Various Perspectives of

Sexuality and Gender

GED 109 – Gender and Society
Different Perspectives

• Biological
• Sociological / Anthropological
• Psychological
• Contemporary Views
Biological Perspective
Do Sex Differences…
1. occur early in development, before considerable
learning has a chance to occur?

2. occur consistently across cultures?

3. Occur consistently across species, particularly

species closely related to humans (other primates)?

4. Do physiological variables related to gender (sex

hormones) have an effect on the behavior in
questions?
• TED video
Biological Perspective
• The differences between male and female sexes are anatomical and
physiological. "Sex" tends to relate to biological differences.
Biological Perspective
• Genetic factors define the sex of an individual. Women have 46 chromosomes
including two Xs and men have 46 including an X and a Y. The Y chromosome
is dominant and carries the signal for the embryo to begin growing testes.
Biological Perspective
• Both men and women have testosterone, estrogen, and
progesterone. However, women have higher levels of estrogen and
progesterone, and men have higher levels of testosterone.
Klinefelter Syndrome
Turner Syndrome
XYY SYNDROME
Intersex
• Intersex is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a
person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t fit
the typical definitions of female or male. 
 (Intersexuality)

• Five sex theory

• Males
• Females
• Herms
• Merms
• Ferms
Gender Differences in Cognitive Functions
• These cognitive attributes are different in males and females.
Generally, females show advantages in verbal fluency, perceptual
speed, accuracy and fine motor skills,
while males outperform females in spatial, working memory and
mathematical abilities. (Maccoby & Jacklin).
• Aggressiveness?
 Sociological /
Anthropological
Perspectives
Gender
• It is a concept that describes how societies determine and manage sex
categories; the cultural meanings attached to men and
women’s roles; and how individuals understand their identities
including, but not limited to, being a man, woman, transgender,
intersex, gender queer and other gender positions. 
Sociology of Gender
• It examines how society influences our understandings and
perception  of differences between masculinity (what society deems
appropriate behaviour for a “man”) and femininity (what society
deems appropriate behaviour for a “woman”).
Sociology of Gender
• Gender and sexuality are not just personal identities; they are social
identities. They arise from our relationships to other people, and
they depend upon social interaction and social recognition. As
such, they influence how we understand ourselves in relation to
others.
Gender Roles
• Gender norms (the socially acceptable ways of acting out gender) are
learned from birth through childhood socialisation. We learn what is
expected of our gender from what our parents teach us, as well as
what we pick up at school, through religious or cultural teachings, in
the media, and various other social institutions.
Gender Expression
• It is the way we show our gender to the world around us. Societal
expectations of gender expression are reinforced in almost every area
of life.
Sociological Theories
• Structural Functionalism
• Understands human behavior as part of systems that help keep society
organized and functioning.
• Symbolic Interactionism
• human beings act towards others and objects on the basis of the meanings
that such things have for them; Interactionists focus on the meanings
associated with sexuality and with sexual orientation. 
• Social Conflict Theory
• sexuality is another area in which power differentials are present and where
dominant groups actively work to promote their worldview as well as their
economic interests.
Theories of Gender Role Socialization

1. Social Learning Theory: Proposes gender roles

are the result of direct and observational learning.
2. Social Identification Theory
(cognitive-developmental theory): emphasis on what
goes on inside a child’s head.

Kohlberg: Self-socialization
3. Gender Schema Theory: (Bem)
Children develop a culturally-based mental
framework (i.e. schema) for processing
information based on its perceived female/male
qualities

4. Social Role Theory (Eagly):

sex-based divisions of labor, which occur in
almost all societies, leads necessarily to sex
differences in behavior and to stereotypical
perceptions that women and men are different.
Huber’s Theory of Gender Stratification

1. Foraging and Hoe Societies

2. Agricultural Societies
3. Industrial Societies
4. Postindustrial Societies
Psychological Perspectives
Psychosexual Stages of development (Freud):

1. Oral (birth to 1 yr)- needs to be gratified orally (sucking, chewing,

biting).

2. Anal (2yr)-needs met- through elimination of waste. Either

retaining or expelling feces.

3. Phallic (3-5 yrs)-needs met through genital stimulation (self-

stimulation).

4. Latency (6-12 yrs)-impulses dormant.

5. Genital (13+)-needs met through intercourse.

During Phallic stage-2 complexes develop:

• A. Oedipus complex:

• Male child wants to kill father & replace him as

mother’s sexual partner.

• Boy fears father will castrate him (castration

anxiety), so he rejects his mother & identifies with
his father.
B. Electra complex
• Freud argued that females believe they’ve been castrated
because they lack a penis.

• Girls interpret the clitoris as inferior to a penis (penis envy).

• Girls transform desire from mother to father & become angry

at mother for not protecting them from being castrated.

• Girls ultimately reject father & identify with mother in

healthy development.
What happens if stages aren’t resolved?
• We become fixated at that stage & don’t move on to the next stage.

• The concerns of that stage continue to dominate adult personality.

Analytical Psychology (Jung)

• It is a compendium of opposites. People are both:

• Introverted and extraverted
• Rational and irrational
• Male and female
• Conscious and unconscious
• Pushed by past events while being pulled by
future expectations.
Analytical Psychology
• Jung described the animus as • The anima is the unconscious
the unconscious masculine side feminine side of a man.
of a woman.
• Loyalty, nurturing, creativity,
• Logic, reason, physical power, sacrifice
rigid opinion.
Androgyny
Social and psychological condition
in which individuals can possess
positive qualities associated with
both feminine and masculine
gender roles.
5. Chodorow’s Theory of Gender
(psychoanalytic model & object relation theory)
the asymmetrical organization of parenting
(with the mother as the primary caregiver) is the
cause of significant contrasts between male and
female gender identity acquisition processes.
* Personal Identification
* Positional Identification
Feminine Psychology
• Cultural and social expectations
• Womb envy
• Masculine Protest (Adler)
Erikson’s Life Cycle as a context
Gender Dysphoria
• Clinical overview
• Feels trapped in the body of the wrong sex
• Assumes identity of the desired sex

• Must distinguish from:

• Transvestic fetishism
• Disorders of sex development
• Homosexual arousal patterns
al
Assignment

Instructions: Write a 250-300 word reflection paper that traces back

some of the most important influences of your gender identity growing
up. You may mention key individuals or events during your childhood
that have shaped your sense of gender being today and explain how
each influenced the way you negotiate gender roles and identities
today. Give your reflection a five-six-word title.