Sexual Behavior. Psychological And Behavioral Peculiarities In Male And Female In Age Aspect.

Differences in the treatment of males and females Gender bias, and its corollary, gender equity, describe the comparison of opportunities and treatment available to males with those available to females. Today, gender bias is observed and discussed in societies and cultures worldwide. Parents and teachers of young people are especially concerned with unequal treatment of boys and girls, particularly the effect these differences have on child development.

Boys’ and girls’ performance in science Up until about grade six, girls’ performance in science and math are on par with that of boys, but during adolescence girls’ test scores and level of expressed interest declines. The tendency is to abandon competition with boys in favor of placing more emphasis on relationships and on physical appearance. A functioonal MRI scan of males and females brain while they were judging whether pairs of written words rhymed

Boys’ and girls’ performance in science Girls have lower expectations for their success in math and science; are more likely to attribute academic success to luck rather than to ability, and are more likely to equate academic failure to lack of ability (boys are more likely to attribute failure to lack of effort). Generally, girls earn higher grades than boys, but boys outperform girls on standardized tests. Boys are more likely that girls to challenge the teacher when they do not agree with an answer. Boys with higher SAT scores are more likely than girls with equal or better grades to be awarded academic scholarships.

Gender stereotypes Researchers have shown that in most cultures the lack of decision-making power among females regarding sexual and economic matters contributes to population growth and confines women to subservient roles to men—usually their fathers, and later, their husbands. Although women make up 45 percent of the workforce in the United States, 60 percent of professional women are in traditionally female occupations such as nursing and teaching. Gender stereotypes defining appropriate activities and behavior for men and women are prevalent in every culture, even though they may differ slightly from culture to culture. Awareness of the existence of these biases will help to overcome their negative effects.

As children are socialized, they learn which behaviors are acceptable and which are unacceptable. Boys are often encouraged to imitate their fathers’ activities, as this boy is doing

A little girl practices a typically feminine sex role, caring for an infant

Gender identity The sense of identification with either the male or female sex, as manifested in appearance, behavior, and other aspects of a person’s life. Influenced by a combination of biological and sociological factors, gender identity emerges by the age of two or three and is reinforced at puberty. Once established, it is generally fixed for life. Aside from sex differences, other biological contrasts between males and females are already evident in childhood.

Gender identity disorder While most people follow a predictable pattern in the acquisition of gender identity, some develop a gender identity inconsistent with their biological sex, a condition variously known as gender confusion, gender identity disorder, or transgender, which affects about 1 in 20,000 males and 1 in 50,000 females. Researchers have found that both early socialization and hormonal factors may play a role in the development of gender identity disorder. People with gender identity disorder usually feel from their earliest years that they are trapped in the wrong body and begin to show signs of gender confusion between the ages of two and four. They prefer playmates of the opposite sex at an age when most children prefer to spend time in the company of same-sex peers.

Gender identity disorder A condition, sometimes called transsexualism, in which an individual develops a gender identity inconsistent with their anatomical and genetic sex. The major symptom of gender identity disorder in adults is the desire to live as a member of the opposite sex by adopting its social role, behavior, and physical appearance. Some transsexuals become obsessed with activities that reduce gender-related stress, including cross-dressing (dressing as a member of the opposite sex), which may be practiced either privately or in public. Transvestism is a condition in which individuals cross-dress primarily for sexual arousal. Both male and female transsexuals may elect to alter their primary and secondary sexual characteristics by undergoing surgery to make their genitals as much like those of the opposite sex as possible.

Heterosexuality Sexual attraction to members of the opposite sex. The sex drive, or sexual desire, is an unlearned, powerful drive that humans share with other animal species. Heterosexuals experience sexual desire in relation to members of the opposite sex. As children grow, they learn about sex roles and sex differences by observing their parents and other adults, including teachers, child care providers, and from play experiences and the attitudes and behavior of peers. Gender identity becomes firmly established, that is, the young boy understands that he is a boy, and thinks of himself as a boy.

Sex researcher Alfred Kinsey Sex researcher Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956), who founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University in 1942, believed that sexual orientation in humans is complex, ranging from exclusively homosexual to exclusively heterosexual, with most people’s sexual desires falling somewhere between the two. The “Kinsey Report,” was published in 1948 under the title Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. In fact, until the late 1960s, any sexual behavior outside of exclusively heterosexual was considered either a mental illness or perversion.

Biological and genetic determinants Although homosexuality continues to be prohibited by law in many locales, it is no longer listed as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association. Although much research into underlying causes of sexual orientation has been done, little conclusion evidence has emerged about why one individual is heterosexual and another homosexual. Researchers have studied biological and genetic determinants, hormone levels, and environmental factors. It seems from evidence available in the mid-1990s that environmental and biological factors combine in the complex process of human development to establish sexual orientation.

Bisexuality Sexual orientation defined as sexual involvement with members of both sexes concurrently (within the period of one year) or any sexual attraction to or involvement with members of both sexes at any time in one’s life. There is no single accepted definition of bisexuality. Some define it narrowly as sexual involvement with members of both sexes concurrently (within a twelve-month period or less).

Sex differences Physical and mental differences between men and women. The most basic question of sex differences is whether the differences between the sexes are a result of our sex chromosomes, and genetic in nature, or did humans learn them from our social and cultural environments? This argument, usually referred to as the naturenurture controversy, is one that is common in psychological work. Most psychologists attribute our differences to a combination of nature and nurture factors.

Sex roles Sets of attributes, including attitudes, personality traits, abilities, interests, and behaviors that are defined as appropriate for each sex. Men and women are different not only in anatomy, but also in terms of how they behave and in the interests they express. Certain behavioral differences are believed to be biologically determined. Roles are sets of norms that define how people in a given social position ought to behave.

Sex-role stereotypes In western society, for example, women have traditionally been regarded as more delicate and compassionate than men. Stereotypes for femininity include expectations to be domestic, warm, pretty, emotional, dependent, physically weak, and passive. By contrast, men are thought of as being more competitive and less emotional than women. Masculinity stereotypes can be described by words such as unemotional, physically strong, independent, active, and aggressive.