYPING

• ONE IS NOT BORN A WOMAN RATHER BECOMES ONE.
• (SIMONE DE BEAVOIR)

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SEX TYPING

• PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPT
• TABULA RASA

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Sex-Typing

• Men and women are two essential characters of
  human life.
• Men and women are equal but they are not same
  one should not forget that equality is the not
  synonymous to sameness.

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SEX TYPING

• The biological factors determine the physical
  differences between males and females whereas the
  social, cultural and environmental factors give
  rise to personality differences, temperamental
  differences and the differences in the roles and
  expectations of the members of both sexes.

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DEFINITIONS

• sex role refers to behaviours, attitudes values,
  beliefs that a particular cultural group
  considers appropriate for males and females on
  the basis of their biological sex.
• Sex typing refers to the Psychological make up of
  women and men

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SEX ROLES

• Sex-roles are expected set of thinking and
  behavior patterns for males and females.
• A group of social scientists take development of
  gender-roles as positive factor for socialization
  and adjustment process of individual.
• Others opine that gender-identity minimize the
  use of individual potential and abilities
  considering not suitable for their sex. They view
  that sex-typing stereotypes also affect the
  process of self-exploration, especially in case
  of women.

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DEVELOPMENT OF SEXTYPING

• Sex-typing, which is expressed through sex-roles.
  The sex-roles are the results of social
  stereotypes which give rise to certain type of
  behaviour that are regarded culturally
  appropriate.
• It has been found that the child learns first
  about her own sex-identity, then develops the
  ability to generalize the gender constancy to
  other people and then to other situations.
  Generally children model their own behavior after
  adult sex-role.

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THEORIES OF SEX TYPING

• Psycho-analytical Theories
• Social Learning Theory 
• Cognitive Development Theory
• Cerebral Lateralization Theory

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PSYCHOSOCIAL DETERMINANTS

• Socialization
• Family
• Parents
• School
• Childhood play
• Language
• Peers

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MASS MEDIA

• six major media of mass communication are
  newspapers, magazines, books, television, radio
  and films(shahid,1999)
• These can be further divided in two categories
• Electronic Media
• Print Media
• Functions of Mass Media
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• To educate
• To inform
• To entertain

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INFLUENCE OF MASS MEDIA

• One of the greatest influences on the sex-typed
  behaviour is from mass media. Many studies have
  been quoted by Pervez (1982) which high light the
  significant role of media agents in the
  development of personality and also in the sex
  specific behavior.
• Media should not be taken as a source of
  entertainment rather these are significant tools
  for the development and preservation of cultural
  values and norms. They play a significant role in
  the development of cultural identity.

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• It not only offers us something to see, but also
  shapes the way in which we see by creating shared
  perceptual mode.
• Media images are powerful tools of socialization,
  shaping and reinforcing both positive and
  negative attitudes (Rider, 2000).

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• All forms of media communicate images of the
  sexes, many of which perpetuate unrealistic,
  stereotypical and limiting perceptions (Wood,
  1996).
• The role and status of women in any given society
  can be studied through the images of woman which
  the media projects.

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Wood( 1996) elaborated on the themes how the
media represents gender

• Women are underrepresented, which falsely implies
  that men are the cultural standard and women are
  unimportant or invisible.
• Men and women are portrayed in stereotypical ways
  that reflected in stereotypical ways that reflect
  and sustain socially endorsed views of gender.
• Depiction of relationships between men and women
  emphasize traditional roles and normalize
  violence against women.

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Portrayal and Participation of women in media

• Overall media treatment of the women can best be
  described as narrow. On films, in the press and
  the broadcast media, womens activities and
  interests typically dont go further than the
  confines of homes and family. Characterized as
  essentially dependent and romantic, women are
  rarely portrayed as rational, active or decisive.
  Both as characters in the fictional media
  contents, and as newsmakers in press and
  broadcasting, women are numerically under
  represented an absence which underlines their
  marginal and inferior status in many spheres of
  social economics and cultural life. Prevalent
  news values define most women and most womens
  problems as un-newsworthy, admitting women to
  coverage primarily as wives, mothers or daughters
  of men in the news. In their own right they make
  headlines usually only as fashionable or
  entertainment figures. Much media advertising
  directed at women as consumers is condescending
  in tone, and manipulative in intention, as the
  bait through which products are advertised. Women
  are exploited in terms of their sexuality and
  physical appearance.(GALLAGHER ,1979)

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ANALYSIS OF PORTARYAL OF GENDER IN MASS MEDIA

• Pakistani media
• Pakistani media projects a very specific image of
  women, (Pervez, 1982, 1992) which not only
  provide a guide line to the youths to adopt that
  specific life style but also helps in sustaining
  the status quo.
• Electronic media
• Print Media

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