Chapter 2

Gender in Relationships

Key Terms

• Sex– The biological distinction between females

and males.

• Gender– The social and psychological

characteristics associated with being female or male.

• Hermaphrodites (Intersexed individuals)– Individuals with mixed or ambiguous

genitals.

• Gender identity– The psychological state of viewing oneself

as a girl or a boy, and later as a woman or a man.

• Transgendered– Expressing characteristic different from

one’s biological sex.

• Cross-dresser– A broad term for individuals who may dress

or present themselves in the gender of the other sex.

• Transvestite– Another term for crossdresser; commonly

associated with homosexual men who dress provocatively as women to attract men.

• Transsexual– Persons with the biological/anatomical sex

of one gender but the self-concept of the other sex.

• Transgenderist– An individual who lives in a gender role

that does not match his or her biological sex but who has no desire to surgically alter his or her genitalia.

• Transgenderism– A political movement seeking to challenge

the belief that very person can be categorized simply as a woman or as a man.

• Gender roles– Social norms that dictate what is socially

regarded as appropriate female and male behavior.

• Sex roles– Sex roles are defined by biological

constraints and can be enacted by members of one biological sex only—for example, wet nurse, sperm donor, child bearer.

• Gender role ideology– Refers to beliefs about the proper role

relationships between women and men in any given society.

• Biosocial theory– Emphasizes that social behaviors (e.g.,

gender roles) are biologically based and have an evolutionary survival function.

• Parental investment– Any investment by a parent that increases

the offspring’s chance of surviving and thus increases reproductive success.

• Androgyny– Refers to a blend of traits that are

stereotypically associated with both masculinity and femininity.

• Positive androgyny– Devoid of the negative traits associated

with masculinity and femininity.

• Female circumcision– Encompasses a wide range of

procedures, ranging in severity from a nick on the clitoral hood to cutting off all the external genitals and sewing up the vaginal opening.

• Female genital mutilation

– Comprises all surgical procedures involving partial or total removal of the external genitalia or other injuries to the female genital organs for cultural or other non-therapeutic reasons.

• Gender role transcendence– Involves abandoning gender schema so

that personality traits, social/occupational roles, and other aspects of our lives become divorced from gender categories.

• Feminization of poverty– Refers to the disproportionate percentage

of poverty experienced by women living alone or with their children.