Understanding Gender and Manhood

Gender

• Gender refers to social categories of male and female.
• Sex refers to biological status of male or female.

Traditional Cultures

• Boys typically have less family contact and more peer contact.
• During adolescence, the "world expands" for boys, and they gain new privileges reserved for men.
• Manhood is often achieved through specific actions or demonstrations like skills for providing, protecting and procreation.

Achieving Manhood

• For boys, achieving manhood is often fraught with peril and failure.
• In most cultures, adolescent boys are expected to show proof of:
  • Providing - economic skills
  • Protecting - family/group
  • Procreating - sexual experience before marriage

Three Manhood Transformations

• Communal Manhood (17th-18th centuries): Preparing for adult roles in work and marriage.
• Self-Made Manhood (19th century): Increasing expectations to become independent from families in adolescence and adulthood.
• Passionate Manhood (20th century): Anger and sexual desire are more acceptable parts of manhood; self-expression and enjoyment replace self-control and denial.

From Girl to Woman

• Girls often work alongside their mothers from a young age (6 or 7).
• Girls maintain close relationships with their mothers.
• During adolescence, the "world contracts" for girls.
• Girls face increasingly restrictive social norms.
• Girls' budding sexuality is often tightly regulated.

Girls in American History

• Adolescent girls' lives were constricted in four key areas:
  • Occupational roles
  • Cultural perceptions of females
  • Sexuality
  • Physical appearance

Gender Intensification Hypothesis

• Psychological and behavioral differences between males and females become more pronounced in adolescence.
• This is due to stronger socialization pressures to conform to prescribed roles.
• Adolescents exposed to stronger socialization pressures show more intense gender roles.

Family, Peers, and School

• Differential gender socialization occurs because of differing expectations and socialization for boys and girls.
• Parents and teachers influence this largely because they reflect the culture's gender beliefs.
• This differential socialization is evident across various mediums like clothing and social expectations.

Magazines and Gender

• Magazines, more than other mediums, highlight gender socialization, especially for adolescent girls.
• Physical appearance is heavily emphasized.
• Girls are often encouraged to be appealing to boys.

Differential Socialization (Discussion Point)

• Reflect on your experiences to provide examples of differential gender socialization across childhood, adolescence and emerging adulthood.
• Identify the period where you believe these differences were most pronounced.
• Discuss how you think this impacts youth today.

Cognitive Developmental Theory of Gender

• Gender is a fundamental way to organize ideas about the world.
• Throughout childhood, through adolescence, and into adulthood, gender plays a vital role in self identity.
• Preschool aged children's understanding of self as male or female increases over time.
• During adolescence, gender norms become more rigid.

Masculinity, Femininity, and Androgyny

• The Bem Sex Role Inventory measures traits regarded as masculine or feminine.
• It's a widely used tool to understand gender role perception.
• Cross-cultural studies show remarkable consistency in gender role perceptions across 30 countries.

Bem Sex Role Inventory - Traits

• A list of categories and the definitions of masculine or feminine traits within those categories.

Androgyny

• Androgyny is the combination of masculine and feminine traits in one person.
• Supporters argue that androgyny is beneficial because androgynous people have a wider range of traits to draw on.
• Research suggests androgynous individuals are more adaptable, flexible and creative than those that follow strict gender roles.

Gender Stereotypes in Emerging Adulthood

• Stereotypes occur when people believe stereotypical characteristics are associated with certain groups.
• Gender stereotypes are attributing characteristics based on gender.

Persistence of Beliefs about Gender Differences

• Even when statistically significant differences between male and female exist, there's often more similarity than differences.
• Most human characteristics fall within a normal distribution (bell curve) with most people centered around the average.

The Bell Curve and Gender

• There's a significant overlap in characteristics between males and females, even with statistically significant differences.
• The portion of the overlap between the two curves is larger than the distinctive areas.

Persistence of Gender Differences

• Gender schemas shape how information is processed based on gender expectations.
• Social roles for males and females can positively or negatively influence skills and competencies.
• Different gender socialization can lead to behaviors that confirm gender roles.

Gender and Globalization

• Adolescent girls today have more opportunities than previous generations.
• Proportion of females in traditionally male occupations is rising.
• Gender pay disparities continue to be an issue worldwide.

Gender and Globalization (Outside West)

• Adolescent girls outside Western countries may have fewer opportunities.
• Access to education and careers remains limited in many developing countries.
• Economic development can affect the opportunities that girls have.

The Genderbread Person

• A model visualizing gender in one person's identity
• Gender isn't binary but exists on a spectrum.
• This spectrum includes several different elements (identity, attraction, expression, biological sex).

This quiz explores the concepts of gender and traditional cultures regarding manhood. It examines the expectations placed on boys during their adolescence and the transformations of manhood throughout history. Test your knowledge on how manhood is defined across different cultures and times.