Chapter 2: Theoretical Approaches to Gender Development
I. Theories are ways of explaining, interpreting, or describing relationships among phenomena
in our everyday lives.
A. A theory represents a particular viewpoint as an attempt to understand phenomena.
B. Theories offer more than explanations. They also influence attitudes and behaviors.
C. One theory should not be considered the theory on gender development; theories
work together to create a fuller picture.
II. Biological Theories of Gender
A. Biological theories focus on how sex chromosomes, hormones, and brain
specialization account for gender differences.
B. Sex chromosomes are the X and Y chromosomes that determine if a person is male
or female.
1. Most people inherit one sex chromosome from each parent.
2. Different genes (such as those that influence intelligence and social skills) are
thought to reside on different chromosomes. Because men and women have
different chromosomal makeup, they have different possibilities for gene
expression.
C. Hormonal activity also plays an important role in biological theories. Sex hormones
affect the development of the body and the brain.
1. Estrogen, the primary female hormone, has been shown to have a positive
influence on cardiovascular functioning, to strengthen the immune system, to
create greater deposits of fat around the hips and breasts, and to slow liver
processing of alcohol.
2. Testosterone, the primary male hormone, has been shown to have a hormonal
cycle and has been linked to violence, aggression, and changes in cognitive
functioning. One study shows that men’s testosterone levels decrease when
they become fathers which may increase their nurturing tendencies.
3. Both men and women experiences changes in their hormonal levels over time.
Men’s testosterone levels begin gradually decreasing around age 30 while
women’s hormonal levels change during menopause.
D. The structure of the brain is also said to be responsible for differences in men and
women.
1. While research has shown that women and men use both the right and left
lobes of their brains, the sexes tend to specialize in using different lobes.
a. Men tend to emphasize left brain functioning, responsible for
traditionally linear, logical thought, and abstract, analytical thinking.
b. Women tend to emphasize right brain functioning, responsible for
imaginative, artistic, and intuitive thinking and some visual and spatial
functions.
c. The prefrontal cortex, which restrains aggression, is larger and
develops earlier in women than men. For women, the insula, which
affects intuition and empathy, is larger, while for men, the amygdala,
which is the center for emotions such as anger and fear, is larger.
2. The corpus callosum joins the two sides of the brain and has been shown to
be more highly developed in women. This structure may allow women to
cross from one lobe to the other more readily, though evidence to indicate
greater development comes from experience and use, not innate biological
differences between the sexes.
E. The effect of biology is evidenced by cases where doctors try to change a child’s sex
through “normalizing surgery.” Conversely, increasing evidence suggests that
biological differences between males and females are generally small and do not
explain most behavioral differences between women and men.
III. Interpersonal Theories of Gender
A. Psychodynamic theories argue that the first relationship we have influences how we
define our identity, including our gender.
1. Since the primary caretaker for most infants is the mother, she provides a
fundamental influence on later self-definition and how interactions with others
are understood.
a. The mother, as a gendered being herself, may act differently towards
sons and daughters based on her social views of boys and girls.
b. Nancy Chodorow believes that daughters and mothers recognize a
fundamental likeness between themselves which creates closer
identification.
i. Mothers tend to interact more with daughters, keeping them
close physically and psychologically.
ii. Mothers tend to be more nurturing and talk more about
relationships with daughters.
iii. This identification with the mother may cause young girls to
understand their gender identity in relation to their mothers.
c. Sons and mothers recognize a fundamental difference between
themselves, which leads to greater separation.
i. Mothers tend to reflect the difference in their interactions with
their sons.
ii. Mothers also tend to encourage more independence earlier in a
son’s life and to talk less about relationships and emotions.
iii. Sons must distinguish themselves from their mothers in order
to establish an independent identity.
2. According to psychodynamic theories, early relationships form the foundation
for self-definition and influence expectations for closeness later in life.
a. Many women tend to define their identities in connections with others,
prioritizing their relationships with others.
b. Many men tend to emphasize independence and autonomy.
B. Psychological theories emphasize the role of interactions within families and
social contexts on gender development while de-emphasizing intrapsychic
processes.
1. Social learning theory claims that individuals learn to be masculine and
feminine by imitating others and then observing how others respond to those
behaviors.
a. Children learn their gender by imitating others from their own
lives and those that they see in media.
b. Reinforcement of gendered roles and behaviors occurs when people
around the children reward some behaviors appropriate for one’s
gender and react neutrally or negatively to others. These roles and
behaviors may be repeated and integrated into patterns. “Rewards”
from others help boys and girls understand which behaviors are
considered appropriate for them.
c. These messages about gender can also come from the media. When
children see media that reward girls for being feminine and boys for
being masculine, traditional gender roles can be reinforced. Children
can also be influenced to respond to situations in manners similar to
what they see in the media.
2. Cognitive development theories look at interactions with others as
influencing self-definition.
a. Children have an internal desire to be competent at their gender.
b. Children have an active role in the process of learning appropriate
roles and behaviors by modeling behaviors of others, particularly
same-sex role models.
c. A key developmental stage occurs at or before the age of 3. Gender
constancy is the point at which a child recognizes that her/his gender
is relatively unchanging. At this point, children are motivated to learn
to be competent at their gender. They do this by observing same-sex
role models to see what behaviors, attitudes, and feelings are
associated with their gender.
d. Gender schema theory is related to cognitive development theory.
i. Even before 12 months of age, infants can distinguish between
male and female faces and voices.
ii. By the age of 2, children develop a gender schema to organize
their understandings. A gender schema is a framework for
categorizing behaviors and artifacts related to gender. Once
children develop a gender schema, they organize toys, clothes,
activities, and behaviors as appropriate for boys and/or men
and girls and/or women. These categories then influence their
own choices of activities, roles, clothes, etc.
e. Children continue to seek out role models of femininity and
masculinity into adolescence.
C. Cultural theories do not dismiss the influence of biology and interpersonal factors
on a person’s gender development, but instead argue that these are qualified by the
influence of culture.
1. Anthropological theories examine how various cultures construct and
express gender.
a. Many societies have conceptions of gender that differ significantly
from those currently held in the United States.
b. Fathering is one of the areas in which cultural differences in gendered
behaviors is apparent. Whereas men in India spend three to five hours
a day in the proximity of their children, Japanese men are near their
children on average only 20 minutes each day. Some European
countries, including Sweden and Germany, have instituted policies
designed to encourage fathers to spend more time with their children.
c. The influence of cultural construction of masculinity and femininity is
evidenced in the Dominican Republic, where “conditional girls” are
males with undescended testes and an underdeveloped penis, who are
treated and dressed as females until puberty, when typical masculine
traits appear. Some Native American tribes recognize the category of
“two–spirit” for people who preferred same-sex mates.
d. Cultures shape gender identity in significant ways.
2. Symbolic interactionism claims that through communication with others we
learn who we are.
a. As parents and others label a child (delicate or tough, active or quiet,
etc.), the child is offered a self-image and the child internalizes others’
views to help establish his or her gender identity.
b. Play with peers and teachers’ interactions with students are other key
ways cultural views of gender are communicated to children.
c. Roles are important for understanding cultural theories of gender. A
“role” represents a set of expectations for and the values associated
with behaviors.
i. Roles are external to the individual.
ii. Roles are assigned to individuals.
iii. The value of roles is defined by society.
iv. Roles are internalized by individuals.
D. Critical theories attempt to do more than describe, explain, and predict by examining
how power functions in social categories. Critical theorists go even further by
attempting to empower oppressed groups and change dominant ideologies.
1. Standpoint theory notes that all societies are made up of different groups that
have different amounts of power and privilege. The theory focuses on how
being a member of those groups (race, class, gender, sexual orientation, etc.)
shapes what a person experiences, knows, feels, or does, as well as how he or
she understands social life as a whole.
2. Queer performative theory integrates aspects of queer theory and
performative theory.
a. Queer theory challenges traditional notions of gender and other
identity categories by critiquing what we see as “normal” and
“abnormal.”
performs his or her identity in this moment and context can be
drastically different than another time or context.
b. Performative theory suggests that people don’t have an identity or
aspect of that identity (such as gender) so much as they do their
identity. There is no gender unless it is enacted.
i. We all perform our gender, regardless of whether or not it is
queer.
ii. Performances are social. We do not do them alone.
c. Queer performative theory claims that queer performances can help
problematize our cultural categories (such as gender).
i. While these queer performances can be extreme (such as a drag
queen performing on stage), they more often take place in
everyday interactions.
ii. Queering one category affects the other related categories. For
instance, challenging our ideas about heterosexuality affects
our ideas about homosexuality.
IV. Theories Working Together: Theories do not have to be exclusive. They often work
together to explain a phenomenon. Taken together, they can provide a fuller picture than
any single one can alone.
Journal Entries
1. Describe one situation and explain gendered attitudes and/or behaviors in it, using three
different theories of gender development. Which theory do you think provides the most
insight into this situation?
2. How does your standpoint as a member of one sex (male or female) shape your experiences
and interactions with others? Explain how other standpoints besides sex and/or gender help
you to understand your position or location within our culture.
3. Consider a way in which you do or could engage in a queer gender performance. This may
mean dressing in drag (masculine, feminine, hyper-feminine, hyper-masculine,
androgynous, etc.), changing your gestures and facial expressions, and modifying your
speech patterns. Enact that performance of gender, and reflect on how others responded to
you. You may want to note how they were co-performers in your gender (since we know it
is not an individual act). How do you think your behavior queered existing categories of
gender for those who observed you and for yourself?
4. Ask an older friend or relative to reflect on gender. For example, you might ask “what do
you think makes a man a man and a woman a woman?” Then, consider what theories of
gender underlie your friend’s or relative’s response. Do you agree with this person’s
response? Why or why not? What does this say about the gender theories that you hold?
Be explicit about why/how your own and your informant’s responses reflect a specific
gender theory or specific gender theories.
InfoTrac Activities
1. Choose the Advanced Search option using InfoTrac College Edition. Select author and
type in Melvin Konner. Select his 2003 Newsweek article entitled Mind of a Man:
Bridging our Differences. What kind of argument is Konner implicitly making about the
development of gender? Do you agree with his assessment of the sources of
communicative differences? Why or why not?
2. Choose the Advanced Search option using InfoTrac College Edition. Select the keyword
option and type in “gender and culture.” Select the article Mannish Women, Passive Men,
and Constitutional Types: Margaret Mead’s Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive
Societies as a Response to Ruth Benedict’s Patterns of Culture by Lois W. Banner. How
did the study of other cultures influence Mead’s understanding of gender and sexuality?
1. Examining Theories: The various theoretical approaches to gender development can be
confusing at times to students as they try to differentiate between the theories. One option
for structuring a class period involves allowing students to work in groups to examine the
different theories. By dividing the class into groups, students can work together and share
their views and perspectives on gender development. Often, through working together,
smiling and enthusiastically saying, “Oh, what a big, strong boy you are,” thus reinforcing
the behavior. The mother, watching in disbelief thinks to herself, “Well, boys will be
boys,” by which she means that her son is learning to take command over and to exert
control over the world through his physical actions, characteristic of a masculine emphasis
on instrumentality. A recent Barbie doll that was recalled because of the implications
2. Queer Performances: Show a clip from a popular reality dating show such as The
Bachelor or I Love New York. (Nondating shows will also work; however, the dating
shows can help emphasize the point.) Many networks such as NBC and MTV include full
3. Exploring Heternormativity: Ask students to bring in a cultural artifact about
relationships. Their artifact may be song lyrics, a magazine, a novel, or any other piece of
popular culture that relates to romantic relationships. You, the instructor, may also want to
bring some artifacts. Clips of commercials or a package of the popular stick-figure family
members that many people use as car window decorations are two useful examples. Have
4. His Name Is Aurora: In September 2000, Time Magazine published an article about a
young biological male who identified as female. Born Zachary Lipscomb, the child asked to be
referred to as Aurora. His parents abided by his wishes. At first they referred to the child as
Aurora at home; eventually they sought a legal name change and enrolled the child in school as a
girl. Child services became involved and Zachary/Aurora was placed in a foster home. The
Time article references numerous people involved in the case as well as outside experts who
offer opinions. Distribute the article to your students and ask them to identify the gendered
theories underlying the various perspectives and opinions. Given the theories referenced, what
would be the appropriate response of the parents, school, and/or state? Then, ask students to
reflect on the situation from their own perspective. How would they respond if they were faced
with a similar situation, and what theories of gender underlie their responses? The article is
representative of the theoretical approach. Consider what aspects of the theories your example
relates to or demonstrates.
Your mission is to come up with a cultural phrase or an example of gendering that reflects the
perspective of anthropological theories. You also must be able to explain why this example is
representative of the theoretical approach. Consider what aspects of the theories your example
relates to or demonstrates.
Your mission is to come up with a cultural phrase or an example of gendering that reflects the
perspective of symbolic interactionism. You also must be able to explain why this example is
representative of the theory. Consider what aspects of the theory your example relates to or
demonstrates.
demonstrates.