CHAPTER 4:

LESSON 1: Influence of culture

on gender identities and sexual
practices Social Institutions

LEARNING OUTCOMES
L.O.1 Identify the Influence of culture on gender identities and
sexual practices
L.O.2 Explain what is Social Institutions
L.O.3 Discuss the types of social institutions
• Campo-Arias (2010), gender identity is “the degree of acceptance or discomfort which an adult manifests in
terms of behavioral and emotional characteristics expected for a person, according to biological sex, to show
within the interaction with other people”.
• Children were programmed to adhere to either one of them due to the cultural standards pertaining to these
two specific identities. This has been, in psychological literature, attributed to sex typing.
• Cultures across the world established standards for individuals to match their sex role prescriptions and feel
psychologically well adjusted. Thus, cross-sex typing, i.e., biologically being identified with one gender but
characteristically behaving indicative of the other started being viewed as deviant and harmful. This led to
explanation of structures called gender schemas that grew out of societies which considered sex typing to be
an optimal as well as a necessary practice.
• Gender schemas are associative mental networks that link certain behaviors to either gender. The contents
were adequately theorized to frame standards for people to evaluate themselves as to whether they were
adequate representations of their gender. Thus, various studies have stressed on the “maladaptive” nature of
sex typing and how it helped in restricting people’s behaviors. Children from different ethnic, socioeconomic
groups end up possessing different ideas about the essential meaning of being a ‘boy’ or a ‘girl’ and therefore
the extent to which they identify with either of them varies according to the adaptive or maladaptive aspect
of masculinity or femininity. Thus, it is likely that the extent of adherence to gender norms differs with respect
to the ethnic, socioeconomic groups the child is a member of, implying the strong dependence of gender
identity on culture. Though the relationship between gender identity, sex typing and adjustment appear
straightforward, it really is not so as we would see in some examples below.
 Apart from shaping behaviors “acceptable” for men and women, behaviors between men and women also suffer
cultural implications. The effects span across home and family to workplaces and communities. The labor division in
various cultures led to attribution of specific tasks as the “appropriate” ones for a man/woman.
Maori culture of New
Zealand
• An interesting example of assessing a distinct culture and associated gender
identities could be that of the Maori culture of New Zealand. Like any culture, they
acknowledge the role of gender in the society but the variants of socially acceptable
behavior are broadly different compared to that of western societies.
• Some practices like: Allowing only women to open calls for a meeting, being in-
charge of activities like welcoming guests, dances and storytelling and both men and
women equally responsible for cooking; still exist. Thus, in this case, the labor
division in the culture is not primarily negatively skewed towards women and
women have more rights than the other tribes. Also, the culture is pretty liberal
about sexual identities too.
Takatāpui
• Takatāpui is the Maori word that
means: a devoted partner of the same
sex. It encompasses aspects of
sexuality, gender and cultural identity.
The identities thus transform into a
very fluid, collective and personal
nature and incorporate both
indigenous identities, sexual
orientation.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-
FNGmzUYes
Fa’afafine’ of the Samoan
• Where generally, it is a taboo for people to behave in a way
that differs characteristically from their gender, there are
pockets of culture like ‘Fa’afafine’ of the Samoan diaspora
where it is not only practiced but, sometimes, encouraged.
There is hardly any ridicule and displeasure towards a
biologically male child who associates himself to a more
feminine gender spectrum. Thus, the fa’afafines, who are
male at birth, gradually embody both masculine and
feminine traits voluntarily and live in their culture without
inhibition that is undreamed of in various so-called “liberal”
parts of the world.
 •Such cross gendering leads to a study of gender identity disorder and relation with transsexualism. A study
that did a cross-cultural comparison between Sweden and Australia highlights differences in frequency and sex
ratio of transsexualism and stresses on the societal influences that led to differences in the number of
transsexuals presenting as patients.
 Factors like sex-role differentiation and anti-homosexual
attitudes majorly drove the differences that are directly a result
of cultural beliefs and practices.

in Vietnam, cross-dressing is a common cultural practice

and children start dressing according to their biological gender
without difficulty after a certain age.
The Deer Horn Muria
•The Deer Horn Muria is a tribe that practices
‘Ghotul’, wherein teenage men and women
mingle festively through songs, lore, tribal dance
and sexual activities. The adults encourage
ceremonial orgies and girls are fed with a herbal
contraceptive to avoid pregnancy. In case, it is
not avoided, the entire village adopts the baby
due to uncertainty pertaining to who the father
is. There are certainly more examples across
world cultures.
• Thus, culture and its influence on gender identities and sexual practices is an interesting domain for further
cultural studies and in the present scenario, wherein the world is facing concepts like gender-blurring,
acceptance of homosexuality; the topic needs further exploration and insightful evaluation.
Social Institutions
• Family
• Education
• Economy
• Religion
• Political