Sex and Gender
Paper 3 Issues and Options in Psychology
Sex
- Biological status
- Chromosomes (influencing hormonal differences)
- Innate/Genetic
- Nature
- Fact – cannot be changed without surgery
Gender
- Psychosocial concept
- Masculine / feminine
- Can be influenced by social norms & culture
- At least partly environmentally determined
- Fluid – open to change
Sex Role Stereotypes
- Sex-role stereotypes are a set of shared expectations that people within a society/culture hold about what is acceptable or usual behaviour for males and females.
- These expectations are communicated throughout society and may be reinforcement by family, friends, media, schools etc.
- Few sex-role stereotypes contain any truth; in fact, they are much more likely to lead to sexist assumptions e.g. women don’t have the capacity to hold jobs high in responsibility because they may become ‘over-emotional’ and men shouldn’t be the main carer for a child because they aren’t nurturing.
Research investigating sex-role stereotypes
Furnham & Farragher (2000) conducted research on TV adverts. They found that men were more likely to be shown in autonomous roles within professional contexts, whereas women were often seen occupying familial roles within domestic settings.
This demonstrates that stereotypical gender representations are present in the media and provides support for theories such as social learning theory, which argue that gender stereotypes can be learned through observation of role models in society.
AO3: Sex-role Stereotypes Evaluation
Point:
Real-life evidence indicates the existence of sex-role stereotypes
Evidence: For example, Sood et al (2014) reported that only 12% of primary school teachers and 3% of nursery staff in Britain are male, due to early years teaching being seen as a female profession, their nurturing abilities and unsuitability of males thanks to their perception as intimidating and threatening.
Elaboration: This is a strength because it shows that sex-role stereotypes exist, even today, and that they might be impacting on individuals’ job choices, this has a significant impact on society as these created ‘suitable job’ categories place restrictive barriers on positive roles both males and females could play.
Point:
There are difficulties in challenging negative sex-role stereotyping
Evidence: For example, illustrations of stereotypes tend to be over-emphasised as ‘typical behaviour’, for instance, girls crying, while similar behaviour in males is under-stressed as non-typical. Such ‘typical’ behaviours are then perceived as ‘natural’ differences
Elaboration: This means that sex-role stereotypes exist, and the perception of ‘natural’ differences reinforces the stereotype and makes it harder to break down.