Gender Norms Copyright A Key to Improving Life Outcomes for At-Risk Populations

2 1. National Council2. Terms & Definitions3. About Gender Norms4. Masculinity, Reproductive Health & Partner Violence5. Femininity, Reproductive Health & Partner Violence6. Common Questions7. Research & Policy Base8. Disconnect in US9. Growing Reconnection10. Programs & Tools Table of Contents

What We Do 3 Thought Leadership That Brings a Gender Transformative Analysis To Serving At- Risk Youth In US Policies & Programs TrueChild Because addressing gender norms and increasing gender equity are keys to improving life outcomes for at-risk populations

4 Gender: an “overloaded” word used many ways Gender as “Sex” Increasingly used by courts to mean biological sex Gender Identity An inner sense of being male or female Terms & Definitions (1)

5 Gender Expression Displaying femininity/masculinity through clothing, behavior, dress, adornment, hair style Gender Traits Physical or personal characteristics associated with one or another sex (hairy chest, hourglass figure) Gender Roles Social norms for how each sex should behave (females become nurses, males doctors) Terms & Definitions (2)

Terms & Definitions (3) 6 Gender Norms Socially-constructed expectations, ideals and scripts for female-male behavior, characteristics, and roles; in sex and partner violence, determines who does what, to whom, when and why Allied terms “Femininity Ideology / Masculinity Ideology” “Hegemonic Masculinity” “Hetero-normativity.”

r 7 For example: “The foundation for any educational curriculum for engaging young men in HIV prevention should be critical reflections on societal constructions of gender norms and sexuality, including the impact of rigid masculine stereotypes on young men’s behaviors and vulnerability.” Central to Improving Life Outcomes

Terms & Definitions (4) 8 Geeta Gupta Gender Transformative Policies and programs that seek to highlight, challenge and ultimately change harmful gender norms

Masculine Norms 9 “We’re in this box, and in order to be in that box, you have to be strong, you have to be tough, you have to have lots of girls, you gotta have money, you have to be a player or a pimp, you gotta to be in control, you have to dominate other men, and if you are not any of those things, then people call you soft or weak or a p*ssy or a chump or a f*ggot and nobody wants to be any of those things. So everybody stays inside the box.” Byron Hurt

Masculinity  Beliefs & Behavior 10 Higher Scores on Traditional Masculinity = Earlier sex More sexual partners (incl. sex workers) Stronger belief in sex as adversarial Stronger belief in contraception is female’s responsibility Stronger belief in pregnancy as validating manhood Lower condom use More likely to engage in male-on-male and homophobic violence More likely to believe violence acceptable to control partner

Feminine Norms 11 Softer Weaker Submissive Deferential Pretty & Thin Sexually Naïve Maternal Nurturing Emotional, sensitive Social Virginal Women should be…

Femininity – Beliefs & Behavior 12 Less likely to develop skills, knowledge to negotiate safer sex More likely to have lower sexual self-efficacy More likely to objectify their own bodies More likely to defer to male sexual prerogatives More likely to have anal sex to preserve virginity Less likely to publicly discuss sex condom use, especially w/ males More likely to tolerate male infidelity, sexual coercion, violence Some subcultures-- more likely participate in “booty calls,” “trains” More likely to believe pregnancy validates womanhood More likely to get pregnant to hold onto a man

Gender Norms Are Learned 13 Copyright Boondocks – All Rights Reserved

Gender Norms Are Relational 14 Define by boys and girls, women and men jointly Femininity is defined as absence of masculinity and vice versa Can’t address harmful norms thru single-sex approach

Gender Norms Have Positive Aspects 15 Strong Aggressive Dominant Tough Loner Good provider Protective Women & child first Good in times of danger Independent judgment

Gender Intensification Period 16 Late Adolescence thru Early Teens o Interest in gender norms accelerates o Belief in traditional norms solidifies

Under-Resourced Environments Gender codes especially narrow Strong peer pressure on “the street” Harsh punishment for transgression Fewer avenues for constructively displaying masculinity or femininity 17

18 A Gateway Belief System

Common Questions 19 Aren’t boys born with certain amount of testosterone? No straight line relationship between testosterone and normative beliefs Won’t boys be boys? Most boys want to be masculine but what is defined as masculinity? Isn’t it mostly Nature, not nurture Why such variation across cultures? Learning must be a part of it Doesn’t our program already address harmful behavior? Addressing harmful behavior (i.e., getting girls pregnant) is not the same as addressing the belief systems that motivate it

So It’s All Gender? 20 No! Reproductive health & partner violence are complex multifaceted problems. One way to think about it: Gender norms not “biggest dog in the fight” …but the biggest dog NOT yet in the fight

Two Decades of Research 21 Rigid norms of femininity and masculinity can depress health & well-being of women, men, young people in fundamental ways

Strong Research Base (1) 22 Masculinity & Reproductive Health

Strong Research Base (2) 23 Femininity & R/H

Strong Research Base (3) 24 Masculinity & Partner Violence

Strong Research Base (4) 25 Masculinity & Homophobic Violence

Extensive Literature Base 26

Extensive Programmatic Base 27 Gender norms are “central to improving both individual and societal R/H” “Deconstructing masculinity with young men 13-19” to eliminate violence against women and girls Gender norms “key to effective HIV prevention for MSMs

Extensive Literature Base 28

A Domestic Disconnect (1) r 29 “Astounding as it may seem, the central role of… gender roles in [reproductive health] has been largely ignored [in the US].” We are “studying sex in a gender vacuum.” Gender and Sexual Risk Reduction: Issues to Consider H Amaro – Proceedings of the National Latino HIV/AIDS Love, sex, and power. Considering women's realities in HIV prevention H Amaro Cited by 691 Am Psychol Jun;50(6):

A Domestic Disconnect (3) 30 Not mentioned in leading policy prevention guides because not enough data on gender transformative programs to evaluate

A Domestic Disconnect (2) s 31 None of DEBIs have a strong specific focus on challenging harmful gender norms

A Domestic Disconnect (4) s 32 No mention of harmful gender norms in priorities for effective programs

A Growing Reconnect!  Programs 33

A Growing Reconnect  Tools 34

Tools  Gender Integration Continuum 35 Gender Integration Continuum Gender Blind: Policies and programs with no consideration of gender norms Gender Aware: Deliberately address gender in design and implementation Gender Exploitative: Achieve results by taking advantage of harmful norms Gender Neutral: Don’t reinforce but also don’t challenge harmful norms Gender Sensitive: Challenge gender norms only to achieve goals Gender Transformative: Challenging norms throughout as central to work

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