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Lecture Notes 5 - Culture and Gender

Class notes from Professor Eugene Derobertis's class.
Course

Cross-Cultural Psychology (21:830:322)

17 Documents
Students shared 17 documents in this course
Academic year: 2016/2017
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Amanda Scheuer
Rutgers University
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Chapter 7: Culture and Gender Culture influences the behaviors that are associated with gender Sex is focused on anatomy and it is a biological term Sex roles types of activities that engage in that are linked directly to the differences in their anatomy (breastfeeding associated with females) Sexual identity recognition and appropriation of sex and associated sex roles (includes actively rejecting sex as in transgender) how much do you feel at home with that sex (where sex and gender begin to connect) Gender has more of a role in culture patterns of activities a assigns for that may or may not be directly related to sex (referred to as masculinity or femininity) Males who are stereotypically masculine versus females who are stereotypically feminine and vice gender roles gender specific behaviors ascribed culture Gender in any given society, there are certain kinds of responsibilities or jobs that are more commonly ascribed to one sex than the other Gender identity how much of these gender does one along how an individual lives out their gender role Gender stereotypes characteristics that are typically associated with a (men being very emotional is not seen as masculine) Gender and sex in culture are complicated because they demand tolerance of ambiguity and the questioning of typical black and white worlds There is so much diversity within it, as well as controversy and hatred Hofstede Masculinity versus femininity scale in different cultures as a continuum Intended to reveal the degree to which a culture will either foster and maintain differences between males and females versus being looser with gender roles Some cultures have very distinct gender roles and they are meant to be separate, but other cultures there is a lot of variability with males and females In our own culture, this has softened over time Japan, Austria, Venezuela, Italy scored very high on the scale (more roles enforced) Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden scored very low (less roles enforced) (page 151 chart) Masculinity considered moralistic, they have more double standards between men and norms encourage passive roles for more authoritarian than egalitarian (more focus on word of handed down from above than interpersonal relations) Countries rated low on masculinity treat sex as normal and not less double more acceptance of women playing active roles, being assertive, being breadwinners, calling the focus on interpersonal relations Differences in masculinity and femininity related to sexism in cultures Sexist ideologies legitimize inequality and discrimination Cognitive differences Men are considered to be better at mathematics and spatial tasks, and women are considered to be better at language and verbal comprehension tasks Those differences have dissipated so they are almost nonexistent now Confirmatory bias (women will perform worse on a mathematical exam because they are told frequently that men are better at math) As awareness of the differences grows, the difference in measurement of the tasks between genders decreases Berry (1976) conducted a block design study in 17 cultures part of Wechsler IQ test (put the blocks together to create a picture) Men should do better at this task because they are better at spatial tasks, but it was relatively equal between cultures and women sometimes did better Males did better in sedentary cultures Females did better in nomadic, moving cultures Conformity and obedience Women expected to be more passive, conforming gender in different cultures Related to the tightness versus looseness aspect of society ( Hofstede) Aggressiveness Males considered more aggressive than women, especially in violent aggression One explanation is that increased testosterone in men causes more aggression and sexual aggression Culture can affect how violent people are, depending on how empowered the gender is, how militant they are, etc. Individualist cultures empower women to be perpetrators more Berry suggested that male aggression be viewed as a compensatory mechanism to offset their maternal identification Primary caretakers are female, but males must deny their deep connectivity to their mother Idea came from Alfred Adler masculine protest (men overcompensating to be extra manly) the protesting being feminine because men are not supposed to be emotional or sensitive They must break away from the primary attachment figure (mother of the opposite sex) Compensatory mechanism in which boys grow up with their mothers, who are supposed to be caring and loving, but then they are told that they cannot be feminine like their they must give up that relationship with their mothers and be like their fathers Personality Women across cultures rate higher in terms of neuroticism, agreeableness, warmth, and openness to feelings Men score higher on assertiveness and openness to ideas Most magnified differences in Europe and U. Sex and Sexuality Varying degrees of openness to sexuality Typical taboo on incest across adultery is also typically considered wrong Some cultures consider sex before marriage taboo Freedom of sexual attitudes is controversial when it comes to other cultures (especially Muslim cultures, in which is tighter among women particularly) Female genital mutilation to prevent sexual pleasure in women in some countries Buss (1989) studied 37 countries and found that countries had a higher value on chastity than countries Not having sexual relations is much more valued in countries Widmer, Treas, Newcomb (1998) studied 24 countries on attitudes towards premarital sex, teen sex, extramarital sex, and homosexuality Found widespread acceptance of premarital sex, but not for teen and extramarital sex More Protestant Christians Low proportion of Muslims Higher percentage of women employed outside the home Higher percentage of women in university More individualism Self concepts All countries considered it was more favorable to be a man, especially in Asian and Muslim countries Changing cultures, changing gender roles World Health Organization study 10 countries found that to of women reported being physically or sexually assaulted since the age of 15, and in more than half of the respondents this was ongoing Ethnicity Harris (1996) African American males were more androgynous than African American females

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Lecture Notes 5 - Culture and Gender

Course: Cross-Cultural Psychology (21:830:322)

17 Documents
Students shared 17 documents in this course

University: Rutgers University

Was this document helpful?
Chapter 7: Culture and Gender
●Culture influences the behaviors that are associated with gender
●Sex is focused on anatomy and physiology; it is a biological term
○Sex roles - types of activities that men/women engage in that are linked directly to the differences
in their anatomy (breastfeeding associated with females)
○Sexual identity - recognition and appropriation of his/her sex and associated sex roles (includes
actively rejecting one’s sex as in transgender) - how much do you feel at home with that sex
(where sex and gender begin to connect)
●Gender has more of a role in culture - patterns of activities a society/culture assigns for men/women that
may or may not be directly related to sex (referred to as masculinity or femininity)
○Males who are stereotypically masculine versus females who are stereotypically feminine and vice
versa; gender roles - gender specific behaviors ascribed by culture
○Gender norms/ideologies - in any given society, there are certain kinds of responsibilities or jobs
that are more commonly ascribed to one sex than the other
○Gender identity - how much of these gender roles/norms does one accept/go along with; how an
individual lives out their gender role
○Gender stereotypes - characteristics that are typically associated with a gender; (men being very
emotional is not seen as masculine)
●Gender and sex in culture are complicated because they demand tolerance of ambiguity and the questioning
of typical people’s black and white worlds
○There is so much diversity within it, as well as controversy and hatred
●Hofstede
○Masculinity versus femininity scale in different cultures as a continuum
○Intended to reveal the degree to which a culture will either foster and maintain differences
between males and females versus being looser with gender roles
■Some cultures have very distinct gender roles and they are meant to be separate, but other
cultures there is a lot of variability with males and females
■In our own culture, this has softened over time
○Japan, Austria, Venezuela, Italy scored very high on the masculinity-femininity scale (more roles
enforced)
○Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden scored very low (less roles enforced)
○(page 151 chart) Masculinity considered moralistic, they have more double standards between
men and women; norms encourage passive roles for women; more authoritarian than egalitarian
(more focus on word of law/laws handed down from above than interpersonal relations)
○Countries rated low on masculinity treat sex as normal and not taboo; less double standards; more
acceptance of women playing active roles, being assertive, being breadwinners, calling the shots;
focus on interpersonal relations
●Differences in masculinity and femininity related to sexism in cultures
○Sexist ideologies legitimize inequality and discrimination
○Cognitive differences
■Men are considered to be better at mathematics and spatial tasks, and women are
considered to be better at language and verbal comprehension tasks
●Those differences have dissipated so they are almost nonexistent now
●Confirmatory bias (women will perform worse on a mathematical exam because
they are told frequently that men are better at math)
■As awareness of the differences grows, the difference in measurement of the tasks
between genders decreases

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