Adolescents and Gender in Traditional Cultures: Exploring Socialization, Roles, and Cultural Shifts

Adolescents and Gender in Traditional Cultures - Gender vs. Sex - Sex implies that the characteristics of males and females have a biological Basis - Gender implies that characteristics of males and females may be due to cultural and Social beliefs, influences, and perceptions - Gender socialization - From Girl to Women - In traditional cultures, girls experience narrow socialization - Boys typically have more contact with peers and broader socialization - 18 th to 19 th centuries - Few occupational options - Adolescent girls considered fragile and innocent - Virginity until marriage essential - Changes in ideal physical appearance - From Boy to Man - In traditional cultures, manhood is something that must be achieved, whereas girls Reach womanhood inevitably, mainly through their biological changes. - Male roles - Provide - Protect - Procreate

- Must also have certain character qualities - 17 th and 18 th centuries - Communal manhood - 19 th century - Self-made manhood - Emphasis on strenuous activity - Self-control and self-denial - 20 th century - Passionate manhood - Self-expression and self-employment - Gender and Globalization - In developing countries, adolescent girls have much less in the ways of educational and Occupational opportunities - Economic development can level the gender roles playing field Socialization and Gender in the West - The gender intensification hypothesis - Intensified social pressure to conform to culturally prescribed roles - Results in increased differences between males and females as adolescence Progresses - Gender Socialization: Family, Peers, and School - Greater for females than males - Differential gender socialization

- Begins early in virtually every culture - Parents encourage gender-specific activities, restrict girls more than boys - Teachers also reinforce traditional gender roles - Implicit bias - Media and Gender - Media also promotes gender stereotypes - Social media - Focus on physical appearance promotes body image issues, especially among Girls - Gender socialization as a source of problems - For girls, focus on physical appearance - For boys, aggressiveness - Cognition and Gender - Kohlberg’s cognitive-developmental theory of gender - Based on Piaget’s theories - 3 years old – gender identity - Self-socialization, especially in early adolescence - Gender schema theory - Masculinity, Femininity, and Androgyny - Bem Sex Role Inventory - Measures gender role perceptions - Expressive traits applied to females

- Instrumental traits applied to males - Gender ideals - Androgyny - Women’s movement of the 1960s - Gender Nonconformity and Transgender Adolescents - Gender identity - Gender nonconforming - Transgender - Transsexual - Challenges - Risk for verbal and physical aggression - More likely to be homeless - Higher risk of suicide - Gender Roles in American Minority Groups - African Americans - Women exhibit self-reliance, assertiveness, and perseverance - Black adolescent girls have higher self-esteem than White girls, less Concern with physical appearance - Black men have historically been denigrated - Exhibit physical toughness, risk taking, aggressiveness - “Cool pose” - Latinos

- Until recently, roles have been traditional - Marianismo - Machismo - Female gender roles have expanded