1. Gender identity, gender roles, & gender differences
Human Sexuality

2. Gender
The psychological sense of being female or being male and the roles society ascribes to gender.
Gender is a complex concept that is based partly on anatomy, partly on the psychology of the individual, and partly on culture and tradition.

3. Gender Roles & Gender Typing
The clusters of behavior that are deemed “masculine” or ”feminine” in a particular culture.
Gender Typing: the processes by which boys come to behave in line with what is expected of men (most of the time) and girls behave in accordance with what is expected of women (most of the time).

4. Gender Roles & Stereotypes
Stereotypes: A fixed, conventional idea (often distorted) about a group of people.
Women are “emotional” and “weak”…Men are “strong” and “logical”.
Think about emotions and stereotypes..people assume women are more likely to experience fear, sadness and sympathy, whereas men are more likely to experience anger and pride.
Cultures have broad expectations for the personalities and behaviors of men and women…gender roles.
Gender-role stereotypes are widespread.

8. Gender Roles
Kids Assumption of Gender Roles:
Bar Culture:
Carl’s Jr Commercial:
Kate Beckinsale:
Eminem:
#Womennotobjects:

9. Gender Roles & Sexual Behavior
Gender roles affect relationships and sexual behavior.
Children learn at an early age that men usually approach women and initiate sexual interactions, whereas women usually serve as the “gatekeepers” in romantic relationships.
In their traditional role as gatekeepers, women are expected to wait to be approached and to screen suitors.
Men are expected to make the first (sexual move), and women are to determine how far they will go.
The cultural expectation that men are initiators and women are gatekeepers is embedded within the larger stereotype that men are sexually aggressive and women are sexually passive.
Men are expected to have more sexual partners (than women).
People who adhere to the masculine gender-role stereotype, whether male or female, are more likely to engage in risky (unprotected) sexual behavior.
Gender stereotypes (in sexual behavior) tend to favor the man’s sexual preferences.

10. Gender Roles & Sexual Behavior
According to another stereotype, men become sexually aroused at puberty and remain at the ready throughout adulthood.
Women, however, do not share men’s natural interests in sex, and a woman discovers her own sexuality only when a man ignites her sexual flame.
There is no evidence to suggest that a woman is less likely to achieve a state of arousal (when compared to a man).

11. Sexism
The prejudgment that because of her or his sex, a person will possess certain negative traits.
These negative traits are assumed to disqualify the person from certain vocations or prevent him or her from performing adequately in these jobs or in some social situations.
Sexism may lead us to interpret the same behavior in prejudicial ways when performed by women or by men.
Example:
A “sensitive” woman is simply sensitive, but a sensitive man may be seen as a “sissy”.
A man as “self-assertive”, but a woman who behaves in the same way is often seen as “pushy”.

12. Sexism
Children develop stereotypes about the differences between “man’s work” and ”woman’s work”.
Women have been historically excluded from “male occupations” and stereotypical expectations concerning “men’s work” and “women’s work” filter down to the primary grades.
According to traditional stereotypes, women are not expected to excel in math.
Exposure to such negative expectations may discourage women from careers in science and technology.
Even when women pursue a career in science or technology, women are often subject to discrimination in hiring, promotions, allocations of facilities for research and funds to conduct research.

13. Sexism Sexism is psychologically damaging.
One experiment found that women who were led to believe that sexism was pervasive reported lower self-esteem than women who were led to think that sexism was rare.

14. Barriers Impacting Female Participation in STEM
Research by Saucerman and Vasquez (2012) states, “from early childhood to adulthood, women and girls encounter overt and subtle messages that lead them to believe that failures are due to a lack of ability, that men are more naturally more talented in STEM fields, and that identifying oneself as feminine is at odds with identifying as a professional in STEM fields”.
During an observation of families at a museum in California, “parents provided at least one scientific explanation in 29% of their interactions with their sons as opposed to 9% of their interactions with their daughters, despite the fact that boys were not significantly more likely to initiate interactions than girls (78% and 74%, respectively)” (Saucerman & Vasquez, 2012).
“Girls and women face systemic messages that STEM success is incompatible with female gender roles and may perceive science as alienating and inconsistent with girls’ gender image expectations” (Grossman & Porche, 2013, p. 700).

15. Barriers Impacting Female Participation in STEM
Women “who experience STEM-related discrimination or stereotyping may question their own abilities or compatibility with STEM study and therefore may be reluctant to explore or pursue. these areas” (Grossman & Porche, 2013).
“Some women, even those qualified to enter the field, may assume they are not intellectually equal to those already in computer science and may be reluctant to enter the field” (Cheryan et al., 2013).
Stereotype threat is when “negative expectations of one’s stigmatized group produce fears of confirming negative group perceptions, which in turn negatively affect achievement in a given domain” (Grossman & Porche, 2013).

16. Gender Identity
Is our psychological awareness or sense of being male or being female, and it’s one of the most obvious and important aspects of our self-concepts.
Sex Assignment (Gender Assignment): reflects the child’s anatomic sex and usually occurs at birth.
Most children become aware of their anatomic sex by the age of 18 months.
By 36 months, most children have acquired a firm sense of gender identity.

17. Sexual Differentiation
The process by which males and females develop distinct reproductive anatomy.