Transcript Psychology 3533 Understanding Human Sexuality

GENDER DIFFERENCES
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Gender Role:
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culturally expected behaviour for males and females.
Socialization:
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acquisition of cultural norms, through parents, peers,
school, media, etc. Children who watch more hours of
TV have more stereotypical views of gender roles.
GENDER DIFFERENCES
 Gender

Schema:
cognitive set associated with
gender roles. Internalized cultural
expectations.
 Stereotype:
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generalized views about a group of
people, usually rigid.
GENDER DIFFERENCES
 Gender
differences in sexual behaviour
are mostly culturally induced.
 Cultural expectations in patriarchal
societies:
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interest in sex: males high/females low
sexual experience: males positive/females
negative
initiators: males
sexual gatekeepers: females
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Read Sandra Byers’ research in NB. Which of
the above were supported? Which were not?
 Male/females psychological differences:
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level and type of aggression
communication style
emotional expressiveness
decoding non-verbal cues
But also within group variability.
 These gender differences will affect sexual
behaviour. However, if cultural expectations
change, these differences tend to disappear.
Bogus Pipeline Technique
Used in self-report studies to assess degree of
veracity
1. Bogus pipeline condition: use of a
polygraph (in reality not working) but makes
participant believe a lie will be detected
2. Anonymous condition: experimenter won’t
see the answers
3. Exposure threat condition: experimenter
could see answers.
In 1. sex differences were negligible
2. moderate differences
3. greatest differences
So: self-reports can be misleading
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Gender Differences in Sexuality:
1. Masturbation:
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Largest difference. Practically all men, but
less than 60% women (NORC survey)
2. Casual Sex:
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Second largest difference.
Women: sex as part of relationship
Men: self-satisfaction
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Gender Differences in Sexuality (Cont’d):
3. Response to sexual stimuli:
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Both men and women are most aroused by
heterosexual sex.
Both men and women most aroused by tapes
of female-initiated sex.
Women often (50%) not aware of their own
arousal.
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Gender Differences in Sexuality (Cont’d):
4. Orgasmic Consistency:
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Possible explanations:
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Anatomical differences: men more obvious and
accessible.
Physiology:
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75% men vs. 29% women (NORC) during intercourse
(80/60 by masturbation).
Pelvic vascularization differences in women pre- and
post-pregnancy.
Hormones:
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NOT! Women don’t need 10 times the testosterone to
become aroused.
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Gender Differences in Sexuality (Cont’d):
 Culture:
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religious legacy
Victorian legacy
gender stereotypes
literature (XIX century)
media (XX century)
other cultures (past and present) women
same sex drive
our culture: still double standard, conflicting
messages.
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Gender Differences in Sexuality (Cont’d):
 Fear of pregnancy.
 Ineffective stimulation by partner.
 The age variable:
changes in sex drive, arousal speed, orgasmic
capability, frequency and duration of refractory
period (men).
SEXUAL RESPONSE

AGE
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Gender Differences in Sexuality (Cont’d):
 Role of early masturbation:
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men learn what gives them pleasure, many
women don’t.
 Person-centered
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vs. body-centered sex:
male/female opposites (Reiss, Kaplan).
 Read
Male Sexuality (Zilbergeld).
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Gender Differences in Sexuality (Cont’d):
 Androgyny (Sandra Bem)
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An androgynous person has both masculine
and feminine psychological characteristics
and will use either according to situational
demands. Androgynous women, compared to
‘feminine’ (stereotypical) women:
• orgasm more often
• report higher sexual satisfaction
• are more comfortable with sex
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Gender Differences in Sexuality (Cont’d):
 Gender dysphoria:
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unhappiness with own gender.
Behaviourally:
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transsexual.
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No details of sex change surgery.
 Male-to-female vs. female-to-male:
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Causes unknown:
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3:1 ratio
prenatal hormones? early learning?
No questions re. testing for biological sex.
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Gender Differences in Sexuality (Cont’d):
 Criticisms:
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Most important:
many people feel they are in the wrong-sex body
because the gender stereotypes are too narrow.
 Gender
dysphoria can also be caused by
sex reassignment surgery.
 Male babies born with very small or
unformed penises have been surgically
turned into girls, and reared as such even
though genetically XY.
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Gender Differences in Sexuality (Cont’d):
 A few cases have been, so far, relatively
successful, but the majority have caused
many problems, even suicide.
 The majority of these “girls” feel and act
like boys, and many choose to be
reassigned as boys when they are older.
 Like with transsexuals, these intersex
individual have different environments
which partly account for either positive or
negative outcomes.
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Examples of cultures and sanctioned
intersex:
1. Zapotec in Oaxaca, Mexico: the muxes
(MOOshess) are biological men who
consider themselves women from
childhood on.
Cultural acceptance: there were crossdressing Aztec priests and Mayan gods
that were both male and female.
Most muxes dress as women, others as
men. They are believed to have special
intellectual and artistic gifts.
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Examples of cultures and sanctioned
intersex:
2. Rural Northern Albania: many wars and
feuds, men die. Some women take on
the male role – but they have to forsake
sex, marriage and children. Since
women not allowed to be heads of
households or own property, the solution
is to turn into men, sanctioned by the
culture: male clothes, gestures, customs,
male friends.