Sex and Gender Flashcards
(21 cards)
define sex
What you biologically are: having specific chromosomes, hormones and genitalia
define gender
what you’re psychologically perceive yourself to be: masculine or feminine and the behaviors you exhibit
define gender identity
the way a person understands and classifies themselves in relation to gender
define gender role
The expected ways of acting for men and women in a given society
define gender stereotypes
simplistic ideas that regard one gender as being the same in relation to a particular trait or characteristic
when are sex/gender role stereotypes learnt
these set of shared expectations are learnt from a young age
how are gender role stereotypes learnt
through many different ways such as exposure to parents attitudes, direct tuition etc
TRUE or FALSE: sex role stereotypes are learnt explicitly only
FALSE
sex role stereotypes are learnt either explicitly (told what boys and girls do) or implicitly ( not directly expressed)
what is androgyny
its used to describe a flexible gender role – displaying. abalance of both masculine and feminine traits
what does bem argue i reference to androgony
he argues that its healthier to avoid fixed sex role stereotypes, allowing freedom to perform masculine behaviours irrespective of bio sex
what research supports Bems ideas about androgyny being healthier
supported by Burchardt and Serbins (1982), research which concluded being androgenous is associated w/ pos mental health
what did Bem create for gender
BEMS SEX ROLE INVENTORY (BSRI)
what did bems sex role inventory measure
how people identify themselves psychologically
how did BSRI measure how people identify themselves psychologically
asked 100 american undergrads, which personality traits were desirable for men and women
it then used a rating scale of 60 traits (20 masc, 20 fem, 20 neutral)
p.t rate themselves in these items to identify which gender theyre on a 7 point scale
how does BRSI determine if a person was androgenous
if their masculine and feminine scores are the same and high, they’re androgenous
how does the BSRI determine if someones undifferentiated
their scores for masculine and feminine are both low
how does the BSRI determine if your either masculine or feminine
if one score is higher than the other, this is their gender
i.e low masculine, means your’e feminine
what does Bem argue about western culture in terms of gender
western culture encourages boys to inhibit ‘feminine’ side of their personality and girls mat learn to inhibit the ‘masculine’ side of their personality. If this inhibiting doesn’t occur, then individual can be viewed as ‘abnormal’
why does Bem suggest androgynous people are more comfortable with who they are compared to those who show more conventionally differentiated male or feminine traits
there aren’t expectations forced upon them about how they should behave
what is a strength of Bems sex role inventory
P; One strength of the BSRI is that it has high test-retest reliability.
E: found that when the BSRI administered to participants twice over a four-week period, the correlation between the two sets of results ranged from 0.76 to 0.94.
E: indicates that the BSRI produces consistent results over time
L: Therefore, the BSRI can be considered a reliable tool for assessing androgyny
what is a limitation of BSRI
P: A limitation of the BSRI is that it relies on self-report
E: Participants are asked to rate themselves on various traits, but these ratings may be influenced by social desirability
E: As a result, individuals might not provide accurate or honest responses, meaning their androgyny score may not truly reflect their gender identity
L: This questions the internal validity of the BSR
