Masculinity and feminity – Myths and Stereotypes

Masculinity and feminity – Myths and Stereotypes

Gender is not the same as sex

Gender – non physiological aspects of being male or female – the cultural expectations of being masculine or feminine.

Gender identity – An individuals private experience of the self as female or male

Gender role – set of behaviors socially defined as appropriate for one’s self.

Stereotype

Stereotypes are socially shared beliefs that certain qualities can be assigned to individuals based on their membership in a particular group – gender, race, national origin, social class, age, religion or even height.

Gender Roles

Williams & Bennett, 1975

Women: Affected, affectionate, appreciative, attractive, charming, complaining, dependent, dreamy, emotional, excitable, feminine, fickle flirtatious frivolous, fussy, gentle, high-strung, meek, mild, nagging, prudish, rattlebrained, sensitive, sentimental, softhearted, sophisticated, submissive, talkative, weak, whiney.

Williams & Bennett, 1975

Men: Adventurous, aggressive, ambitious, assertive, autocratic, boastful, course, confident, courageous, cruel, daring, disorderly, dominant, enterprising, forceful, handsome, independent, jolly logical, loud, masculine, rational, realistic, robust, self-confident, severe, stable, steady, stern, strong, tough, unemotional, unexcitable.

DeLisi & Soundaranayagam, 1990

There were agreement on the following:

Female core traits:

Niceness/nurturance dimension

Male core traits:

Potency/power dimension

Differences:

Females saw themselves as capable, competent, dependable, intelligent and responsible.

Males saw females as attractive, good-looking, sexy and sofe.

Do stereotypes imply prejudice?

Prejudice: The negtive valuation of persons or their activities because of thei memebership in a particular group.

Sexism: The brand of prejudice that is based on a person’s sexual category.

Discrimination???

Feminist

In Africa men wear the fineryTunisiaKukuku

Masai

Self-image

Stereotypes of African Americans

Asian stereotypes

Arab women the veil

Gender Schema Schemas are cognitive structures that derive

from the integration and organization of particular types of knowledge.  Once developed, they influence the categorization, interpretation, and comprehension of social events and behaviors.  Self-schemas, in particular, are those cognitive structures that contain integrated and organized information about the self--the unique aspects of people's personality, abilities, achievements, interests, and appearance

How are stereotypes maintained

1.Childrearing practices

2.Toys and clothing

3.Media – ads, stories, movies, sit-coms

4.Other

Self–fulfilling prophecyThe concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy can be

summarized in these key principles:

- We form certain expectations of people or events - We communicate those expectations with various

cues. - People tend to respond to these cues by adjusting

their behavior to match them. - The result is that the original expectation becomes

true.

This creates a circle of self-fulfilling prophecies.