Lecture 3
Hyde & Delamater (2017) Understanding Human
Sexuality: Gender Roles and Stereotypes
Gender binary is the classification op people into either male or female.
Gender role = set of norms, or culturally defined expectations about a gender, that define how
people of one gender ought to behave. Heterosexuality is a part of this.
Intersectionality = an approach that simultaneously considers the meaning and consequences of
multiple categories of identity, difference, and disadvantage. (people can experience multiple
different disadvantages)
Gender roles are made by culture. Black women are stereotyped in certain sexroles, and black man
are viewed as dangerous and are discriminated in education and criminality. Latino culture has
sharply defined gender roles. Asian American culture there is value of family and group
interdependence. Women are stereotyped as sex toys, and men as asexual. Native Americans had a
more equal division of gender. Most of them also had a third gender named the two-spirit.
Socialization is the way in which society conveys its norms and expectations. This happens especially
in childhood and can happen in different ways (e.g. rewarding and punishing or imitating) and comes
from different sources (e.g. parents, media or peers).
Gender differences
Psychological gender differences:
- Aggressiveness, men more than women
- Communication, women self-disclose more
- Decoding nonverbal cues (ability to read body language), women better than men
Gender differences in sexuality:
- Masturbation (less women masturbate, and they begin later)
- Attitudes about casual sex (men are more approving)
- Use of pornography (men more)
- Arousal to erotica (women have less concordance(agreement) between subjective and
physiological arousal)
- The orgasm gap
- Sex drive (men have a stronger sex drive, but differences between women or between men
are greater than average between men and women)
It could however be that these differences are found in self-reports because of gender norms. With
the bogus pipeline method, in this method the participant of a study is hooked on to a fake lie
detector. This ensures that the participants won’t lie. It was found that women report more sexual
partners with the bogus pipeline method, than women who report anonymously. Furthermore,
exposure threat of the answers decreases the reported number of sexual partners even more so. This
did not happen in men. (Alexander and Fisher)
Biological factors in differences: female genitals are less visible than males.
Cultural factors in differences: the double standard (same sexual behaviour is evaluated differently
depending on gender), gender roles, having children, body image issues
Other factors in differences: women get pregnant, ineffective techniques of stimulating the woman
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, Transgender issues and experience
Transgender encompasses people whose gender identity does not match their gender assigned at
birth based on appearance of genitals.
- Genderqueer = falling outside the gender binary (some nonbinary)
- Transsexual = gender identity does not match natal gender
- Male-to-female transsexual = transwoman
- Female-to-male transsexual = transman
- Gender dysphoria = psychological distress about mismatch (pro -> insurance coverage, con ->
leads to stigmatization of trans people)
- Transphobia = strong, irrational fear of trans people
- Anti-trans prejudice = negative attitudes and behaviours toward trans people
- Trans people report verbal harassment, disrespect, rejection from family
Trans people can also experience mislabelling. It is the question what the best kind of trans is. Some
want to pass as a cisgender person by undergoing surgery. Others believe that the gender binary
should be challenged. Study shows that trans children are like cisgender people of their gender
identity psychologically. There seems to be some biomarkers related to gender identity. Gender
dysphoria might not persist till adulthood, a good predictor of this is the level of gender dysphoria
that is experienced.
- Gynephilic = attracted to women regardless of gender
- Androphilic = attracted to men regardless of gender
Medical transition treatments:
- Voice and communication therapy
- Supportive therapy and peer support
- Facial hair removal
- Hormone therapy for pubertal suppression
- Hormone therapy to feminize or masculinize the body
- Chest surgery
- Genital surgery
Social transition = live openly in a way that matches the gender identity
Gender-confirming therapy = undergoing surgery so their body matches gender
Guidelines for psychologists treating trans people
- Inform themselves with basic knowledge
- Understand prejudice, discrimination and violence
- Understand transgender development
- In therapy, understand that trans people should receive support for better outcomes
- Psychologist is part of interdisciplinary treatment
Hyde et al. (2019) The Future of Sex and Gender in
Psychology: Five challenges to the gender binary
The Challenges from Neuroscience
There are average differences between a male and female brain in structure and in function, but they
are not necessarily stable and innate. There are two assumptions underlying current thinking about
sex as a biological system:
13
Hyde & Delamater (2017) Understanding Human
Sexuality: Gender Roles and Stereotypes
Gender binary is the classification op people into either male or female.
Gender role = set of norms, or culturally defined expectations about a gender, that define how
people of one gender ought to behave. Heterosexuality is a part of this.
Intersectionality = an approach that simultaneously considers the meaning and consequences of
multiple categories of identity, difference, and disadvantage. (people can experience multiple
different disadvantages)
Gender roles are made by culture. Black women are stereotyped in certain sexroles, and black man
are viewed as dangerous and are discriminated in education and criminality. Latino culture has
sharply defined gender roles. Asian American culture there is value of family and group
interdependence. Women are stereotyped as sex toys, and men as asexual. Native Americans had a
more equal division of gender. Most of them also had a third gender named the two-spirit.
Socialization is the way in which society conveys its norms and expectations. This happens especially
in childhood and can happen in different ways (e.g. rewarding and punishing or imitating) and comes
from different sources (e.g. parents, media or peers).
Gender differences
Psychological gender differences:
- Aggressiveness, men more than women
- Communication, women self-disclose more
- Decoding nonverbal cues (ability to read body language), women better than men
Gender differences in sexuality:
- Masturbation (less women masturbate, and they begin later)
- Attitudes about casual sex (men are more approving)
- Use of pornography (men more)
- Arousal to erotica (women have less concordance(agreement) between subjective and
physiological arousal)
- The orgasm gap
- Sex drive (men have a stronger sex drive, but differences between women or between men
are greater than average between men and women)
It could however be that these differences are found in self-reports because of gender norms. With
the bogus pipeline method, in this method the participant of a study is hooked on to a fake lie
detector. This ensures that the participants won’t lie. It was found that women report more sexual
partners with the bogus pipeline method, than women who report anonymously. Furthermore,
exposure threat of the answers decreases the reported number of sexual partners even more so. This
did not happen in men. (Alexander and Fisher)
Biological factors in differences: female genitals are less visible than males.
Cultural factors in differences: the double standard (same sexual behaviour is evaluated differently
depending on gender), gender roles, having children, body image issues
Other factors in differences: women get pregnant, ineffective techniques of stimulating the woman
12
, Transgender issues and experience
Transgender encompasses people whose gender identity does not match their gender assigned at
birth based on appearance of genitals.
- Genderqueer = falling outside the gender binary (some nonbinary)
- Transsexual = gender identity does not match natal gender
- Male-to-female transsexual = transwoman
- Female-to-male transsexual = transman
- Gender dysphoria = psychological distress about mismatch (pro -> insurance coverage, con ->
leads to stigmatization of trans people)
- Transphobia = strong, irrational fear of trans people
- Anti-trans prejudice = negative attitudes and behaviours toward trans people
- Trans people report verbal harassment, disrespect, rejection from family
Trans people can also experience mislabelling. It is the question what the best kind of trans is. Some
want to pass as a cisgender person by undergoing surgery. Others believe that the gender binary
should be challenged. Study shows that trans children are like cisgender people of their gender
identity psychologically. There seems to be some biomarkers related to gender identity. Gender
dysphoria might not persist till adulthood, a good predictor of this is the level of gender dysphoria
that is experienced.
- Gynephilic = attracted to women regardless of gender
- Androphilic = attracted to men regardless of gender
Medical transition treatments:
- Voice and communication therapy
- Supportive therapy and peer support
- Facial hair removal
- Hormone therapy for pubertal suppression
- Hormone therapy to feminize or masculinize the body
- Chest surgery
- Genital surgery
Social transition = live openly in a way that matches the gender identity
Gender-confirming therapy = undergoing surgery so their body matches gender
Guidelines for psychologists treating trans people
- Inform themselves with basic knowledge
- Understand prejudice, discrimination and violence
- Understand transgender development
- In therapy, understand that trans people should receive support for better outcomes
- Psychologist is part of interdisciplinary treatment
Hyde et al. (2019) The Future of Sex and Gender in
Psychology: Five challenges to the gender binary
The Challenges from Neuroscience
There are average differences between a male and female brain in structure and in function, but they
are not necessarily stable and innate. There are two assumptions underlying current thinking about
sex as a biological system:
13
