Gender Identity

For researchers interested in understanding men's health, there are two main literatures to harvest. The first is research on men's health arising from the study of men and masculinities. The second is the broader study of inequalities in health, including gender inequalities in health. However, these literatures have remained distinct. This paper seeks to develop a model of understanding men's health from both of these literatures. In order to achieve this integration, this paper argues that studies of men's health should be based on 'critical studies on men' which emerges from feminist theory. Critical studies on men's health is then integrated into the broader explanatory options identified in the health inequality literature in order to provide a more fulsome account of variance within men's health and between the health status of men and women. Given the amenability of men's health issues to interrogation within this resulting framework, it is argued that the inequalities literature should start to include men's health issues in its work. r

Low-income children are at elevated risk for emotion-related problems; however, little research has examined gender and emotion socialization in low-income families. The authors describe the ways in which emotion socialization may differ for low-income versus middle-income families. They also present empirical data on low-income caregivers' responses to their toddlers' emotion displays, with findings indicating more supportive and fewer punitive responses to boys' anger than to girls', but few gender differences for sadness/ anxiety. Finally, they present two models (the emotion competence model and differential emotions model) for understanding relations between emotion socialization and the development of psychopathology, particularly in lowincome children.

The material and the symbolic in theorizing social strati cation: issues of gender, ethnicity and class ABSTRACT Within most approaches to strati cation gender and ethnicity are seen to pertain primarily to the symbolic or cultural realms, whilst class is regarded as pertaining to material inequality. This constructs gender and ethnic positioning as entailing honour, deference, worth, value and differential treatment (sometimes expressed through the notion of 'status'), but the social relations around these are themselves not seen as constitutive of social strati cation. In this paper I will rethink social strati cation away from the polarity between the material and the symbolic, and argue that material inequality, as a set of outcomes relating to life conditions, life chances and solidar y processes, is informed by claims and struggles over resources of different types, undertaken in terms of gender, ethnicity/race and class. This formulation allows us to include these categorial formations, alongside class, as important elements of social strati cation i.e. as determining the allocation of socially valued resources and social places/ locations.

Secondary analyses of Revised NEO Personality Inventory data from 26 cultures (N = 23,031) suggest that gender differences are small relative to individual variation within genders; differences are replicated across cultures for both college-age and adult samples, and differences are broadly consistent with gender stereotypes: Women reported themselves to be higher in Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Warmth, and Openness to Feelings, whereas men were higher in Assertiveness and Openness to Ideas. Contrary to predictions from evolutionary theory, the magnitude of gender differences varied across cultures. Contrary to predictions from the social role model, gender differences were most pronounced in European and American cultures in which traditional sex roles are minimized. Possible explanations for this surprising finding are discussed, including the attribution of masculine and feminine behaviors to roles rather than traits in traditional cultures.

This study of a predominantly Hispanic sample of 92 male and 140 female college students examines both gender symmetry in intimate partner violence (IPV) and inconsistent relationships found in previous studies between sexist attitudes and IPV. Results indicate that although comparable numbers of men and women perpetrate and are victimized in their relationships with intimate partners, the path models suggest that women's violence tends to be in reaction to male violence, whereas men tend to initiate violence and then their partners respond with violence. Benevolent sexism was shown to have a protective effect against men's violence toward partners. Findings highlight the importance of studying women's violence not only in the context of men's violence but also within a broader sociocultural context. C onsiderable debate continues regarding the prevalence, direction, and meaning of violence between men and women in intimate relationships (e.g., Frieze, 2005;. Studies examining men's and women's use of physical violence have indicated that the number of women using physical aggression is either comparable to that of men

This was a research paper for a course entitled Feminist and Multicultural Theologies. I unpack what gender complementarianism is, examine its history, and compare it to how Scripture and earlier Christian Tradition understood gender. This allows me to establish that gender complementarianism is a recent innovation in secular and Christian thinking about gender, and that it can be described as a "trajectory" from Scripture and Tradition on gender, influenced by social, ideological, and intellectual developments in secular societies. I then pursue a critique of gender complementarianism, arguing that it is an "unsatisfactory trajectory" because it has troubling implications for orthodox theology, is not borne out by empirical experience and observation, and has harmful effects on human beings and societies and on ethical development.

The "think manager-think male" (TMTM) association underlies many gender inequalities in the workplace. However, research into the "glass cliff" has demonstrated that the suitability of male and female managers varies as a function of company performance such that in times of poor performance people may "think female" . Three studies examined gender and managerial stereotypes in the context of companies that are doing well or doing badly. Study 1 reproduced TMTM associations for descriptions of managers of successful companies but demonstrated a reversal for managers of unsuccessful companies. Study 2 examined the prescriptive nature of these stereotypes. No TMTM relationship was found for ideal managers of successful companies, but ideal managers of unsuccessful companies were associated with the female stereotype. Study 3 suggested that women may be favored in times of poor performance, not because they are expected to improve the situation, but because they are seen to be good people managers and can take the blame for organizational failure. Together, the studies illustrate the importance of context as a moderator of the TMTM association. Practical and theoretical implications for gender discrimination in the workplace are discussed.

In schizophrenia, auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are likely to be perceived as gender-specific. Given that functional neuro-imaging correlates of AVHs involve multiple brain regions principally including auditory cortex, it is likely that those brain regions responsible for attribution of gender to speech are invoked during AVHs. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a paradigm utilising Fgender-apparent_ (unaltered) and Fgender-ambiguous_ (pitch-scaled) male and female voice stimuli to test the hypothesis that male and female voices activate distinct brain areas during gender attribution. The perception of female voices, when compared with male voices, affected greater activation of the right anterior superior temporal gyrus, near the superior temporal sulcus. Similarly, male voice perception activated the mesio-parietal precuneus area. These different gender associations could not be explained by either simple pitch perception or behavioural response because the activations that we observed were conjointly activated by both Fgender-apparent_ and Fgender-ambiguous_ voices. The results of this study demonstrate that, in the male brain, the perception of male and female voices activates distinct brain regions. D

Operations on intersexuals indicate that the sex of a person is based on more than biology. Expectations about proper gender activities furnish the frameworks through which certain features and combinations of features are understood to be fundamental to bodies and to comprise their sex. Yet, we can ask whether this interpretation is either coherent or consistent with our fuller conceptions of ourselves. Is there a point to interpreting a person as a sex? The concept of race does not hold up as a scientifically viable way of grouping human beings. It does not identify a cluster of genes at the biological level that could serve to sever human beings into neatly separable groups. It does not help identify discrete packages of color and morphology that could separate groups. It is muddled and asymmetrical in its groupings of individuals by ancestry. Finally, while genetic predispositions to certain diseases might provide a more useful way of grouping individuals, at least for medical purposes, such groupings deviate from ordinary uses of the term "race." Yet, if race is not scientifically viable, sex would seem to be fundamental. Surely, it succeeds in separating individuals along all of the lines at which the concept of race fails: the concept of sex identifies chromosomal differences between males and females; it points to transparent packages of features such as bone structure, genitalia, and the like; and it refers usefully to predispositions to different diseases such as ovarian and prostate cancer. Finally, it lacks any asymmetry in its application. One is male if one has an X and a Y chromosome; one is female if one has twoX chromosomes. These chromosomal facts, together with appropriate hormones, cause primary and secondary physical traits that Hypatia vol. 16, no. 3 (Summer 2001) 0 by Georgia Warnke

The impact of widespread international labor migration on the family in Tonga is examined. The author describes how migration has affected gender and kinship relations. She also examines the ways in which church and state ideologies encourage the development of the nuclear family, while overseas labor migration creates a need to maintain extended support systems among family networks.

The gender related suicide and unemployment rates for 1964-1986 from twenty-three Western countries were reviewed. A statistically significant correlation was found for both genders for the 1974-1986 period, which saw major rises in both suicide and unemployment in many Western nations. This was in contrast to a non-significant correlation for 1964-1973. As unemployment reached a critical level the statistical link with suicide became stronger. This suggests that unemployment is a contributing factor in increased suicide. Major gender changes occurred, in particular rises in female suicide rates, though these were not uniform. Whilst the expected greater male/female ratio for suicide was confirmed, there were significant variations between countries, with the ratio widening particularly amongst anglo phone nations. This indicated differential gender changes in patterns of suicide. The possibility of some 'protective' mechanism against suicide for women in anglo phone countri...

In this paper we examine whether unemployment has a differential impact on the expression of psychological distress among men and women. Based on the traditional centrality of the work role to men and the family role to women, we defined several key domains that might affect unemployed men and women differentially: family circumstances, concerns and worries about children and family; coping responses; social support and social integration; and the centrality of the work role. While the study population either were or hoped to be in the labor force and had dependent children, they varied in their marital status and whether they were the custodial parent. Using data collected in Baltimore from those who had been unemployed but had returned to work, those who had remained continuously unemployed for a year, and those who had been continuously employed, we compared the patterns of men's and women's reactions to unemployment. The important differences in psychological symptoms in this population were related to employment status, problems with parenting, financial difficulties, perceived lack of social support, hostility, and feelings about unemployment. By and large, the patterns of these relationships were similar for men and women. These findings suggest that when gender differences in psychological distress are found they may be due to differences in role configurations of men and women rather than intrinsic gender differences.

In this contribution I argue that the future of historical demography has much to gain from the incorporation of women and gender into research on the (first) fertility decline in the Western world. Gender, as an explanatory concept, can help construct more complex models for fertility decline in which economic, social and cultural explanations can be connected and which are more sensitive to diversity, to historical context, and to contingency. By perceiving men and women as gendered identities who may have different interests in reproductive outcomes, we will not only restore the necessary agency to historical actors, but we will also see more clearly how many important questions on the fertility decline still remain unanswered.

Background: Metabolic syndrome is a recognizable clinical cluster of risks known to be associated in combination and independently with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Identifying and treating metabolic syndrome is one promising strategy to reduce CVD. The intersection of race/ethnicity, gender, and economic status complicates our understanding of who is at risk for metabolic syndrome, but understanding this social patterning is important for the development of targeted interventions. This study examines the relationship between metabolic syndrome (and the underlying contributing risk factors) and race/ethnicity, economic status, and gender.

18-and 24-month-olds' ability to discriminate gender-stereotyped activities was assessed. Using a preferential looking paradigm, toddlers viewed male and female actors performing masculine and feminine-stereotyped activities. Consistent with our predictions, and previous research, 24-month-olds, but not 18-month-olds, looked longer at the gender-inconsistent activities than the genderconsistent activities. Results are discussed in terms of toddlers emerging gender stereotypes and perception of everyday events.

According to the feelings-as-information account, a person's mood state signals to him or her the valence of the current environment (N. Schwarz & G. Clore, 1983). However, the ways in which the environment automatically influences mood in the first place remain to be explored. The authors propose that one mechanism by which the environment influences affect is automatic evaluation, the nonconscious evaluation of environmental stimuli as good or bad. A first experiment demonstrated that repeated brief exposure to positive or negative stimuli (which leads to automatic evaluation) induces a corresponding mood in participants. In 3 additional studies, the authors showed that automatic evaluation affects information processing style. Experiment 4 showed that participants' mood mediates the effect of valenced brief primes on information processing.

Background: In response to persistently poor levels of maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) in rural India, the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was launched to support the provision of accessible, affordable and quality health care in deprived and underserved communities. The Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), local women, are trained as health promoters to generate demand for, and facilitate access to MNCH care in their communities. While they are also expected to provide husbands of expectant women with information on MNCH care and family planning, their reach to the husbands is limited. The aim of this study is to describe the influence of a male engagement project on the utilization and community-based delivery of MNCH care in a rural district of the country. Methods: We used qualitative data from the evaluation of a project which recruited and trained male Community Health Workers (CHWs) known as Male Health Activists (MHAs) to complement the work of ASHAs and target outreach to men. This paper uses data from in-depth interviews (IDIs) with ASHAs (n=11), Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) (n=4) and Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) (n=2); with women who had delivered at home, community health center or district hospital in the few months preceding the date of the interview (n=11); and with husbands of these women (n=7). Results: Participants' responses are broadly organized around the facilitation of ASHAs' work by MHAs, and male engagement activities undertaken by MHAs. More specifically, the narratives reflected gender-based divisions of work and space in three core areas of delivery and use of MNCH services: escorting women to health centers for facility-based deliveries; mobilizing women and children to attend Village Health and Nutrition Days and Immunization Days; and raising awareness among men on MNCH and family planning. Conclusion: This study sheds light on male engagement as a strategy to improve the delivery, access and uptake of maternal, newborn and child health in the context of prevailing gender norms and gendered roles in rural India. Ultimately, it unveils the complementarity of male and female CHWs in the community-based delivery of, and increased demand for, MNCH services.

The contemporary occupational strugle by nursing in Australia presents to the sociologist a pair of apparentb contradictory tendencies: professionalisation along the lines drawn ty the medical profession (Pittman, I985), or assertive trade unionism along with other sections of the working class (Salvage, 1985). This paper assesses the applicability of each of these strategies for nursing in Australia and suggests that neither model is adequate in dealing with the importance of gender in the nursing struggle or with conjicting interests between di $%ent classes of women within nursing. An alternative feminist analysis is then forwarded-one that locates the current nursing struggle within the context of contemporary class and gender relations. * * * he dearth of of sociological analysis of nursing in Australia is embarrassing, particularly in the light of the importance given to sociology as a relevant sub

Siempre se utilizó al sexo como uno de los criterios de "identificación civil", entendida ésta como "una actividad en la que el Estado selecciona atributos propios de una persona para poder individualizarla de modo único, convirtiéndola en un ser inequívoco y diferenciable del resto de los habitantes de la sociedad" (VON OPIELA, 2012).

In their article on gender development, C. L. Martin, D. N. Ruble, and J. Szkrybalo (2002) contrasted their conception of gender development with that of social cognitive theory. The authors of this commentary correct misrepresentations of social cognitive theory and analyze the conceptual and empirical status of Martin et al.'s (2002) theory that gender stereotype matching is the main motivating force of gender development. Martin et al. (2002) based their claim for the causal primacy of gender self-categorization on construal of gender discrimination as rudimentary self-identity, equivocal empirical evidence, and dismissal of discordant evidence because of methodological deficiencies. The repeated finding that gendered preferences and behavior precede emergence of a sense of self is discordant with their theory. Different lines of evidence confirm that gender development and functioning are socially situated, richly contextualized, and conditionally manifested rather than governed mainly by an intrinsic drive to match stereotypic gender self-conception. Alleged Cognitive Metamorphosis of Social Cognitive Theory Martin et al. (2002) stated that in the 1980s social learning theory underwent "a marked shift toward the inclusion of cognitive

There are three main conceptualizations of nurses' stress: occupational stress, moral distress, and traumatization (compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, vicarious trauma). Although we have learned a great deal from these fields, some of them lack important contextual aspects of nurses' practice, such as the gendered nature of the workforce and the nature of the work, including bodily caring. The purpose of this study was to reformulate the nature of stress in nursing, with attention to important contextual aspects of nurses' practice. Smith's sociological frame of institutional ethnography was used to explicate the social organization of nurses' stress. Data collection methods included in-depth interviews, participant observation, and focus groups with pediatric intensive care nurses. Data analysis focused on the social organization of nurses' stress, including negotiating power-based hierarchies and articulating the patient to the system. The article concludes with recommendations for addressing nurses' stress through a more critical and contextual analysis.

Obesity in Chile disproportionately affects women of low socioeconomic status (SES). Research has shown that ideals of body size and differences in perceived social pressure for being slim across socioeconomic strata contribute to the social stratification of body size among women in modern societies. Thinness is most valued by high SES women, following western standards of ideal body size. Aiming to understand the link between ideals of body size and SES, this qualitative study explored how 36 Chilean women construct their bodily ideals according to their social position. A purposive sample of women with different profiles with regard to educational attainment, nutritional status and body size (dis)satisfaction was defined, aiming to cover a diverse spectrum of bodily perceptions. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and approached through a thematic and narrative analysis. Drawing on Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, field, capital and embodiment of the social ...

As school dropout is an important public health problem that needs to be addressed, we set out to examine whether and how, beyond the well-known effects of sex, gender beliefs and self-reported masculinity and femininity are related to school dropout. The study used a case-control design, consisting of 330 dropout cases and 330 controls still attending school. The respondents, aged between 18 and 23 years, living in the south-east of the Netherlands, were sent a self-administered questionnaire. Separate logistic regression analyses for the male and female participants were used to explore the relation between dropout and gender, controlling for sociodemographic determinants. As indicated by significant curvilinearity, young women were less likely to drop out when they occupied an intermediate positions on the gender variables. Odds of dropout were elevated among highly masculine women (odds ratio = 2.1, 95% confidence interval: 1.1-4.1), and, as indicated by significant interactions...

The last two decades have seen a changing profile of young male mental health in Britain, including increased suicidal and parasuicidal behaviours. For mental health professionals to respond effectively and appropriately to meet these changing needs there needs to be further theorising and development of knowledge of young men's psychological processes and, in particular, how they make sense of their experiences within the cultural context of their lives. By drawing upon contemporary theories of subjectivities, this paper attempts to begin to address some of these issues. It looks in detail at two young men's accounts of their experiences of mental health problems. By using narrative, thematic and discourse analyses, the authors consider the cultural concepts the young men draw upon, and the language they use to voice their distress. The paper focuses on how gender and traditional masculinities constrain and influence the young men's narratives within the context of their individual life-histories and how these may become problematic for their mental health. The analyses provide a contemporary language-sensitive and culturally-sensitive reading of the young men's accounts of mental distress. It highlights how young men may talk about their distress in ways that are not immediately recognisable and extends the knowledge of the contemporary discourses used by young men in British society today. The implications for male subjectivities and mental health and therapeutic engagement are discussed.

Youths with a homosexual orientation face different developmental challenges during adolescence than those faced by heterosexual youths or individuals who recognize their homosexual orientation later in life. We discuss the impact of "coming out," or defining a homosexual orientation, on the development and identity formation of youths who come out during adolescence. The process of coming out is presented as entailing four broad dimensions: recognizing oneself as lesbian or gay; exploring one's sexual orientation through the gay and lesbian community; disclosing one's sexual orientation to others; and becoming more comfortable with one's sexual orientation. Some of the major challenges faced by these youths are described, and future directions for research efforts are discussed.

Approximately 37 thousand Malians currently reside in France as part of the West African diaspora. Primarily Muslim, both women and men confront challenges to their understandings of Islamic prohibitions and expectations, especially those addressing conjugal relations and reproduction. Biomedical policies generate marital conflicts and pose health dilemmas for women who face family and community pressures to reproduce but biomedical encouragement to limit childbearing. For many women, contraception represents a reprieve from repeated pregnancies and fatigue in spite of resistance from those who contest women's reproductive decisions as antithetical to Islam. French social workers play a particularly controversial role by introducing women to a discourse of women's rights that questions the authority of husbands and of religious doctrine. Women and men frame decisions and debate in diverse interpretations of Islam as they seek to manage the contradictions of everyday life and assert individual agency in the context of immigration and health politics.

The secure working model classification of adult attachment, as derived from Main and Goldwyn's (in press) Adult Attachment Interview scoring system, was considered in terms of earned-security and continuous-security. Earned-security was a classification given to adults who described difficult, early relationships with parents, but who also had current secure working models as indicated by high coherency scores; continuous-security referred to a classification in which individuals described secure early attachment relationship with parents and current secure working models. Working models of attachment were classified as earned-secure, continuous-secure, or insecure in a sample of 40 parents of preschool children. Comparisons among the classifications were conducted on a measure of depressive symptoms and two sets of ratings of observed parenting styles. Adults with earned-secure classifications had comparable depressive symptomatology to insecures, with 30% of the insecures, 40% of the earned-secures, and only 10% of the continuous-secures having scores exceeding the clinical cut-off. The rate of depressive symptomatology in the earned-secure group suggests that reconstructions of past difficulties may remain emotional liabilities despite a current secure working model. With regard to parenting styles with their preschoolers, the behavior of earned-secure parents was comparable to that of the continuous-secures. This refinement in conceptualizing secure working models suggests ways for understanding variation in pathways to competent parenting as well as a possible perspective on how adults' adverse early experiences may continue to place them and their children at risk. Attachment theory as proposed by Bowlby The defining qualities of the working model (1973,1980, 1988) has offered a compelling are based on at least two judgments: (a) framework for considering continuity and whether or not the attachment figure is asmalleability in individual development and sumed to be a person who in general will resocial relationships. From repeated experi-spond to requests for support and protecences with a caretaker, a child constructs an tion, and (b) whether or not the child judges internal working model or representation of his-or herself as a person whom anyone, self, and of the self in relation to others, particularly the attachment figure, is likely

Boys and girls establish relatively stable gender stereotyped behavior patterns by middle childhood. Parentreport questionnaires measuring children's gender-related behavior enable researchers to conduct large-scale screenings of community samples of children. For school-aged children, two parent-report instruments, the Child Game Participation Questionnaire (CGPQ) and the Child Behavior and Attitude Questionnaire (CBAQ), have long been used for measuring children's sex-dimorphic behaviors in Western societies, but few studies have been conducted using these measures for Chinese populations. The current study aimed to empirically examine and modify the two instruments for their applications to Chinese society. Parents of 486 Chinese boys and 417 Chinese girls (6-12 years old) completed a questionnaire comprising items from the CGPQ and CBAQ, and an additional 14 items specifically related to Chinese gender-specific games. Items revealing gender differences in a Chinese sample were identified and used to construct a Child Play Behavior and Activity Questionnaire (CPBAQ). Four new scales were generated through factor analysis: a Gender Scale, a Girl Typicality Scale, a Boy Typicality Scale, and a Cross-Gender Scale (CGS). These scales had satisfactory internal reliabilities and large effect sizes for gender. The CPBAQ is believed to be a promising instrument for measuring children's gender-related behavior in China.