Psych of Women Exam 1

Male Stereotypes

more task-oriented, agentic

Female Stereotypes

more people oriented, relationship oriented

Dominants vs Subordinates

those in power determine philosophy, morality, values in society

Privilege

a set of unearned beliefs give to people who fit into a specific social group

Self-Hatred

internalization of a dominant group’s belief

Passing

pressure to assimilate into dominant culture results in some “minorities” to try to pass as “majority”

Stereotypes

beliefs that we associate with particular groups of people

Colonial Times

• cooked, cleaned

• no legal rights, could not own property - Bible teaching: “the head of the woman is the man”

• all “men” created equal by new US government - white men who owned property

1800s

• most of life spent having children; birth control not discussed

• spinster (unmarried woman); rule of thumb

• education in early 1800s okay but later not so okay; pitifully low wages for women workers

• slaves treated even worse

Margaret Higgins Sanger

Who argued for “voluntary motherhood”?

Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony

Who advocated for the right to vote for women in 1920?

Impact of the Wars

gave woman opportunity to work in many types of industry

1961

What year was birth control introduced?

1964

civil rights movement, women added last minute as a protected group

1973

Roe vs. Wade - legalized abortion

June 22, 2022

Roe vs. Wade overturned

Sex

the classification of individuals as female or male based on their genetic makeup, anatomy, and reproductive functions

DSD

disorders of sexual development/intersex

Gender

the meanings that societies and individuals give to female and male categories

Nature

we share a common origin that gives us an inborn human nature in common

Nurture

we have differences that are shaped by our environment

Social Constructionist Approach

differences are produced by socialization, not biology

Gender Differences

• women smile more than men

• women are less likely to graduate in STEM majors

• women suffer depression 2x more than men

• women make up 50% of middle managers but about 10% of Fortune 500 CEOs

• women report less sexual desire, engage less frequently in sexual behavior than men, and dream less often about sex

Feminists

• value women as important and worthwhile human beings

• recognize need for social change

First wave of feminism

early 1900s, centered around voting rights, ended after 1920

Second wave of feminism

1960s - 1989s, The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan

Third wave of feminism

1900s, arose from backlash to 2nd wave of feminism; focuses on individual issues (date rape, sexual harassment)

The Feminine Mystique

• published in 1963, widely credited with sparking the beginning of second-wave feminism in the United States

• she originally intended to publish an article on the topic, not a book, but no magazine would publish her article

• in this, Friedan challenged the widely shared belief in the 1950s that “fulfillment as a woman had only one definition for American women after 1949 - the housewife-mother.”

Rose the Riveter

• a cultural icon of World War II, representing the women who worked in factories and shipyards during WWII many of whom produced munitions and war supplies

• a symbol of American feminism and women’s economic power

Late 1800s - early 1900s

women faced many obstacles but some persevered

1894

first PhD awarded to Margaret Floy Washburn

1905

What year did Mary Walton Calkins become the first APA female president?

1930s - 1960s

What year did women make up about 1/3 of APA membership?

1970s

number of women increased notably

• 20% of PhDs awarded to women

1998

women made up 48% of APA members

2005

72% of new PhDs and PsyDs are women

• women earn 9% less than men

• only 11 of APA’s 115 presidents have been women

Mary Whiton Calkins

first female APA president

Gloria Steinem

American journalist, author, and political activist who became a globally recognized leader and icon of the second-wave feminist movement

Gender Stereotypes

widely shared beliefs about the attributes of females and males

Communal Gender Stereotypes

traits stereotypically associated with women which reflect a concern about other people

Agency Gender Stereotypes

traits stereotypically associated with men, which reflect a concern about accomplishing tasks

• achievement-oriented

Social Categorization

• helps simplify our social perceptions

• based on easily identifiable characteristics

• can lead us astray

Social Role Theory

observing the behaviors associated with typically performed in their social roles

Age 5

At what age do boys and girls both think they are equally smart

Media Representations of Women

• under-representation

• double standards

  • age

  • beauty

  • sexualization

• violence against women

Media Representations of Men

• over-represented

• strong characters

  • powerful

  • competent

  • dominant

Bechdel Test

measurement of gender bias in movies, movie must have

• 2 female characters (preferably named)

• who talk to each other

• about something other than a man

Ritualization of Subordination

overabundance of women lying on floors and beds or objects of men’s mock assaults

Gender Identity

one’s self-definition as female or male

Sexual Orientation

preference for a same-or other-gender sexual partner

Gender Dysphoria

• incongruence between one’s experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender

• condition is associated with clinically significant distress or impairment in social occupational, or other important areas of functioning, or with a significantly increased risk of suffering, such as distress or disability

Dysphoria

mental or emotional condition in which a person feels depression, discontent, or indifference to world around them

Androgens

male sex hormones

Estrogens

female sex hormones

Intersexuality

the intermingling of female and male sexual characteristics

Androgen-Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS)

• chromosome: XY

• hormones unresponsive to the androgens that testes produce

• appear female externally; no uterus

• raised as female; may not know XY until try to have children

Reiner & Gearhart (2004)

study of boys born without penis; had early reassignment surgery to be raised as girls; half developed male identity by adolescence

Berdache

• found in 150 North American Indian societies

• biological men who adopted clothes and roles of women who had sexual relations with men but who can revert back to masculinity without penalty

• believed to have supernatural powers and were awarded high status

Fa’afafine

• third gender specific to Samoan culture

• biological males who have a strong feminine gender orientation, which the Samoan parents recognize quite early in childhood, and then raise them as female children or rather ‘third gender’ children

• they have a gender category/identity altogether different from men and women, and so they have their distinct gender roles specific to them, different from both men and women

Hijras

sect found in Northern India; physiological males who are impotent; they adopt feminine gender identity, women’s clothing and other feminine gender roles

Gender Typing

the acquisition of the traits, behaviors, and roles that are generally associated with one’s gender

Psychoanalytic Gender Typing Theory

gender typing stems from children’s awareness of anatomical differences between females and males combined with their strong inborn sexual urges: occurs between age 3 and 6 during phallic stage

Social Learning Gender Typing Theory

children acquire behaviors associated with their gender because those behaviors are more likely to be imitated and to be associated with positive reinforcement

Gender Schema Gender Typing Theory

• children develop an interrelated set of ideas (schema) about gender that guides their social perceptions and actions

• development stems from learning the gender norms and practices of society

• individuals vary in the extent to which they use gender schemas to understand and evaluate others and to guide their own behavior

Traditional Gender Attitude

the belief that females should engage in communal behaviors and roles and males should engage in agentic behaviors and roles

Nontraditional or Egalitarian Gender Attitude

the belief that behaviors and roles should not be gender specific

Neuroplasticity

brain actually changes in response to its own experience

Marian Diamond

• first female PhD

• first female instructor

• denied credit on scientific articles: she was the last of four authors and it was placed entirely inside parentheses

4 months

What age can children place female/male faces in different categories?

6 months

What age can children recognize gender differences in voices?

2-3 years

What age can children start developing their gender identity

2-2.5 years

What age can children identify boys and girls; use clothing and hair?

3 years

What age can almost all children can identify whether they are a boy or a girl?

2 years

What age can children associate specific objects and activities with females and males?

3 years

What age can children have gender stereotypes for toys, clothing, activities, occupations, etc.?

3-5 years

What age do children have knowledge of gender-stereotyped activities and occupations grow rapidly?

5-7 years

What age do children have rigid gender stereotypes?

7-12 years

What age do children have flexibility in gender stereotypes?

Title IX of the Education Amendment

• 1972

• has dramatically increased participation of girls and women in sports

Socialization

the process by which each generation passes along to children the knowledge, beliefs, and skills that constitute the culture of the social group

David Reimer

argued for nature vs. nurture; hard to tease them out

John Money

sexologist who felt “nurture” not nature determines gender identity

Sweden

in 1980, this country became the first to make its Act of Succession gender-neutral so as to allow the throne to be passed to the first-born child whether, male or female

Adolescence

transition period between childhood and adulthood

Puberty

period of life during which sexual organs mature and the ability to reproduce organs

• age of onset - between 9 and 16; avg: 12

Menarche

beginning of menstruation

Adulthood

no specific event to signify this rite of passage

Early Maturing Girls

• may have feelings of self-consciousness and shame

• confronted with challenging sexual expectations

• associate with older peers

  • lower academic performance, more likely to engage in “adult” behaviors such as sexual activity, smoking, etc.

• as well adjusted as other girls by the end of high school

Late Maturing Girls

• may have low social status during middle school

• often dissatisfied with appearance

• may end up more popular and more satisfied with appearance than early maturing girls

  • tend to be thinner than early maturing girls

Identity

deciding who we are and what we want to make of our lives

Female Identity

support of ideas vs. adopting a feminist social identity

• factors: feminist knowledge, female, nontraditional

Ethnic Identity

women of color more interested than white females

Sports Identity

mixed findings based on type of sport

• cheerleading/dancing: led to higher body shame

• general physical activity or team sports: more positive effects, increased self-esteem, body average, delayed sexual activity, etc.

Lesbian Identity

teasing and negative messages, most overcome and have positive self-images

Self-Esteem

sense of worth or value that people attach to themselves

Gender Intensification

increasing divergence in gender-related behaviors and attitudes of girls and boys that emerges in adolescence

Body Image

• influenced by cultural ideal of extreme thinness for females

• self-objectification

• girl’s concern with body weight and appearance

• compared to boys, during adolescence girls

  • have less positive body image

  • are less satisfied with their weight

  • are more likely to be dieting

Black Women Body Image

• more satisfied with their bodies and less concerned with their weight than white women

• less emphasis on thinness in black culture than white culture

• women of color still more concerned about their weight than males of color

Lesbian Body Image

have higher body image than heterosexual women, but still have more weight concerns than heterosexual men