1. Chapter 5
Gender and Sexuality
PowerPoint® Presentation
by Jim Foley

2. Gender Development
Gender refers to the physical, social, and behavioral characteristics that are culturally associated with male and female roles and identity.
Some of these traits may be genetic differences; other role differences may be nurtured by culture.
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Men and women are different in many ways; are these differences the cause or the result of the way gender roles are defined?

3. Gender differences and similarities
Compared to men, women (as a group, on average):
Start puberty 2 years sooner
Live 5 years longer
Have 70% more fat
Have 40% less muscle
Are 5 inches shorter
Express more emotion
Are more vulnerable to anxiety, depression
Are less prone to autism, alcohol dependence, ADHD, antisocial personality, and suicide
Similarities:
45 out of 46 genes are unisex
Same body and brain structures and functions
Similar levels of Intelligence, knowledge, happiness
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4. Differences Between Genders
Mental and Behavioral Health:
women are more likely to have depression, anxiety, or eating disorders
men are more likely to have autism, ADHD, and antisocial personality disorder
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Men murder far more people than women do; it is hard to discern whether this difference is caused by men’s ability or tendency to commit murder.
Biological:
women enter puberty earlier, live longer, and have more fat and less muscle

5. Average/Group differences do not predict individual comparisons
In this example related to self-esteem, the difference between groups is small compared to differences within each gender.
This means: many women rate higher than the average man, in self esteem and other measures.
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Sometimes news reports make a big deal about the differences between two groups, e.g. males and females, without bothering to comment on how big this difference is compared to the differences within each group.
In this example, even if the average man DOES have higher self-esteem than the average woman, it would be ridiculous (that is, unsupported by the data) to predict, “he’s a man, so he probably thinks highly of himself.”

6. Gender and Aggression
Men behave more aggressively than women, and are more likely to behave in ways that harm others
This difference applies to physical aggression rather than verbal or relational aggression.
And yet violent acts by women do occur, including acts of terrorism.
Click to reveal bullets.
Sometimes news reports make a big deal about the differences between two groups, e.g. males and females, without bothering to comment on how big this difference is compared to the differences within each group.
In this example, even if the average man DOES have higher self-esteem than the average woman, it would be ridiculous (that is, unsupported by the data) to predict, “he’s a man, so he probably thinks highly of himself.”
Bombing in Russia by female suicide bombers

7. Gender and Social Power
In a variety of cultures, men have attributes and reputations that help them attain more social power (positions controlling more people and resources) than women do.
Men tend to interact in more dominating ways than women. Men often speak opinions rather than offering support and inviting input as women do.
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The difference in reputation: men are seen as dominant, forceful, and independent, and women are seen as more deferential, nurturing, and affiliative.

8. Gender and Social Connection: Play
When boys play, the focus tends to be on the activity.
Male play is more competitive.
Men tend to dictate how the playtime will proceed.
When women play, the focus tends to be on connection and conversation.
Female play is more social.
Girls tend to invite feedback.
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The question on this slide in more detail:
Is the different style of play a result of genetic male-female differences?
Or is it a part of the culturally-influenced socialization of men in preparation for competitive roles and succeeding at activities, and the socialization of women in preparation for more social, relational roles they will play? Is it nature or nurture?
Image from the 9th edition of the text.
Are these differences due to nature or nurture?

9. Gender and Social Communication
However, men and women speak about the same number of words per day. What fills in the extra time on those longer phone calls?
Women communicate more than men:
more time with friends
more text messages
longer phone calls
Maybe…. listening?
Men and women use communication differently.
Women seek input and explore relationships.
Women speak about people and feelings.
Men state their opinions and solutions .
Men speak about things and actions.
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10. Gender and Social Connectedness
Both men and women turn to women when they want someone to talk to, seeking the “tend and befriend” response or better listening.
In general, women change roommates more often.
Women tend to have stronger ties to friends and family.
Women are often more involved with religion.
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The second bullet point refers to the study about women changing roommates more often than men. The authors of that study suggest that this may happen because women are perhaps more determined to seek good emotional intimacy. If you bring up this study, ask the class based on their experiences as college students: “do you think there are any explanations for this result?” Do the males (or females) in class have a different way of explaining this?

11. The Biology of Gender What biologically makes us male or female?
Brain Differences
During the fourth and fifth month of pregnancy, sex hormones bathe the fetal brain.
In adulthood, women have thicker areas in a part of the frontal lobes that help with verbal fluency.
There are also differences in the amygdala, hippocampus, and ratio of cell bodies to axons.
What biologically makes us male or female?
It begins with whether our 23rd pair of chromosomes looks like XX (female) or Xy (male).
Testes develop, and at seven weeks, the testes produce a flood of testosterone.
Hormones then guide the development of external sex organs.
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It is worth speculating: are the adult brain differences results caused by this biological difference in the fetus, or caused by the nurture/experience?

12. Adolescent Physical/Sexual Development and differences
Puberty is the time of sexual maturation (becoming physically able to reproduce).
During puberty, increased sex hormones lead to:
primary and secondary sex characteristics.
some changes in mood and behavior.
Height changes are an early sign of puberty.
Because girls begin puberty sooner than boys, girls briefly overtake boys in height.
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13. Primary Sex Characteristics: Reproductive organs
Secondary Sex Characteristics: body hair, changing voice
Click to reveal Puberty Timing sequence.
On this diagram, in addition to the changes in physical characteristics, is the activation of the reproductive organs: menarche (first menstrual period) and spermarche (first ejaculation).
Social advantages include increased success in sports and dating, and increased confidence.
Risks include impulsive sexual activity, alcohol abuse, and pregnancy; taking on more adult behavior while still emotionally immature.
Puberty Timing
The sequence of sexual maturation is predictable, but the time of onset varies from person to person.
Maturing early can have social advantages and also increased expectations and risks.

14. Variations in Sexual Development
Intersex Individuals
Some people develop with a combination of male and female physical characteristics, despite being genetically male or female. This can lead to controversies of sex typing in athletic competition.
In cases where males had genitalia that were underformed, absent, or accidentally removed, attempts to raise them as females often did not work out well psychosocially.
David “Brenda” Reimer case: After his genitalia were accidentally damaged, then removed, he was raised as a female, though he showed male behaviors. As an adult, he learned the truth, lived as a man, got married, but eventually committed suicide.
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Biological changes (problems in sexual identity development) can bend gender, but not fully change it.
Do students think that these gender identity phenomena originate in biology, culture influence, or in the mind and personal experience?
The sidebar covers material that doesn’t appear until later in the chapter, but if you’re going to use the material on the left, this slide seems to follow up well from the other gender-bending possibilities.

15. Gender Roles: The Influence of Culture
Gender role: the behaviors expected of people related to their identity as men and women
Gender identity: one’s sense of whether one is male and female, including a sense of what it means to be that gender
Does culture define which behaviors fill a gender role? Or do the roles affect culture?
Gender roles and culture: Expectations may vary
In North American societies, men have been providers, women were caretakers
In some societies, men and women share more in child rearing and accumulating resources
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Gender roles have simplified, yet constrained, choices for men and women.
In the past century, women have been gaining more options for participation in workplaces and politics.

16. Culture Influence on Gender Role Development
Social learning theory: we learn gender role behavior by imitation, and by rewards and punishments that shape our behavior
Gender schemas: the cognitive frameworks for developing concepts of “male” and “female”; these frameworks guide our observations
Gender typing: the instinct which drives some children to fit into traditional gender roles
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Some parents may seem mystified that even when they don’t try to shape kids toward traditional gender role behavior, it happens anyway. Does that mean it’s genetic? What may be genetic is the drive to form gender schema just as kids are driven to figure out the rest of the world, and to “play detective” in figuring out what boys and girls are supposed to do, even if parents try to present no information which differentiates gender roles. Kids find out, and then imitation does its work, along with the desire to fit in and to do behavior that gets rewarded.

17. Variations in Sexual Identity
Breaking free of gender roles
Transgendered people have a sense of sexual identity (sense of being male or female) or gender expression (behaviors and appearance that express gender identity) that is different from what is culturally typical for the biological sex/gender they were born with.
Transsexual people act on this sense of difference by living as a member of the opposite sex, often with hormonal and surgical interventions that support this gender reassignment.
Click to reveal bullets.
Biological changes (problems in sexual identity development) can bend gender, but not fully change it.
Do students think that these gender identity phenomena originate in biology, culture influence, or in the mind and personal experience?
The sidebar covers material that doesn’t appear until later in the chapter, but if you’re going to use the material on the left, this slide seems to follow up well from the other gender-bending possibilities.

18. Hormones and Sexual Behavior
Hormones such as estrogens (female sex hormones) and also in testosterone (male sex hormones) guide the physical development of sex characteristics and behaviors.
During ovulation, women show a rise in both sex hormones.
As this happens, sexual desire rises in women and also in the men around them (whose testosterone level rises).
Low levels of testosterone can reduce sexual motivation.
Sex hormone levels fall with age (menopause), drugs, or surgery.
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19. The Sexual Response Cycle
Beginning in the late 1950s, William Masters and Virginia Johnson observed sexual arousal and orgasm to learn about the typical pattern of human response to sexual stimulation. Their findings:
Phase
Physiological Response
Excitement
Genitals fill with blood and lubricate, ready for intercourse; breathing and pulse become rapid
Plateau
The changes related to excitement reach a peak
Orgasm
Contractions all over the body; sexual release
Resolution
Enlarged genitals release blood; male goes through refractory phase, women resolve slower
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Instructor: you could remind students that this study was based on a sample of people willing to be observed in arousal and orgasm. What adjustment might we have to make in generalizing the results to the whole population? Do students think that the era of the study or the laboratory conditions limit the applicability of the results? If so, how? How might unobserved, spontaneous sexual response be different than these phases seen in the laboratory? Given the era of the study (the initial phase was ) , do students think that results would be different now?

20. Sexual Behavior— Sexual Response Cycle

21. Sexual Response Disorders
Some people have a variation or impairment in some phase of the sexual response cycle. These variations are sometimes distressful or problematic enough to be seen as disorders: premature ejaculation erectile dysfunction low sexual desire lack of orgasm response
These can improve with behavioral therapy, other psychotherapy, and/or medication.
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Again, I have modified the title of the topic to narrow it (see explanation on earlier slide notes) but I left the term “disorders.” Do students see a problem (stigma, etc) using that term?
These disorders impair arousal and response; the paraphilias direct arousal and response to objects, situations, or individuals that are not part of normative response cycle. Psychologists and psychiatrists once believed homosexuality was a disturbance of normative sexual response. In 1973, homosexuality was removed from the DSM-II classification of mental disorders.

22. The Psychology of Sex
Like hunger, sexual desire is a function of biological factors, internal drives, external and imagined stimuli, and cultural expectations.
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23. The Effect of External Stimuli
All effects of external stimuli on sexual behavior are more common in men than in women.
The short-term effect of exposure to images of nudity and sexuality increases sexual arousal and desire.
Possible dangers include:
the distortion of our ideas of what is appropriate and effective for mutual sexual satisfaction.
the habit of finding sexual response through idealized images may lead to decreased sexual response to real-life sexual partners.
Imagined Stimuli
The brain is involved in sexuality; people with no genital sensation (e.g. spinal cord injuries) can feel sexual desire.
The brain also contains dreams, memories, and fantasies that stimulate sexual desire.
Fantasies are not just a replacement for sexual activity; they often accompany sex.
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24. Adolescent Sexual Activity
Adolescents often begin to engage in sexual activity, including intercourse. This may be related to basic drives but is mostly a function of social environment.
Sexual intercourse rates, and age of first intercourse, vary widely among cultures, families, and historical periods.
How can we tell it isn’t just a function of biology?
Sexual activity includes risks
that may be magnified in adolescence such as:
pregnancy while still in school.
sexually transmitted infections.
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I have modified the title of “Teen Pregnancy” to go beyond the obvious “adolescent sexual activity puts you at risk of teen pregnancy” to highlight the disruption of the typical path to independent or emergent adulthood.

25. Teen Pregnancy and Contraception
American teens have higher rates of pregnancy and abortion than European teens. Possible reasons include:
inadequate communication about birth control with parents and sexual partners.
guilt about sex may make American teens less likely to plan for it and use contraception.
alcohol use may make impulsive sex more likely and impair decision making.
media portrayals in the United States make unprotected sex look common and free from consequences.
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Instructor: you might add the following background material: "the term “homosexual” was first used in the 1800s; were there “homosexuals” before the 1800s? The issue is politically charged and hotly disputed. Clearly there were people who engaged in homosexual acts, but saying they had a homosexual ‘identity’ may be introducing a modern view of sexuality that was alien to the times. Most premodern people viewed sexual acts as homosexual or heterosexual, but they did not classify the people performing the acts

26. Sexually Transmitted Infections
Unlike the risk of pregnancy, the risk of STIs multiplies and spreads, and condoms do not offer sufficient protection for STIs like herpes.
Sex and bad math: Herb has sex with 9 people, each of whom has 9 other partners who each have sex with 9 people. To how many people could his STI spread?
511
(Laura Brannon and Timothy Brock study estimate)
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Instructor: in case students challenge that figure, you can point out that 9 x 9 x 9 = 729. However, that total in the real world is likely to count some partners twice, so “511” may reduce the number to the likely number of separate individuals potentially contracting the STI.

27. Factors Correlating with Sexual Restraint
Participation in abstinence education programs, even when randomly assigned to participate
High intelligence test scores, thinking of consequences, and focusing on future achievement
Strong religious beliefs and involvement
Presence of father in the home
Participation in activity helping others, even when randomly assigned to participate
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28. Sexual Orientation Statistics
How many people are exclusively homosexual?
Based on a compilation of surveys:
3 percent of men and
1-2 percent of women.
Are the surveys missing anyone?
These surveys protected anonymity, BUT they defined sexual preference as sexual activity. Many do not act on their preference.
Sexual orientation refers to one’s preferences as an object of sexual attraction.
This attraction may not necessarily result in sexual activity, but may exist in the form of desires, interests, infatuations, and fantasies.
“Identity” as either heterosexual, bisexual, or exclusively homosexual, emerges in puberty.
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Sexual preference, especially if it is bisexual or homosexual, may not be revealed or acted on when one’s attractions are the subject of prejudice.
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Does protecting anonymity ensure honest answers about a stigmatized subject? People may worry about information being revealed or tracked despite the promise of anonymity, and they may not want to document a stigmatized behavior even to themselves. This is actually a problem in all self-reported surveys, such as those that ask, “how happy is your marriage,” or “how satisfied are you with your life.”

29. Sexual Orientation and Mental Health
Forty years ago, homosexuality was considered a psychological disorder.
Having a homosexual orientation in today’s society still puts one at risk for anxiety and mood disorders because of the stress of discrimination and isolation, and the difficulty in finding satisfying and loving relationships.
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30. Origins of Sexual Orientation
Theories suggesting that sexual preference is related to parenting behaviors or childhood abuse are not supported by evidence.
Differences appear to begin at birth. This could be genetic, or it could be caused by exposure to hormones or antigens in the womb.
The fraternal birth order effect: being born after a brother increases the likelihood of being gay.
Cause or Effect? The brain and other differences in sexual orientation
Heterosexual men have a certain cell cluster in the hypothalamus that, on average, is larger than in gay men and in women.
Gay men are more likely than straight men to be poets, fiction writers, artists, and musicians.
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A comment implied in the text about these two examples: non-sexual differences between gay and straight men could be biological but could also be a function of the social experience of being gay in this society.

31. Biological and Behavioral Differences Associated with Sexual Preference
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32. Biological Differences Associated with Sexual Preference
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33. Genetics and Homosexuality
In fruit flies, a difference in one gene determined sexual orientation and behavior.
Homosexuality seems to run in families and among identical twins, but still emerges spontaneously, even in one of a pair of twins.
Genes related to homosexuality could be passed on by siblings or by people not living exclusively according to their sexual orientation.
Homosexuality and Gender
Hormones that affect gender may also affect sexual orientation.
In mammals, female fetuses exposed to extra testosterone, and male fetuses exposed to low levels of testosterone, often grow up with:
bodies, brains, and faces with traits of the opposite sex.
the sexual attraction expected of the opposite sex to one’s own sex.
Click to reveal bullets.

34. Sexual Orientation: Acceptance
Whatever the level of evidence accumulates that sexual orientation becomes part of one’s identity because of biology:
it is possible to accept another person’s sexual orientation and behavior.
This acceptance seems to be growing, at least in the acceptance of homosexual life commitment in the form of marriage.
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As more people are open about their sexual orientation, acceptance may spread thanks to the mere exposure effect. However, the acceptance of gay and lesbian friends and family members does not always translate into general acceptance and vice versa.

35. Gender Differences in Sexuality: An Evolutionary Perspective
Generally, men think more than women about sex, and men are more likely to think that casual sex is acceptable.
Why might natural selection have resulted in greater male promiscuity?
An evolutionary psychologist’s answer:
Click to reveal bullets, question and answers.
Instructor: more about other male/female differences, ones which are presumed to be more influenced by culture than genes, later in the chapter.
The information below is for your use in case you decide not to use upcoming 2-3 slides to save time:
The potential answer to this question that I hope students can figure out: males who had the trait of promiscuity are more likely to have their genes continue, even spread, in the next generation. And there is little cost to spreading extra genes.
Promiscuous women, by contrast, might have been LESS likely to have this result, because they would be less likely to have stable male partners around to help with the parenting than women who were more selective about whom they had sex with.
Men who had the trait of promiscuity were more likely to have their genes continue, and even spread, in the next generation. And there is little cost to spreading extra genes.
For women, a trait of promiscuity would not greatly increase the number of babies, and it would have greater survival costs (pregnancy, once a life-threatening condition).

36. Natural Selection and Mating Preferences
Q: How would evolutionary psychology explain why males and females have different preferences for sexual partners?
Men seek women with a fuller figure… to make sure they are not too young or too old to have children? Women seek males with loyal behavior and physical/social power and resources… in order to ensure the survival of the mother’s offspring?
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37. Critiquing the Evolutionary Perspective on Gender Differences in Sexuality
Are males and female really so different in their mating choices?
Differences are less in cultures that move to gender equality.
Isn’t much of gender behavior a function of culture?
Yes, though genetics may be part of the picture.
Guesses such as population control or misplaced instincts are unproven and seem forced.
How do you explain homosexuality?
Click to add notes.