Hi all! Gender psychology is a fairly new direction in social psychology, which studies human behavior in society depending on his gender. Just not biological sex, but social sex.
Because sometimes it happens that a woman is more courageous, decisive and active than a man. As well as vice versa, a representative of the stronger half of humanity can show more tenderness and vulnerability than his wife. And even be on maternity leave to care for a child. While his other half provides for the whole family, being at work from morning to night.
And today we will take a closer look at what exactly this science does.
Gender psychology
Gender psychology:
what is gender
The term comes from English. gender – “gender”, “gender”. It was introduced into use in the 1950s by American sexologist John Money. The concept of gender in psychology characterizes social ideas about women and men, a set of qualities that a person exhibits while in society. You can have male and female gender, but this is not the limit. For example, in Thailand there are five gender types: heterosexuals, homosexuals, the third gender “katoi” and two types of homosexual women, distinguished by femininity and masculinity. Gender and biological sex may not be the same.
Gender psychology:
Sex and gender
These two concepts characterize the division of all people into two groups: male and female. In literal translation, the terms are equal and are sometimes used as synonyms. However, initially these concepts are opposed to each other. The differences between sex and gender are as follows: the former refers to the biological and the latter refers to the social division of people. If a person’s gender is determined even before his birth based on anatomical characteristics and does not depend in any way on the environment and culture, then gender – social sex – is associated with a whole system of ideas about behavior in society.
Gender psychology:
Gender identity
As a result of communications with other people and upbringing, a person becomes aware of his belonging to a particular group. Then we can talk about gender identity. By the age of two or three, a child realizes whether he is a girl or a boy, begins to behave accordingly, dresses in clothes that are “correct” according to his standards, and so on. The realization comes that gender is constant and cannot change over time. Gender is always a choice, right or wrong.
Gender is the conscious meaning of gender and the subsequent development of those patterns of behavior that are expected from a person in society. It is this concept, and not gender, that determines psychological characteristics, abilities, qualities, and types of activities. All these aspects are regulated through legal and ethical norms, traditions, customs, and the education system.
Gender psychology:
gender development
In gender psychology, there are two areas: the psychology of gender and personality development. This aspect is determined by the gender of the individual. His immediate environment (parents, relatives, educators, friends) takes a direct part in the development of a person’s personality. The child tries on gender roles, learns to be more feminine or masculine, and learns from the example of adults how to communicate with people of the opposite sex. A person can exhibit traits of both sexes to varying degrees.
Gender in psychology is a fundamental dimension that characterizes social relations. But along with stable elements, it also contains changeable ones. For different generations, social classes, religious, ethnic and cultural groups, ideas about the roles of men and women may differ. The formal and informal rules and norms that exist in a community change over time.
Psychology of gender relations in the family
Gender psychology pays great attention to the study of relationships between gender groups and subjects of different sexes. She considers such an important aspect of life as the institution of marriage and family. The psychology of gender relations in the family identifies behavioral models:
- A partnership, in which all responsibilities in the family are not strictly divided, the spouses divide them equally, and decisions are also made together.
- Dominant-dependent, in which one of the spouses plays a dominant role and makes decisions in everyday matters.
Limitations of a female role model
The traditional feminine model dictates that women:
- suppress negative emotions, cultivate empathy, humility, and the desire to meet expectations;
- realize yourself through the role of wife and mother, take on the responsibility of raising children;
- express oneself through the body, trying to fit oneself into accepted standards of beauty.
The gender framework forces women into the careerist mother paradigm. In society, a woman is often perceived only in the role of mother and housewife, and the desire to create a career or combine both roles receives a negative reaction, even to the point of denial of identity.
Third (Freudian) stage
As already mentioned, at the third stage of its formation, gender psychology was inextricably linked with the name of Sigmund Freud. He was distinguished by his views, discussions around which continue to this day. Among researchers of the female psyche, few people could cause as much negative criticism as the father of psychoanalysis. Of course, he was not exactly a researcher specifically in this area. But nevertheless, some of his thoughts, doctrines and works affected gender characteristics in psychology. They were reflected, for example, in the book “Psychology of Women”.
Second phase
Following philosophical reflection, the period of development that gender psychology went through is characterized by the birth and flourishing of the movement for the liberation of women in society. This is equally true for the USA, England and France. To some extent, this movement also affected the Russian Empire. This process itself, of course, had little correlation with scientific research, and therefore is not part of the history of gender psychology as a science. However, it served as the backdrop and catalyst through which gender studies attracted the attention of many scholars.
Traditional family and gender roles
Most modern families adhere to the traditional model, in which the man provides financial support for the family and the woman raises the children. This family model leads to social isolation of women, the impossibility of normal self-realization, discrimination, and the creation of preconditions for domestic violence.
Modern psychologists believe that the traditional family model is outdated and will soon be transformed into a more relevant one. They represent different family models, in which the responsibilities of the “breadwinner” and “housewife” are divided equally, become interchangeable, and are completely eliminated. This will make it possible to more effectively distribute the personal time of husband and wife, allowing them to realize their potential as professionals and parents.
Third stage in Russia
In our country, after the revolution, the tone of research in the field of gender differences has changed somewhat. With the advent of Soviet power, gender equality was legislated. Initially, they tried to tear women away from the family in order to attract them to production and work, but then the government launched a reverse process. It would seem that these were the best conditions for the development of objective views on gender issues. But in practice, all this led to the denial of gender difference. Soviet science, in principle, did not recognize gender psychology and pedagogy.
Although, for the sake of fairness, it is worth saying that in the USSR there were some scientists who did not agree with this position. They tried to advance the field of gender studies. Among them are the outstanding scientists P. P. Blonsky and E. P. Arkin. But by the 1930s, their work was banned; accordingly, the publication of their works ceased, and all research in this area in the vastness of the Soviet Union was frozen until the collapse of the country.
Controversy with Freud
Even many of his students entered into disputes with the father of psychoanalysis. His thesis about a woman’s subconscious complex, which consists of envy of male genitalia, prompted many people to create psychological theories regarding the sexes and their relationships. Therefore, one way or another, Freud had a huge positive influence on the development of gender studies. Although, we repeat, his own beliefs in this area are considered more than dubious.
It ended with the fact that in the middle of the 20th century, psychoanalysis was recognized as a dangerous doctrine for women’s psychological well-being.
However, even now the school of psychoanalysis represents a classic direction in the field of studying the psychology of representatives of the fair half of humanity.
Limitations of the male role model
The male model includes a number of restrictions aimed at forming a personality that combines qualities that are opposite to themes that society defines as feminine. A man is expected to:
- provide for family;
- restrain emotions;
- strive for leadership.
In a patriarchal society, a man takes an active social role, and a woman a passive one. While receiving economic and social advantages, he is at the same time forced to constantly assert his status, consciously refusing to display soft character traits. This leads to the development of various personality disorders, suppression of empathy, and the inability to create meaningful relationships.
Main directions of gender theory
Psychological support of education. The school, as the main institution of socialization in general and gender socialization in particular, plays a significant role both in the education and in maintaining the existing system of gender stereotypes. This role is usually described by the concept of the “hidden curriculum.” The hidden curriculum includes, firstly, the organization of the educational institution itself, gender relations in the workplace and the gender stratification of the teaching profession; secondly, the content of subjects and educational materials; thirdly, the teaching style. It is the concept of a hidden curriculum that shows that the work of a psychologist with gender stereotypes in high school must be built on an integrated basis with the involvement of all participants in the educational process: teachers, students and parents.
Help for victims of violence. The lack of a gender approach in this area has a particularly negative impact on the effectiveness of educational activities. Violence is seen as part of a patriarchal culture, an extreme form of male dominance and aggression that is welcomed in a culture built on traditional gender roles. Patriarchal gender attitudes lead to distorted perceptions of situations of violence, including the perception of oneself as a victim and the belief that women are “to blame” for what is happening. It is no coincidence that one of the main areas of psychological assistance to victims of violence is working with feelings of guilt, which often turns out to be central in the structure of post-traumatic experiences.
Family counseling. The classic problems here are the so-called role conflict of a working woman and a form of oppression of a man (a man’s value is determined by his level of income and his ability to fulfill the role of “breadwinner” and “breadwinner”).
Raising children - there is an acute shortage of psychologically based literature written from the perspective of ideas of gender equality. family strategies for raising children form a rigid system of gender stereotypes. In these conditions, the task of writing gender-sensitive textbooks on family education and psychology remains very relevant.
Counseling in the field of sexual relations. The mechanism of such difficulties can very often be explained by the fact that gender stereotypes suppress more subtle mechanisms of interpersonal perception and prevent partners from seeing each other as unique individuals, and not as objects of manipulation. Counseling people with a so-called “homosexual identity” whose sexual behavior does not fit into the canons of traditional heterosexuality should also be considered within this area of psychological assistance. The first approach views everything as a pathology of desire, while the gender approach represents the pluralism and variability of sexuality and sexual behavior.
Another traditional practical application of psychological science is interethnic relations, including problems of migration and displacement.
The gender approach can be successfully applied in other branches of practical psychology: in political psychology (here it is especially relevant to work with women politicians who are influenced by sexism and the phenomenon of the so-called “glass ceiling”); in the psychology of sports (the existing system of gender stereotypes forms, among other things, ideas about “male” and “female” sports and often does not allow athletes to realize their potential; in the psychology of advertising and the media.
Research break
Note that there is some gap between the third and fourth periods. It is quite difficult to understand its reason. But it is most likely that the development of feminism was to blame. If earlier, at the second stage, it played a positive role, initiating a vigorous study of gender psychology, then in this case it slowed it down. How? The fact is that in Western society strict social control was established over research related to gender issues. The development of feminism this time received criticism from broad sections of the public, which created difficulties for scientists to study objectively. The scientific world of the West, which studies gender relations, could be seriously shaken if it allowed itself to interfere in this social conflict.
Among the research authors of this time, we can recall the following names of outstanding scientists (and women): E. Maccoby, S. Bem and K. Gilligan.
The result of the period for the West was the accumulation of colossal theoretical material, the emergence of many hypotheses about certain aspects of gender issues.
As for Russia, the first glimmers of light that marked the resumption of scientific research in the field of gender psychology broke through the clouds of ideology in the 60s. People like G. Ananyev made this possible. During this difficult time of confrontation, he became the founder of an entire school of psychology, named after the St. Petersburg or Leningrad school (after the city where the researcher lived).
Also of considerable importance for the history of gender psychology in Russia are the names of V. P. Bagrunov, E. S. Chugunova and others.
