Gender, Sex and Sexuality

Contemporary Psychology Series: 9

 Gender, Sex and Sexuality:
Contemporary Psychological
Perspectives
Gerda Siann
 UK Taylor & Francis Ltd, 4 John Street, London WC1N 2ET
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© Gerda Siann, 1994
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First published 1994
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 Contents

Preface vi
Acknowledgments viii

Chapter 1 Gender and Sexuality 1

Chapter 2 Tarzan, Jane and Boadicea 21
Chapter 3 Gender Differences and Biological Determinism 38
Chapter 4 Sugar and Spice; Frogs and Snails 59
Chapter 5 Poles Apart? Abilities, Attributes and Social Behaviour 81
Chapter 6 Structuralism, Feminism and Post-feminism 107
Chapter 7 Fatal Attractions 138

Afterword 194
References 165
Index 177
 Preface

In his book on Gender, Ivan Illich draws a sharp distinction between gender and sex. He
defines gender as that which distinguishes ‘places, times, tools, tasks, forms of speech,
gestures, and perceptions that are associated with men from those associated with
women’. He goes on to say that this definition of gender designates a duality that in the
past was too obvious even to be named. He reserves the term ‘sex’ on the other hand to
indicate a ‘polarisation in those common characteristics that, starting with the late 18th
century, are attributed to all human beings’. In other words sex unlike gender is
immutable and not subject to a local material culture. The concept of sex, being based
upon an anatomical division of types of reproductive organs, carries connotations of an
unchangeable dichotomy between men and women. In fact even a cursory contemplation
of men and women, reveal that not only in characteralogical terms but also in physical
terms there is an enormous overlap in the traits that each displays. A biological male may
be short and softly rounded, without facial hair, caring considerate and emotional. A
biological female may be tall and strong, assertive and aggressive.
It has taken psychologists a long time to realise the importance of drawing a
distinction between sex and gender, and even longer to pay sufficient attention to the
significance of drawing this distinction. There have been many studies in the history of
psychology of ‘sex differences’ in behaviour which have looked to see whether men or
women were more or less intelligent, more or less aggressive, had more or less spatial
ability, or were more nurturent than each other. These kinds of studies carried two
implications. First that biological sex was a meaningful basis for dividing people into
distinct groups. Secondly, an assumption that the human norm was male. Which implied
that female characteristics are, in some way distant, or deviant from the human norm.
Many psychologists now prefer to reserve the word ‘sex’ to describe specific
biological mechanisms or structures and to routinely use the term ‘gender’ when they are
discussing social and psychological aspects that are characteristic of men and women or
which are assumed to be appropriate to men and women. Thus we have the terms,
‘gender-stereotype’, ‘gender-roles’ and ‘gender-identities’ which imply that these are
subject to social and cultural influences and are only minimally, if at all, influenced by
sexual characteristics such as hormones, chromosomes and sex organs.
It is still more recently that psychologists have come to accept that there is a perfectly
legitimate and interesting view of human behaviour, and indeed gender-roles, that can be
taken from a women’s perspective. Undoubtedly much of contemporary psychology is
still male dominated and essentially and androcentric, but a significant number of women
psychologists (and a few men psychologists) are deliberately taking a different point of
view. This paradigm shift was produced partly by the rise of feminist perspectives in
society at large, but also by an increase in dissatisfaction with what traditional
psychology was delivering in terms of explanations and understandings of gender
differences and gender relations. The movement in this direction was also undoubtedly
accelerated by the increase in popularity of the study of psychology among women to the
extent that most undergraduate classes in psychology now have 2 or 3 times as many
women as men students in them.
In her book Gerda Siann does not suggest that men and women are basically the
same—to do so would be nonsense. If you look around you at men and women you can
quite plainly see that they differ. They look differently, they dress differently, they walk
differently, they speak differently and they behave differently. What is important is not
that these differences exist, but to ask why they exist and to what extent these differences
are important.
Gender, Sex and Sexuality takes us through the most significant theoretical approaches
to gender contemporary psychology and looks at the way in which gender identities
develop and influence perspectives on the self, others, relationships, and society. Gerda
Siann’s book does not ignore the possibility that there are biological determinants of
gender differences in abilities and behaviour but puts the research from this tradition into
a perspective which reveals the subsidiary nature of biological influences compared to the
overwhelming impact of social expectations and social traditions. Finally the book
tackles the important, timely and difficult topic of violence against women in all its forms
and the relationship of this disturbing phenomenon to gender identities.
The book is designed, as are all others in this series, for readers who will not
necessarily have any previous acquaintance with psychology but who are prepared to
meet challenging ideas and new concepts in what they read, be prepared to grapple with
the methodology and findings of contemporary psychological research and to move on to
a deeper understanding not only of the psychology of gender but of their own position in
a very gender structured world.

Reference

ILLICH, I. (1993) Gender. London: Marion Boyars.

Raymond Cochrane,
Birmingham, January 1994.
 Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the editor of this series, Ray Cochrane for his unfailing kindness
and assistance while I was writing this book and I would also like to express my
appreciation for the assistance I was given by Francis Bock, Marian Miller and Pamela
Milliken.
I would also like to thank the following people for their help: Halla Beloff, David Bell,
Vince Brennan, Rinelle Cere, William Connolly, Linda Croxford, Charlie Ennis, Douglas
Forbes, Alexa Hepburn, Carol Jackson, Comfort Jegede, Myra Macdonald, Mary
Marsden, Paul Morton, George Newbigging, Tanya Siann, Willie Thompson, Iain Wilkie,
Cathy Wright and Alastair Young.
I am grateful to Jacky Fleming and Abner Stein, and The Spectator for giving Henry
Martin and me permission to use their cartoons and I would also like to thank the
following for permission to quote from their work:
Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd. to reproduce from Collected Dorothy Parker.
Warner Chappell Music Ltd. by Permission of International Music Publications
Limited for the reproduction of Lyric extracts from Back off Bitch and Why can’t a
woman be more than a man.
Faber and Faber Ltd. and Harper Collins Publishers for use of Sylvia Plath’s poem in
Ted Hughes (Ed), Selected Poems.
Virago Press for permission to reproduce from Maya Angelou (1992) And still I rise.

The man is the peak of the house;

That is what we have understood.
It is the women who make the pinnacle
On top of the roof.

Initiation song of Bemba girls translated by Audrey Richards.

 Chapter 1
Gender and Sexuality
…how touching, how pliantly feminine this most
masculine and resourceful of women could be.
(Lawrence Durrell)1

If a woman can’t make her mistakes charming, she is only

a female.
(Oscar Wilde)2

Holly came from Miami FLA

Hitchhiked her way across the USA
Plucked her eyebrows on the way
Shaved her legs
Then he was a she…

Lou Reed, Walk on the Wild Side

Feminine/masculine, male/female, women/men, boy/girl—terms of sexual and gender

division like these permeate the way we think and talk about ourselves and each other.
On most occasions we find their use non-problematic and we employ them easily. At
other times, however, particularly if we are interested in psychology, we may wonder
whether this ease is illusory. We may speculate, for example, whether being a woman
necessarily implies being ‘feminine’. We may question why young women are often
referred to as girls while young men are seldom referred to as boys. When we consider
the relationships between gender, sex, sexuality and appearance we may encounter more
conundrums. For example, is dressing in a stereotypically feminine manner a reliable
indication that a woman is heterosexual? And what about cross-dressing? Are we likely
to consider a man in drag at a fancy-dress party as more stereotypically masculine than a
transvestite who dresses as a woman in the privacy of his bedroom? And why is it that
cross-dressing is more easily tolerated in women than men. It is not unusual, for example,
for fashion features to show female models in men’s clothes, but how often do we see the
reverse?
We might also wonder at the fascination these topics appear to hold for the media.
Aside from the large numbers of documentaries, chat shows and features that are directly
concerned with gender issues, there is also far more flexibility in the manner in which
individuals are encouraged to display their experimentation with gender than there has
been in the past. Is it likely that a celebrity like Julian Clary would have been as
acceptable hosting game shows in the seventies or even in the eighties as he is in the
 Gender, sex and sexuality 2

nineties? Why does Madonna exercise such a grip on the popular imagination and why do
we care about what one reviewer has called ‘her warm chaotic world of (presumably)
multi-gendered…bliss’ (Worth, 1992)?

‘I assure you, Mr Wilburton, that

wearing an apron in the kitchen is not
cross-dressing.’
This chaper is concerned with the issues of gender, of gender labelling and of
sexuality. The manner in which the following chapters will further develop such issues is
also discussed.

Distinguishing between sex and gender

With remarkably few exceptions people identify themselves quickly and easily as either
male or female and consequently filling in the category labelled sex on a questionnaire,
or ticking a box labelled male or female rarely presents problems. As chapter 3 will
 Gender and sexuality 3

indicate, this apparent unambiguity is sometimes illusory and in a small minority of cases
sexual assignation is not straightforward. However, for the time being, we will make the
assumption that we are all born as either male or female and we will go on to look at the
manner in which that sexual identification interacts with another identification—that of
gender.
For some time it has been customary for social scientists to make the following
distinction between sex and gender. Sex is defined as the biological differences between
males and females and gender is the manner in which culture defines and constrains
these differences; not only differences in the manner in which women, in general, live
their lives compared to men in general, but also differences in the manner in which
individuals view both themselves and others, in terms of the female/male dichotomy.
Obviously then, gender and the labels associated with it, primarily those two descriptors,
‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’, are neither fixed nor immutable depending as they do on
cultural constructions.
This is not to imply that the sexual distinction itself is absolute and immune from
subjective biases. For, as we shall see in chapter 3, even biologists and endocrinologists
(Lorber and Farrell, 1991) have discovered that not everyone fits as neatly into the
categories male and female as once was assumed. Rather it is to make the point that if the
concept of sex is no longer seen as absolute because distinctions about it are made by
people living in particular cultures at particular times, how much less absolute must be
distinctions concerned with gender.
In this chapter we will look at three major ways in which gender as a category system
can be thought of as operating and then we will consider the cultural context in which
sexuality is viewed. Before starting to look at gender as a category system, however, let
us place the discussion within the context of the basic inequality that has until recently
dominated established thinking about gender. This inequality has reflected the opinion of
men rather than women and the reason for this inequality lies in the fact that, until very
recently, in most societies power and status have been very unequally apportioned
between the sexes. Many of these inequalities are on the wane but others have remained
obstinately persistent. Looking specifically for the moment at the UK, it is clear that the
battle for female equality is not over. For while women have won some spectacular
victories, such as for example the right to be ordained as priests in the Church of
England, progress at other more mundane but particularly vital levels has been slow,
laborious and in some cases static. Women continue to be massively under-represented at
all levels of government (O’Reilly, 1992); continue to earn less than men both in general
and, in many instances, compared to men in similar positions (Equal Opportunities
Commission, 1992); continue to experience bias in promotion to management (Institute
of Management, 1992) and at times continue to see their experience of sexual and
physical abuse trivialized and minimized (Scully, 1990).
Throughout this book I will be concerned with the effect that such inequalities, and the
battle to remove them, have had on the psychologies of both men and women. At this
stage, let us examine the reflection of these inequalities in literature and folklore.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 4

Misogyny and mystification

Until very recently, in the very great majority of cultures,3 men as a social group have
exerted power over women as a social group—over how they lived and how they were
regarded, not only by men but also by women themselves, who very often internalized
men’s views about themselves as a sex. In general, in this relationship between the sexes,
women were regarded as the ‘other’, the weaker and the second sex—all terms that have
been echoed in discussions of gender. This of course, is not to deny the existence of love
between the sexes or that the great majority of men have loved individual women and
been concerned with their welfare. But, as Tavris and Wade (1984) put it, man’s concern
about woman has been, and perhaps, continues to be, marked by both passion and
paradox.
By passion in terms of emotional relationships whether familial, sexual or somtimes
social, as in friendship. By paradox in terms of the mystery that men have imputed to
women which has resulted in ambiguity and contradiction in their conceptions of women.
Thus women, for most heterosexual men, are both desirable and, at times, feared. Feared
not in their possession of economic and social power but because in essence for most
men, women as the ‘other’ are essentially unknowable. Feared also, perhaps, because it is
women who have control over men when they are at their most vulnerable in infancy and
early childhood. And individually many men will have experienced the paradoxical
feelings of exercising power over women in their public life while simultaneously feeling
in thrall to the mysterious nature of an individual woman’s sexual allure. It is perhaps this
complex interaction between power, desire and fear that accounts for another emotion
commonly voiced by men about women, that of contempt.
These conflicting emotions of desire, fear and contempt felt by men about women are
reflected in most recorded references to gender. Women’s musings about men are less
well documented because, as it is men who have held social and economic power it is
their voices that we find reflected not only in written records but also in oral tradition.
Many such references reflect antagonism, distrust and belittlement and the documentation
of such misogynistic references can be found in recent collections like Joan Smith’s
Misogynies (Smith, 1993) and Tama Starr’s In her Master’s Voice (Starr, 1991). Such as
these, for example:

One volume could never contain

All the insults and satires against women.
De Fonseca, C., 1614, in Starr (1991)

She was maintaining the prime truth of woman, the universal mother; that
if a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.
G.K.Chesterton, 1910

And finally, woman! one half of mankind is weak, chronically sick,

changeable, shifty…
F.Nietzsche, 1888
 Gender and sexuality 5

A woman has the form of an angle, the heart of a serpent, and the mind of
an ass.
German proverb, quoted by Starr (1991)

The place of a horse and a women is under the thighs

Hindi folk saying4

Barley and millet improve by addition of salt, women through a beating

by a pestle.
Gujarati folk saying4

But men’s emotions about women are not univalent and consequently the way men write
and speak about women reflects not only contempt and denigration but also a fascination
and a guarded respect. For example:

As you are woman, so be lovely;

As you are lovely, so be various,
Merciful as constant, constant as various,
So be mine, as I yours forever.

Robert Graves (1927)

Women are stronger than men—they do not die of wisdom

They are better than men because they do not seek wisdom
They are wiser than men because they know less and understand
more

Stephens (1912)

Women are like tricks by sleight of hand,

Which to admire, we should not understand

Congreve Love for Love (1689)

On the other hand, women’s views on men, have until very recently seldom been
documented and it is this inbalance that lies, In believe, at the centre of the
documentation of male—female relations. In the recorded discussion of gender it is the
male view that, until very recently, has prevailed.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 6

Gender as a category

…the notion of gender distinction constitutes a ubiquitous

intellectual and moral lens through which we perceive and
evaluate the world.
Billig et al. (1988, p. 127)

Although the term gender has been in general use for some time it has mainly been used
in the context of grammar because most languages employ particular syntactical terms to
indicate sex (e.g. his, hers, etc). More recently the term has been used to draw attention to
the social, rather than biological, construction of sex differences. The term ‘construction’
is employed to highlight the fact that the differences between the way men and women
are thought about and treated owe less to their biological differences than to the manner
in which each society organizes their lives.
However, even if the wider use of the term ‘gender’ has only been current in recent
years, distinctions based on gender have dominated most societies for centuries (Billig,
1988). What Billig’s quotation encapsulates is the notion that values and beliefs about
femininity as opposed to masculinity permeate all aspects of day to day life. Hare-Mustin
and Maracek (1990) have suggested that within psychological theory this dichotomy has
been ‘construed’ in three ways: as structural differences between males and females; as
behavioural attributes of males and females and as essential male and female nature. Each
of these facets is discussed briefly below and in detail in chapters 2 and 3 (essential
nature), chapters 4 and 5 (behavioural attributes) and chapter 6 (structural differences).

Essential Nature

Man is the hunter, women is his game:

The sleek and shining creatures of the chase,
We hunt them for the beauty of their skins;
They love us for it, and we ride them down.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson The Princess (1847)

This view that females and males are essentially different in nature has deep historic roots
in both western and non-western cultures and permeates mythology, folk-lore, literature
and philosophy in most cultures. It is not surprising then, to find that such views (which
Hare-Mustin and Maracek refer to as ‘essentialist’) are reflected in some approaches to
the psychology of sex and gender notably in two contrasting approaches.
The first approach is related to psychoanalysis and the second to biology. These
approaches will be pursued further in chapters 2 and 3.
The next chapter will also look at the psychoanalytic perspectives on gender. Such
approaches to gender locate the source of gender differences in the familial relationships
of the very early years of life. Although, as we shall see, psychoanalytic approaches to
 Gender and sexuality 7

gender have been developed in different ways at different times and by different theorists,
all have been heavily influenced in their views on gender by the ‘essentialist’ approach of
the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud.
Freud’s approach to gender was not without ambiguities and contradictions but
nevertheless the general tenor of his writing suggested that there were identifiable and
consistent personality differences between men and women. The differences that he
identified reflected the ethos of nineteenth century Europe—women were by nature more
passive than men and thus less well suited to life outside the family circle. Men, on the
other hand, were by nature active and more suited to dealing with the world outside the
family.
As we shall see his male successors working in the psychoanalytic tradition largely
endorsed this viewpoint which, in most ways, regarded men as the standard and women,
in a phrase that we shall return to frequently, as the ‘other’. His female successors have
taken very divergent viewpoints and we will explore these as well. What unites most
psychoanalysts however, are the twin beliefs that personality is rooted in the experiences
of infancy and early childhood and that it is very difficult to modify personality in later
life. Consequently they believe that sex differences, rooted as they are in the earliest
years, are an essential part of human nature.
The second ‘essentialist’ viewpoint is that emerging from a biological perspective.
This viewpoint locates the major source of sex and gender differences in nature, arguing
that these differences are largely innate. As we shall see in chapter 3 this perspective rests
on two propositions which are:
1. there are commonalities running through time and across all cultures in female as
compared to male behaviour;
2. these commonalities within the same sex, and differences between the sexes, are due in
a major part to ‘human nature’.
In other words, sexual differences in human behaviour exhibit some constancies and
these can be attributed to nature rather than nurture. The term ‘biological determinism’
is often used to describe this viewpoint and two versions of this stance will be considered.
The first of these, which has emerged directly from the field of biology and more
recently from socio-biology (Wilson, 1978), draws on evolutionary theory to argue, in
essence, that human society has evolved in such a way that men have the innate qualities
and attributes of the hunter, whereas women’s innate predispositions are towards
domesticity.
A great deal of empirical research in biology has been adduced in support of these
claims which produce a rather similar viewpoint to that postulated by Freud, in that men
are seen as-by nature-active, dominant and rational, while women are seen as passive,
submissive and emotional.
More recently a second version of biological determinism has appeared. This
viewpoint has emerged in certain feminist positions which have tended to ‘idealize
femininity’ (Squire, 1989) but which, like socio-biology, attribute fundamental and
consistent sex differences to nature rather than nurture. This perspective neatly inverts
most other perspectives on sex differences in that it treats women as the standard and
man as the ‘other’. Women by nature are seen as compassionate, empathic and flexible,
men by nature as tending towards domination, violence and over-rationality. This
 Gender, sex and sexuality 8

viewpoint rests, as will be shown in chapter 3, on a rather different version of biological

determinism than that proposed by the socio-biologists just referred to.
While essentialist approaches have dominated psychoanalytic views on gender, they
have had very little influence on the views of gender held within psychology in general.
Views within mainstream psychology have tended to reject psychoanalysis as unscientific
and, as a result, psychoanalytic views on gender have, until recently, had little influence
on most psychological approaches to sex and gender. Instead, mainstream psychological
approaches have rested largely on the results of psychological experiments into human
behaviour and studies of how individuals ‘learn’ to play the role proscribed for their
particular gender.

Behavioural attributes and sex-role theories

Chapters 4 and 5 will describe in some detail how mainstream psychologists have, in
general, approached the study of gender but at this stage the parameters of these chapters
are sketched out.
Initial approaches to the study of gender within psychology were rather indirect in that
they derived from the tendency within psychology to focus on variables that might
account for the ‘individual differences’ displayed by ‘subjects’ in psychological
experiments and studies. Amongst individual differences studied were such variables as
intelligence, personality attributes and, as the subject pool enlarged away from the
traditional one of male undergraduates, sex.
Sex, rather than gender, was the main focus of these early studies and, as we shall see
in chapter 5, as fewer and fewer areas of investigation concentrated only on one sex, no
major study was reported without some investigation of sex differences between the
subjects.
Changes in the sex ratio of those studies were also reflected, though to a lesser extent,
in changes in the sex ratio of those carrying out the studies and the advent of more female
psychologists led to changes in the focus of psychological investigations of gender. In the
first instance this was because female psychologists like Carole Jacklin (1981) began to
challenge the methodologies and techniques that had been used in sex difference studies
and, in the second instance, this was because other female psychologists, such as Carole
Gilligan (1982), began to question the content of such studies.
Chapter 4 will detail the manner in which such critiques led to a movement away from
the concentration on gender differences and towards an emphasis on the acquisition of
sex role and gender identity. At this stage it should be pointed out that it was the
interaction of this movement in psychology with the re-emergence of feminism that
sparked off major discussions in the ranks of female psychologists about the bias in
psychology towards male-centred views—sometimes referred to as androcentric. This
debate was influenced as well by major movements within the social sciences in general,
in particular by that of ‘structuralism’ and it is to this movement that we now turn.

Structural differences between males and females

The social sciences in the twentieth century have been heavily influenced by the
movement of structuralism with its dual roots in the work of the French anthropologist
Henri Levi-Strauss (1969) and in the field of linguistics.
 Gender and sexuality 9

Levi-Strauss’ anthropological studies lead him to suggest that the nature of the human
mind, operating universally in all cultures, produces a disposition to organize the
representations or models we make of the world around fundamental distinctions.
Applying this general principle to kinship systems with which anthropologists were at
that time chiefly concerned, Levi-Strauss proposed that women provide an object of
exchange which consolidates and differentiates kinship relations. This, he argued, was
because women, as brides, are exchanged from one clan to another through the institution
of marriage. In this way he relegated women to a subordinate status (as opposed to men
whose status was dominant) within the cultural reality, not only of the societies he was
describing, but also by implication in his further discussion on societies in general
(Butler, 1990). As will be shown in chapter 6, his viewpoint has been energetically
challenged by contemporary feminist anthropologists who cite a number of instances of
non-western societies in which women have not, and in some cases do not, play a
subordinate role (Sanday and Goodenough, 1990).
Levi-Strauss extended his argument to suggest that, in many ways, gender relations
could be seen as ‘bipolar opposites’, each sex on either side of a dichotomy. But this was
not the only dichotomy that he proposed. Indeed it could be argued that his whole
approach suggested that there was an ‘oppositional logic’ to most representations human
make of the world. That is we tend to conceptualize in terms of opposites.
This oppositional logic is also reflected in the work of certain linguists who have
argued that linguistic features can best be represented in terms of structures and systems
based on networks of opposites (Scott, 1990), and by certain psychologists, like George
Kelly (1955), who have also claimed that the way human beings represent the world is in
terms of dichotomies. Thus, according to Kelly, we think about ourselves and others in
terms of dichotomies such as good/bad, warm/cold, beautiful/ugly, etc.
Applying such dichotomous structuralist approaches to gender, provides us with a
structural principle of social relations which can be seen as underpinning the relations
between the sexes in all cultures, and which allows for the division of human behaviour
and our thinking about it into the basic dichotomy, male-female.
This dichotomy is not, however, equally balanced. As the discussion in chapter 6, will
make plain the dichotomy can be seen as operating as masculine (normative) versus
feminine (the ‘other’) in such a way that the feminine pole is always seen as less
desirable. For the moment let us anticipate this discussion by noting the suggestion made
by Hare-Mustin and Maracek (1990, p. 4) that there are three major mechanism through
which the dichotomising principle operates—how children are brought up, how society is
structured in terms of the different facilities offered to the two sexes and how meaning is
generated when we talk or write about the differences between men and women.
According to Hare-Mustin and Maracek, though these mechanism differ in detail from
society to society in nearly all cultures their operation has resulted in the relative
disadvantage of women because power has been in the hands of men.
One of the primary ways in which cultural values permeate notions of gender is, of
course, in the approach to sexuality and the remainder of this chapter presents a historical
overview of sexuality and describes the terms and terminology which are used when we
think and talk about sex and gender differences in sexuality.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 10

Sexuality and gender

The most important first step in studying sexuality is to

differentiate it from gender.
Caplan (1987, p. 2)

The notion that humans have an innate sexual urge that propels them towards sexual
activity is one we are all familiar with. It is a belief which is characteristic of all societies
although the manner in which individuals feel able to give expression to their sexuality
varies across societies and across time. This is because all societies prescribe and codify
sexual activity and in this way legitimize some sexual practices and not others. While in
all cultures this codification of sexuality has been linked to gender, the nature of the link
between gender and sexuality is by no means universal as will be shown.

Historical aspects of sexuality in the west

Woman is the lesser man, and all thy passions, match’d with mine Are as
moonlight into sunlight, and as water into wine.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson Locksley Hall (1842)

A vulgar opinion prevails that (women) are creatures of like passions with
ourselves… Nothing is more utterly untrue…. Only in rare instances do
women experience one-tenth of the sexual feeling which is familiar to
most men.
George H Napheys, MD (1878)

That women are less motivated by sexuality than men is a belief that has long been held
in the west and it can be argued that the belief owes far more to the unequal status of the
sexes than to any scientific study of sexuality. Indeed the attempt to document and
understand the nature of sexuality in any sense is characteristic only of the twentieth
century. Which is not to say that empirical investigations into sexuality in the last century
have not been coloured by attitudes towards gender.
Williams (1987) suggests that the major historical influence on western ideas about
sex differences in sexuality lay in the value of women to men as items of property and
primarily as items of exchange. As an item of exchange a woman should of course be
above reproach.

Authorities both old and recent

Direct that women must be decent

Jonathan Swift Strephon and Chloe (1731)

 Gender and sexuality 11

Thus for both girls and women the essential attribute was chastity. As a girl, because on
marriage her bridegroom would want to feel assured that she had never belonged to
another man. As a wife, because her sexual fidelity would ensure that her husband’s
property would not be passed down to the children of another man.
This concept of woman as the sexual property of men was reinforced in Europe in the
period before the Reformation by intepretations of the Bible which merged asceticism
with holiness and which associated sexuality, even within marriage, largely with
procreation. The devout man was urged to protect himself from the dangerous devices of
the unchaste woman who might divert him from his familial and social duties. Devout
women were required to bow before their lot and as wives to:

submit yourselves unto your husbands…as unto the Lord. For the husband
is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church
Ephesians, 5:22–23

After the Reformation attitudes towards sex became less censorious in that it was
accepted that, for men at any rate, celibacy was a demanding condition. Marriage,
however, continued to be seen as the appropriate location for containing and controlling
sexual feelings which continued to be seen as demeaning to both sexes. It was, however,
only in the middle of the eighteenth century with the growth of romanticism and its
emphasis on freedom and individuality, that sexuality began to be associated with love
and emotional fulfilment. Then for a short period, for a privileged section of the
population, loving and overtly sexual relations between men and women were celebrated
both within and indeed outside marriage. These attitudes were exemplified by the
fascination exercised in Europe and in the USA by romantic figures like Byron and
Shelley who were renowned as much for their erotic and passionate relationships as for
their poetry or their politics.
As the nineteenth century advanced, however, the influence of romanticism waned to
be replaced as a dominant ethos by the repressiveness of the post-romantic movement
and in Britain and in America by what is termed the Victorian era.
As is well known the Victorian era was characterized by a severe and extremely
puritanical approach to all overt manifestations of sexuality, particularly for women of
the middle classes. At the same time the sexual desires of upper and middle class men
were catered for by a network of brothels and bordellos. Child prostitutes of both sexes
were not uncommon and the boundary between the protected, if repressed, lives of
economically privileged children and the exploited, if somewhat more permissive, lives
of the children of the poor was marked and seldom, if ever, crossed.
The repression of overt sexuality both reflected and reinforced an ideology of sexual
relations which reflected earlier pre-romantic themes. Pamphlets, child rearing manuals,
articles on health and hygiene all promoted the virtues of self-control, continence and
chastity. Sexual intercourse was only approved of in the context of marriage and
primarily for procreation; anything that might stimulate what were regarded as ‘the
sexual appetities’ was frowned upon. In many middle class homes activities, particularly
for girls, that might lead to the transgression of the stringent moral code were strictly
controlled. The reading of romantic novels, dancing and close emotional relationships,
even with the same sex, were monitored and sometimes even forbidden, and young girls
 Gender, sex and sexuality 12

were expected to be passive and modest. Their destiny was to be pursued but not to
pursue. Once married, women were expected to endure sexual relations passively and
desire and pleasure were to be avoided.
Masturbation, ‘the solitary vice’ was heavily censored for both sexes and was
associated with the threat of madness, blindness and general physical and mental
degeneracy. Masturbation was regarded as a sure sign of ungovernable sexual impulses
and such impulses were of course regarded as extremely threatening to the lives of
women and were thought to be directly associated with insanity. So convinced was one
medical practioner (Dr Isaac Baker Brown) that strong sexual impulses in women were
associated with insanity that he carried out sexual surgery—removal of the clitoris and
sometimes the labia—on patients as young as ten because it was suspected that their well
being was threatened by their sexuality. Such rampant sexuality could, he believed, first
be detected in puberty when girls became ‘restless and excited…and indifferent to the
social influences of domestic life’. There might also be depression, loss of appetite, a
‘quivering of the eyelids and an inability to look one in the eye’ (Dr Isaac Baker Brown
in Showalter, 1987). Even the desire to leave home and become a nurse or a sister of
charity could be regarded as a clue to the over-excitement and general instability which
presaged the insanity deriving from disorderly and unfeminine impulses.
At the turn of the century, however, such avid policing and control of sexuality began
to lose force. As the themes of passionate and erotic love began to be explored again in
literature (for example in the novels of Thomas Hardy); as pioneering women moved into
professions like medicine, and as particularly after the first world war during which
women had begun to perform many jobs that had previously been regarded as suited only
to men, it began to be generally accepted that women, like men, had sexual impulses
which were neither unnatural nor unhealthy.

Twentieth century western perspectives on sexuality

Although the systematic and large scale documentation of sexuality only began in the
middle of the twentieth century with the surveys of Alfred Kinsey and his associates,
pioneering investigations were carried out much earlier in the century primarily by
Havelock Ellis. Ellis, published six volumes on sexuality between 1897 and 1910
drawing both on biological studies and western and non-western data in which he
emphasized that sexuality was natural, healthy and variable. Arguing for sexual equality
for women, he countered the generally held belief that women’s sex drive was weaker
than men’s and he also challenged the still prevailing view that masturbation was
unhealthy and unnatural. But, although Ellis argued for sexual equality for women, he did
not question the prevailing view that there was a qualitative sexual difference in response
to sexuality, endorsing the prevailing view that in courtship men should initiate and
women respond. The relationship was ultimately one of the female at first resisting, and
in this way increasing the man’s ardour, and then yielding. Because Ellis’s model was
based on this model of necessary and unequal power relations which derived from his
belief that human courtship, like animal courtship, was based on conquest, he also
claimed that for women pain and sexual pleasure were sometimes indistinguishable: ‘the
normal manifestations of a women’s sexual pleasure are exceedingly like pain’ (Ellis,
1913).
 Gender and sexuality 13

In this manner, despite promoting women’s right to sexual satisfaction, Ellis endorsed
a biological determinism with respect to sexuality. It was in the nature of men to enjoy
conquest and of women to enjoy submission.
This view of the nature of courtship dominated much that was written by both women
and men about sexuality in the early years of this century. For example, Marie Stopes
who pioneered birth control clinics for women despite promoting women’s sexual rights,
nevertheless wrote about human sexuality in the context of man’s innate hunting instincts
and in a book called Education for Marriage, Estelle Cole advised young women that:

Man is a hunter by nature. He likes to chase his game. His pleasure lies in
the pursuit. With capture and possession there often comes lack of
interest; so that the wise woman restrains herself at such passionate
moments, in order that he may be kept eager in his pursuit.
Cole (1938)

Neverthless, despite this prevailing model of sexual differences in the enjoyment of

sexuality, attitudes towards women’s sexuality had moved on enormously from the
repressive puritanism of the previous century. In no way, was this more apparent in the
English speaking world than in the enormous success of a sex manual which had
originally been published in Dutch. This was The Ideal Marriage written by a
gynaecologist called Van der Velde (1928). In this book Van der Velde was concerned
with the sexual satisfaction of both partners and of the woman’s right to orgasm. Like
Ellis, however, he saw the, presumably more experienced, male as the initiating partner
whose duty it was to stimulate the virginal bride who was by nature slower to be aroused.
Van der Velde frequently used the analogy of a sensitive musician who by the
appropriate techniques could bring both himself and his partner to glorious climax:

Woman is a harp who only yields her secrets of melody to the master who
knows how to handle her…the husband must study the harp and the art of
music…this is the book of rules for his earnest and reverent study…his
reward comes when the harp itself is transformed into an artist in melody,
entrancing the initiator.
Van der Velde (1928)

Van der Velde’s model of sexual relations reflected the continuing double standard,
which also prevailed in numerous other sex manuals, and which was based on a belief
that sex was ideally to be enjoyed within a marriage that was entered into by a man who
had had some sexual experience and a bride who had not.
That such was the theory, but not necessarily the practice, was revealed by empirical
studies which began to be conducted in the middle of the twentieth century. Foremost
amongst these was that of Kinsey in the USA. Kinsey and his collegues interviewed over
10000, mainly middle class men and women. Their findings created a furore because they
indicated that the great majority of males and over three-fifths of females had
masturbated, that about 50 per cent of both sexes had had sexual intercourse before
marriage and that over a third of men had some sexual experience of a homosexual nature
(Kinsey, et al. 1948, Kinsey, et al. 1953).5
 Gender, sex and sexuality 14

By 1960 Kinsey’s interviews were supplemented in the USA by the laboratory

research of Masters and Johnson who studied the physiological sexual responses of large
samples of heterosexual subjects nearly all of whom were white and middle class
although their later work included some studies of gay men and lesbian women.
During the later years of the twentieth century, the large scale and ‘scientific’ study of
sexuality in the USA began to be supplemented by a large number of enquiries into
sexual practice. For example by Nancy Friday’s (1991) investigations into sexual
fantasies and Sheryl Hite’s (1976) documentation of how both men and women felt and
thought about their own sexual experience.
These American studies created a climate of opinion in the USA which not only
legitimized female as well as male sexuality and acknowledged the widespread practice
of masturbation, premarital and postmarital sex but also, for the first time, accepted that
for a substantial minority sexuality was not necessarily heterosexual.
Attitudes towards sexuality had always been rather more repressive in the USA and to
some extent in Britain than they had been in other western countries. In those countries
there has been, for some time, open acknowledgement not only of the similarity of the
levels of male and female sexuality, but also of the diverse nature of sexual behaviour
whether hetero or homosexual. More recently with the advent of Aids, open discussion of
sexuality in all its diversity has become characteristic of all western societies. Before,
however, looking at the diverse nature of sexuality in the west today, I would like to turn
briefly to non-western views of sexuality.

Non-western models of sexuality

As the discussion above indicates the fact that females have as active an interest in sex as
males has only recently been acknowledged in the west. This acknowledgement is
obviously linked to the changes in the status of women that have occurred as women
begin to play a more equal role in society in general. Extrapolating from this link between
power and the social endorsement of sexuality, it could be argued that, in general, the
more equal the social status of the sexes, the more likely it is that their level of sexuality
will be viewed as similar.
This is a point of view that has been advanced by some anthropologists and has
recently been put very forcibly by Helen Fisher. In general she makes the point that the
relatively equal status of the sexes in hunting and gathering societies was, or in some
cases still is, accompanied by an acceptance of very similar levels of sexual activity.
Looking specifically at individual societies, she highlights traditional Australian
Aboriginal society. Initially, she writes, this had been investigated by anthropologists,
predominantly male, who had argued that practices such as the betrothal of infant girls to
men 30 years their senior illustrated the subordinate nature of women in that society and
also that Aboriginal women were ‘pawns in the marriage manipulations of men’. More
recently, however, she writes:

Today we know that this picture of aboriginal life is distorted. Women

ethnographers have gone into the Australian outback and talked to
women…and have established that Australian aboriginal women politick
avidly in the betrothal poker game and begin to choose their own new
 Gender and sexuality 15

husbands by middle age. Women regularly engage lovers…

Fisher (1992)

Similar patterns of sexuality emerge in other non-western societies. Not only in hunting
and gathering societies but also in some pastoral societies where women own and inherit
land and live with their own kin after marriage. In such societies, for example, in the case
of the Vanantinai people of New Guinea, where there is little gender inequality in social
roles, there is little evidence of differences in attitudes to male and female sexuality and
‘sexual activity in Vanatinai is regarded as a pleasurable activity appropriate to both men
and women from adolescence to old age’ (Lepowsky, 1990).
On the other hand, in many non-western societies, where women have tended to be
accorded lower social status than men, this inequality has had inevitable repercussions on
attitudes to sexuality and marriage. This issue will be returned to later but in the interim it
should be noted that cross-cultural data do not support the ‘essentialist’ position, which
will be explored in the next two chapters, that female sexuality is innately more passive
than male sexuality.

Aspects of sexuality
Open discussion of sexuality only really started to take place during the present century.
Such discussions were, until very recently, dominated by both explicit and implicit
assumptions that ‘normal sexuality’ is always heterosexual in nature. It was only with the
publication of the Kinsey reports that the general public began to accept that a substantial
minority of society rejected this assumption in terms of both inclination and practice. The
remainder of this chapter discusses some of the terms used to discuss sexuality which
could not be described as heterosexual.

Homosexuality and lesbianism

Homosexuality, same-gender-sex, needs no introduction. From pre-

Christian times, it has troubled, terrified—and inspired—the western mind
and culture. Sodom and Gomorrah, the Cities of the Plain, were
supposedly destroyed because of it; Paul warned the early Christians
against it; leading scholars of the Church wrote eloquently opposing it;
English kings were assassinated on suspicion of it; and countless common
people have been victimized, blackmailed and persecuted because of it.
Ruse (1988, p. ix)

As the quotation above indicates very powerfully, sexual preference is not, of course,
only a matter of sexuality. Sexual orientation, if it is not heterosexual and if it is made
overt, has implications that extend far beyond sexual relations because, in very many
cultures, until recently such an orientation could lead not only to stigmatization and social
rejection but also to imprisonment and sometimes persecution.
Yet the practice of homosexuality has been reported in almost all cultures (Shepherd,
1987), although the concept of a ‘homosexual’ is a relatively recent one and the term
 Gender, sex and sexuality 16

‘homosexual’ was only coined in 1869 and did not come into common usage until the
1880s and 1890s (Weeks, 1987). This is because, although individuals might have
formed same-sex sexual relations and indeed been persecuted for it, the concept of a
homosexual ‘identity’ in the manner we think of it now did not exist.
Today, however, as Ruse (1988, p. ix) puts it, ‘for various reasons, homosexuality
seems particularly an obsession of our own age’. This is partially because homosexuals
have been actively campaigning for their rights, partially because of the relatively greater
openness about sexuality in general and partially because of the dread of Aids which,
when it first appeared in the west, afflicted the homosexual rather than the heterosexual
community.
The term, homosexual, is now usually taken to refer not only to a male who is
attracted to members of his sex, but also to one who identifies with other males who feel
the same way. The term is sometimes used in this way to include women who are
erotically attracted to their own sex and who identify with other women who do so, but
this usage is not common and such women are usually described as lesbians.
Both homosexuality and lesbianism have however, as the quote from Ruse indicates,
emerged as issues with social, political and historical dimensions and we will be
returning to the discussion of such issues. In doing so I will be looking at different
accounts of lesbianism and homosexuality although my own position on it is well
summed up by the following remarks made in 1987 by Celia Kitzinger:

I no longer believe that there is a single ‘correct’ account of lesbianism (or

any other social phenomenon) that will stand revealed once we have
peeled away the layers of prejudice, special pleading and personal bias
that form a veil between us and the ‘facts’.

In other words, how and why individuals come to regard themselves as homo rather than
heterosexual will differ from individual to individual. Similarly as we shall see, the
reasons that are advanced by scientists and social scientists to account for the fact that
sexual orientations vary, differ considerably and it is important to bear in mind that such
accounts are not mutually exclusive. Different accounts may be needed if we are to come
to some understanding of individual sexuality and sometimes we may need to view
sexuality from more than one perspective.

Bisexuality
The term bisexual is used to describe individuals of either sex who feel erotic attachments
to members of both sexes. Some researchers and clinicians maintain that there is no such
thing as a ‘true’ bisexual only individuals, homo and heterosexual, who have confused
identities (Unger and Crawford, 1992). This contention is also advanced by some
members of the lesbian and homosexual communities and within these communities
bisexuality is often an extremely contentious issue. Nevertheless, many individuals
undoubtedly regard themselves as bisexual, either in orientation or in practice, or in both
orientation and practice. This is illustrated by a survey carried out by Carla Golden with
95 American Psychology of Women students in which 65 per cent identified themselves
as heterosexual, 26 per cent as bisexual and 9 per cent as lesbian. Their sexual
experience, however, was not reported as consistent with the survey in that 72 per cent
 Gender and sexuality 17

reported that this was exclusively heterosexual, 20 per cent reported that it was bisexual,
4 per cent as lesbian while 4 per cent reported no sexual experience. As Golden (1987)
put it, ‘every possible permutation of feelings and activities existed within each sexual
identification category’.
Bisexuality has been documented at other times in both western and nonwestern
cultures. In the West, bisexuality was clearly practised extensively in ancient Greece,
where it was customary for heterosexual married men to form strong erotic bonds with
other younger men. In contemporary times bisexuality has been documented in some
anthropological studies. For example, in the study carried out by Gillian Shepherd who
worked amongst a Swahili community in Mombasa and described how homosexual
relationships within this group are almost without exception between a younger, poorer
partner and an older, richer one. However, both or either partner may also have had, or
may in future continue to have, heterosexual relations. To take one example, a young
woman, who was divorced by her husband, became the lover of an older, richer woman
in order to gain financial security for herself and her children. Shepherd (1987) argues
that within this particular community, where the existence of homosexuality is generally
acknowledged by all, some individuals may move between sexual orientations in search
both of social rank and of economic well-being.
For centuries the community Shepherd worked with in Mombasa has had close contact
with the Gulf state of Oman. Bisexuality has also been reported there by Wikan (1977) in
her discussion of a group of homosexuals she studied who were known as the Xanith.
These individuals, who were biologically men and retained men’s names, nevertheless
dressed differently from other men and functioned differently in their association with
women, in that they could talk with women and sit with women at segregated events and
thus were able to violate the restrictions of purdah. (Purdah is the term used to describe
the system whereby women, for reasons of modesty, are secluded from the company of
men who are not of their immediate family.) Xanith, however, did not always retain the
same gender role in that some of them married and became heterosexual and then in
some cases after marriage reverted to homosexuality.
In general, in line with the studies just described, research on bisexuality indicates that
for a minority of individuals sexuality is fluid. This fluidity has, however, seldom been
explicitly acknowledged or permitted in the past. Recently, however, with increasing
openness in the discussion of sexuality, individuals who regard themselves as bisexual
have felt able to write and talk frankly and candidly about it. Furthermore novels and
biographies now deal far less secretively with the issue as can be seen, for example, in the
recent biography of the writer Daphne du Maurier which explores her emotional and
sexual relationships with both sexes (Forster, 1993). Books such as this reflect the
relatively greater latitude in the construction of both social and sexual identities that
people now have in comparision to the past. We are indeed far less the prisoners of both
the social class we were born into or the rigid sexual stereotypes of the past.

Transsexuality
Chapter 3 will look at the physiological aspects of sexual identity and will discuss in
some detail the physiological conditions which make the assignation of sexual identity
complicated as, for example, in the case of babies who are born with ambiguous sexual
 Gender, sex and sexuality 18

organs, or in the case of individuals with particular physical conditions which affect their
levels of sex hormones. Such physiological conditions are bound to affect the formation
of gender identity and in some cases the individuals concerned frequently have problems
of gender identity. These problems are obviously related to their physical conditions.
Occasionally, however, certain individuals who differ in no physical aspect from
others of their sex, feel convinced that they are trapped in the wrong-sexed body. Such
individuals have been termed ‘transsexuals’ and this conviction is more common
amongst males than females. It has been suggested the reason for this gender disparity
lies in the different status of males and females in most societies. Because the male role is
overvalued compared to the female, men who feel that they do not conform to masculine
stereotypes are more likely to feel conflict than women who feel that they do not conform
to feminine stereotypes. Thus, as Unger and Crawford (1992, p. 221) put it, ‘men who
deviate in some ways may come to believe that they are not men at all’. In any event
there is no disputing the gender imbalance in transsexualism which is variously estimated
to be between four to one, and eight to one.
The condition has been very well documented by Jan (formerly James) Morris (1974)
in her book Conundrum in which she describes how, from earliest childhood, although
her appearance was stereotypically male, she was unhappy with her identity as a boy.
This unease culminated in an active desire to physically change her identity from male to
female despite a career as a successful foreign correspondent and despite marriage and
fatherhood. In order to make this change, she underwent extensive surgery and now lives
and works unambiguously within a female identity.
It has been estimated that there are 30000 transsexuals in the world, 10000 of whom
are believed to live in the United States (Grimm, 1987). Clinics, which provide the
transformational surgery that transsexuals usually want, frequently make it a requirement
that the person concerned lives and ‘passes’ as a member of the other sex for a specified
period of time.
The outcome of such surgery is currently a matter of great controversy in that while
some studies have indicated positive outcomes after surgery, other studies indicate that
some transsexuals appear less well adjusted after surgery than before (Blanchard et al.,
Lindemalm et al. 1986).

Transvestism
Transvestism is used to describe the practice of dressing in the clothes, and taking the
appearance of, members of the other sex and more recently has tended to be termed
‘cross-dressing’.
The history of transvestism can be traced both in individual biographies and in the
impersonation of one sex by the other in the theatre and more recently through the mass
media. Turning first to a discussion of the former, there are many documented instances
of women living their lives in the persona of men in order to escape the limitations of the
traditional female role. A notable example of this is the case of Deborah Sampson, an
eighteenth century American woman, who served in the army, was decorated and was
only discovered to be a woman when she was hospitalized (Williams, 1987).
The impersonation of the other sex in the theatre is, of course, rooted in the fact that
until the eighteenth century, in the west, women were seldom permitted to appear on the
stage. But even after women began to play most female roles in the theatre the
 Gender and sexuality 19

impersonation of the opposite sex has continued in a number of genre. These

impersonations are sometimes satirical as in the pantomine dame or as in Barry
Humphrey’s portrayal of the Australian suburban housewife and self-styled superstar,
Dame Edna Everidge. At other times, gender impersonations are camped up as in the
‘glamour’ portrayals of performers like Danny La Rue and in the tongue-in-cheek
‘gender-bending’ of Madonna. Gender impersonation is also still to be found in the
serious theatre, for example, in some of the productions of the Glasgow Citizens Theatre
when males play female roles.
Transvestism is also practised by some individuals within the privacy of their homes
and sometimes in social groups with other transvestites. The stigma previously associated
with it has indeed been so eroded that a chain of shops catering to the fashion needs of
male transvestites has recently been established in Britain (Today, Radio 4 3.3.1993) and
it has been the subject of a number of plays and films.
In general, most transvestites are not homosexual in orientation. Indeed Ruse (1988, p.
4) maintains that they are ‘if anything’ heterosexual ‘to a more extreme degree than
usual’. Nevertheless there is a considerable minority of homosexuals who do cross-dress.
In a recent book, devoted to the subject of cross-dressing, Marjorie Garber (1993) has
claimed that the individual who cross-dresses poses a challenge to cultural certainties
about gender. Reviewing the history of cross-dressing, she argues that society has always
tended to regard cross-dressers as ‘male or female manque’ (aiming at, but not
successfully achieving, the other gender). She contends, however, that cross-dressers
should be seen more appropriately as simply individuals who subvert and challenge
social conventions by their appearance and sometimes, but not necessarily, by their
behaviour.
It could be argued that in recent years more open attitudes to sexuality, and less
restricted views of stereotyped male and female behaviour, have permitted a degree of
experimentation for all of us in our self-presentation. These tendencies are obvious, not
only in the increasing numbers of cross-dressers but also in the phenomenon of unisex
fashions and hairstyle. As with sexuality, there is more acceptance of flexibility in the
way we dress and look.

Summary

This chapter has been concerned with the definition and discussion of gender and
sexuality in general. The discussion was first located in the context of the unequal status
that has until very recently characterized males and females. Following these preliminary
observations three modes of gender categorization were introduced. These will be
followed up in the next five chapters. They are ‘essentialist’ gender categorization
(chapters 2 and 3), social and behavioural categorizations (chapters 4 and 5) and
structural categorizations (chapter 6).
This outline of categorization systems was followed by a survey of historical aspects
of the study of sexuality. The chapter concluded with the discussion of a number of terms
concerned with sexuality, i.e. homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, transsexuality and
transvestism.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 20

Notes
1. Durrell (1963) writing about Justine in the book of that name.
2. In Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime in Borges (1966).
3. See chapter 6 where anthropological studies show that in some societies which were, or are,
relatively egalitarian in nature, sexual inequalities were, or are, negligible. See for example
(Lepowsky, 1990).
4. Sayings quoted in Kakar’s (1990) book about sexuality in India by an Indian psychoanalyst.
5. More recent figures give rather different estimates. For example, a recent Harris survey,
reported that 4.4 per cent of American males and 3.6 per cent of American females have had
homosexual sex in the past five years (Guardian, 26 April 1993, p. 22).
 Chapter 2
Tarzan, Jane and Boadicea

Woman wants monogamy;

Man delights in novelty.
Love is woman’s moon and sun;
Man has other forms of fun.
Woman lives but for her Lord;
Count to ten, and man is bored.
With this gist and sum of it,
What earthly good can come of it?

Dorothy Parker, General Review of the Sex Situation (1989) reproduced

by permission of Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd.

In the last chapter, it was suggested that many people feel intuitively that the observed
differences in the behaviour of the sexes are very easy to explain: these differences are
due to differences in the nature of the sexes and because of this such differences are not
only universal but extremely difficult, if not impossible, to eradicate. This essentialist
perspective has been developed in two ways. One of these, the approach that derives from
psychoanalysis, will be considered in this chapter.

Freud’s perspective on gender differences

Maleness combines (the factors of) subject, activity and

possession of the penis, femaleness takes over (those of)
object and passivity.
Sigmund Freud (1923 in Strackey, 1977)

The origins of psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), the founder of the movement called psychoanalysis, has
had a unique impact on western understanding of the human mind. He was born into a
middle class Jewish family in Moravia and later moved with his family to Vienna where
he was educated. After studying physiology, he eventually qualified as a doctor in 1881
but it was not until 1885 when he went to Paris to study with the famous neurologist, Jean
Charcot, that he first became interested primarily in the mind. This interest was
precipitated by Charcot’s work with what was termed hysterical patients who were
 Gender, sex and sexuality 22

primarily female. The term ‘hysteria’ was used to describe conditions like paralysis, loss
of speech and blindness which had no apparent physiological causes. It derived from the
Greek word, hystera, meaning uterus, because ancient Greek physicians believed that its
symptoms were caused by the wandering of the uterus through the body.
Although Charcot believed that hysterical symptoms did have some roots in
neurological pathology, he also believed that the symptoms could be alleviated by using
hypnotic sessions during which patients were induced to believe that their symptoms
would be relieved when they emerged from the hypnotic sessions. Returning to Vienna,
Freud integrated Charcot’s approach to hysteria with the approach of an older Viennese
physician, Josef Breuer, who claimed that hysterical conditions could be alleviated by
what one of his patients called ‘the talking cure’ during which the patient, in a trancelike
state, spoke both about her symptoms and about unpleasant events she associated with
them. Freud developed these techniques further into a particular approach to dealing with
problems of the mind which he called psychoanalysis.
Psychoanalysis is based on Freud’s conviction that the roots of human motivation and
consequently the causes of human behaviour lie in deeply submerged and suppressed
memories of early emotional relationships. According to Freud such memories are
characteristically both very intense and very painful. The pain arises, according to Freud,
from the depth of unresolved conflicts with parents which are almost invariably
experienced during the early years of life. He believed that as a result of these painful
associations many memories of our early years tend to be heavily suppressed and to
become unavailable to conscious thought. Instead, according to Freud, such memories
become lodged in a kind of mental repositary which Freud called the unconscious.1
During psychoanalysis, the analyst’s task is to bring the memory of these conflicts to the
fore, by taking them out of the unconscious and making them accessible to conscious
thought. This retrieval is carried out by means of the twin psychoanalytic techniques
which Freud had developed from Breuer’s ‘talking cure’. The two techniques are free
association and the interpretation of dreams. In the former, patients are required to talk
about anything that comes into their minds, in the latter to recount their dreams and
fantasies. In both cases patients are encouraged to report all their thoughts, feelings,
dreams and fantasies freely and without reservation.
Freud believed that by thus freely associating and recounting their dreams patients are
able to allow the analyst an access into their unconscious. The task of the analyst is then
to interpret the material that has emerged from the patient’s unconscious, that is to expose
the hidden meanings underlying the associations and dreams. The psychic conflicts thus
interpreted were seen by Freud to have arisen primarily in very early childhood from the
interactions of family dynamics and, consequently, he believed that it was important for
the patient and analyst to go beyond the stage of interpretation. This is achieved by the
process of transference. During transference, the psychoanalyst attempts to allow the
patient to displace on to the analyst the unresolved conflicts with his or her parents which
had arisen during early childhood. As can be imagined, because the material the
psychoanalyst has to work on emerges only indirectly, psychoanalysis has traditionally
been a very time consuming process. Psychoanalytic sessions typically take place two or
even three times a week and often continue for years.2 (Training as a psychoanalyst is
even more time consuming in that all psychoanalysts are required to undergo extensive
psychoanalysis themselves before being regarded as qualified to practice.)
 Tarzan, Jane and Boadicea 23

It was from consideration of the material emerging from the psychoanalytic sessions
with his patients, as well as from his research into some anthropological material (Freud,
1983), that Freud developed his body of theory. This is summarized briefly below with
particular reference to Freud’s complex and often contradictory views on masculinity and
femininity. But before doing so let us look briefly at Freud’s relationship with the women
in his personal and professional life.

Freud’s relationships with women

Freud’s home life was marked both by predictability and stability. His marriage was
reputedly very happy and he was a devoted father to a family of three sons and three
daughters; indeed for the greater part of his life he lived in the same house and used the
same consulting rooms until he was forced to flee to London when the Nazis took power
in Austria.
Within his domestic sphere, it seems that his attitude to his wife was essentially one
which reflected the conventional middle class of his time. In his early years he had
reacted strongly against the feminist argument for the equality of the sexes and
apparently thought the idea that some women could, in the future, earn as much as their
husbands ‘absurd’. Indeed his attitude towards the role of wives precluded such a notion
as was reflected in the remarks made in a letter to his wife which has frequently been
quoted:

Law and custom, have much to give women that has been witheld from
them, but the position of women will surely be what it is: in youth an
adored darling and in mature years a loving wife.
Williams (1987, p. 29)

His attitude towards his children largely reflected the conventional views of his time with
respect to issues of gender. For example when his youngest daughter Anna was born he
wrote to his close friend Wilhelm Fliess as follows:

If it had been a son I should have sent you the news by telegram. But as it
is a little girl……you get the news later.
(Sayers, 1992)

The children were brought up in a very conventional manner and despite the obvious
interest his younger daughter Anna showed in forging a career for herself, she was not
sent to schools that would have prepared her for university entrance. Instead she went to
the local cottage lyceum which, according to Janet Sayers (1992), she later described as
‘quite stultifying’. Anna, nevertheless, did not follow the example of her older sisters and
marry young. Instead, after a period of teaching and working with young children, she
eventually underwent a training analysis and joined her father in the practice of
psychoanalysis.
Despite his earlier lack of encouragement of Anna’s aspirations it seems that once she
joined him in practice Freud had no difficulty in working with her as a peer. Indeed
Freud’s relations with women psychoanalysts seems to have been far easier and less
 Gender, sex and sexuality 24

problematic than his relationships with male analysts which were frequently
characterized by bitter disputes and considerable animosity (Masson, 1990).
It is probably fair to say, as the brief discussion above shows, that in his personal life
Freud’s relationships with women indicated considerable ambivalence. While clearly
having some reservations about the extent to which women should be involved in
professional as compared to domestic pursuits, he was nevertheless able to have excellent
professional relationships with them.3 As we shall now see, his theories about the
differences between men and women reflected similar ambiguities.

Freud and psychosexual development

As is very well known, Freud placed an enormous emphasis on sexuality as a well-spring
of human behaviour. In Freud’s theories sexuality was mediated through an energizing
force he called libido. The influence of libido according to Freud is felt even at birth and
from then throughout the human life span this energy needs to be discharged or
‘consummated’ in some manner. Consummation of sexuality, however, is obviously not
always easily attainable and in discussing how this need for consummation is controlled,
Freud outlined three aspects of the human mind. The first, the id, is the actual seat of the
instincts, which of course includes the libido or the sexual drive. The id represents the
desire to attain pleasure and it operates largely in the unconscious. It is kept in check by
two other aspects of the mind. The first of these, the ego, operates in the conscious and
strives to keep the id under control by responding realistically to the demands of the
external world. The other aspect, the super-ego, represents the part of the mind in which
self observation and self criticism take place. As we shall see, Freud posited major
differences between the sexes in the operation of the super-ego.
It is not possible, however, to understand Freud’s conceptualization of sex differences
without reference to his description of the development of the libido. In the earliest years,
according to Freud, libido is undifferentiated and the young infant simply has a
generalized propensity to sexuality which he termed polymorphous sexuality.
Depending on the experiences of early childhood, this polymorphous sexuality develops
through what Freud termed the psychosexual stages into either normal4 heterosexuality
or into less usual behaviours such as homosexuality or fetishes.
Freud referred to the first of these stages as the oral stage. In the oral stage, the
infant’s source of gratification and pleasure, and the discharge of libido, is associated
with feeding and sucking, and the lips and mouth become the source of sexual pleasure.
In the next phase, the anal stage, reached during the second and third years of life, sexual
pleasure moves to the anal region as an erotogenic zone as the child becomes able to
control his or her bowel activity. According to Freud there is no difference between the
sexes during these first two stages but for both sexes, both the oral and anal stage can be
the source of later sexual ‘perversions’. For example the tendency towards masochism, in
which pleasure is taken in the experiencing of pain, or sadism, in which pleasure is
experienced in the administration of pain.
By the time the child is three or four, he or she has attained mastery over anal
functions and, according to Freud, now discovers the potential of the genitals and of
infantile masturbation.5 Thus erotic attention now moves to the genitals and the child
 Tarzan, Jane and Boadicea 25

enters into the third stage, the phallic stage, and it is this stage which will prove crucial
for his or her gender development.
As they enter this stage both boys and girls, according to Freud, have the mother as
their most important love object In the case of the boy this devotion to the mother starts
to become problematic when he begins to perceive his father as rival for her favours.
Simultaneously he discovers that women and girls do not have a penis as he does and he
comes to the conclusion that theirs have been cut off. He now becomes extremely
anxious that the same fate may befall him (a fear Freud termed castration anxiety).
Fuelled by this anxiety and by terror of his more powerful rival (his father), the boy
moves his emotional identification from the mother to the father and begins to identify
with, and to model, the behaviour of his father. In this way the boy both appeases his
rival and acquires a masculine gender identity. Identification with the father also involves
taking on the father’s moral values and it is in this way that the super-ego is developed.
Freud referred to this phallic period as the time of the Oedipus complex, because of
the resemblance his analysis had to the Greek drama, Oedipus Rex, in which a young
prince is abandoned at birth because of a prophecy that he will kill his father and
subsequently marry his mother. The prophecy is fulfilled when the child is rescued and,
unaware of his parentage, in early manhood kills his father and marries his mother.
During his earlier writings, Freud did not really explore the manner in which the girl
experienced the phallic stage in much detail, apparently finding female sexuality very
puzzling. He noted, for example, after a discussion of male sexual development that ‘the
corresponding processes in the girl are not known to us’ (Freud, 1923 in Strachey, 1976).
In later life, however, he wrote three papers (Freud, 1925, 1931 and 1933) in which he
developed the following scenario for the girl’s experience of the phallic stage. As she
enters it she becomes aware of her own lack of a penis and, according to Freud, becomes
from that stage on ‘a victim to envy of the penis’ (Williams, 1987, pp. 34–5). Further she
believes that she has been castrated, and blames her mother for this. As a consequence
she rejects her mother as her most important love object and replaces her by her father
whom she comes to believe would be able to give her a baby, a son, who will in effect
give her the longed for penis. As she grows older, she transfers this wish for the father
into a wish for a husband. In this way the girl begins to develop her female sexuality. Her
intense relationship with her mother also continues, however, and in identifying with her
mother she also takes on feminine attributes. In a similar manner to the boy she also at
this stage ‘introjects’ (or internalizes) her parents’ moral values into her super-ego but for
reasons that will be described below this process is, according to Freud, less intense for
the girl than for the boy.
Following the phallic stage both sexes were seen by Freud as entering two further
stages: the latency stage when sexuality is relatively dormant and then the genital stage
where sexual desire in both sexes is directed towards members of the opposite sex.
This reading of sexual development rests crucially on three propositions:
1. that gender differences are forged in the phallic stage;
2. that for both sexes the possession or non-possession of the penis is central to the
development of gender;
3. that both sexes perceive that the girl’s genitals are not only different to the boy’s but
also inferior.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 26

There is no doubt that this is rather a male biased viewpoint and as we proceed through
this chapter we will look at the challenges that have been made by women theorists to
this perspective. For the moment, however, let us look at the major implications for sex
differences in psychological functioning that Freud drew from this theory (Mitchell,
1974).

Freud and sex differences

In the first instance, according to Freud, the sexes differ because women habitually feel
inferior to men. This sense of inferiority derives directly from their envy of the penis:

The psychical consequences of envy for the penis…are various and far
reaching…she develops like a scar, a sense of inferiority.
(Freud, 1925)

Men, on the other hand, feel no such generalized sense of inferiority to women.
Secondly, Freud believed that the sexes differ in their propensity to masochism. For,
although he accepted that individual men could display masochism, he regarded the
attribute of masochism as inherently ‘feminine’. This is because masochism springs from
the phallic stage during which, because of her perception that she lacks a penis, the girl
forms a desire for passive intercourse with a sexually aggressive father as well as a desire
for childbirth. Both these unconscious desires are seen by Freud as suggesting pleasure-
in-pain and consequently as a direct result of the dynamics of this stage, women tend
towards masochism and masochism, in either sex, was associated by Freud with
femininity.
According to Freud a third aspect of sex difference also has its roots in the phallic
stage when the boy is made more anxious by the threat of castration than the girls is by
penis envy. The boy deals with this greater menace by a correspondingly deeper
identification with the father and a correspondingly greater need to take over his moral
standards in comparison to the girl’s identification with the mother. As you may recall
Freud located these aspects of human functioning in the super-ego and as a result Freud
believed that men have a more active super-ego and a more compelling sense of justice
than do women.
A fourth aspect of sexual difference, according to Freud, lies in women’s greater
tendency towards jealousy, narcissism (a preoccupation with self6) and vanity. Freud
believed that these characteristics also derived from the phallic stage: jealousy from the
girl’s penis envy, narcissism and vanity from her desire to compensate for her lack of a
penis by making her whole body into a ‘proud substitute’ (Mitchell, 1974, p. 116) for a
penis.
The final aspect of sexual difference that Freud discussed is perhaps not only the most
important in his eyes but also the one aspect which he located not only in the dynamics of
the phallic stage but also in biology. This is the assertion that masculinity is associated
with activity and femininity with passivity which he saw as deriving, to some extent, from
nature. Primarily these were differences in aggressiveness, in physical strength and in
intensity of libido, which characteristics he believed to be stronger in men than in
women. In this respect his remark that ‘biology is destiny’ is often quoted (Freud, 1940).
 Tarzan, Jane and Boadicea 27

Freud also regarded this activity/passivity difference as partially due to the girl’s need in
the phallic stage to be loved by the father and her later need to be actively loved by her
husband.
It was with respect to this attribute of agency that he showed most ambivalence
because, while he clearly believed in innate differences between the sexes, writing that
‘we are faced…by the great enigma of the biological fact of the duality of the sexes’
(Freud, 1940), he also apparently believed that the infant is born bisexual and that it is
only in the phallic stage, by means of ‘identification’ with the same sex parent, that the
child enters on the pathway to man or womanhood. He also sometimes indicated that it
was inappropriate to always identify males with activity and females with passivity
because of the ‘fact of psychological bisexuality’. Nevertheless, and despite his
occasional reservations, he did regard men and women as essentially different. Even if he
was ambivalent and sometimes contradictory in his discussion of the origins of this
difference, he frequently wrote as though there were unambiguous sex differences in
personality. For Freud, men were active, with a strong sense of morality and a keen
‘social interest’ (Mitchell, 1974, p. 52), women were weak, passive, vain and narcissistic.
In summary, then, there is no doubt that Freud believed that there were major
differences between the sexes and these differences were inevitable and natural. To this
extent his position is regarded as an essentialist one and this essentialist stance has been
echoed by the great majority of post-Freudians. The next two sections will look at the
views on sex differences of some of his followers and critics, and at contemporary
feminist viewpoints on sex differences which derive from psychoanalysis.

Freud’s followers and critics

Freud’s ideas about sex differences were by no means universally accepted by his
students and followers. Most, however, echoed his overall orientation in three ways.
1. They regarded the early years of life as of supreme importance in the moulding of
gender as well as of other aspects of personality.
2. They placed a great deal of emphasis on the effect of the differences in genital
physiology.
3. They believed that there were essential differences in the nature of men and women.
Erik Erikson, for example, who underwent a training analysis with Freud’s daughter
Anna, located the sources of sex differences, like Freud, in the human body. He argued
that it is the physical design of the human body; the inner space of the womb and the
vagina, which signifies the women’s biological, psychological and moral commitment to
motherhood, and the possession of the penis which predisposes men to be concerned with
achievement and exploration. While Erikson believed that this led to women possessing,
in comparison to men, some superior qualities e.g. greater sympathy, these qualities are
all linked to her innate need to nurture. However women’s inner space can, according to
Erikson, lead to despair as well as to fulfilment, if she experiences any form of rejection:

To be left for her, means to be empty, to be drained of the blood of the

body, the warmth of the heart, the sap of life…such hurt can be re-
 Gender, sex and sexuality 28

experienced in each menstruation, it is crying to heaven in the morning

over a child and it becomes a permanent scar in the menopause.
Erikson (1968)

Men, on the other hand, as possessors of the active penis were both more concerned with
achievements outside the family and more suited to life outside the family circle,
although Erikson conceded that for both sexes the particular culture into which they were
born could modify these sex differences to some extent.7
Thus, Erikson, though placing relatively little stress on the dynamics of the phallic
stage, nevertheless continued the Freudian tradition of relating gender differences to
physiological differences and regarding men and women as essentially different in nature.
While Erikson was critical of many aspects of traditional Freudian theory his work
was very much within the classical psychoanalytic tradition. The eminent psychoanalyst
Carl Jung, however, while retaining much of Freud’s clinical methodology and insistence
on the importance of the unconscious, rejected one of Freud’s central contentions: that
libido was the driving force in human life. While any detailed discussion of Jung is
beyond the scope of this book, it is perhaps relevant to look very briefly at Jung’s
understanding of gender differences. Jung (1953) contended that a very important role in
the unconscious is played by two fundamental components, the anima and the animus.
The anima is the repository of feminine characteristics that exists in the male unconscious
and the animus is the repository of male characteristics that exists in the female
unconscious. Thus the behaviour of women can sometimes be influenced by the
masculine components of their unconscious and vice versa. What is interesting, however,
from the viewpoint of sex differences is that Jung took as indisputable the idea that there
are two opposing styles of psychological functioning—the feminine and the masculine.
The feminine style embraces the caring, the nurturing and the passive; the male, the
adventurous, the striving and the active. Thus although Jung differed from Freud in many
ways, he concurred in his acceptance of essential differences in the nature of masculinity
and femininity.
It was not, however, only male analysts who continued the Freudian tradition with
respect to sex differences. Helen Deutsch for example, who spent some time in analysis
with Freud, also assumed that the nature of the physiological differences between the
sexes predisposes them to different psychological functioning. In particular, according to
Deutsch, women’s anatomy and physiology provides a basis for their ultimate destinies
as wives and mothers. Men’s destinies are not so constrained and thus they are far more
active than women in society at large.
Deutsch also followed Freud in accepting the role in the girl’s development of penis
envy, although, unlike Freud, she believed that boys could experience this as well. She
also differed from Freud to some extent in her understanding of the balance of the role of
the parents in the phallic stage. She ascribed far more importance to the mother,
particularly in the case of the girl (Sayers, 1992), arguing that the girl’s future
development was more tied in with her early relationship with her mother than with her
idolization of her father.
According to Deutsch, femininity was very clearly distinguishable from masculinity
and was marked by a triad of personality factors already identified by Freud: narcissism,
passivity and masochism. Her tendency towards passivity was, for Deutsch, the centre of
 Tarzan, Jane and Boadicea 29

femininity, as was the man’s tendency towards activity the centre of masculinity. Deutch
developed a position in which this basic difference predisposed women to being more
intuitive and receptive and men to being more rational and aggressive.
Deutsch’s rather extreme version of biological determinism has, not surprisingly, been
heavily attacked by feminists and her own writing reveals that she experienced
considerable conflicts in reconciling her own views of women with her own active
professional life (Deutsch, 1973).
Karen Horney who was born in 1885, just one year after Helen Deutsch, was like
Deutsch trained as a classical psychoanalyst. Unlike Deutsch, however, she was very
critical of Freud’s delineation of sex differences and particularly of the role of penis envy
in the psychological development of women. She pointed out how much psychoanalysis
had been influenced by the male bias of psychoanalytic observers and that psychoanalytic
ideas about the phallic stage reflected a little boy’s views rather than those of a little girl.
In this way she threw doubt on Freud’s hypothesis that the little girl believes she ‘lost’
her penis. There is no reason, she argued, to believe that little girls perceive themselves as
lacking anything. While some girls may grow up feeling inferior, this derives not from
their observed lack of a penis but from the fact that they are ‘forced into a flight from
womanhood’ because masculine attributes are culturally accepted as more desirable than
feminine ones.
Furthermore, she argued, boys are equally likely to suffer from envy of the opposite
sex, of the events of motherhood, pregnancy and childbirth, and it is this envy which
drives them, in some cases, into both denying the worth of women and into a ceaseless
desire to be active and productive in the world outside the home.
While Horney was thus very critical of the male bias of Freudian psychoanalysis, for
much of her life she placed an important emphasis not only on the phallic stage, but also
on the influence of the sex differences in physiology on later sex differences in
psychological functioning. As she grew older, however, she moved towards a position
which ascribed less and less importance to ‘biological destiny’ and more and more
importance to the role of the social environment (Horney, 1967). In this position her
views on sex differences were very similar to those of another very influential early
psychoanalyst, Alfred Adler.
Adler, was a doctor with a particular interest in psychological medicine, who joined
Freud as one of the founder members of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. He was also
one of the early collaborators with whom Freud was later to differ most bitterly. This was
largely because, like Jung and like Horney in her later years, Adler rejected the all
powerful role of libido in psychological development and was far more concerned with
the role of the social environment. With respect to sex differences Adler (1954) argued
that if a girl feels inferior to boys it is largely because she has been born into a society
which is biased and ‘robs her of her belief in her own value’. Unlike Freud who ascribed
neuroticism in both men and women to the dynamics of their early relationships with
their parents in the phallic stage, Adler ascribed neuroses to problems that both sexes
experience in overcoming their infantile experience of powerlessness. This striving is
more complicated for women, according to Adler, because:
 Gender, sex and sexuality 30

All our institutions, our traditional attitudes, our laws, our morals, and
customs, give evidence of the fact that they (women) are determined and
maintained by privileged males for the glory of male domination.
Alfred Adler (Tong, 1992, pp. 147–8)

This is, of course, a view that is hardly controversial today but at the beginning of the
century Adler’s highlighting of the domestic social injustices experienced by women was
relatively unusual within the psychoanalytic community, which on the whole, tended to
concentrate attention on the impact on psychological functioning of biological differences
between the sexes.
Adler’s views on sex differences were very much in tune with the views of the
growing academic schools of psychology within universities in both America and Europe
where both theories and empirical studies began to centre on the importance of the social
environment in the home in the creation of sex differences. These approaches will be
discussed in detail in chapters 5 and 6, but we will conclude this chapter by looking at
those twentieth century developments in psychoanalytic views of sex differences which
have been influenced by feminism.

Recent trends in psychoanalysis

Women were just about to take off on their own when a

catastrophe befell them: Freud.
Benoite Groult (Olivier, 1989)

Psychoanalytic views on sex differences continue to be very influential even towards the
end of the twentieth century. In this section we will look at two of the major areas where
their impact continues. The first of these is in the clinical practice of women who
continue the Freudian tradition of ascribing sex differences to the crucible of the early
years in the family.

Nancy Chodorow and the role of the mother

Nancy Chodorow (1979) retains in her work Freud’s emphasis on the effect on sex
differences of the experiences of infancy. In fact she traces these to a period before the
phallic stage when, because the infant is small and helpless, it is totally reliant on its chief
caretaker, whom Chodorow takes to be normally its mother. The child initially has great
difficulty in differentiating itself from its mother, but with growing physical and
cognitive maturation begins to define itself in relation to its primary caretaker.
This process develops differently for boys and girls. Girls grow up with a sense of
similarity to, and continuity with, their mothers while boys have to learn a different sense
of gender identity and, because fathers are less often present than mothers, they have a
more precarious sense of gender identity. In order to compensate for this they become
more concerned than girls with knowing what is ‘masculine’ and what is ‘feminine’ and
in drawing the boundaries between these attributes. Mothers contribute to these growing
 Tarzan, Jane and Boadicea 31

differences, according to Chodorow, because they have themselves been girls and
consequently they experience their daughters as an extension of themselves but their sons
as ‘male opposites’. In this way, they encourage girls to identify with them and boys to
differentiate themselves from them.
Chodorow argues that these early gender differences in identity formation have
important consequences for personality differences in later life. Girls emerge with a
capacity for empathy and a set of emotional needs which are tied to the desire for being
connected to other human beings, and which commit them to the destiny of nurturing
others, notably their own children. Boys, on the other hand, who have learned to define
masculinity as the opposite of femininity, grow into men who devalue women and who
believe in the superiority of whatever qualities they define as masculine.
Thus, according to Chodorow, each generation, reproduces the traditional sex
differences of caring, empathic women and rational, achieving men not because of their
biology but because masculine—feminine differences are continually reproduced in the
dynamics of early family life. Thus, while rejecting Freud’s emphasis on the importance
of the phallic stage and penis envy, she accepts his basic argument that later personality
development, and consequent sex differences, depend crucially on the earliest years of
life and their influence on unconscious processes.
Chodorow’s influence can be traced in the work of a number of contemporary women
therapists who are concerned particularly with working with women. For example in the
work of Susie Orbach and Luise Eichenbaum (1982) who, while rejecting much of
traditional psychoanalytic practice, retain in their approach Freud’s stress on the
importance of the experiences of early childhood within the nuclear family, and its
continuing effect not only on unconscious motivation but also on the reproduction of
gender differences.
Other contemporary women analysts base much of their work on the approach of Jung
and his concepts of the anima and the animus. Thus, Young-Eisendrath and Wiedemann
(1987), for example, continue the Jungian tradition of considering gender to be based on
basic unconscious representations of masculinity and femininity (the animus and the
anima) which are different from each other in fundamental ways, and which consist of
aspects of gender identity covering images, ideas and feelings about the opposite sex.
Although they accept that culture can modify the animus and the anima they, like Freud,
Jung and the other theorists we have discussed in this section, make clear distinctions
between the feminine and the masculine and regard these differences as ‘essential’.
Although the influence of psychoanalysis was felt almost immediately in the English
speaking world, in the twentieth century its influence has been nowhere more powerful
than in France where it underwent a particular transformation in the work of Jacques
Lacan and his followers.

Lacan and sex differences

In order to understand Lacan, who is a notoriously difficult writer, it is important to relate
him to the contemporary intellectual debate about gender in France which has been very
much concerned with three concepts.
The first of these is relatively straightforward and derives largely from the writing of
Simone de Beauvoir to whose work we shall return in chapter 6. This is that in almost all
 Gender, sex and sexuality 32

the social, psychological and philosophical thought of the western world, the viewpoint
has been male rather than female. In the phrase de Beauvoir made famous, the female is
‘the other’. The second and third of these concepts are often referred to as central to
‘Deconstuctionism’.8 The first of these is that, despite our subjective feeling that we have
a unified sense of self, this notion of a unified core is deceptive because our self is
fundamentally split between its unconscious and conscious dimensions. The second is
that reality is not absolute but relative, and that our understanding of it is affected by the
language we think in and the values that we have unconsciously absorbed from our
culture. As Tong (1992) notes, these ideas are fundamentally unsettling because they
imply that there is neither self-identity nor absolute truth.
Lacan drew on all three constructs in his discussion of the differences between males
and females. Arguing that both sexes develop in a symbolic world in which the accepted
reality is that of the male, he claimed that both sexes had to fit into a society which
reflected a male view—the ‘Law of the Father’.
Lacan based his views of child development on those developed by Freud, accepting
both the important influence of infancy and early childhood on the unconscious and also
the notion of psychosexual stages.9 However, he outlined them somewhat differently
although, like Freud, he thought that there were no differences between the sexes in the
first phase.
He labelled the first stage the imaginary phase and he claimed that in the beginning of
this phase the child has no sense of where his or her boundaries begin or end, because the
child is totally tied up psychologically with the mother. In the second part of the
imaginary phase, which Lacan called the mirror phase, the child begins to realize that his
or her reflection in a mirror is a representation of him or herself. Lacan believed that this
recognition is very significant because it is the precursor of all our understanding of
ourselves, in that the self can only find itself through reflection (in this case the mirror)
and later in the way we are reflected in others. As the child leaves the mirror phrase he or
she takes away the realization that although the mirror represents him or herself, the
image is not its real self. Henceforth self is split.
According to Lacan, sex differences are forged in the next phase which Lacan,
following Freud, called the Oedipal phase. As the child enters the Oedipal phase he or
she leaves the world of the ‘imaginary’ and enters the symbolic order—the system of
social relationships embodied in language into which we must all fit and which is
dominated by the ‘Law of the Father’. Sex differences, as has been noted above, originate
here as well. To begin with, in the case of both sexes, the child disassociates itself from
the mother. The boy, fearing symbolic castration,10 separates from his mother and in
exchange, identifies with the male symbolic order, primarily through language. In a
similar way to Freud, Lacan then sees the boy taking over the role of the male. This role
is far more powerful than the female role and its power is evident in that the male point of
view permeates language, law and custom. It is characterized by the phrase already
referred to and for which Lacan is famous, the Law of the Father. In the case of the girl,
Lacan argued, identification with the powerful male role is impossible, because of her
anatomy, and she is excluded from a powerful role in society and is forced to take the
role of ‘the other’—in all spheres of life including the sexual. Lacan believed that
women’s sexual pleasure is, of necessity, more repressed than men’s. As Tong (1992, p.
222) notes, ‘women were for Lacan permanent outsiders’.
 Tarzan, Jane and Boadicea 33

Not surprisingly, women theorists in France have found Lacan’s conclusions very
unpalatable. The best known refutation of his views by a woman psychoanalyst is found
in the work of Luce Irigary. Irigary focuses on the Oedipal phase in her disagreements
with Lacan, arguing that it is more difficult for girls than boys to leave this phase because
the ‘symbolic order’ is so male dominated and, as a result, women tend to remain in the
‘imaginary’.
But according to Irigary ‘rather than viewing this entrapment as sheer negativity
(Tong, 1992, p. 226) women can develop fuller lives by following three strategies. The
first of these is to reclaim and reshape male dominated language. The second is to subvert
the way men regard women by overplaying the stereotyped feminine role and the third is
to regard her sexuality as superior, not inferior, to men. Like other French female
psychoanalysts she celebrates the fact that sexuality in women is not tied to the ‘big dick’
(Irigary, 1985) but envelops her whole body:

So woman does not have a sex organ? She has at least two of them, but
they are not identifiable as ones. Indeed she has many more. Her sexuality
is always at least double, goes even further: it is plural.
Helen Cixous (Tong, 1992)

In their celebration of the superior erotic potential of women, psychoanalysts and other
women theorists in France (for example, Julia Kristeva and Helen Cixous) draw closer to
the ideas of some contemporary feminist writers who argue, not only that there is an
innate biologically determined feminine core that is different to the innate masculine
core, but also that it leads to more compassionate and less violent behaviour. This
approach will be discussed briefly in the next chapter.

Issues of dominance

Everywoman adores a Fascist

The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you

Sylvia Plath Daddy 1985

As we have seen central to psychoanalytic notions of sex difference is the passive/active

dimension, and related to this dimension is the concept of masochism. The majority of
psychoanalytic writers have argued that, because of her relatively passive role in
sexuality, it is normal for a women to exhibit masochistic tendencies. Indeed, Helen
Deutsch contended that masochism, passivity and narcissism are the three key
characteristics of the female personality. The most extreme portrayal of female
masochism by psychoanalysts is probably that of the analyst Marie Bonaparte (1953)
who characterized sexual intercourse as follows:
 Gender, sex and sexuality 34

The woman, in effect, is subjected to a sort of beating by the man’s penis.

She receives its blows and often, even, loves the violence.

Karen Horney, who was far more critical of Freud’s notions about feminity, rejected the
notion that female masochism derives from the sexual act, arguing that it could far better
be explained by cultural conditioning in a society where women are treated as inferiors.
Nevertheless, the notion that women enjoy sexual subjugation has lingered in
psychoanalysis together with belief, first proposed by Freud, that masochism in men is
evidence of a degree of feminization.
More recently, Jessica Benjamin (1988) in a reinterpretation of psychoanalytic
approaches to masochism has argued that two fantasies predominate in the very young
child. The first of these fantasies concerns an image of an all-powerful mother who can
and will do everything for the child, controls the child, and who may never let it go with
the possible end result that the child may never attain autonomy and may indeed be
destroyed. The second fantasy is of the omnipotent child who will totally control the
mother and the end result of this might be that the mother could in effect ‘disappear’ and
as a result be lost to the child. Thus for Benjamin, unlike for most psychoanalysts, the
mother may at times be a very powerful figure.
According to Benjamin these fantasies of domination and subjugation remain in the
unconscious and often play a vital part in healthy sexuality which according to Benjamin
often ‘plays’ with notions of domination and subordination. She believes that both sexes
have the capacity for playing either the subordinate or dominant role but that, because of
the Oedipal phase, men tend towards escape from the powerful mother, hence adopting
the dominant role, while girls tend towards identification with the mother and hence
adopt the passive role.
Psychoanalysts were not of course the first people to propose that the activity
dimension—men are active, women passive—is basic to gender differences. This notion,
with particular reference to sexuality, has dominated western literary works from the
early novels of Samuel Richardson (1980) to those of many contemporary authors like
Ian McEwan (1982) and Norman Mailer (1991). And indeed as the quote from Sylvia
Palth’s poem Daddy (above) indicates, the work of certain women authors as well.
Further, as we have seen in chapter 1, it is only recently that medical opinion has
accepted that women’s sexuality is not essentially passive.
Empirical studies, however, as we shall see in the next chapter reveal few, if any
gender differences in levels of sexuality. And, indeed, parallel with the notion that
women are passive and difficult to awaken sexually, there are also reflections through the
ages of the reverse notion—women are predatory and filled with active sexuality.

Every woman loves more than a man does, but out of shame she hides the
sting of love, although she be mad for it.
Nonnus, Dionysiaca (ca AD 500) in Starr (1991)

By ‘woman’ is meant sensuality itself, which is well signified by woman,

since in woman this naturally prevails.
Peter Lombard, Senterntiae, 1155, in Starr (1991)
 Tarzan, Jane and Boadicea 35

Men, some to Business, some to Pleasure take:

But every woman is at heart a Rake’
Alexander Pope, Of the Characters of Women, 1732–33, in Starr
(1991)

Further, as the following quote from the personal column of The List, an Arts Listings
magazine dated 11 March 1993, indicates it is clear that not all heterosexual men wish to
dominate either socially or indeed in sexual relations:

Athletic, Compliant
yielding, submissive, male (29 years)
seeks imperious, sexy, haughty, dominant female

Indeed, as Horowitz and Kaufman (1987, p. 199) write of sexually explicit material used
by some heterosexual men: ‘much pornography shows an active, sexually aggressive,
vampish woman. Some shows the subjugation of men: the classic photo of a man under
her stiletto heel’.
Nevertheless for most heterosexual men, masculinity is tied to a notion of sexuality in
which men’s needs are seen as more direct, more simple and less complicated than
women’s. Hence for the majority of heterosexual men the onus is on them both to initiate
and to satisfy sexuality in both partners (Tiefler, 1988). As we shall see in chapters 4 and
5 these perceptions owe as much, if not more, to social expectations than they do to
innate differences between the sexes on the dimension of activity/passivity.

Psychoanalytic perspectives on homosexuality

Although Freud held open the possibility that a contributing factor to an individual’s
sexuality might be constitutional (Ruse, 1988), he regarded the Oedipal stage as most
important in the determination of sexual orientation. However he believed events later in
life could also influence sexuality. For example, in an analysis of a girl with lesbian
tendencies, he regarded the birth of a sibling when the girl was 16 as partially leading to
her rejection of men because he believed the girl saw the baby’s birth as evidence of her
father’s betrayal of her, showing that he loved her mother more (Freud, 1955).
Freud also indicated that the fear of female genitals might play a significant part in
homosexual orientation in men, because women remind men of the possibility of
castration. In a similar manner he thought that the sight of male genitals might frighten
girls because girls could perceive them as a source of potential harm, not only in
intercourse but also because of the damage they might suffer in childbirth as a result of
intercourse. He also believed that the sight of the penis could set up uncomfortable
feelings of envy in girls.
Following on from Freud a number of psychoanalysts have theorized about the nature
of homosexuality, in most cases regarding the psychodynamics of the Oedipal stage as
most important in the determination of sexuality.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 36

Evaluating psychoanalytic aproaches to gender

Neither Freud nor any of the other early psychoanalysts were centrally concerned with
gender or gender differences. Nevertheless, as we have seen, by placing so much
emphasis on the dynamics of the Oedipal stage, with its differing implications for the
sexes, they were inevitably led to discuss the nature of the resulting sex differences in
psychological functioning.
Most psychoanalysts regarded the Oedipal stage as being dominated by the young
child’s reactions to the genital differences between the sexes and, because of this, they
were led to an essentialist view of sex differences resting on biological determinism. The
boy centres on his biology and his possession of his penis, the girl on her biology and her
lack of a penis and these early preoccupations continue to dominate their psychological
functioning.
There is, however, another reason for regarding psychoanalysts as essentialist in their
view of sex differences. This is because they place so determining an influence on the
first few years of life. Gender identity and gender attributes are fixed in the unconscious
in early childhood and continue to exert their influence throughout life.
In common with many developmental psychologists (Bee, 1992), I believe that
psychoanalysts are mistaken in their belief that very young children are dominated by
their interest in their genitalia. Empirical studies of child development which we will look
at in chapter 4 do not indicate such an overriding interest. In addition, few contemporary
psychologists find it easy to accept that children’s perceptions of their bodies and those of
their siblings or peers determine their later psychological development (Unger and
Crawford, 1992).
Even if it is conceded that psychoanalysts are correct in their claims that it is the
perception of genital differences in early childhood that leads to gender differences in
psychological functioning, it is still possible to question the stance adopted by the great
majority of psychoanalysts whereby males are seen as the norm and women are, in
general, viewed far less positively than are men (Williams, 1987).
However, while psychoanalysis has attracted considerable criticism from
psychologists in general, not only with respect to its approach to gender differences, but
also more importantly with respect to its methodology and to its neglect of social and
cultural influences on psychological functioning (Tavris and Wade, 1984), it is generally
conceded by most psychologists that in turning our attention to the role of unconscious
processes psychoanalysis has illuminated our understanding of the human psyche (Archer
and Lloyd, 1985).

Notes
1. Freud was not the first person to make use of the term unconscious but he was the first person
to write extensively about it.
2. Some psychoanalysts still conduct their sessions on orthodox Freudian lines, but in general
few people are able to afford the kind of lengthy and frequent sessions that were
characteristic of the early years of psychoanalysis. Most psychoanalysts, however, continue
to refer to their analysands as ‘patients’.
3. For an example of the relatively easy relationship Freud had with women analysts see
Andreas-Salome (1987).
 Tarzan, Jane and Boadicea 37

4. Although Freud, did not regard homosexuality as ‘normal’, untypically for his time he
displayed no condemnation of homosexuality.
5. As the last chapter indicated, masturbation in childhood had been very heavily condemned
and indeed punished in the nineteenth century. A more enlightened approach was fostered
with the spread of psychoanalytic concepts.
6. So named after the Greek mythological figure Narcissus who fell in love with his own
reflection.
7. Unlike Freud, and many other earlier psychoanalysts, Erikson did take into account the
effects of culture. See for example, Erikson (1963).
8. Deconstructionism is the term used to describe contemporary intellectual movements which
are concerned with the relationships between meaning and power and the role of language in
these relationships. See for example, Jamieson (1982).
9. Lacan, however, was less interested than Freud in the physical aspects of the penis, placing
more emphasis on its symbolic representation, for which he used the term phallus.
10. Lacan can be very difficult to follow, but by the term symbolic castration, he appears to
refer to the potential loss of the gratifications emerging from the possession of the phallus.
 Chapter 3
Gender Differences and Biological
Determinism

Male and female—the dichotomy based on sex

The term sex is assumed to be a biological category that

stands for an understanding of what is ‘natural’, what
cannot be changed. However, biologists, endocrinologists
and social scientists have started to examine the categories
of ‘female’ and ‘male’ more closely, because they have
found that not everyone fits into one or other as neatly as
had been previously assumed.
Lorber and Farrell (1991, p. 7)

In the last chapter we considered an essentialist position which argued that there are basic
differences in male and female nature deriving from sex differences in biology interacting
with the very early experiences of childhood. In this chapter we will examine a rather
more straightforward essentialist position which regards gender differences in
psychological functioning as arising directly from biological sex differences. As
indicated earlier in chapter 1, this position has been labelled ‘biological determinism’ and
it springs from the following two propositions:
1. there are commonalities running through time and across all cultures in female as
compared to male behaviour;
2. these commonalities within the same sex, and differences between the sexes, are due in
major part to our inborn physiological make-up.
This view has twin roots in biology and in evolutionary theory and we shall be examining
the scientific evidence that has been adduced in support of such biological determinism.
Generalizing about the behaviour of males as compared to females is something we
become accustomed to from a very early age. For example, in a recent classroom study
with children in their first year at school, Lloyd and Duveen (1992) reported that both
boys and girls, echoed the tendency of their teachers to expect boys to be naughtier than
girls, and girls often used boys’ naughtiness as an excuse to complain to the teacher about
boys monopolizing toys. Boys retaliate both in their conversation by stereotyping girls as
‘sissies’ and in their behaviour by complying with the demands of other boys and
ignoring those of girls.
If you ask children at this age to account for their different treatment of the sexes they
are likely to respond with generalizations about the opposite sex, like the little girl in
 Gender differences and biological determinism 39

Lloyd and Duveen’s study who said that ‘boys are horrible’. Implicitly children appear to
locate these differences in behaviour in nature: boys and girls are different because they
are born that way. Biological sex is seen as shaping difference and for children, and
indeed for most adults, the dichotomy of male/female appears to be universal and the
decision as to whether a baby is male or female appears to be simple and uncomplicated.
In fact recent research shows both these assumptions to be incorrect in that the
biological categories of male and female are neither as universal nor as fixed as most
people assume.

Are there always two separate sexes?

Sexual dimorphism, or the existence of two different forms which is characteristic of
most species, is regarded by biologists as a way of increasing diversity within species
because it provides two sets of genetic material out of which individuals may be created.
It is not, however, universal. Many invertebrate species, such as earthworms and oysters,
show no sexual dimorphism and individuals in those species possess male and female
gonads—the organs that manufacture sperm and eggs—either simultaneously or in
sequence.
Some species of fish also show considerable inconsistency in sexual behaviour. For
example, Yamamoto (1969) cites the case of a Red Sea fish which changes spontaneously
from fertile female to fertile male in the absence of any other males of the species.
Should a male appear, however, this transformation is reversed.
Even within vertebrates there are some rare exceptions of species that reproduce
parthogenetically, that is by means of an unfertilized egg. In certain bird species
unfertilized eggs in the female can develop into birds without the influence of sperm from
a male (Blackwelder and Shepherd, 1981). Exceptions such as these to the sexual
dimorphism of male/female may be extremely rare but they do lead us to question how
universal and fixed the existence of two sexes is in the animal world. Turning to humans,
we may ask the same two questions. First, how universal is the clearcut division of
individuals into male and female and, second, how fixed is such a division?
In the very great majority of human births, the unambiguous assignment into one of
the categories, female/male, is clearcut but, as all societies have been aware, occasionally
individuals are born who prove exceptions to this general rule and who have the sexual
characteristics of both sexes. It is the existence of such exceptions that has led to much of
the scientific investigation into how sexual differentiation occurs in human development.
In the next sections we shall first look briefly at how sexual differentiation is affected by
two areas into which there has been a great deal of investigation—the sex chromosomes
and hormones. This will be followed by a discussion of individuals whose sexuality is
physiologically ambiguous.

The chromosomes
As most people know, the transmission of hereditary characteristics in human beings is
carried on the chromosomes which form part of the nuclei of cells. In humans there are
23 pairs of chromosomes. One member of each pair is contributed by the mother and one
by the father when the egg and the sperm unite at conception. Twenty-two of these pairs
 Gender, sex and sexuality 40

carry the genes which determine various features of the individual, the remaining pair are
termed the sex chromosomes. While the rest of the chromosomes are roughly identical in
shape, the two forms of the sex chromosomes, known respectively as X and Y
chromosomes, differ considerably in shape and size. The first of these, the X
chromosome is larger and carries more genetic material. These sex chromosomes are
produced by organs called the gonads, the ovaries in females and the testes in males. The
ovaries can produce only X chromosomes but the testes can produce both X and Y
chromosomes. If an X unites with another X, the chromosomal sex of the baby will be
female (XX), while if an X unites with a Y, it will be male (XY) so that it is the father
who determines the chromosomal sex of the child.
While the Y chromosome is much smaller than the X and while, as noted above, it
carries relatively little genetic information, it does contain a gene (or possibly genes)
which cause the production of hormones and these hormones transform the XY baby’s
originally undifferentiated gonads into testes. In the case of the XX baby, the gonads
develop into ovaries.
The nature of the baby’s sex chromosomes can be very easily determined by a simple
test and in the very great majority of cases, the sex chromosomes will be shown to be
either XX or XY. Some very rare individuals, however, do have other chromosomal
patterns and we will look at such patterns later in the chapter. For the moment I want to
look at another important determinant of sexual differentiation—the sex hormones.

The role of the sex hormones

As the embryo of either sex develops, the pre-natal sex hormones notably testosterone in
males and oestrogen in females continue to be secreted and the external and internal sex
organs continue to develop. After birth the level of sex hormones remains relatively
stable until puberty when there is a marked increase in their circulation in both sexes. It is
important to note, however, that throughout the life cycle both males and females secrete
the sex hormones of the other sex although, of course, to a far lesser extent.
In order to understand the role of the sex hormones in sexual differentiation in
humans, it is helpful to look first at their role in sexual differentiation in other mammals
and to explore the extent to which such differentiation affects behavioural dimorphism
in animals. (Behavioural dimorphism is a term used to describe differences in
behavioural patterns between the sexes.)

Behavioural dimorphism
If we look for the moment at sexual behaviour in rats, we will note that adult male rats
show mounting behaviour (climbing on the back of another animal and performing
pelvic thrusts) and female rats show lordosis (arching the back and permitting another
animal to mount). If male rats are castrated after birth, even though they have developed
male organs pre-natally because of the action of pre-natal sex hormones, because they no
longer secrete male hormones they will not show mounting behaviour in adult life unless
they are given artificial male hormones. This indicates that sexual behaviour in rats is
affected by hormone levels after birth as well as before birth. However, dimorphism in
sexual behaviour is not determined by the sexual differentiation produced by sex
 Gender differences and biological determinism 41

hormones because under some circumstances male rats show lordosis and female rats
show mounting—for example in the absence of rats of the opposite sex. In other words
rats of either sex can sometimes exhibit the sexual behaviour of the opposite sex.
Indeed it is important to note that in all species sexual differences in behaviour are not
absolute but relative. For example, one of the most commonly observed behavioural
differences between male and female mammals is that young male mammals show more
rough and tumble play than females. However, in some primate species young females
living in mixed sex groups show more rough and tumble play that young females living
in single sex groups (Goldfoot and Neff, 1987, pp. 179–195). In effect this shows an
interaction between social environment and behaviour in areas with established sex
differences.
The fact that rough and tumble behaviour is more characteristic of males than females
has often been associated with claims that, across all species, males are more aggressive.
However, this generalization about sex difference in levels of aggressive behaviour does
not hold for a large number of animal species where either there are no differences in
aggressive behaviour, as in some primate species (Tiger, 1980) or where females behave
more aggressively than males, for example with hamsters (Johnson, 1972) and eagles
(Cowden, 1969).
Furthermore, even within species sex differences in behaviour are not invariant across
all species members. For example, while in most primates, large and conspicuous males
are most dominant, in several macaque species dominance hierachy in young animals is
affected by the mother’s position in the hierachy (Lancaster, 1973).
The discussion above indicates that in animals sexual differences in behaviour, while
obviously affected by hormones and physiological sex differences, are neither fixed nor
invariant even in reproductive behaviour. It is not surprising, when we consider how
much more complex human behaviour is, to find that in human beings sexual dimorphism
in behaviour is even less fixed and invariant. Consider, for example, how the social
environment affects the manner in which males and females live their lives and the extent
to which time and place constrain the kind of behaviour expected of women and men
respectively. Not only are there differences in the kinds of behaviour expected from the
sexes across cultures at different times, but there are also differences within cultures at
different times. In addition, the extent to which sexual difference in behaviour is a
characteristic of social life also varies considerably. To take an example suggested by
Williams (1987): in hunting and gathering societies, such as the !Kung in southern Africa
there are minimal sex differences in social roles with both sexes caring for the young and
taking responsibility for gathering food; in contrast ‘the frail corseted Victorian lady in
England’ both played a very different role from her spouse and was regarded as very
different in temperament and capabilities.
It is thus not open to argument that culture affects sex differences in behaviour, but
this conclusion does not rule out the possibilities that if we scrutinize the evidence from
relevant biological studies we may show that biology does, to some extent any way, at
least constrain psychological development. In effect we may show evidence for some
elements of biological determinism. Hence it is convenient to look at studies in six
related areas. These are:
1. studies of individuals with abnormalities in sex hormones;
2. studies of individuals with abnormalities in their chromosomal makeup;
 Gender, sex and sexuality 42

3. studies of the relationship between hormones and behaviour;

4. studies of sex differences in the brain;
5. studies that draw on evolutionary theory;
6. studies that investigate the effect of biology on sexual orientation.
As the various research findings are looked at, comments will be made on the
implications the findings have for biological determinism or for what is sometimes
termed the nature/nurture issue. However, it is only at the end of this chapter that we shall
try to evaluate, in the light of these studies, the claims about sex differences made by
biological determinists.

Abnormalities in sex hormones

As stated earlier, the first stage in the development of the embryo’s sex is initiated by the
action of the Y sex chromosome which starts the process of modifying the XY embryo in
a male direction. Very occasionally foetuses that are genetically, chromosomically
masculine (XY) develop genitals that are ambiguous or that look more like a clitoris than
a penis1 and, equally occasionally, female embryos because of hormonal conditions may
develop genitalia with masculine characteristics.2 Individuals with these sorts of
conditions are often referred to as hermaphrodites.3 The term hermaphrodite originates
in Greek mythology where it is used to refer to the offspring of Hermes and Aphrodite
who were believed to have the attributes of both sexes.
Recent advances in knowledge about gonadal and chromosomal structures now assist
in the decision as to whether such individuals are to be brought up as girls or boys, but in
the past, sexual assignation was made largely on the appearance of the external genitalia.
No matter how assignations were, or are, made, individuals with such conditions have
been, and continue to be, subject to a great deal of both medical and psychological
investigation because it has been argued cases such as theirs allow conclusions to be
drawn about the claims of biological determinism.

Hormonal abnormalities in XX individual

In this subsection let us look at research data on individuals whose chromosomal make-
up is XX (female) but who have been ‘masculinized’ by being subjected to relatively
large amounts of masculine hormones when their mothers were pregnant with them,
either because of hormonal abnormalities or because their mothers were given high doses
of male hormones in order to prevent miscarriages4 (a practice that is no longer
employed). A number of studies have followed these individuals in later life.
In general these studies have reported that the individuals concerned identified
themselves as girls and showed developmental patterns in gender identity and sexuality
that were not very different from girls with no hormonal abnormalities. In two areas,
however, some differences have been reported. The first of these concerned social
behaviour and interests that were labelled by the researchers as ‘tomboyism’, a term used
to refer to these girls’ relatively high level of interest in outdoor sports and games, lesser
interest in babysitting and dolls and greater preference for wearing trousers rather than
 Gender differences and biological determinism 43

dresses. The second area of difference was concerned with sexuality in that the girls were
reported as showing developmental delays, compared to their non-androgynized peers in
dating, petting and heterosexual intercourse. In addition one study (Ehrhardt and Meyer-
Bahlberg, 1981) suggested androgynized women reported relatively high levels of homo
or bisexual behaviour and erotic dreams and fantasies.
These studies have been severely criticized on methodological grounds on a number of
counts. First because the reports of interests and activities were supplied by individuals—
the girls themselves, their mothers and their teachers—who were aware of the girls’
medical history and who were likely to have been influenced by this (Bleier, 1984).
Second because of the unwarranted assumption in some studies that these girls’ higher
level of tomboyism could be unproblematically ascribed to the pre-natal influence of
hormones rather than cultural factors. As Williams (1987) points out, interest in sports
and outdoor activities has increased sharply in recent times and rejection of traditional
feminine interests in areas like babysitting in favour of following careers is by no means
unusual.
Williams has also been particularly critical of the implicit assumption in many studies
that these masculinized girls displayed high levels of disturbance of their sexual identity
as a result of their pre-natal experiences, noting that:

If they had displayed a high level of erotic interest in other girls, similar to
that displayed by adolescent boys, or if they had identified with the male
sex and had wished to change their sex as transsexuals do, then the effect
of the fetal androgenization would be more impressive.
(Williams, 1987, p. 116)

In other words, despite the fact that they had been exposed to male hormones pre-natally
these girls apparently showed little disturbance in their gender role development and, as a
result, provide little support for biological determinism with respect to the development
of gender.

Hormonal abnormalities in XY individuals

In this subsection we shall discuss two conditions in which individuals who are
chromosomally male (XY) exhibit unusual sexual development resulting from inherited
conditions which affect their hormonal secretions. In the first of these conditions,
testicular—feminization syndrome, embryonic tissues are not able to respond to the
male hormone, testosterone, and as a result when the babies concerned are born, despite
having internal male organs, their genitalia appear female and they are therefore assumed
to be female. Their condition is usually only discovered in puberty because they do not
menstruate or because testes are found in their groins. Such testes can often become
malignant and they are usually removed. Hormonal treatment further reinforces a female
identity and the individuals concerned develop feminine breasts and bodily contours.
There have been relatively few studies of such individuals because of the rarity of the
condition but those studies that have been made (Money and Ehrhardt, 1972) indicate two
things. First that the individuals concerned appear to have no problems with their sexual
assignation as female although they are not able to have children; second they are
 Gender, sex and sexuality 44

unusually attractive. This second finding has been partly ascribed to the fact that their
feminine shape is associated with male height.
From the point of biological determinism it could be suggested that these individuals
present a strong case for the influence of biology on social development in that feminine
identity can be unambiguously related to lack of testosterone but, as Unger and Crawford
(1992) point out, there is an equally plausible alternative argument which is that because
the appearance of these individuals is that of extremely attractive women their social role
as women is reinforced and very rewarding. In other words, studies of this condition
provide no strong evidence for or against biological determinism.
If the existence of individuals with the syndrome just discussed presents ambivalent
evidence in the nature/nurture debate about sex differences, the next hormonal deficit to
be discussed presents even more complex and contradictory data. In this condition,
alpha—reductose deficiency, individuals with XY chromosomes lack enzymes for the
conversion of testosterone and thus when they are born, although their internal
reproductive organs are male, externally their genitals closely resemble those of girls and
consequently, in the past, they have tended to be classified as girls. At puberty, however,
such individuals become masculinized because of the increase in testosterone and their
voice deepens, their penis enlarges and becomes capable of erection, and they become
able to ejaculate. In this way we have the situation of individuals, brought up as girls
although their chromosomal structure is male, i.e. XY, who at adolescence become
unambiguously male in appearance, consistent with their chromosomal sex. If their social
behaviour then becomes more similar to male rather than female patterns, it could be
argued that this provides strong support for ‘nature’ and biological determinism in that
their social behaviour is shown to be consistent with their male biology rather than their
rearing as females.
Research studies of individuals with this condition are, however, both contradictory
and very difficult to interpret and, as we shall see, allow no definitive conclusions to be
drawn. The first set of data was reported by Imperato-McGinley and her associates (1976
and 1979) and relates to a group of 38 related individuals with this condition who lived in
a rural area in the Dominican Republic where the condition is so common that it has a
name ‘penis at 12’ (guevedoce). Imperato-MacGinley reported that for a large majority of
these individuals the transition from being brought up as girls and then at puberty, as they
began to look like boys, the adoption of male roles was relatively unproblematic in that
17 of the 38 assumed a heterosexual identity and 15 married. The researchers interpreted
the data as showing that nurture (being brought up as girls) was less important than
nature (being biologically XY) because the individuals concerned were able to move
easily into a masculine role at puberty. The researchers suggested that this was because
their ‘brains had been masculinized pre-natally as well as at puberty’ even though their
bodies only became masculine at puberty.
Whether there are differences in male and female brains is a very controversial
question as will be seen later in this chapter, but even if it were proved that such brain
differences exist, the results from the Dominican Republic have been reassessed by other
investigators who have contested the claims that the transition from ‘girl’ to boy was as
easy as reported by ImperatoMacGinley and her colleagues. Later studies, for example by
Rubin et al. (1981), showed that most of the individuals concerned had realized at early
ages that they were different from other girls and, in a society with a relatively high
 Gender differences and biological determinism 45

degree of sex segregation in domestic tasks and play, had started associating with boys
rather than with girls before the onset of puberty (i.e. their nurture was not like that of
other girls). Furthermore, critics argued that ImperatoMcGinley and her colleagues had
not explored the implication of the fact that such physiological transformations were
known to occur in this locality (as mentioned above the condition even had a name) and
the impact of such knowledge on individuals and their families who must have seen that
their genital organs, while appearing more female than male, did not look like those of
other girls. Thus critics like Rubin argue it is not possible to equate the social experience
before puberty of such individuals with ‘normal’ girls.
A more recent study by Herdt and Davidson (1988) of a rural population in New
Guinea where this condition is relatively common has indicated that it is recognized at
birth and the society even has a linguistic term for the condition as a sexual identity. This
population having three terms for sexual identity—female, male and a third term which
emphasizes the quality of transformation into male. In nine out of 14 individuals studied,
child rearing was as boys (though these individuals did not take part in male initiation
rites) and in five cases as girls. In later life, those raised as girls moved to a masculine
role but with considerable conflict and difficulty showing that despite their masculine
‘nature’, their feminine ‘nurture’ had affected them.
The condition has also been documented in the USA and, in such cases, the
individuals have tended to be reared as girls and have undergone feminizing hormone
treatment at puberty. They have apparently not had any difficulties in the female role in
adulthood (Rubin, et al. 1981).
If we look across all three studies for evidence that would support biological
determinist claims, it would seem that while the study in the Dominican Republic
appeared originally to offer strong support for biological determinism, later inspection of
the data offers less as do the other two studies in New Guinea and the USA. Or to put it
another way, evidence from studies of individuals with this hermaphroditic condition
does not indicate that sex hormones are the determining factors in the manner in which
individuals develop gender roles. Instead there is a complex interrelationship between
hormones and the individual’s social and cultural environment in that the ease of the
transition from being reared as a girl to living as an adult male varies from case to case in
the Dominican Republic and New Guinea, while in other cases, notably in the USA, the
transition from female sex role to male sex role does not even occur. Studies of
individuals with abnormalities in their chromosomal make-up also show this complex
interaction as the next subsection indicates.

Chromosomal abnormalities

Most individuals, as indicated above, possess 46 chromosomes, 22 pairs of autosomes

and one pair of sex chromosomes: in the case of females XX, and in the case of males
XY. Occasionally during the development of the egg or sperm, an extra chromosome is
developed or one is deleted. Of such abnormalities the three most common are the
conditions 45XO, 47XXY and 47XYY.
Individuals with 45XO chromosomes are termed, Turner girls, and as this label
suggests, they are identified as females. This is mainly because their external genitalia are
 Gender, sex and sexuality 46

female at birth although they remain immature because they do not secrete any sex
hormones. As a result of this absence they do not menstruate nor do they develop breasts
or pubic hair at adolescence unless they are given female sex hormones. However, even
with the administration of such hormones, these individuals remain sterile.
As indicated above, people with this condition are always reared as girls and so
psychologists have been able to observe gender development before adolescence in
individuals who will have been influenced by rearing but not by sex hormones (i.e. by
nurture but not by nature). Such studies (Money and Ehrhardt, 1972) have indicated that
the people concerned develop very strong female gender identification differing, before
adolescence from their female peers, only in their relative lack of ability at certain
cognitive tasks.
We thus have the finding that even in the complete absence of sex hormones, gender
identification in childhood and early youth is unproblematic and this must suggest that
normal gender development can take place without the action of sex hormones on the
brain. In other words ‘normal’ sex role identification can occur under the influence of
nurture without much contribution from nature.
‘Turner girls’ have never captured the popular imagination but individuals with
another chromosomal abnormality certainly have. These are 47XYY males who differ
from other males in their possession of an extra Y chromosome leading to them being
labelled in the popular press as supermales. Early studies of 47XYY males suggested
that the incidence of such men in prisons was higher than their incidence in the general
population. Some of these early studies also suggested that these men were more likely to
have been convicted for crimes of violence, thus it could be argued, providing strong
evidence for biological determinism in that an extra male chromosome was shown to be
linked to violent behaviour. (Violent behaviour is more characteristic of males than
females in most societies, although, as the discussion in chapter 5 will indicate, there is
no clearcut evidence that men behave more aggressively, as distinct from violently, than
women.) However, as indicated above, the notion of supermales predisposed to violence,
became a folk myth and at the time of the first studies, notorious criminals were
(erroneously) identified as having an extra Y chromosome and in the USA proposals
were made that all newborn male babies be screened for this chromosomal abnormality.
Later and more systematic studies of XYY individuals indicated that the link between
this abnormality and violence was extremely tenuous. One study, in particular, indicated
how complex such interactions are. This was a study conducted in Denmark by Witkin et
al. (1976) which investigated the levels of violence not only in 47XYY males but also in
males with 47XXY chromosomal abnormalities and compared these levels of violence to
those of their XY peers. These comparisons were made because individuals with 47XXY
syndrome (known also as Klinefelter’s syndrome) have an extra X, or ‘female’
chromosome, and following the logic of biological determinism could be expected to be
less rather than more violent than both XYY males and normal males as a consequence of
being more ‘female’ than other males.
In the Witkin study the records of a representative sample5 of 4139 men were
inspected of whom there were 12XYY and 13XXY men. One of the major findings was
that men with both chromosomal abnormalities had significantly lower intelligence
scores than their peers. This is of relevance because, throughout the world, studies of
prison populations indicate that convicted men tend to measure lower than the general
 Gender differences and biological determinism 47

public on such tests and this may be partially related to the link between economic
disadvantage and the relative inability to score well on conventional tests of academic
and cognitive ability. It has thus been argued (Siann, 1985) that one of the reasons for
some studies showing higher levels of XYY men in prisons than in the general population
is because of the relationships between economic disadvantage, scoring relatively poorly
on intelligence tests and suffering from physical abnormalities. In other words, if you are
poor, you are also likely to do relatively badly at school and at tests, and you are also
more likely to be born with physical abnormalities.
To return to the Witkin study, the rate of criminal conviction for both chromosomal
abnormalities was greater than for their peers. In the case of XYY males being 42 per
cent, in the case of XXY males 19 per cent, and in the case of XY males 9 per cent, thus
confirming earlier findings of a higher incidence of XYY men in prisons than in the
general population, possibly for the reasons suggested in the paragraph above. But the
link between an extra Y chromosome and violence was definitely not supported in that
only two of the XYY men were habitual criminals and neither had convictions for violent
or aggressive behaviour. In fact the only man with a chromosomal abnormality who had
been convicted for a crime of violence was a man with the XXY syndrome. This study
then provides little support for biological determinism and the link between Y
chromosomes and ‘supermale’ behaviour.
Neither, indeed, do studies of other and rarer chromosomal abnormalities such as
XXX females and XXYY males. These studies indicate that chromosomal abnormalities
have little direct effect on gender identity or sexual orientation. Instead gender identity in
such cases appears to be closely related to the appearance of the external genitalia which
influence child rearing (Unger and Crawford, 1992) thus mirroring the findings
concerning gender identity in hermaphroditic conditions which were reviewed in the
previous section.
It could be argued, however, that the cases discussed so far are all of individuals with
hormonal or chromosomal abnormalities of one sort or another and so it is perhaps not
legitimate to generalize from them. If this is the case is there any evidence of a link
between sex hormones and behaviour in the life development of normal individuals? To
answer this question we shall be looking at two issues, first the relationship between male
hormones and aggression, and second the relationship between female hormones and
mood.

The relationship between hormones and behaviour

Aggression and androgens

One of the most heavily researched aspects of the relationship between sex hormones and
behaviour has been the link between male hormones, particularly testosterone, and
aggression. Proponents of biological determinism have argued that the reason that males
are in general more violent and aggressive than females (a claim which we shall look at
critically later) is that the male hormone, testosterone, is linked to aggressive behaviour
in that the higher the level, the greater the tendency to behave violently. Evidence for this
contention is usually cited as coming from three sources:
 Gender, sex and sexuality 48

1. studies of the relationship between abnormal pre-natal levels of hormones and

aggression in later life;
2. the effect of castration on aggression;
3. the relationship between levels of aggression and the levels of circulating hormones.
Studies of abnormal pre-natal levels of hormones and their effect on aggression fall into
two groups: individuals with hermaphroditic conditions (see above); and individuals
whose mothers were given artificial sex hormones in pregnancy because the pregnancies
were perceived to be at risk and this treatment was thought to offer protection.
Reviews of these studies have not shown that girls who were exposed to high levels of
‘male’ hormones are more aggressive than their peers6 or that boys who were exposed to
high levels of ‘female’ hormones are less aggressive than their peers (Money and
Schwartz, 1976, pp. 19–30).
If there is little evidence for a link between pre-natal levels of sex hormones and
aggression what of post-natal levels of sex hormones and aggression? At the most
extreme this can be investigated by looking at before and after studies of castration in
men. Amazingly some men have, in the past, been castrated in both Europe and America
in an attempt to curb behaviour that was regarded as antisocial by law enforcement
agencies. As might be expected, studies of such men have been concerned with sexual
rather than violent behaviour but where levels of violence has been investigated, results
are inconsistent. Bremer (1959), for example, reports that castration of such men had no
pacifying effects while Hawke (1950) describes some cases where after castration,
generally aggressive men became less likely to create disturbances. These studies,
whatever one may think of the ethics of castration, do not present any conclusive
evidence of the link between violence and hormones because castration in human males
is generally accompanied by such enormous changes in the manner in which such
individuals think about themselves that the origin of behavioural changes becomes very
difficult to ascertain. In any event it is worth noting that castration in other primates
produces no changes in dominance hierachies (Kedenberg, 1979).
The third area bearing on the link between hormones and aggressive behaviour comes
from studies of circulating testosterone and levels of aggression. Results of such studies
are inconsistent; some showing men with higher levels of testosterone demonstrating
higher levels of aggression (Kreuz and Rose, 1972) while others show no such link
(Mattsson et al. 1980). In any event these studies are difficult to interpret for two reasons.
The first because it is very difficult to obtain reliable estimates of circulating testosterone
levels and the second because there is ample evidence that subjective mood influences
testosterone, and that the social environment can affect mood states. Thus a number of
studies show that when men become depressed their testosterone levels drop (Tavris and
Wade, 1984).
The discussion above of the link between aggression and hormones seems to indicate
that there is no simple link between male hormones and aggressive behaviour, and
consequently the claim that men are more violent than women because their sexual
hormones predipose them to violence is not substantiated. At this stage, however, let us
examine another link that has been suggested between hormones and behaviour—the
effect of ‘female’ hormones on behaviour, particularly in the period before menstruation,
at childbirth and at menopause.
 Gender differences and biological determinism 49

PMT, menopause and behaviour

Women become insane during pregnancy, after parturition,

during lactation; at the age when the catamenia
(menstruation) first appear and when they disappear…the
sympathetic connection between the brain and the uterus is
plainly seen by the most casual observer.
G.Blandford, 1871, in a treatise on insanity, in Ussher
(1989)

For women the periods in which they experience major hormonal changes, such as at
puberty and the menopause, are also periods in which they are also likely to experience
major changes in life events. Consequently, attributing mood changes during such
periods only to the effect of hormones is unwarranted. Nevertheless, such attributions
have frequently been made, chiefly by male clinicians who have claimed that, in effect,
women’s behaviour is commonly influenced by their ‘raging hormones’.
The period at which women are generally regarded to be most affected by their
physiological make-up is that shortly before their monthly periods when it is commonly
argued that their behaviour is adversely affected by the premenstrual syndrome. Moyer
(1974) for example put it this way:

…there is now good evidence that there is a periodicity to the irascibility

of women and that it is related to the hormonal changes occurring over the
course of the menstrual cycle… Emotional instability is characteristic of a
number of women during the premenstrual period.

The term, premenstrual syndrome, refers to the fact that some, but not all, women report
various symptoms premenstrually. The symptoms may include a variety of physical
changes ranging from headaches to oedema (swelling of tissues because of increased
fluid content) and weight gain. Simultaneously many women report a subjective feeling
of increased emotionality. The emotions experienced are nearly always unpleasant
ranging from depression and anxiety to hostility and irritation (Parlee, 1976). The
percentage of women reporting these psychological symptoms varies from 25–100 per
cent depending on the survey (Williams, 1987), but that women are more at risk
psychologically in the period before menstruation is widely believed; the belief being
epitomized by the term premenstrual tension (PMT).
PMT has been linked with a wide variety of phenomena including poor performance
in the workplace, poor academic performance, greater propensity to have accidents and
greater propensity to attempt suicide (Ussher, 1989). PMT has also been cited as a
defence in a case of manslaughter on the grounds that the woman accused was suffering
from diminished responsibility due to PMT.
Reviews of research on PMT (Parlee, 1973) have shown that many studies suffer from
methodological shortcomings and reviewers tend to agree that in general the results of
such studies are ‘sparse and inconclusive’ (Ussher, 1989, p. 67) and that there is little
definitive evidence that women either perform more poorly during this period or are at
 Gender, sex and sexuality 50

more risk psychologically. This is not to deny the subjective experiences of discomfort
many women suffer at this time.
Tavris and Wade (1984) have argued that at least some of the distress that women
report premenstrually results from their own beliefs and expectations. In one study, they
report that both men and women filled out questionnaires concerned with how they were
feeling on that day. The male subjects and half the female subjects filled out forms
headed ‘Menstrual Distress Questionnaire’, the other female subjects filled out identical
forms without any title having been told that the study was concerned with daily
fluctuations in health. In the first group of women, premenstrual women reported more
general distress than either women who were between their periods or men, but in the
second group of women (for whom the questionnaire had not been associated with
menstruation) there were no differences in reported distress level between premenstrual
women and women between their periods. The scores of all the women in the second
group did not differ overall from those of the men.
Even if much of the data concerned with PMT is seriously flawed, the fact remains
that many women experience the premenstrual period as relatively unpleasant. However,
the link between such distress and hormonal fluctuations is by no means straightforward.
To begin with there is considerable controversy between people making such claims as to
which particular hormone or chemical messenger is chiefly responsible. Secondly, it is
extremely difficult to disentangle the social and psychological aspects of menstruation
from the biological and this is compounded by the fact that emotional tension can affect
the menstrual cycle and that emotional stress can cause irregularities in womens’ cycles
(Dunbar, 1985).
While menstruation is natural and for many women non-problematic there is also little
doubt that at the most practical level menstruation, particularly if it is associated with
heavy bleeding, can present problems and very often these problems are worst at the age
when women have the least experience of the world. For example, while most women
may face practical problems with access to facilities during sports activities, this is often
even more difficult for adolescent girls at co-ed schools who cannot simply leave, or be
excused from such activities, without drawing attention to themselves. Again, at the most
practical level, schoolgirls often have to deal with menstruation in schools with female
toilets that allow very little privacy. So it is not surprising that menstruation becomes
associated with feelings of stress.
At the symbolic level, as we shall see in chapter 6, most women grow up in cultures in
which there are many negative associations with bleeding and particularly menstrual
bleeding. The very term many women use for menstruation ‘the curse’ exemplifies this.
On the other hand in cultures where no such negative associations are reported, women
do not report menstrual symptoms and in one particular culture women only began
reporting symptoms after the arrival of western female missionaries (Tavris and Wade,
1984).
In general it seems fair to conclude that for many women in western culture tension
associated with mentruation is a fact. Whether this tension can be regarded as a well
defined medical syndrome is less clear and the link between such tension and hormonal
levels is even more tenuous. For as Williams (1987, p. 125) notes ‘if the syndrome itself
is not well established or clearly defined, identifying causative factors is a difficult
enterprise’.
 Gender differences and biological determinism 51

If women are thought to be at the mercy of their hormones during the years of youth
and early maturity, when they are menstruating, they are also regarded as suffering
severely from the lack of such hormones in later life, particularly during menopause. That
women experience major physical changes shortly before and during the cessation of
their periods is undeniable but the extent to which these physical changes are neccessarily
associated with psychological stress has been vociferously debated as the discussion
below will indicate.
The physical changes occurring in menopause, notably the fluctuations in hormonal
levels, cause many women to suffer from well documented physical symptoms such as
hot flashes or flushes during which they experience sensations of rapidly changing
temperatures and levels of perspiration. Other physical symptoms commonly reported are
dizziness and rheumatic pains. The reported incidence, however, of such experiences
varies both across studies and across cultures (Kronenberg, 1990) which has sometimes
led to the conclusion that such symptoms are ‘all in the mind’. This conclusion is now
regarded as mistaken because, although psychological and cultural factors undoubtedly
affect how individuals interpret bodily sensations, it has been established that there are
connections between the reduction in oestrogen level and the temperature regulation
centres of the hypothalamus.
Probably far more important for women facing the onset of menopause, however, is
the belief that at and during menopause physical changes in hormone level are inevitably
linked to negative aspects of psychological functioning. That such a direct link existed
was undisputed by the male medical establishment of the last century. Typical of their
view of menopause was this pronouncement by Morrison in 1848:

The…‘change of life’ as it is commonly called, frequently leads to periods

of insanity…because certain functions then cease, and the constitution is
thereby always more or less deranged.
Ussher (1989)

Such extreme views are not, of course, characteristic of this century but there is no doubt
that as Ussher puts it, ‘in popular consciousness’ menopause is associated with
unpleasant and negative aspects of mood and even with mental instability, as in the case
of the 19-year old woman who put it this way:

my grandmother went almost insane, she almost didn’t make it through

menopause.
(Martin, 1987)

Or the situation, in parts of Ireland in the 1960s where women believed that

menopause can induce insanity; in order to ward it off, some women have
retired from life in their mid-forties and in at least three contemporary
cases, have confined themselves to bed until death three years later.
Unger and Crawford (1992, p. 506)
 Gender, sex and sexuality 52

While few women in contemporary times would make such a clearcut association
between menopause and insanity, the association of depressed mood and reduced levels
of psychological functioning with hormonal changes remains widespread, although there
is little evidence for such a direct link. Instead, the evidence suggests that negative
aspects of psychological functioning before and during menopause are more associated
with the psychological and social implications of growing older, particularly in the west
with its emphasis on youth and physical appearance, than with levels of oestrogen.
In this subsection we have examined the link between sex hormones and behaviour in
the case of ‘male’ hormones, and emotional mood in the case of women (PMT and
menopause). It seems clear that there is little evidence for direct links between hormones
and psychological functioning. We are all undoubtedly affected by the ways in which our
own culture views the link between biology and psychological functioning, and it would
seem that it is this, rather than actual biological events that affects us at periods of
hormonal change.
In the next subsection we shall examine another possible effect of biological sex
differences in humans, the effect of sex hormones particularly prenatal hormones on the
brain and central nervous system. The issue under discussion can be put simply: is there
any evidence that there are systematic differences between the brains of men and
women?

Sex differences and brain function

As mentioned earlier in this chapter there have been some suggestions that sex
differences in the brain, and therefore also in the functioning of the central nervous
system, affect not only sexual behaviour but also other types of behaviour as well.
Evidence for such speculations emerges from three areas:
1. studies of brain size in humans;
2. studies of brain function in humans;
3. studies of the effect of sex hormones on the brains of animals.
In the nineteenth century a great interest in brain size was demonstrated by many western
scientists and social scientists. Needless to say these were almost exclusively male. These
investigators concluded that male brains were larger than females and that the brains of
Caucasians (those of European origin) were larger than those of non-Caucasians. It is
now generally accepted that subjective biases can exert an influence on the conclusions
drawn by psychologists and other social scientists, and nowhere is this more clearly
demonstrated than in these early studies of brain size (Gould, 1981) which reflected the
values of men drawn from the more privileged sectors of the imperial powers. Believing
that size of brain was related to cognitive ability and that men’s brains were larger than
women’s (and Caucasian brains larger than black brains) provided a rationale for
excluding both women and non-whites, whether in the colonies, in the European
metropolitan capitals or in the burgeoning economy of the USA, from the educational and
particularly the higher educational system.
Re-evaluation of such studies of brain size and further research questioned both the
correlation of brain size with cognitive ability and the reliability of the cranial
measurements on which the comparisons between groups had been based. Interest in this
 Gender differences and biological determinism 53

area had waned until very recently when Rushton (1992) resuscitated the debate claiming
that his own contemporary investigations have confirmed the nineteenth century findings
that the cranial capacity of ‘Caucasian-Americans’ is greater than that of ‘African-
Americans’ and that the cranial capacity of men is greater than women.
As the well known writer on science, John Maddox (1992) has noted ‘Rushton is a
controversy in himself because for some years he has been promoting a particular type of
biological determinism which has been severely criticized by a great many psychologists
for its unreliable data base and the manner in which he presents his conclusions, which
have been largely concerned with establishing racial differences in cognitive ability. The
study, on which his 1992 conclusions about sex differences in brain size is based, was
drawn from data kept by the USA armed forces which record cranial measurements (for
specifying size of helmets) as well as other more usual data such as height, weight, ethnic
group and education, and which indicates that women’s brains seem to be 100 cm3
smaller than men’s on average. Rushton accepts that there is no sex difference in
intelligence test scores and suggests that this sex difference in brain size can best be
understood in the context of evolutionary pressures for sexual dimorphism which
required men to roam from the home base to hunt while women stayed at home (Ankney,
1992). Such pressures, according to Rushton, necessitated male superiority on the spatial
skills required for finding their way home and hunting, and in order to accommodate such
skills their brains became larger than those of women.
In relating his own work to men’s reported superiority in spatial skills, Rushton moves
into an area of investigation which dominated traditional psychological approaches to
issues of sex and gender (Hare-Mustin and Maracek, 1990). Such approaches have been
concerned with whether there are consistent sex differences in cognitive and emotional
areas that are displayed amongst all social groups and at all times. Three particular areas,
two cognitive and one emotional, have repeatedly been investigated. The cognitive areas
concerned are verbal ability, where girls are reported to do better than boys, and spatial
abilitity where boys and men are reported to do better than girls and women respectively.
(Spatial ability refers to the ability to represent two dimensional and three dimensional
configurations in the brain and is thought to underlie tasks like map reading and
navigating and academic subjects like geometry.) The emotional area is one which has
already been referred to, aggression.
Chapter 5 will explore the extent to which such generalizations about sex differences
in verbal and spatial abilities and aggression are justified, and the extent to which such
differences can be attributed to physiological differences between the sexes. For the
moment, let us anticipate this discussion by indicating that there is little evidence that
physiological differences are the major cause of any observed sex differences in either
cognitive faculties or aggression.
In carrying out studies of sex differences in brain function in humans, investigators
have had to rely largely on indirect means, for example by utilizing measures of
perceptual function, either vision or hearing, although there have been a few studies of
brains at post mortem. In investigating sex differences in the brain function of animals,
researchers have been able to make far more direct investigations until recently, when
such studies have met with considerable objections from animal rights groups.
These animal studies, largely conducted with rats and mice, have indicated that there
are certain structural differences between female and male rodents, for example in the
 Gender, sex and sexuality 54

amount of nerve cells in certain areas of a section of the brain called the hypothalmus
which appear to be caused by the action of sex hormones. The major focus of interest in
this research has been its application to sexual orientation and we will return to this
research when essentialist perspectives on homosexuality are considered at the end of this
chapter.

The new essentialism—socio-biology

It pays males to be aggressive, hasty, fickle and

undiscriminating. In theory it is more profitable for
females to be coy, to hold back until they can identify
males with the best genes… Human beings obey this
biological principle faithfully.
E.O.Wilson (1978, p. 125)

Male aggression as we know it today is not simply the

product of culture…rather it is the result of the decision to
hunt large animals which men made a least half a million
years ago… What prevented early women from taking the
male path to violence, our biology, simply put.
(Halliday, 1978)

Socio-biologists are concerned with applying evolutionary theory to ‘social conduct’

(Siann, 1985) seeking to explain it by relating it to concepts of genetic advantage and
biological fitness. While most socio-biologists do acknowledge the role of learning and
culture they consider their influence to be very limited, arguing that most human
behaviour has its roots in evolutionary mechanisms such as the personal survival of the
individual and the reproduction of the group.
They see sex differences as rooted in an evolutionary past in which men were the
hunters and woman the primary caretakers of infants and children. Under such
circumstances they believe particular and different traits came to be innately determined
in males and females. For example, socio-biologists note that female ova are scarcer than
male sperm. They argue that this difference has given larger, stronger and more
aggressive males an advantage in reproducing because they are more able than their
weaker peers to mate with many women hence optimizing their chances of having
offspring. Thus, according to socio-biologists, there were evolutionary pressures for men
to be adventurous and aggressive and as a result, even today, men are essentially more
aggressive, more adventurous and more competitive than females. Such views are based
largely on evolutionary theory but they are also buttressed by references to biological
research.
As might be expected these views, which downplay the effect of the social
environment and culture, have been very critically received by many social scientists
(Fausto-Sterling, 1992). They have also attracted a great deal of adverse attention from
feminist writers (Birke, 1986). Some of these writers criticize both the methodology and
 Gender differences and biological determinism 55

the data base of the socio-biologists, while other feminist writers have responded by
accepting their sociobiological model but criticizing their interpretation of it. Thus
feminists like Rich (1979) have agreed with the socio-biological position that there are
essential and innate differences between men and women, but in their exposition of these
differences, these feminists have tended to emphasize other qualities than those identified
by Wilson. They have, for example, centred on women’s sense of co-operativeness and
empathy rather than male aggressiveness.
Other feminists like Alice Rossi (1987) have endorsed an essentialist viewpoint which
is based chiefly on studies of interactions between newborn infants and their biological
mothers. Rossi believes that these studies reveal that biological mothers possess innate
sensitivities to their new-born and that these sensitivities differentiate mothers from
fathers and, consequently, indicate at least one area of innate sex differences.
Evaluations of the views of socio-biologists like Wilson have pointed out that the
manner in which they draw on biological data to support their overall thesis has led them
to overgeneralize. Critics also argue that the socio-biologists reading of evolutionary,
biological and anthropological data tends to be very selective (Siann, 1985). Similarly,
critics of the feminist essentialist position have tended to focus on the selective manner in
which these theorists deploy examples from both biological and anthropological studies,
and the extent to which they underplay social and cultural influences (Jaggar, 1983).

Essentialist approaches to homosexuality

In the past two decades a number of researchers have published studies suggesting that
sexual orientation is influenced by brain structure and brain processes. The area of the
brain which has chiefly been cited as being involved is the hypothalmus. Dorner et al.
(1975) have suggested that there are consistent differences between the hypothalmuses of
male homosexuals and male heterosexuals and that it is these differences that underpin
the differences in their sexual orientation. Much the same claim has been made by Simon
LeVay (1993) who also argues that the hypothalmuses of male homosexuals show
similarity to those of females, and the hypothalmuses of lesbians to those of men. The
evidence for these claims is often indirect and is based mainly on studies of animals such
as mice and monkeys. For example, researchers have altered the level of hormones which
are known to affect hypothalmic function in animals and then observed their sexual
behaviour, such as the extent to which male monkeys mounted other male monkeys.
LeVay also cites other evidence to support his contention that homosexuality is at least
partially genetically determined. For example, some ‘twin’ studies show that if one
member of an identical twin is homosexual or lesbian there is a higher chance of the other
member being gay, than there is if twins are fraternal. Identical twins have the same
genetic make-up, or genotypes, while non-identical twins have different genotypes.
Consequently if a trait is found to be shared more often by identical, than by fraternal
twins, it is often assumed that the trait has a strong genetic component. It could, of
course, also be argued that because identical twins are so alike, they get treated alike, and
this environmental factor may account for their similarity on the trait in question.
In further support of his thesis that sexuality is influenced by physiological factors,
LeVay quotes the finding that many homosexuals and lesbians are aware of their sexual
orientation from a very young age. Finally, LeVay notes that the pattern of abilities in
 Gender, sex and sexuality 56

male homosexuals, for example their performance at tests of spatial ability, is similar to
the pattern of abilities found in women rather than men.
In further support of genetic involvement in homosexuality, some researchers have
recently claimed to have identified a particular set of DNA on the X chromosome which
is associated with homosexuality (Hamer et al.). However, not all homosexual men
involved in the study carried this stretch and the researchers concerned regard the set of
DNA involved in homosexuality as influential rather than causative (Radford, 1993).
The possibility that homosexuality is influenced by genes has generated a great deal of
media interest which has largely been concerned with the possible implications of being
able to identify foetuses carrying the DNA sets involved in homosexuality. Simon LeVay
is himself homosexual, and there does seem to be strong support for the biological
determination of sexuality in some sections of the gay community who have argued that
if homosexuality is genetically influenced then practising homosexuals cannot be
regarded as in any way morally reprehensible.
The evidence for a genetic involvement in homosexuality is, however, by no means
conclusive and many biologists and geneticists regard the hypothesis as speculative.
Anne Fausto-Sterling, in particular, has been critical not only of the nature of the studies
on the structure and processes of the hypothalmus which LeVay cites, but also of the
manner in which researchers arguing for a genetic influence appear to ignore the
influence of the social environment. For example, if women and homosexuals show
similar patterns of ability this could be ascribed as much to similar interests and life style
than to similarities in brain chemistry. Furthermore, if homosexuality was governed
chiefly by genetic processes it might be expected that if one member of an identical twin
set was homosexual so should be their twin and this is by no means the case for all
identical twins studied (LeVay, 1993).
Fausto-Sterling (1992, p. 249) also points out that LeVay frequently writes as if there
were clearly defined sexual behaviours associated with each sex, ‘ignoring an extensive
literature suggesting that both animal and human sexual behaviors are continuous rather
than dichotomous’.
However it should be noted that, while LeVay and other proponents of this approach
argue for a physiological influence on sexual orientation, they do not claim that it is the
only influence.

The nature/nurture issue—what can we conclude?

This section has explored in some detail the evidence for and against biological
determinism with respect to sex differences, looking at six areas in turn: abnormalities in
sex hormones, abnormalities in chromosomal make-up, the relationship between
hormones and behaviour, sex differences in the brain, recent socio-biological and
feminist perspectives on biological determinism and biological influences on sexual
orientation.
I believe that the empirical studies described in these subsections do not offer strong
support for biological determinism. To begin with, as animal studies show, even in sexual
behaviour males sometimes behave in a ‘female’ fashion and vice versa. Second, studies
of individuals both with chromosomal and hormonal abnormalities are difficult to
 Gender differences and biological determinism 57

evaluate because there is always a complex interaction for the individuals concerned of
the manner in which they are reared and the manner in which their particular condition
affects their physical appearance. Further there are bound to be individual differences in
the manner in which such individuals come to terms with their own gender roles and
gender orientations. This is shown particularly in the studies of those individuals with
alpha—reductose deficiency (the linked studies in the Dominican Republic, New Guinea
and the USA) some of whom apparently live unproblematically as males, some who live
unproblematically as females and some who have had difficulties with their gender
orientation.
Third, there is no unambiguous evidence linking sex hormones with particular
behaviours whether this be male hormones with aggression or female hormones, either
premenstrually or at menopause, with particular temperamental states or particular
emotional behaviours. Fourth, the evidence for a link between sex differences in abilities
and sex differences in the brain is inconsistent, as will be seen in chapter 5. Finally as the
rest of the book will amply demonstrate, sex differences in human behaviour are not
consistent over time and culture, if we exclude the obvious ones that males produce
sperm and that women produce eggs, bear babies and lactate. Thus while the sex we are
born with will affect the manner in which we are labelled, whether as female or male,
how we develop as a woman or as a man, will owe as much, if not more to ‘nurture’.

Notes
1. For example, because of metabolic conditions affecting the manufacture of male hormones or
because the cells of the foetal organs may be insensitive to male hormones.
2. For example, because high levels of a hormone called progesterone can break up into
substances which act as male hormones.
3. If they have one ovary and one testicle or a single organ containing both kinds of tissue or
pseudohermaphrodites; if they have one set of testes or gonads but their external genitalia
are either not consistent with the gonad or are ambiguous looking.
4. Individuals falling into these categories have two normal X chromosomes, normal ovaries,
uterus and fallopian tubes but at birth their external genitalia show varying degrees of
similarity to male organs. Now that chromosomal sex can be established easily such
individuals are assigned female sex immediately after birth and, with some minor cosmetic
surgery and some replacement hormone therapy, follow normal female biological
development experiencing puberty and being able to have children. Nevertheless such
individuals have been exposed to far greater levels of male hormones than their peers and, as
a result, their emotional and social lives have been studied in order to investigate the effect
of these male hormones on their gender development and their sexuality. See for example,
Erhardt, and Baker (1974).
5. Almost all men between 28 and 32 years of age, born in Copenhagen whose height was
within the top 15 per cent of the height distribution for Danish males were investigated. The
height criterion was used because both XYY and XXY men tend to be taller than average.
6. There have been three studies which examined the level of aggressive behaviour in girls who
had been exposed to high levels of ‘male’ hormones pre-natally (Money and Ehrhardt, 1972,
Money and Schwartz, 1976, and Erhardt and Baker, 1974). In the first study the authors
reported no difference between such girls and controls in the level of childhood fighting; in
the second the authors concluded that there was no evidence that these girls showed any
tendency to manifest levels of overt aggression either in childhood or puberty, and in the
third when 17 such girls were compared with their sisters, there was no difference in levels
 Gender, sex and sexuality 58

of fighting though the androgenized girls were reported to initiate more fights than their
sisters. These studies would not appear to support the claim that high levels of pre-natal male
hormones in girls lead to more aggressive behaviour later in life.
 Chapter 4
Sugar and Spice; Frogs and Snails

Women’s Work
‘I’ve got the children to tend
The clothes to mend
The floor to mop
The food to shop
Then the chicken to fry
The baby to dry
I’ve got company to feed
…

Maya Angelou And Still I Rise (1992)

…for most American boys, manhood is achieved through a

series of informal tests. By not crying or associating with
girls, by being strong, tough, good at sports, and willing to
fight, boys prove to their peers—and often to their parents,
especially fathers—that they are real men.
Myriam Miedzian (1992, p. 87)

D.H.Lawrence on how to bring up children;

(in the case of a girl) Let her learn the domestic arts in
their perfection. Let us even artificially set her to spin and
weave.
(in the case of boys) First and foremost establish a rule
over them, a proud, harsh, manly rule. Make them know
that every moment they are in the shade of a proud, strong,
adult authority. Let them be soldiers. (Lawrence’s italics)

In the last two chapters we considered essentialist approaches to sex and gender:
approaches that argued that women and men differ in their nature, either because of
physiological predispositions or because in their earliest years unconscious processes
forge deeply divergent gender pathways. Mainstream psychology has, on the whole,
distanced itself from such positions and views of gender within it have developed from a
rather different orientation. One in which human beings are seen as shaped not by
essential nature but by the environment into which they are born. The stress has been not
on nature but on nurture and psychologists, particularly developmental psychologists,
 Gender, sex and sexuality 60

have directed their interest and research to the process of socialization, a term which is
used to cover the influences on the developing child of his or her domestic and cultural
environment. From the perspective of socialization theories, men and women are seen to
differ largely because of differences in the manner in which their particular society
shapes and moulds their behaviour, attitudes and values.
In the first part of this chapter we shall examine the development of views on gender
within this perspective following a historical pathway which, not surprisingly, parallels
the major changes and developments within mainstream psychology. In the second part
of the chapter the emphasis will move away from theoretical approaches and explore
some of the empirical research on the developmental trajectories of the two sexes from
infancy to adolescence, in order to examine the evidence bearing on the claim that the
social environment plays the major role in the production of sex differences.

Theoretical approaches

Behaviourism and social learning

For several decades, the study of gender has used

a…historically invariant model…a kind of static sex-role
container into which all biological males and females are
forced to fit. This process of fitting into pre-existing roles
is called ‘socialization’.
Michael Kimmel (1987, p 12)

At home, especially when you are a girl, you are expected

to stay at home and do the housework and the boys go out.
They seem to go out when they like…and I don’t think
that’s really fair.
British schoolgirl speaking in the late eighties, in Wolpe
(1988)

For much of this century, particularly in the USA, psychology was dominated by the
movement of Behaviourism (Unger, 1990). Behaviourists worked within a perspective
that regarded psychology as a science and consequently they placed their major emphasis
on the collection and analysis of empirical data. They argued that the only truly
‘objective’, and thus scientific, data available for psychological analysis were those
events that are observable. As a result, they turned their attention to behaviour rather than
to feelings or thoughts, claiming that the systematic observation of behaviour would
provide the basis for a science of psychology.
Behaviour, they claimed, was almost exclusively dependent on learning and
consequently they set out to discover the rules which governed learning. In essence they
saw these as reducing to the principle that behaviour is controlled by its consequences
so that actions which are rewarded (or reinforced) tend to be repeated, and actions which
 Sugar and spice 61

are either not rewarded or which are followed by unpleasant consequences tend not to be
repeated. In essence they regarded human behaviour as shaped by the carrot and the stick.
With respect to gender differences, at the simplest level, behaviourists argued these are
reducible to the principle that the sexes behave in different ways because boys are
rewarded for masculine behaviours and girls for feminine.
In support of these claims, behaviourists pointed to the many instances of parents
openly approving and rewarding particular and different behaviours for boys and girl. As
for instance when a mother says to her small daughter, ‘good little girls help mommys
clean up’ or a father urges his son to stand up for himself and ‘be a man’.
Early behaviourists tended to emphasize the importance of the contingent effect of
particular acts. Thus they saw children’s behaviour as shaped by direct rewards, praise,
punishment or disapproval. Later workers in the tradition, however, like the social
learning theorist Albert Bandura (Bandura and Walters, 1963) developed the notions of
latent learning from social situations and modelling. They pointed out that a parent does
not need to consciously approve or disapprove of particular behaviour or indeed intend to
shape different behaviours in boys and girls. The learning process may be latent and far
less deliberate because of the child’s propensity to copy and imitate the actions of others
and to ‘model’ their own behaviour on the observed behaviour of others. Anyone who
has spent some time at all with children will have direct experience of the extent to which
children do these things. They copy (or imitate) the actions of others and they model their
behaviour on others, as for example when a small child pretends to be driving a car or
when a group of children base their play on a popular television series.
However, if we do accept that children ‘learn’ how to behave by imitation and
modelling, we are left with the question of whom they choose for models and why they
make such choices. Social learning theorists, basing their claims on laboratory studies,
argue that children tend to imitate the actions of, and model themselves on, those whom
they perceive to be friendly, warm, attentive, powerful and similar to themselves
(Bandura and Huston, 1961, Bandura et al. 1963, Mishel and Grusec, 1966). If this is the
case then, extending the social learning argument to gender development, social learning
theorists have to demonstrate that for boys, men, and for girls, women, encompass the
attributes of attractive role models.
Since the attributes of friendliness, warmth, attentiveness and powerfulness are not
linked in any systematic manner to gender, in order to account for children modelling
themselves on others of the same sex, social learning theorists have had to focus on the
attribute of similarity. This they have done in two ways:
1. by claiming that children differentially pay attention to peers of the same sex;
2. by emphasising the bond between children and their same sex parent.
With respect to the first mechanism, Michel, who has been the leading exponent of this
approach to gender, puts it this way: ‘Boys do not learn about baseball by watching girls
and girls do not learn about fashion by watching boys’ (Tavris and Wade, 1984). With
respect to the second mechanism, social learning theorists have proposed that the relation
with the same sex parent is dependent on a process they have called identification. The
term, identification, refers to a particular form of imitation whereby the child
spontaneously copies whole patterns of behaviour without being trained or obtaining
direct rewards for doing this.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 62

Research, however, has not in general supported either of these contentions. In the
first case, with respect to the influence of their peers, it is clear that, while children tend
after the first three years of life to associate largely with their own sex, this does not mean
that they are not interested in, and do not observe, the other sex. This can easily be
demonstrated by asking a small boy or girl to pretend to be an adult of the other sex. In
the second case, with respect to the child—parent axis, it is by no means clear that
children identify mainly with the same sex parent. For example many small girls play
football or other sports with their fathers rather than their mothers, and some small boys
enjoy baking cakes and cooking with their mothers. In any event, placing a major
theoretical emphasis on identification with parents as the major source of gender
development rests on an assumption that the great majority of children come from intact
nuclear families. This is a presumption that might have been made about middle class
American children in the middle years of this century but is not one that could generally
be taken to hold today, even in a middle class environment.
Apart from these observations of a general nature, it is also worth noting that empirical
studies have not provided support for the contention that children identify mainly with
the same sex parent. For example, a review of 20 laboratory studies in which children
were presented with models of both sexes revealed little consistent tendency for pre-
school children to select same—sex models. When shown models who were displaying
affection, aggression, toy choices, aesthetic preferences, and other activities, the
children’s choices were not apparently affected by the sex of those they chose to model
(Maccoby and Jacklin, 1974). Further, while some studies do show parent—child
similarities on certain dimensions of personality such as values and attitudes, they fail to
show that these similarities are related to the sex of the parents (Williams, 1987).
In general, then, it is clear that research has not supported the claim that children
automatically model themselves on others of the same sex, whether peers or parents, and
this casts doubt on the main mechanism for gender development proposed by social
learning theorists.
Social learning theorists have given some consideration to the manner in which some
children acquire a homosexual identity, although even the most ardent proponent of
social leaning theory would not claim that sexual orientation is acquired only through the
processes of reinforcement and modelling. However, it has been suggested by some
writers in this tradition that one or two early and positive homosexual experiences can
‘fix’ a male in lifelong homosexuality. It is proposed that this ‘fixing’ occurs because if a
young boy has had one or more pleasurable homosexual encounters he is likely to
fantasize about the experience or experiences while masturbating, thus providing
continual reinforcement for this sexual orientation.
Generally, social learning approaches do not tell us a great deal about gender and
sexuality because of the assumptions that are made about the relative passivity of the
child in the acquisition of gender identity. As we shall see, children do not simply absorb
ideas about gender, they think about it as well. Nevertheless it is also clear that in any
culture there are both overt and covert forces at work which direct a child’s development
in such a way that their behaviour is consistent with what is expected by their society of
their sex. In the second part of this chapter we will look at a great deal of evidence which
does lend support to the claim that very often behaving in a manner consistent with
 Sugar and spice 63

accepted notions of the appropriate behaviour of an individual’s sex is more rewarding

than the converse.

Cognitive—developmental theory

Kohlberg’s entire theory is couched in male terms. The

pronouns are male, the body type discussed is male, even
the anecdotal examples are all about male children. Is the
theory equally applicable to both sexes?
Rohrbaugh (1981)

Towards the middle years of this century the dominance of behaviourism within
traditional or mainstream psychology came under increasing attack. The reasons for this
are complex and manifold1 but for the purposes of this book, we will focus on three
strands. First, it was becoming apparent that the ‘objective’ measurement of behaviour
was less easily achieved than had been thought. To take an example, with particular
relevance to gender issues: if it is desired to construct any measure of personality, who
chooses the items for the scale? Surely the social class, ethnic origin and gender of those
who construct the scale will affect the choice of items? If this is the case, can we talk
about ‘objective’ measurements? Second, behaviourism locates the ‘subject’ in a passive
position. He or she is ‘shaped’, or ‘moulded’ by external contingencies with no
consideration at all being given to the manner in which he or she actively attempts to
make sense of environment. As Tavris and Wade (1984, p. 215) put it behaviourism and
social learning view the developing child ‘from the outside’ without attempting to
understand the child’s, and later the adult’s, own point of view. Third, mainstream
psychology in the English speaking world came under the influence of Jean Piaget
(1954), the eminent Swiss theorist. Piaget’s enormous body of writing about children’s
cognitive development not only emphasized the child’s attempts to actively understand
his or her world, but also led to a totally different manner of studying child development
emphasizing, in particular, that children’s development proceeds in distinct phases.
It was this, third influence, that had an immediate effect on views of gender
development. This was because Lawrence Kohlberg (1966), who was to write with
considerable influence about gender, commenced the application of Piagetian theory to
gender development. From the point of view of this book we need to consider the
influence on Kohlberg’s theory of gender development of the two elements of Piagetian
theory already mentioned. The first is the emphasis on the child’s active attempts to
‘construct’ reality (that is to understand and make sense of the world). The second is the
Piagetian claim that the child’s cognitive development proceeds in fixed and discrete
developmental phases with its further implication that young children think in ways that
are qualitatively different from the thinking of older children and adults.
In their consideration of the child’s attempts to make sense of gender, in particular,
cognitive—developmental psychologists like Kohlberg often make use of the two terms:
gender identity and gender typing. The term gender identity is taken to refer to the
psychological sense of oneself as female or male. The term gender typing is taken to
refer to the process of developing traits and behaviours that mirror the views of one’s
 Gender, sex and sexuality 64

society about what is appropriate for a male or female (Unger and Crawford, 1992).
According to Kohlberg and his associates, gender identity and gender typing develop in a
fixed and relatively immutable way, and, in agreement with Piagetian theory, in discrete
stages. The first stage is one achieved between 21 and 3 years and occurs when the
child achieves gender identity. At this stage children can identify themselves correctly as
a girl or boy and can also correctly identify the sex of others both in real life and from
pictures. The second stage occurs when gender stability is reached, about age 5. At this
stage children know that you stay the same gender throughout life. They do not, for
example, make the mistake made by Jimmy in the following exchange:

Johnny (age ): I’m going to be an airplane builder when I grow up.

Jimmy (age 4): When I grow up, I’ll be a mommy.
Johnny: No you can’t be a mommy. You have to be a daddy.
Jimmy: No I’m going to be a mommy.
Johnny: No, you’re not a girl, you can’t be a mommy.
Jimmy: Yes, I can.
Kohlberg (1966, p. 95)

However, while children at this stage understand that their own sex will not change,
according to Kohlberg and associated theorists, their understanding of gender is still very
concrete and limited. It does not extend to understanding that changing outward gender
attributes, does not change gender. This third stage, according to these theorists, only
emerges at around 7 years of age when the stage of gender constancy is reached. Gender
constancy, the final change, involves the deep understanding that if an adult were to
completely change their physical appearance (as in the case of a drag artist), their gender
would not change.
It is important to understand that Kohlberg and his associates believe that the child
moves through these stages not as the social learning theorists argue because he or she is
rewarded and moulded into sex-typed behaviour, but because having acquired gender
identity the child actively selects from the repertoire of social behaviour he or she is
exposed to those elements that are appropriate to his or her gender identity. Further,
where social learning theorists see identification with the same sex adults or peers as
causing sex typing, Kohlberg argues for the reverse—that is, it is only after the child has
achieved gender identity and has started gender typing him or herself, that he or she then
identifies with same sex peers and adults.
Kohlberg would not deny that society can reinforce sex-typed behaviour but would
claim that this is an additional source of sex typing rather than its prime vehicle. As
Unger and Crawford (1992, p. 421) put it:

The cognitive—developmental perspective does not deny social learning

principles; rather it adds to them by offering the intriguing idea that
children willingly socialize themselves to be masculine or feminine.

Critiques of Kohlberg’s views on gender development have tended to centre on its male
bias. As the quote at the beginning of this subsection indicates he approached gender
 Sugar and spice 65

development from the point-of-view of ‘male-as-norm’ and the limitations this imposes
can be seen when we consider the implications for girls.
Kohlberg argues that after achieving a stable gender identity, children then socialize
themselves into sex-typed behaviour because they are motivated to be typical girls or
boys. His argument then concentrates on the boy pointing out the advantages in terms of
power, prestige and ultimate economic advantage of the male role. As indicated earlier,
much of his writing is concerned with mapping out how boys continue with their sex-
typing into the male role which he clearly regards as superior to the female. Having based
the major part of his argument on the boy’s acquisition of the male role, he then
obviously has more difficulty in explaining why girls should wish to aspire to the female
role, since his whole stance is that this role is less rewarding in terms of prestige and
competence. In attempting to explain the girl’s sex-typing, in terms of his own relative
downgrading of the attractions of the female role in comparison to the male role,
Kohlberg is forced into some rather contorted arguments. To begin with he points out that
many girls go through a ‘tomboy’ phase, thus proving the superior attraction of male sex-
typing. However, he later conceded that not all girls go through this phase and that most
who do, emerge from it by middle childhood. Thus he went on to seek out an alternative
hypothesis by proposing that girls eventually find the female role more attractive because
it is seen often as ‘nicer’ than the male role.
In addition to the relative weakness of Kohlberg’s theory when it is applied to females,
his approach has also been criticized by Bem, amongst others, because it fails to ask why
it is that sex is the major category by which children come to categorize themselves. As
Bem (1983, p. 230) puts it

…the theory fails to explain why sex will have primacy over other
potential categories of the self such as race, religion or even eye
color…most cognitive psychologists do not explicitly ponder the ‘why
sex’ question, nor do they even raise the possibility that other categories
could fit the general theory just as well.

Finally, it should be pointed out that research has not supported Kohlberg’s claim that
children become sex-typed only after achieving an understanding of gender constancy.
On the contrary, as Unger and Crawford (1992) point out, empirical studies show that
most children show a preference for gender-typed objects and activities by the age of
three before gender constancy is normally achieved.

Moving beyond gender-typing

Androgyny

My personal prescriptions for a liberated sexual identity:

Let sexual preference be ignored;
Let sex roles be abolished;
Let gender move from figure to ground.
Sandra Bem (1975, p. 223)
 Gender, sex and sexuality 66

The next major development in the psychological study of gender to follow on from the
cognitive developmental approach was related to the growing critique of mainstream
psychology which was starting to emerge from the growing ranks of women
psychologists in the 1970s and 1980s. Spokeswomen such as Mary Parlee (1985) and
Carole Gilligan (1982) began to to make explict the largely male-centered nature of the
discipline. They pointed out that theories had largely been constructed from the ‘male-as-
normative viewpoint’ by male psychologists frequently using as subjects samples of
students who were predominately male. Concurrently attention was also being drawn to
the fact that most psychologists within the western world were also white and middle
class (Siann and Ugwuegbu, 1988). These challenges to the latent biases in psychology
did not, of course, take place in a social vacuum, but in a period when social movements
such as Feminism and Black Consciousness were beginning to make their presence felt
throughout the western world.
Pre-eminent amongst the women critics of mainstream psychological approaches to
the psychology of gender was Sandra Bem who, with Janet Spence et al. (1975), began to
explore the relevance to this area of the concept of androgyny The word androgyny
combines the Greek roots andro (male) and gyn (female) to refer to a balance of both,
and the underlying concept of androgyny as a blending of masculine and feminine
attributes has a long history with roots in classical mythology, literature and religion
(Unger and Crawford, 1992). Thus to say a person is androgynous suggests that the
individual concerned has attributes, physical, psychological or both, that do not reflect
the prevalent separate sex-typing of their culture. For example, in the mid 1970s, David
Bowie, and in the 1980s, Annie Lennox and Grace Jones, presented physical persona that
could be regarded as androgynous.
Bem pioneered a simple questionnaire which she called the Sex Role Inventory
(BSRI). According to Bem’s original early formulations, scores on this inventory, which
is basically a list of attributes on which individuals are required to rate themselves as
either high or low, can be grouped into three types of results: a range of scores that fall
into the ‘male-typed range’, a range of scores that fall into the ‘female-typed range’ and a
range which fall into an ‘androgynous’ range. For example, high male-type scores would
include high self-ratings on attributes such as rational, active and dominant; high female-
type scores would include high self-ratings on attributes such as caring, pastoral and
passive; and high androgynous scores would cover high self-ratings on both male and
female sex-type attributes.
In her early work Bem suggested that her reseach and the research of others appeared
to show that individuals falling into this third category functioned better and more
flexibly than their more conventionally sex-typed peers. Over 100 studies using the BSRI
were carried out between 1976 and 1984 and most of these related high androgynous
scores to high levels of mental health and, as a result, particularly in the USA, some
clinicians even began to discuss how to androgynize their clients and patients (Walsh,
1987).
In the later 1980s, however, methodological criticisms began to emerge both of the
content of the BSRI scale and of the manner in which measurements were made. Further
doubt began to be thrown on the empirical results linking androgyny with superior
adjustment and mental health. For example, Marylee Taylor and Judith Hall (1982) found
that certain masculine traits were a better predictor of psychological well-being than
 Sugar and spice 67

androgyny. Further, critics like Bernice Lott started to question whether there are separate
and clearly definable masculine and feminine attributes or behaviours. Lott argues that
because androgyny scales label some attributes as masculine or feminine this tends to
make us give cognitive and linguistic labels to attributes that are simply essentially
human rather than typically sex-typed in the masculine direction. Thus a women who
describes herself as highly self-reliant, ambitious and analytical increases her masculinity
scores on an androgyny scale. But, argues Lott, surely it would be better to regard her
simply as high on these attributes rather than masculine:

Behavior has no gender… To label some behaviors as feminine and some

as masculine, as androgyny researchers do, and then to put the two
artificial pieces back together again…is to reinforce verbal habits which
undermine the possibility of degendering behavior.
Lott (1981)

Further, Bem herself began to reject the notion that there are independent variables such
as masculinity and femininity and she, with many others, began to move towards an
alternative formulation of the psychology of gender—gender-schema theory.

Gender-schema theory

Thus if gender-schema theory has a political message, it is not that the

individual should be androgynous. Rather it is…that society ought to
temper its insistence on the ubiquitous functional importance of the
gender dichotomy.
Sandra Bem (1987, p. 245)

Gender-schema theory contains some elements of both the cognitive and the social
learning approaches to the developing child. In accordance with social learning it
acknowledges the framework of learning provided by the social world, and in agreement
with many cognitive approaches (Siann and Ugwuegbu, 1988) it argues that young
children construct cognitive ‘schemas’ to help them understand and come to terms with
both the external world and their own internal representation of it.
The term, schema, refers to the mental structures children use to encode and process
information. For example, a young child may have a schema about going to bed which
will help her to understand her mother’s sentence: ‘It’s bedtime now’. This schema
provides a network of associations which might embrace, amongst other thoughts, not
feeling very enthusiastic about the prospect of bed but being aware that she is going to
comply because she is a good girl, that she is going to have supper, followed by a bath, a
bedtime story, a cuddle and lights out. Schemas thus also often provide a script which
lays out a set of the likely sequence of behaviours associated with the schema.
To continue with our example, the schema and associated script of bedtime will also
provide an organizing framework for the little girl to deal with other information as on
being told, for example, that Tommy, next door is naughty, he always runs away and
hides at bedtime’.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 68

Basically schema theory suggests that schemas and scripts provide cognitive tools for
thinking about the past, present and future. They are essentially networks of associations
and general knowledge which aid thinking about and understanding not only the external
world but also the internal one. Furthermore they provide a set of flexible cognitive
networks into which new experiences or information can be assimilated. Thus a child will
not only have schemas and scripts about referents in the social and physical
environment—for example: bedtime, going to visit the dentist, what a typical boy or girl
is like and what a naughty child is like—she will also have a schema about herself.
Something perhaps on the lines of—a small kind of person, who is a girl, who lives with
mummy and is good most of the time and likes ice cream but prefers staying up to going
to bed etc…
Applying schema theory to gender, Bem suggests first that sex-typing is a gender
schema that varies from culture to culture. Drawing from learning theory she proposes
that the cultural content of gender schema will undoubtedly be affected, not only by what
the society labels as appropriately masculine or feminine behaviour, but also by the
extent to which the culture or subculture rewards or punishes adherence to such sex-
typing. Second, she proposes that self-schemas, or the manner in which individuals think
about themselves, are permeated to differing degrees by gender schema, both across
individuals, and in the case of any particular individual, across times and social contexts.
In this way any particular individual, growing up in a particular society will acquire
knowledge and feelings both explicit and implicit about the gender typing of their own
culture, subculture and domestic environment. This will give them a readiness to process
and organize other schema, including their own self-schema, with reference to gender
schemas. Some individuals will have fairly rigid gender schemas, closely related to
cultural stereotypes which they will frequently, if not invariably, use as tools in order to
organize and evaluate their own behaviour and to evaluate the behaviour of others. Such
individuals Bem would regard as ‘strongly sex-typed’. Other individuals with less rigid
gender schema which they relate less frequently and less strongly to themselves and
others, Bem would regard as ‘weakly sex-typed’.
Moving away from this theoretical base to a more prescriptive kind, one which seeks
to move away from sex-typed behaviour, Bem proposed, when she first wrote about
gender schema, that they should play a less important role in society than they do at
present. She also proposed that we should encourage individuals to view themselves less
through the lenses of the gender schema. As we shall see in the next subsection she has
currently developed this position towards an even more social and less psychological
stance.
Evaluations of gender-schema theory have pointed to the fact that its approach to the
cultural organization of gender is rather apolitical. While it does take on board the power
and relatively universal nature of sex-typing, it does not acknowledge explicitly that the
gender dichotomy has until very recently spelt out an inferior role for women and a
superior role for men in most societies. It is to this critique of her gender-schema
approach that Bem has most recently turned her attention.

The lenses of gender

 Sugar and spice 69

My interest has always been in getting rid of gender… As soon as I had

done the work on androgyny I thought ‘this isn’t what I meant exactly’…
So I moved onto talking about gender schema…and now I would say that
what I was really interested in was the problem of the gender polarizing
lens.
Sandra Bem in Kitzinger (1992, pp. 222–4)

In her recent work Bem has expanded and developed her gender-schema approach in two
basic ways. First, she has continued to point out the extent to which gender, as a mode for
making sense of the world, continues to dominate personal and social life. Second, she
has developed her understanding of the social and political implications of this
polarization. In short she has expanded on her concern with the extent to which
contemporary society continues to use gender as the pre-eminent criterion for segmenting
and structuring social life and has moved her focus from the individual to the cultural.
She encapsulates her most recent stance in the term gender polarization:

Gender polarization is the forging of cultural connections to the male/

female distinction so that small if significant differences become large and
profound influencing whole areas of people’s lives—how they express
emotion, how they experience sexual desire. Male/female has become an
all-encompassing divide with two, and only two, mutually exclusive
scripts, and everyone who diverges from these scripts is problematically
deviant.
Sandra Bem in Kitzinger (1992, p. 223)

Bem believes that we should attempt to stem and reverse this process by ceasing to think
about ‘our maleness and femaleness. Let’s stop organizing our lives around gender,
including the gender of the people we are attracted to’, and start organizing into social
movements which, while being originally based on gender categories, seek to overturn
such categories:

I think we do need organized social movements that build around being a

woman, being black, being lesbian or gay…we are going to take this
category and transform its meaning and fight for its being privileged or at
least not being discriminated against…using it for our own politics.
Sandra Bem in Kitzinger (1992, p. 224)

This stance brings her analysis very close to those more structural approaches to gender
which will be covered in chapter 6.

Developing differences

There are two sexes. The unpalatable truth must be faced.

Your attempts at a merger can only end in heartbreak.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 70

The psychiatrist, Dr Range in Joe Orton’s play. What

the Butler Saw (1986)

The second section of this chapter will briefly review empirical evidence on the differing
developmental trajectories of boys and girls as they grow up in contemporary society. In
doing this the evidence will be related to the major claim of the theorists whose work we
have been considering in this chapter. This claim being that gender differences are largely
the result of socialization practices.

Setting the scene

Gender is an invention of human societies, a feat of

imagination and industry. This feat is multifaceted. One
facet involves laborious efforts to transform male and
female children into masculine and feminine adults.
Rachel Hare-Mustin and Jeanne Maracek (1990, p. 4)

Even if we do not agree with the claim that gender categorizations dominate our social
and mental world, there is no doubt that, in most societies from the moment a child is
born, its physiological sex will exert a very powerful influence on the manner in which it
is treated, frequently within the family and invariably in the world outside. In the west, as
we shall see in chapter 7, gender stereotypes continue to permeate television and cinema,
although less blatantly than in the past. Indeed, there have been concerted efforts to
reduce gender stereotyping in contemporary children’s books,2 although it is hardly
feasible, or indeed desirable, to exert a retroactive censorship on the classics of the past
which reflect the far more rigid gender stereotyping of their time. Furthermore, while toy
manufacturers no longer produce chemistry sets whose packaging show boys carrying out
experiments while girls watch, a Toys ‘Я’Us Christmas catalogue (1992–3 pp. 16 and
19), a very large toy supplier in Britain, continues to illustrate tool sets with a boy model
and model kitchens with a girl. Moreover, as we shall see, even parents who express the
wish to bring their children up in a non-sexist manner continue to treat them, albeit
unconsciously, in ways that reinforce sex-typed behaviour.

Pregnancy and infancy

In her earlier work Bem claimed that gender is the salient social category in the west and,
as we shall see, empirical studies of children’s development would certainly lend support
to this claim. It is worth noting, however, that the extent to which societies organize
social interactions and cognitive categorizations around gender as a pivot has varied over
time and place. Anthropologists have shown, for example, that in hunting and gathering
societies, both in the past and even in some currently existing, such as among the !Kung
of the Kalahari, sex-typing of behaviour and personal attributes is far less rigid than in
other cultures (Sanday and Goodenough, 1990). In certain other societies, for example
 Sugar and spice 71

among the Bemba of Central Africa (Nkweto-Simmonds, 1993), little distinction is made
between girls and boys in infancy, and traditional names are not gendered and can be
used for either boys or girls. It is also worth noting that in contemporary India, even in
traditional areas where boy babies continue to be overvalued compared to girls (Hrdy,
1989),3 to the extent that girl babies are sometimes killed (McGirk, 1993) caste and class
provide extremely powerful sources of social categorization and barriers against social
interactions between individuals of different castes override gender. Nevertheless, even
when gender categorization is least evident, sex-typing and sex-stereotyping tend to
favour males rather females.
Unger and Crawford suggest that this inequality can be observed even during
pregnancy. First, they claim, in the preference for male babies which has been shown,
even as recently as the 1970s and 1980s, in societies as varied as the USA and Korea.
Second, in the folklore concerned with predicting the sex of the unborn child which is
encapsulated in sayings that tend to symbolize boys positively and girls negatively. For
example:

If a women is placid during pregnancy she will have a boy, but if she is
bad tempered or cries a lot, she will have a girl…
If her looks improve, she is expecting a boy; if they worsen a girl.
Unger and Crawford (1992, pp. 231–2)

My own subjective impression is that currently, in western societies, the preference for
male babies no longer holds sway and in my own experience, many women express a
preference for a girl first. Preferences aside, however, as Bee (1992) points out: ‘A
newborn’s sex is the first thing we ask about’. Furthermore, in most instances, if clothes
are bought as presents for the new baby they will be sex-specific because, while there has
been an increase in the proportion of unisex baby garments, most babyware departments
still segment clothes for even the youngest of babies into those for girls and those for
boys. Interestingly the colour coding that we tend to associate with such choices is more
recent than might be supposed. According to Marjorie Garber (1993, p. 1) the colour
code for baby clothes, which since the 1940s at least has been assumed to be pink for
girls and blue for boys, has not always held. In the early years of the twentieth century,
boys wore pink, ‘a more decided colour’ according to the promotional literature of the
time, and girls blue which was thought to be ‘delicate’ and ‘dainty’.
Following on from pregnancy and birth, surveys done in the 1960s and 1970s
indicated that sex-typing of infants continues. For example, Rubin et al. (1974) found that
first-time parents of babies rated boy babies higher on attributes such as firm, large, well
co-ordinated, and girl babies higher on attributes such as soft, finely-featured and
inattentive. These gender distinctions were made even though medical personnel had
found no neurological or physical differences between the sexes on the sample
concerned. The finding of no sex differences by the medical staff is not surprising as
research has indicated no neurological or psychological differences between the sexes
either at birth or in early childhood (Bee, 1992).
Despite the fact that there is no evidence to suggest sex differences in psychological
attributes during the first years, studies have shown that babies are interacted with in
different ways depending on the sex they are thought to be. A number of such studies
 Gender, sex and sexuality 72

have used the Baby X technique in which the baby concerned wears unisex clothes and
irrespective of his/her sex is presented to some subjects as a girl, and to others as a boy.
For example, in 1976 John and Sandra Condry showed men and women a videotape of a
9-month-old infant reacting to a teddy-bear, a jack-in-the-box, a doll and a buzzer, and
asked them to rate the infant’s pleasure, anger and fear in each situation. The supposed
sex of the baby made little difference in the case of the teddy bear and the buzzer but
when the baby reacted with agitation and tears to the jack-in-the-box, the baby was more
likely to be rated as ‘fearful’ if presented as a girl, and as ‘angry’ if presented as a boy. In
another Baby X study, even mothers who had earlier said that they believed male and
female babies are alike played differently with a baby introduced to them as either ‘Beth’
or ‘Adam’. Mothers playing with ‘Beth’ tended to hand the infant a doll first, while other
mothers playing with ‘Adam’ handed the baby a train first (Tavris and Wade, 1984).
These and similar studies reflect a general tendency for adults to interact differently
with boys and girls, even when the adults concerned are not aware of their implicit
gender typing. In most instances the strongest and earliest aspect of this will be parental
behaviour. Charles Lewis (1986) has reviewed a large number of studies concerned with
parental behaviour with daughters as compared to sons and has concluded that, despite
methodological problems with many of the studies, there is evidence that mothers and
fathers handle their boys and girls in subtly different ways. For example in one study of
the first 3 months of life, parents tended to cuddle opposite-sex children and to offer toys
and to stimulate same-sex children (Parke and Sawin, 1980). Other studies suggest that as
babies grow older fathers, compared to mothers, are more likely to interact differently
with boys and girls. For instance, to engage in more physical interaction games with
boys, like throwing them up in the air. Fathers also appear more likely to encourage sex
differences than mothers by being more likely to discourage sex-inappropriate play. In an
observation study Fagot (1978) showed that fathers encouraged their daughters to stay
near them and were especially critical of doll-play in sons.
Some studies, particularly American ones, also suggest that young children themselves
tend to interact differently with mothers and fathers, approaching fathers more often for
play and approaching the same-sex parent more often in times of stress (Spelke et al.
1973). American studies also tend to show that girls are more likely to initiate interaction
with adults including parents than boys (Ross and Goldman, 1977). In general, however,
it seems that there are clearer differences in parental behaviour towards the sexes, than in
boys’ and girls’ behaviour towards parents of different sexes. Many studies of parent-
child interaction support the conclusion that both parents, but particularly fathers, treat
their children of different sexes in ways that are consistent with the sex-typing of
behaviour.
Studies have also shown that this is characteristic of most adults and that even teachers
who explicitly profess not to gender-type do so in subtle ways. Not for example in what
they say but in the manner in which they do so (Tavris and Wade, 1984). Such
predispositions continue right through the life span because, as we shall see in the next
chapter, many of us make attributions about other people based on gender although we
are not consciously aware of doing so and even when we explicitly state, and probably
believe, that we make no such gender-typed distinctions.
If children are exposed to sex-typing so early on it is not surprising that in the west, at
any event, from a very early age children are aware both of their gender identity and of
 Sugar and spice 73

the sex-typing associated with it. It would also seem highly likely that for most children
acting in accordance with cultural norms of gender-typing would be likely to produce a
gratifying level of praise and encouragement from adults.

Early childhood
As already noted surveys show that most children in the west can identify the sexes of
others as well as themselves by the age of to 3-years and by the latter age there is a
marked tendency for children in the west to prefer to play with others of the same sex.4
Two explanations have been offered for this same sex preference in play. One, to which
we will return in the next chapter, is that there are universal and inborn sex differences in
the kind of play preferred, with boys preferring higher levels of ‘rough and tumble’ play.5
A problem with this explanation is that it is based on what is taken to be a universal
preference for same-sex playmates, but while a number of studies in the west do show a
high degree of gender segregation in play in pre-school children, studies in the Third
World, for example those of Sara Harkness and Charles Super (1985) in Kenya, indicate
that gender composition in children’s play groups is about equal until about 6 to 9 years
and there is no strong same-sex preference in play. A second explanation for gender
segregation in play is that in general boys and girls are encouraged to learn to play with
different kinds of toys at an early age and then choose friends with the same preferences.
Some support for this second explanation comes from studies showing a marked
tendency for even very young children to be able to identify sex-appropriate toys and to
play with them (Lloyd and Duveen, 1992).
Because most adults continue to follow sex-typing in the choice of toys for young
children it is perhaps not surprising that 3 year olds can identify particular toys as being
more suitable for girls or boys, but the extent of children’s understanding of the sex-
typing of behaviour goes far beyond their own social world. For example, Huston (1985)
showed that 3 to 4 year olds can even identify the typical occupations of men and
women, and by the time children start school they appear to have a considerable
knowledge of the sex-typing of behaviour in their own environment.
A number of studies have shown that in these early years there is a developmental
sequence in children’s application of their knowledge of the sex-typing of behaviour.
Typically, at 4 years of age they are aware of the sex-typing of behaviour and toys but are
not too worried by trangressions of these codes and categories. However, by between 5
and about 8 they are not only aware of sex-typing but are very condemnatory of anyone
who trangresses the codes. In Lloyd and Duveen’s words (1992, p. 181) it is at this stage
that: ‘children are the most conservative social actors in the gender culture of the
classroom’. By 9 years of age, however, they are once again far more flexible about such
codes.
The following explanation is usually offered for this developmental sequence.
Between the ages of about 5 to 8 the child is centrally concerned to discover the rules that
govern social behaviour including, of course, those related to gender. Furthermore at this
stage they are not only concerned to establish such rules but are also concerned to show
others that they adhere to such rules. At this stage they also tend to believe that social
rules are moral imperatives. In contrast, at younger ages they are less concerned with
seeking and establishing such rules and at older ages, when they are more secure in their
 Gender, sex and sexuality 74

social identity, they feel able to treat such social rules with some discretion. This
sequence is shown in a study by Damon (1977) who asked children aged between 4 and 9
whether a little boy called George who liked to play with dolls should do so, even though
his parents preferred him to play with other toys. Four year olds thought George could
play with what he liked. Six year olds thought it was wrong for George to play with dolls.
By age 9, however, children differentiated between morality and social custom. For
example one boy said: ‘Breaking windows you’re not supposed to do. And if you play
with dolls, well you can, but boys usually don’t’.
With respect to sex-typing in the early years of childhood, a finding reported in many,
though by no means all studies, is that children agree on male sex-typing in behaviour
earlier than they do on female. Furthermore most studies agree that children of both sexes
are less concerned about girls behaving in a male sex-typed manner than the reverse and
that, on the whole, boys place more emphasis on sex-typing in behaviour than do girls.
For example, boys more than girls have been shown to choose as their future occupation,
sex-typed careers. These findings tend to be attributed to the relatively greater prestige of
males in society at large which children appear to recognize fairly early on. It has been
shown that both boys and girls assign more positive attributes to males than to females
(Urberg, 1982) and it has also been shown that they assign more value to masculine
activities than to feminine ones (Feinman, 1981). These findings are in accordance with
the general tendency for both adults and children to be more concerned about boys
behaving in a ‘sissy’ manner than by tomboy girls. As a result, in the very great majority
of societies, boys are placed under far greater pressure to conform to sex-typed behaviour
than are girls. As Archer (1984) has put it, in society as a whole, there is far more
‘rigidity’ in the extent to which boy’s opposite-sex activities are avoided.
During these years of early childhood it is not surprising then that the social pressures
discussed in this section tend to reinforce children’s sex-typing of their own behaviour,
and that this tendency is stronger for boys than for girls.

Middle childhood
While most studies on gender differences in middle childhood have been done in the
west, there have also been a number of cross-cultural studies (Newson and Newson,
1986). In general there is a large measure of consensus that during this period children
choose same-sex partners for social interaction and play, and that there are some gender
differences in the type of play and social interaction (Smith, 1986) with many studies
showing boys continuing higher levels of more rough and tumble play. Usually, however,
gender differences in type of play reflect differences in content and themes rather than
more basic differences. For example, Lever (1976) showed that both boys and girls
played outdoors and played competitively but that boys were more likely to play football
and girls rope games and, whereas both played competitively, the competition was more
explicit in boys games than in girls.
A great deal of research has been done recently on the manner in which children in the
west actively maintain same-sex and avoid other-sex interaction in middle childhood. To
begin with there is considerable stigmatization of children, particularly boys, who cross
sex boundaries. Related to this is the phenomenon whereby shy and marginal boys may
be teased and mocked as being ‘sissy’ or sometimes in the American setting ‘fags’
 Sugar and spice 75

(Unger and Crawford, 1992)6. Furthermore boys and girls maintain group boundaries by
cross-sex chasing. Such chasing is sometimes explicitly reinforced by remarks like (from
girls) ‘we don’t want any smelly boys with us’ or (from boys) remarks like ‘girls are such
babies’. In the face of such public disapproval of cross-sex interaction it is interesting that
privately, at home or in small secure neighbourhoods, cross-gender friendships
sometimes continue to flourish.
Such friendships, however, are exceptional and generally in social, home and school
situations most children show fairly strong sex-typed behaviour at this period. This is not
surprising because research indicates that sex-appropriate behaviour continues to be
rewarded and sex-inappropriate behaviour continues to be treated negatively not only as
indicated above by peers, but also by parents and teachers (Smith, 1986). As before, this
sex-type shaping of behaviour is more marked for boys than girls.

Adolescence

General issues
As children grow older, while girls continue to have more freedom than boys to cross
sex-role boundaries it seems that for most girls doing so begins to conflict with a growing
sense of the importance of being feminine. For example, interest in outdoor activities and
sports decline for both sexes as they grow older but this is more marked for girls
(Newson and Newson, 1986) and tolerance of tomboyish behaviour decreases. For very
many girls the focus moves towards activities concerned with establishing an attractive
physical identity.
As will be discussed in more detail in chapter 7 the pressures on young women to
conform to cultural stereotypes of physical attraction have not diminished appreciably in
recent years. The contemporary emphasis on the need for all women to be physically
presentable is probably related to what has been called the ‘superwoman’ (Conran, 1991)
phenomenon whereby there is pressure on women to excel in all ways. This pressure can
be contrasted with cultural expectations in the early years and middle years of this
century when there was a marked divergence between the two roles of ‘traditional
woman’ and ‘working/new woman’. Because of this a woman who was aspiring to a
serious career could afford to pay relatively little attention to the need to also present
herself as glamorous. Instead she could present herself as what was termed a ‘blue
stocking’—a woman not particularly concerned with her appearance. Currently, however,
partly because of cultural concerns with image and style, a woman who shows little
interest in her appearance is unlikely to succeed in the very competitive labour market or
be regarded as interested in relationships with men.
This cultural emphasis on physical appearance is shown by many surveys of
adolescents which indicate that adolescents are concerned with their appearance. Young
women are more likely than young men to express dissatisfaction with their physical
appearance (Offer et al. 1988) but this gender imbalance is beginning to be eroded to
some extent as advertising agencies have begun to target the male as well as the female
market.
Physical appearance, however, is not the only area where surveys have indicated
gender differences in the concerns of adolescence. The kind of issues which show gender
divergence are illustrated by a recent large-scale survey undertaken in Australia by Glen
 Gender, sex and sexuality 76

Evans and Millicent Poole (1991) who surveyed using both interviews and questionnaire,
a representative sample of 559 adolescents and young people in further and higher
education, in employment and also currently unemployed. Evans and Poole reported that
with respect to how they thought about themselves, young women—more than young
men—rated themselves as high on attributes concerned with what the authors called
‘responsibility’ (concern for others, honesty, reliability, trying hard, careful and tidy); on
being outgoing; on seeing home life as important and in being prepared to seek help from
peers and books. Young women, more often than men, also gave personal development
and personal relationships as a reason for their most important life concerns whereas
young men, more than women, gave jobs and money as reasons for their most important
life concerns. In terms of what they wanted from jobs, young women placed more stress
on interactions with others and less stress on understanding all aspects of the job whereas
young men placed more stress on understanding all aspects of their work and also seemed
more concerned with the extent to which work imposed control and structure on their
lives.
Similarily in another large-scale survey, this time in the UK, Banks et al. (1992)
showed gender differences in attitudes to work in that young women were more likely to
believe that their future work patterns would be affected by family needs.
These surveys agree with other large-scale studies which indicate that by early
adulthood young women have a life perspective that is based more on relationships with
others, while young men’s perspective tends to focus more on individual achievement.
It must be stressed, however, that these are overall findings relating to the general
population and that within particular subgroups such as, for example, the 200 advanced
business students surveyed in a study conducted by Beutell and Brenner in the USA, such
gender differences may not be observed. Results of this study indicated that, contrary to
most previous studies, men reported higher needs than women for security and leisure
time while women reported higher needs for achievement and continued growth in skills
and knowledge (Unger and Crawford; 1992). In the next chapter gender differences and
similarities with respect to careers and achievement will be considered in more detail, but
at this stage it is important to note that these appear to be diminishing (Banks et al. 1992).
While surveys indicate that most adolescents are both interested and concerned about
their future prospects in the educational and/or employment sphere, their concerns are
equally with their social and sexual relationships and it is to these that we will now turn.

Friendships and leisure activities

Generally, research in the past has suggested that during adolescence girls tend to have
fewer friends than boys but these friendships tend to be more intimate and confiding
(Banks et al. 1992). It has also been suggested that both sexes report that their friends are
of the same sex as themselves. Recently, gender distinctions with respect to friends have
become less marked, both because boys are more prepared than they were in the past to
talk confidentially and openly to close friends and also because both sexes show a
growing tendency to have friends of both sexes (Beutell and Brenner, 1986).
A number of research studies have focused particularly on the leisure pursuits of
young people in Britain and over the years these have also shown a blurring of gender
distinctions. Those conducted in the 1970s and early 1980s tended to report a sharply
contrasting picture of the social life of the sexes. Young men were presented as being
 Sugar and spice 77

more involved not only in youth clubs and sports but also, particularly in the case of
working class youths, as being more strongly influenced by what were termed ‘youth
subcultures’; a term used to describe an implicitly rebellious posture towards accepted
social values, which revolved around street life, alcohol, drugs and strong identification
with particular musical styles such as rock and punk (Hebdidge, 1979). Young women on
the other hand were presented as not only having fewer but more intense friends than
boys, but also as being more home based: involved in a bedroom culture of listening to
music at home, talking about boys and pop stars with occasional forays into clubs and
discos (McRobbie and Garber, 1976).
More recent studies have shown a blurring and reappraisal of these gender differences.
For example, studies have shown that some girls often take more part in leisure activities
outside the home than boys (Smith, 1978) while others have reappraised the earlier
studies of working class youth and have suggested that the reasons young women were
shown to be more home-based than their male peers were less related to interest and
inclination than to ‘gender subordination’. This term is used by Sue Lees, for instance,
with reference to her argument that girls are less likely to be out on the streets than boys
because not only is street life more dangerous for girls but also because being out on the
streets, unless it is with a boyfriend, lays a girl open to being regarded as a ‘slag’ (Lees,
1986).
In general most studies of young people in the western world have until recently
suggested the earlier involvement of girls in dating and courtship. However, a large-scale
recent study in Britain has once again shown a blurring of gender differences in that, by
the age of 16, significant proportions of boys as well as girls have a girlfriend or
boyfriend. Having a boyfriend or girlfriend tends to reduce the time spent with friendship
groups and family. Normally this still seems to happen earlier with girls than boys but, as
with most of such gender effects, other variables such as level of education and
employment status also play a part (Banks et al., 1992). Indeed, what is striking about
recent studies conducted with adolescents is the extent to which social class and
education, rather than gender, contribute to differences amongst respondents.

Sexuality and sexual behaviour

I like girls who are good looking, nice personality and not too mouthy—
don’t two-time you.
British schoolboy talking in the 1980s, Wood (1984)

(The type of boy to look out for)

If they’re kind and they chat alright and they’re just kind to you…
If he doesn’t go around hitting and punching you as some boys do.
British schoolgirl talking in the 1980s, Lees (1986, p. 108)

Most studies of sexual behaviour in adolesence agree on two major propositions. First,
that young people begin to be sexually active at earlier ages than in the past and, second,
that there are considerable gender differences in attitudes to sexuality though such
differences are less marked than they were in the past.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 78

Despite the advent of AIDS and the risk of HIV infection, many adolescents in Britain
become sexually active when they are still at school. A recent study surveyed 400 15–21
year olds and found that nearly half of them (45 per cent of the girls and 49 per cent of
the boys) had had sexual intercourse by the time they were 16 and 89 per cent, of both
sexes, by the time they were 21 (Bowie and Ford, 1989). Despite the lowering in the age
when sexual intercourse takes place, there is little evidence to support the notion that
promiscuity has increased in that a number of studies have indicated that most young
people believe that sexual behaviour should only take place within a loving relationship
(Farrell, 1978). Nevertheless there are indications that, in general, young women are both
less likely to indulge in casual sex (Spears et al. 1991), are much less comfortable with
the idea of casual sex and are more inclined to state that they take the dangers of AIDS
seriously than are young men (Banks et al. 1992).
American studies also suggest that earlier first intercourse for both sexes is associated
with smoking, drinking and drug use and that the association between drug use and the
early first intercourse is stronger for young women than for young men. McCammon et
al. (1993) suggest that this may indicate a relationship between unanswered emotional
and social needs with early sexual activity, particularly in the case of women.

Sexuality and reputation

A boy can be called a stud and people like and respect him…they can be
doing just what they want and if they are called a stud…they think it’s a
compliment… It’s a sort of status symbol…

One thing I noticed there are not many names you can call a boy…

You can be called bitch, slag, slut…

British schoolgirls talking in the 1980s, Lees (1986, p. 32)

Guys can go around and screw a lot of girls, and they look macho, but
when a girl does it she looks a slut.
Sixteen-year old American schoolgirl, Coles (1985)

Historically and traditionally in the great majority of societies a double standard of sexual
behaviour has prevailed. Sexuality in men, outside the bonds of monogomy, has been
condoned and often celebrated; in women it has been condemned and often punished. As
we will see in chapter 7, current attitudes to sexual morality and practice indicate that in
recent years it has become more permissable for women to express their sexuality, and
there is little doubt that young women today are sexually active at earlier ages than in the
past. Nevertheless, in early and middle adolescence many girls express concern about
their sexual reputation and, while the double standard is no longer as powerful as it was
in the case of adult sexuality, in adolescence gender differences in the extent to which
sexuality can be overtly displayed persist. Thus, according to Sue Lees (1986), it is
somehow wrong and horrible for a young girl to invite sexual activity but somehow
natural for a boy to encourage her.
 Sugar and spice 79

However, while overt displays of male heterosexuality may be encouraged, any

behaviour in young men that suggests homosexuality will be roundly condemned and
boys who are are too friendly with girls or who are seen as feminine run the risk of being
‘called poofters and sissies’ and being ‘constantly likened to girls’ (Spender, 1982).
Consequently, the preservation of sexual reputation in adolescence may be problematic
for boys as well as girls and, for both sexes, such concerns may be made more
problematic and more pressing if the individual concerned is not heterosexual.
Reviewing gender development in adolescence it seems clear that in many ways
gender differences are diminishing. For example, attitudes to work and careers are
probably influenced as much by social class as by gender, and leisure pursuits are far less
affected by gender than in the past. Young men as well as young women are also now
being bombarded with messages from the media that stress the importance of physical
appearance, as we shall see in the next chapter. Furthermore sexual behaviour, for
example the age at which a steady boyfriend/girlfriend is acquired, is also more similar
for the sexes than it was in the past. In addition adolescents, unlike children of younger
ages, very often explicitly dispute the sex-typing of careers and leisure activities.
It might be argued then that the social environment no longer plays such a powerful
role in shaping sex-typed behaviour and attitudes during adolescence, and that as a result
it can no longer be claimed that sex differences are largely due to socialization. However,
I believe this view to be mistaken. This is because, while explicitly the emphasis in
schools and in many, but not of course all, homes may be that both males and females
can choose the careers and behave in the manner that suits them as individuals, implicit
messages may continue to support gender schema that are very different. Noticeably, for
example, in the context of sexuality where as we have seen the double standard continues
to play an important part in the way adolescents think about their world.

Developmental trajectories: what can we conclude?

In the beginning of this chapter theoretical approaches to gender that stress the role of
nurture rather than nature and that emphasise the role of socialization processes were
outlined. Following that a large number of empirical studies were reviewed which
indicate the extent to which variables in the social environment, particularly the attitudes
and behaviour of adults, continue to exert pressure for the sex-typing of behaviour in
children as they grow up. The discussion also indicated the extent to which children and
young people themselves police their own behaviour at different times and to different
extents in conformity with the external pressures.
Consequently, gender differences are affected by a number of the processes discussed
in the first part of this chapter. There is no doubt that social learning does contribute in
terms of the differential rewards offered to sex-typed versus non sex-typed behaviour,
particularly when boys are young, and with respect to sexuality as girls grow older. It
also seems clear that children acquire gender identity very early and that as a
consequence most children actively, particularly when they are young, seek approbation
by behaving in accordance with the sex-typing they see around them. However, the
evidence now suggests that as children move into adolescence the sex typing of
behaviour, interests and values becomes less salient and variables such as social class,
 Gender, sex and sexuality 80

education and employment status become more influential. Nevertheless, as the next
chapters will continue to demonstrate, there is little doubt that as a result of social
learning, acquiring gender identity and living in a highly sex-typed society, no matter
how we might seek to modify those lenses, most of us continue to observe both ourselves
and others through gender-polarized lenses, though there may be a great deal of variation
in the extent to which we do so (Lott, 1990).

Notes
1. For a critique of the behavioural approach with particular reference to gender, see Hare-
Mustin and Maracek (1990).
2. Details of moves to reduce stereotyping in children’s fictions can be obtained from The Book
Trust, 45 East Hill, London SW18 2QZ.
3. Further, with the advent of new technology that enables the sex of unborn babies to be
identified, there have been a number of reports in the press, of the abortion of girl babies.
Reports have also been made of medical practioners opening clinics devoted to guaranteeing
the conception of boy rather than girl babies.
4. Trevarthen (1993) indicates that his studies show same sex preference at earlier stages than
this in that babies prefer to look at films and photographs of same sex babies.
5. Rough and tumble play is a term used in both animal and human studies to describe very
physical and boisterous play.
6. As Unger and Crawford (1992) point out, young children may not be completely aware of the
adult meaning of this term.
 Chapter 5
Poles Apart? Abilities, Attributes and
Social Behaviour
When I attended Eton in the 1970s boys had their pubic
hair sprayed silver, were thrown into hot baths or stripped
naked and smeared with potions whose recipes do not bear
repetition. Over the next few decades, these boys will go
on to become Cabinet ministers, generals, bishops, bankers
and pillars of the establishment…
David Thomas (1993, p. 53)

We must start with the realization that, as much as women

want to be good scientists or engineers, they want first and
foremost to be womanly companions of men and to be
mothers.
Bruno Bettelheim (1984)

The content of the last chapter was concerned in the main with what has been called
traditional or mainstream psychological approaches to the study of sex and gender with
the discussion focusing on theoretical approaches and developmental studies. In this
chapter the stress continues to fall on mainstream approaches, exploring what has been
perhaps the major preoccupation of traditional approaches to sex and gender. This is the
study of sex differences in abilities, attributes and social behaviour.
As noted in chapter 1, the vision of male and female as different and opposite not only
permeates western culture but also transcends it because it has characterized most known
cultures. Related to the vision of the sexes as different is the notion that, as a result of this
opposition, males and females have mutually exclusive attributes and qualities. In
delineating the poles of this opposition there is some degree of consistency across most
cultures. Most notably in terms of the activities that have been characteristic of the sexes.
In general, women have tended the children and engaged in small scale agricultural work
remaining inextricably linked to domesticity. Men, on the other hand, have been less
tethered to the domestic hearth. Usually, if a society’s economy included hunting large
game, men have been the primary hunters; if the economy utilized mining and the
processing of hard metals, men have been the miners and metal workers, and traditionally
men have fought the wars (D’Andrade, 1966). Not surprisingly, then, the sexes have been
ascribed those attributes that most contribute to these activities; women the attributes of
 Gender, sex and sexuality 82

compassion and passivity, men the attributes of aggressiveness, activity and curiosity
(Williams and Best, 1990).
However, even if in the past men fought the wars, there have certainly been female
military tacticians such as Boadicea and Elizabeth I. In this century we have also seen
women fighting: in the Wars of Independence in countries like Zimbabwe and
Mozambique, in Israel and even in World War II when women fought as soldiers in the
USSR. In this century, too, women like Golda Meir, Indira Gandhi and Margaret
Thatcher have demonstrated that women can lead as effectively as men. Indeed the fact
that women can rule as effectively, and sometimes as despotically, as men had already
been demonstrated long before this century by monarchs such as Catherine the First of
Russia.
Furthermore, women like Anita Roddick of The Body Shop have shown that in the
contemporary world of finance women can initiate and control large financial concerns.
In non-western settings, for example in west Africa, there is a long tradition of powerful,
wealthy and successful women traders and entrepreneurs.
Such exceptions to women’s traditional roles have tended to occur when there have
been loopholes in men’s power. For example, when a woman succeeded to the throne or
inherited the symbolic mantle of a male relative, as in the case of Nehru’s daughter,
Indira Gandhi. Similarly the emergence of women traders in west Africa can be seen as
linked to periods of transition in the history of slavery and colonialism when women were
able to seize the initiative as the structure of the economy shifted.1
I would argue that these exceptions point to a proposition that will be developed
further both in this and the next chapter. This is that male and female differences in
behaviour are as much linked to power imbalances between the sexes as to psychological
differences between them. In general, this proposition has not been considered by
mainstream psychologists who have until very recently attributed sex differences in
behaviour to fundamental differences in the abilities and attributes of the sexes. This
 Poles apart? 83

chapter documents this mainstream psychological tradition focusing in turn on the

following areas: physical, cognitive and social behaviour. In this discussion we will be
returning to some areas that were briefly discussed in chapter 3 when we looked at socio-
biological approaches to sex and gender.
In this chapter the term ‘sex differences’ will be used rather than ‘gender differences’
because the great majority of the studies referred to were carried out within the
mainstream psychological tradition of categorizing in terms of sex rather than gender.

Physical differences between the sexes

The arms of the men are almost as free of heavy muscle as

those of the women, yet the potentiality for the
development of heavy muscle is there; when Balinese
work as dock-coolies…their muscles develop and harden.
But in their own villages they prefer to carry rather than to
lift, and to summon many hands to every task… If we
knew no other people than the Balinese we would never
guess that men were so made that they could develop
heavy muscles.
Margaret Mead, writing about Balinese men quoted by
(Fausto-Sterling, 1992, p. 217)

Strength and size

Throughout the life span there are differences between the sexes in physical growth and
development. At birth boys tend to be bigger and throughout childhood they tend to be
both taller and heavier than girls. At about 11 years of age, however, the direction of the
differences change, because the growth spurt which is characteristic of puberty occurs
about two years earlier for girls than for boys. As a result, for a year or two, around 12 to
13, girls are on average taller and heavier than boys. These differences in size aside, there
are minimal body differences between the sexes before puberty, except of course for
differences in the genitalia.
Boys are, however, more likely to suffer greater morbidity, that is to suffer more from
illnesses, and indeed to die than girls and this tendency for males to die at a younger age
than females occurs throughout the life span. It is generally agreed that there are two
major causes for these differences in morbidity and mortality. First, men are more likely
to take risks and as a result are more likely to die in accidents or fights, from smoking
and from alcoholism. Second, their lower resistance, in general, to disease can be
ascribed to genetic differences linked to the nature of the X chromosome, of which
women have two and men one.2
While the life expectancy of men is lower than that of women, they are in general
physically stronger and as a result men tend to outdo women in almost all sports and
athletic events. The one athletic event that women do excel in is marathon swimming
where women’s greater body fat provides superior buoyancy and protection against the
cold. While there is no doubt that these sex differences in attainment in sport are
 Gender, sex and sexuality 84

ascribable largely to sex differences in both strength and in physique, there are also
indications that culture may also play a part. For example, in what was East Germany,
where training and coaching methods differed less for the sexes than anywhere else in the
world, the size of sex differences in sports like swimming was considerably smaller than
in the rest of the world (Fausto-Sterling, 1992).

Rough and tumble play

‘William! you’ve been playing that dreadful game again!’

said Mrs. Brown despairingly. William, his suit covered
with dust, his tie under one ear, his face begrimed and his
knee cut, looked at her in righteous indignation.
‘I haven’t…’
From Just-William by Richmal Crompton (1992)

In the last chapter it was noted that in many parts of the world, particularly in early and
middle childhood, children tend to play in same-sex groups. It has been suggested that the
chief reason for this is that there are innate sex differences in play patterns. In particular,
it has been claimed that boys are innately more disposed to rough and tumble play than
girls. The term ‘rough and tumble’ is seldom tightly defined but in general it is used to
describe energetic and boisterous play.
Evidence for this conclusion is somewhat tenuous. The first strand of such evidence
derives from studies of the play patterns of other species, particularly primates. Some of
these studies have indicated that the level of activity in young primates is influenced by
androgens, the male hormone. It is also worth noting, however, that other studies of
primate behaviour have shown that the level of rough and tumble play is affected by the
social composition of the group as well as by the sex of the young animal. For example,
Goldfoot and Neff (1978) investigated the level of rough and tumble play in juvenile
female rhesus monkeys living in five member groups. This form of play is rare among
females living in all-female groups. However the researchers found that it was
considerably commoner in females in one-male, four-female groups and lower again in
females living in two-male, three-female groups. The researchers suggest that this is
because males initiate the activity and select male partners for it. If no male partner is
available they engage a female in such play. Thus it can be seen that sex differences in
rough and tumble behaviour is not entirely controlled by biological variables even in the
case of non-human species.
The second strand of evidence relates to studies of children. Studies of sex differences
show no consistent sex differences in activity in infancy but some observational studies
have claimed that in early childhood boys show higher levels of rough and tumble play
than girls (Smith, 1978). The problem here is that because the term rough and tumble is
very imprecise, different studies use different indices for labelling play patterns as rough
and tumble. In general, in early childhood, as in infancy, there are no consistent sex
differences in activity level but boys are more likely than girls to wrestle and play fight
(Tavris and Wade, 1984). It is not clear, however, that such sex differences are innate
 Poles apart? 85

because, as we have already seen in the previous chapter, adults particularly fathers
interact differently with boys and girls. It is equally feasible that if boys do show a
greater propensity for rough play, this may be due to the fact that, as infants, boys are
likely to have experienced rougher handling in play than girls.

Cognitive differences

If we wish a woman to fulfil her task of motherhood fully,

she cannot possess a masculine brain. If the feminine
abilities were developed to the same degree as those of a
male, woman’s maternal organs would suffer and we
would have a repulsive and useless hybrid. P.J.Moebious,
1907, in Concerning the Physiological Intellectual
Feebleness of Women, (Starr, 1991, p. 195)

While in recent years there has been something of a backlash to feminism, it would be a
brave individual who would challenge the right of girls to equality in education during
the school years. Yet, the acceptance of that right is really only comparatively recent. In
the nineteenth century it was widely held that education for females would inevitably
lead to unpleasant physical and mental consequences. This viewpoint is encapsulated by
the quote at the beginning of this subsection.
Nineteenth century views on sex differences were heavily influenced by Darwinian
theory with its focus on the differences between species and groups (Hyde, 1990).
Attention was focused particularly on brain size which was regarded as being linked to
intelligence. The further corollary was that as women’s heads and brains are smaller than
men’s, women must be less intelligent than men. As already indicated in chapter 3,
studies documenting such differences were seriously flawed and by the beginning of the
twentieth century were seldom quoted.
It was at this period that the mental testing movement began to take off. Founders of
this movement like Alfred Binet in France (Binet and Simon, 1912) and Lewis Terman in
the USA (1916) were not particularly concerned with sex differences and it was only in
the 1930s and the 1940s that attention returned to sex differences in mental abilities. This
was caused in part by the fact that views on the nature of intelligence had changed. Early
theorists such as Terman had believed that intelligence could be measured and expressed
as a single figure IQ—intelligence quotient—score, but researchers working in the 30s
and 40s such as Thurstone (1938) regarded intelligence as multifactorial, i.e. having a
number of different components. When such researchers began testing large groups of
subjects on their multifactorial tests, they also began to look for sex differences in the
resulting scores and by the mid-60s literally thousands of studies documenting sex
differences on mental tests had been published.
In 1974 Eleanor Maccoby and Carole Nagy Jacklin published a monumental review
and assessment of studies which had investigated sex differences. With respect to sex
differences on mental tests they concluded that these had been established in three areas:
females show greater verbal ability and males greater ability at mathematics and at tasks
 Gender, sex and sexuality 86

requiring spatial ability. As already indicated in chapter 3, spatial ability has been defined
as the ability to represent two dimensional and three dimensional configurations in the
brain.
While Maccoby and Jacklin’s book was a pioneering attempt to codify and assess sex
differences, it has been substantially criticized (Block, 1976). These critiques have
focused mainly on the criteria they used to decide whether the percentage of studies
indicating a particular difference was sufficiently large to conclude that there was an
established sex difference. Following on such criticisms a new statistical technique was
applied to reviews of studies of sex differences. This technique is known as meta-
analysis and it has radically altered the assessment of sex differences within mainstream
psychology.
In the first stage of a meta-analysis, studies concerning the area are collected. In the
second stage, a statistical analysis is then computed on each study which compares the
difference between the sexes to the difference within each sex group. This improves on
past methods because past methods only established whether there was a gender
difference whereas this new method indicates how large the difference between the sexes
is in real terms. In other words it recognizes that each sex is not homogeneous and it
compares the variability between males and females with the extent to which males differ
from each other and females differ from each other. In the third stage the statistics
derived from the individual studies are aggregated and in the fourth stage the statistic
derived from this aggregation is assessed with reference to one or more defined criteria.
Although the criteria chosen do differ, they are clearly designated and usually allow us to
draw a conclusion as to whether the effect of the variable under investigation (in this case
gender) is more, less or equally powerful than the effect of other variables such as social
class or attitudes. A further conclusion may be made as to whether differences between
men and women are greater, equal or less than differences within samples of women and
men.3

Verbal abilities

Girls begin to talk and to stand on their feet sooner than

boys because weeds always grow up more quickly than
good crops.
Martin Luther, in Table Talk, 1533 (Starr, 1991, p. 36)

A widely prevalent view holds that women talk more than men. There is no evidence to
support this stereotype nor the linked one that women gossip more than men (Tavris and
Wade, 1984). There are, however, indications that women and men do differ in the ways
they use language in social situations and we shall return to these differences later. This
section is concerned, however, not with the social use of language but with the studies
that have attempted to measure sex differences in verbal ability.
Studies which have attempted to assess such differences have focused on a wide
variety of indices including measures of articulation, spelling, punctuation, sentence
completion, vocabulary size, ability to name objects, sentence complexity and fluency.
 Poles apart? 87

They have also attempted to assess differences on more sophisticated criteria like reading
comprehension, creative writing and the use of language in logical reasoning.
In their 1974 review of such studies Maccoby and Jacklin summarized the results of
85 studies and concluded that in very early childhood girls’ abilities mature somewhat
more quickly than boys. They also concluded that following infancy boys and girls are
then similar in verbal ability until about 11 years of age when girls move ahead of boys.
This view of sex differences in verbal ability has held until very recently and has been
accompanied by a general acceptance that at all ages boys are more liable than girls to
experience severe reading difficulties (Unger and Crawford, 1992).
Recently, however, Janet Hyde and Marcia Linn (1988) performed a metaanalysis on
gender differences in verbal abilities. In this study 165 studies were evaluated and it was
concluded that the resulting statistic of female superiority was so small as to indicate no
meaningful sex differences in verbal abilities. This conclusion is now generally accepted
and as Plomin and Foch have noted about children in general: ‘If all we know about a
child is the child’s sex, we know very little about the child’s verbal ability’ (Fausto-
Sterling, 1992, p. 30).
It should be remembered, however, that the finding that more boys than girls
experience severe verbal problems has not been contested. Two causes have been
suggested for this finding. First, as has already been indicated, in general more boys than
girls are likely to suffer from pathological conditions and thus boys are more likely than
girls to stutter or be diagnosed as dyslexic. Both of these conditions may affect verbal
performance.4 It has also been suggested that in primary schools, teachers are likely to
find boys’ social behaviour less acceptable than girls’ and this may affect the extent to
which boys are moved out of mainstream classrooms and into remedial situations.

Mathematical ability

As a mathematics teacher with over 25 years in dealing

with female pupils and female mathematics teachers, I do
have direct evidence…mathematics is the water in which
all intellectual creativity must mix or survive. Females, by
their very nature, are oleaginous (oily) creatures in this
regard. Or…as the song says, ‘Girls just wanna have fun’.
American high school teacher, 1984 (Fausto-Sterling,
1992, p. 14)

In their 1974 survey of gender differences, Maccoby and Jacklin reported male
superiority in mathematical abilities. Male superiority was also confirmed in a meta-
analysis performed by Hyde in 1981 (Mullen, 1993) although as Hyde (1990) later
concluded this superiority was ‘not as large as the prominence of such findings in reviews
and textbooks would indicate’. Subsequent meta-analyses, however, have indicated little
support for male superiority in mathematics.
In addition to meta-analyses, which include all studies including some very small-
scale ones, there is another powerful source of data in this area. This derives from the
 Gender, sex and sexuality 88

research which has been conducted on sex differences in performance at standardized

mathematical tests during the school years.
Turning first to the recent American research, this has indicated that girls’
mathematics performance outstrips boys at primary school ages; that there are usually no
sex differences in mathematical skills during the intermediate years of schooling; but that
by the end of high school males have the advantage.5
British research has until recently shown somewhat similar findings, indicating no
evidence for male superiority until the latter years at secondary schools. However, within
the past 15 years the difference between male and female performance in secondary
school mathematics has decreased and boys now only do marginally better than girls at
mathematics at GCSE.6 These recent results certainly do not point to an innate superiority
for males in this area. Nevertheless, the stereotype that females are fundamentally less
able than males at mathematics persists.7 Belief in this stereotype has been fuelled by
recent research on sex differences in the brain. This research has focused particularly on
the effects of reported sex differences in the brain on an ability that is commonly
regarded as underlying many mathematical tasks—spatial ability.

Spatial abilities
In the area of sex differences in abilities this aspect of cognitive functioning has received
more attention than any other with most reviews concluding that ‘males have superior
spatial ability’. Although this term ‘spatial ability’ has been used earlier in this book for
the sake of convenience, it is clear that in fact it is inaccurate to talk about ‘spatial ability’
in the singular because there is little doubt that there is no one clearcut and easily
identifiable ability underlying the manner in which we perceive and mentally manipulate
our visual images (Hyde, 1990).
The initial aim of this section is to differentiate between different spatial abilities and
to indicate the extent to which sex differences in such abilities have been established.
Following on from this the evidence will be examined that sex differences in these areas
are caused by innate physiological differences between the sexes. Finally consideration
will be given to the effect of environmental factors on sex differences in this area.
Literally hundred of tasks have been used to test spatial abilities. Not surprisingly,
then, there is a degree of controversy surrounding the manner in which such tests can be
grouped (Unger and Crawford, 1992). Some commentators even question whether the
notion of spatial abilities is a useful psychological concept (Caplan et al. 1985, pp. 786–
799). Most reviewers, however, retain the tripartite demarcation of spatial abilities
suggested by Linn and Petersen (1985) in their meta-analysis of sex differences in this
area—spatial perception, mental rotation and spatial visualization.
Spatial perception tasks require the test-taker to extract aspects of spatial information
without being influenced by its perceptual context. One particular set of spatial tasks was
developed by Witkin et al. (1962). Performance at these tasks was taken by Witkin to be
a measure of field independence. Witkin claimed that people who score highly on tests of
field independence are more analytical, more active and less conforming than people who
obtain low scores. Despite the fact that most studies show no sex differences on this task,
and despite the lack of evidence linking performance at this task to other attributes such
as analytical reasoning, (Siann and Ugwuebu, 1988) Witkin and his associates built up an
 Poles apart? 89

elaborate theory of sex differences based on the belief that women are usually less field
independent than men and that they are as a result less analytical, more passive and more
conformist than men. While Witkin’s approach received general credence in the past, in
recent years its influence has declined considerably.
Generally gender differences are not shown on some tests of spatial perception such as
Witkin’s tasks, but sex differences have been shown on other tasks of spatial perception
such as the water-level task,8 as well as on some, but not all, tests of the second and third
aspects of spatial ability demarcated by Linn and Petersen (1985), mental rotation and
spatial visualization. There is considerable variation, however, both in the size of these
gender differences and in the ages at which they appear. Gender differences are also less
likely to appear in complex tasks of spatial visualization. It is also important to note that
in the spatial tests which are administered on a nationwide basis in the USA, as part of
college entrance requirements for example, differences between the sexes are diminishing
appreciably, showing a 59 per cent decline over 40 years (Feingold, 1988).
The fact that gender differences on tasks of spatial abilities are diminishing suggests
that these differences are not innate, nevertheless a considerable body of opinion exists
which argues for innate causation. Let us briefly sum up these opposing positions starting
with the claim that the differences are innate.

Innate sex differences in spatial abilities

Perhaps the most eminent exponent of innate sex differences in spatial ability is Doreen
Kimura (1992) who has argued in a recent review that ‘different patterns of ability
between men and women most probably reflect different hormonal influences on their
developing brain’. Much of the research she cites in support of this contention is indirect.
This indirect evidence is from two sources: studies performed on rats and studies
performed with homosexuals in which she cites evidence of differences reported on male
homosexual brains compared to male heterosexual brains at autopsy. She then links this
brain difference to studies that show male homosexuals perform worse at some spatial
tests than male heterosexuals arguing that both women and male homosexuals perform
worse at spatial tests than male heterosexuals because of similarity in their brain
structure. She argues that this link between brain physiology, sexuality and test
performance is ‘exciting’ in that it suggests that male homosexuals not only differ from
heterosexuals because aspects of their brain function are different but also that this
difference in brain function affects cognitive abilities. She does concede, however, that
interests, experience and other motivational factors may also account for the differences
in test performance between hetero- and homosexual males.
Other studies which she cites are more direct. These are of two types. The first type
are concerned with linking the measurement of the levels of androgen (male hormone) in
heterosexual males and females with their performance on spatial tests. The results of
such studies are, however, inconsistent (Shute, 1983). In one, for example, more
masculine women, as measured by androgen level, performed better at tests of spatial
ability (in line with her hypothesis) but in the case of men the opposite was found, i.e.
more masculine men performed worse than less masculine men (which was not in line
with her hypothesis).
The second set of direct studies are those concerned with the hemispheric
lateralization of the brain. It has been argued that men’s brains are more highly
 Gender, sex and sexuality 90

lateralized than women’s and that the more lateralized the brain, the better the person will
be at spatial tasks. Thus providing a biological base for sex differences in spatial abilities.
However, the studies on which these contentions are based are poorly documented, based
on small numbers and inconsistent (Caplan et al. 1985).
The evidence, cited by Kimura and summarized above, does not lead me to believe
that there is, as yet, convincing evidence that the documented sex differences in spatial
ability are caused by innate sex differences in the brain. Nevertheless the fact that there is
as yet no convincing evidence for such innate causation does not imply that it can be
ruled out. However, even if such innate causation were to be convincingly demonstrated,
meta-analyses indicate that such causation would account for only a small amount of the
variation in performance in tests of spatial abilities (Fausto-Sterling, 1992).

Socio-cultural effects on sex differences

In contrast to the contention that the observed sex differences in spatial tests are due to
innate sex differences in the brain, is the contention that sociocultural factors are likely to
be implicated in these sex differences in spatial abilities. There is in fact a large body of
research which appears to support this latter contention. To begin with the toys that
children are given tend to be sex-typed and boys are more frequently given toys which
provide training in spatial skills such as construction kits than are girls (Unger and
Crawford, 1992). Boys are also allowed more freedom in their movements than girls and
a number of studies indicate that ability to follow maps and visualize unfamiliar
environments when constructing maps is related to the extent to which children are given
opportunities to move around and learn about their neighbourhoods (Matthews, 1987).
The content of spatial ability tasks may also play a part in the genesis of sex
differences because many spatial tests consist of items that are stereotypically masculine
in nature. For example, steering speedboats and the mental manipulation of the kind of
geometric shapes associated with woodwork (Siann and Ugwuegbu, 1988). A number of
studies have shown a relationship between item type and gender. In one such study
Crawford et al. (1989) showed that women scored better at memorizing the kind of
spatial tasks required when the tasks were connected with making a shirt whereas men
scored better when the same tasks were connected with making a workbench.
There are also a number of studies which link sex differences on spatial ability with
other motivational factors. For instance some studies indicate that women whose self
concepts are less sex-typed as stereotypically feminine score better on spatial tests than
women with more stereotypically feminine sex-typed self concepts (Krasnoff et al. 1989,
Signorella et al. 1989). In concordance with such findings my own research showed that
in a sample of Scottish secondary schoolgirls, those who were keener to pursue careers
throughout their lifetime performed better at spatial tasks than those who predicted that
they would give up work when their children were small (Siann, 1977).
If, as suggested above, motivational factors and experience can affect performance at
spatial tasks, it is not surprising to find that training in spatial skills improves the
performance at spatial tasks for both sexes—in some cases in such a way as to wipe out
boys’ previous superiority at the tasks (Conner and Serbin, 1985). There is no doubt,
then, that there is a great deal of evidence pointing to the effect of socio-cultural
influences on sex differences in spatial ability. This effect can also be seen in the
variability in which sex differences in spatial abilities are reported across cultures. For
 Poles apart? 91

example, a number of studies have shown no gender differences in spatial abilities in

some Third World societies (Siann, 1977). Furthermore, in some east European societies
more women are admitted into engineering faculties than men and engineering is
regarded as a profession or vocation in which spatial abilities play a most important role
(Durndell, 1992).
Nevertheless, it cannot be gainsaid that sex differences in spatial abilities are the most
consistently reported sex differences in ability and because of this consistency sex
differences in both spatial and mathematical abilities continue to receive a great deal of
attention in the media. A central focus of the research concerns the causation of such
differences and the interest almost invariably centres on studies which implicate biology
rather than social factors as the major causal factor. Feminist commentators have
frequently pointed to the fact that such studies are often used to justify the low numbers
of women in professions such as engineering and the higher levels in computing. They
argue further that this orientation towards the possible biological causation of cognitive
differences moves attention away from continuing gender inequalities in educational and
vocational provision. It is to these areas that we shall now move asking whether
education, vocational guidance and management practice serve to intensify sex
differences in achievement.

Education, careers and employment

Education

Educating a woman is like pouring honey over a fine

Swiss watch. It stops working.
The American novelist, Kurt Vonnegut (Starr, 1991, p.
200)

That many, if not most, teachers treat boys and girls differently is beyond dispute. In the
early years teachers have been shown to implicitly reinforce sex-typed behaviour. For
example Serbin and O’Leary (1975) showed in an observational study that the kind of
attention boys got promotes their self-reliance while interaction with girls promotes
dependent behaviour. Many studies at the primary school level confirm their finding that
in general girls receive praise and encouragement for behaving well socially while boys
are more likely to be admonished for rowdy behaviour. If, as has been suggested,
children seek attention, it is not surprising then that the sex-typing of girls as relatively
docile and passive and boys as active and more disruptive continues.
Teachers are often not aware that they are continuing to reward sex-typed behaviour
and many would explicitly prefer not to. Nevertheless as children grow older implicit
differences in the way teachers treat the sexes continue. Valerie Walkerdine has focused
particularly on the operation of these processes. She argues first of all that during their
training teachers learn about the active enquiring nature of childhood. She then claims
that teachers see boys as naturally active and enquiring with the type of developing mind
 Gender, sex and sexuality 92

that leads naturally to high academic performance. Girls on the other hand, particularly
well-behaved girls, are seen by teachers as passive, conforming and helpful, and in some
sense as sub-teachers assisting the teacher in regulating the classroom climate rather than
as natural academic high-fliers.
These implict beliefs lead teachers, according to Walkerdine, to treat children with
similar levels of performance in maths differently depending on which of the three
following groups they fall into:
1. girls who conform to the stereotype just described, i.e. they are passive and
conforming;
2. girls who do not conform to the stereotype, i.e. they are challenging;
3. boys.
In order to support this proposition she cites the kind of comments made by teachers
about three kinds of high maths achievers falling into categories 1–3:
1. Quiet. Gets on very well, sits down and gets on with it. Very rarely makes mistakes.
Good handwriting. Technically, she’s very good and creatively she has the
ideas…she’s not outstanding, no…but always does her best…her behaviour is
impeccable…
2. She’s very good, she’s very able. She’s a madam, that’s unfortunate …she won’t take
any advice really…and she’s got this unfortunate attitude that’s rather domineering.
3. I would say he’s the brightest child in the class… He can be very rude … But he has a
very good ability, very interested in everything, …an all-round ability with lots of
potential…
Walkerdine believes that it is these implicit attitudes and beliefs held by many teachers
that make it more rewarding for girls to continue to play the role of conforming, helpful,
passive sub-teacher in the classroom, even if once they are outside the classroom they
revert to less controlled behaviour. In the terminology to be explored in the next chapter,
Walkerdine claims that girls continually have to ‘position’ themselves differently
according to society’s expectations. For example, as passive conformers with teachers,
but as outgoing, sexy and extrovert outside the schoolroom with boys. Boys on the other
hand, according to Walkerdine, are less under pressure to play different kinds of roles in
school and outside (Walkerdine, 1986).

Career choice and career guidance

We could make an epic catalogue of male achievements,

from paved roads, indoor plumbing, and washing machines
to eyeglasses, antibiotics and disposable diapers… When I
cross the George Washington bridge or any of America’s
great bridges, I think: men have done this. Construction is
a sublime male poetry… If civilization had been left in
female hands, we would still be living in grass huts.
Camille Paglia (1993, pp. 37–8, authors italics)
 Poles apart? 93

While studies such as the one just described by Walkerdine illustrate that subtle processes
are at play which continue to reinforce sex-typed behaviours in schools, (Baker and
Davies, 1989) there is no doubt that many teachers explicitly reject sex-role stereotyping.
Nevertheless, studies concerned with encouraging more girls to enter professions such as
engineering and computing show that many young women report that some teachers and
vocational advisers advise girls against studying subjects such as science, engineering
and computing, endorsing no doubt some of the views expressed in the quote by Camille
Paglia at the beginning of this subsection (Kelly, 1987). It should be noted, in passing,
that Paglia is a an American professor of the humanities whose views on sexual
differences have received considerable media attention partly because of their perceived
anti-feminist bias. Yet other studies show that even when teachers and vocational
advisers provide girls with encouragement to pursue such careers, girls themselves report
that they are put off by what they report as the male dominated climates of university and
college departments of engineering and computing (Durndell et al. 1990). It is important
to note, however, that while women on some engineering courses continue to feel
marginalized (Tytler, 1993, pp. 6–7), iniatives such as WISE (Women Into Science and
Engineering) (Healey, 1993) receive considerable support from professional engineering
bodies such as the The Engineering Council.
It is not only in areas like computing and engineering, however, that there is a sexual
imbalance in aspirations to higher education. For while more women are now entering
many professions which were previously largely male preserves such as medicine,
dentistry, veterinary medicine, law, accountancy and architecture, a sexual imbalance
continues in applications to both Oxford and Cambridge with headteachers reporting that
girls continue be more fearful than boys of being turned down (The Engineering Council,
1993). Even when girls achieve places at Oxbridge, however, their confidence compared
to boys is likely to be further undermined by the extremely small minority of women in
academic positions, particularly at the senior level, where Oxbridge continues to appoint
fewer women to professorships than other British universities (Tytler, 1993).
Stereotypes about careers do not of course apply only to girls and women. Many boys
have in the past experienced very negative reactions from both parents and teachers if
they have indicated an intention to enter vocations or professions which have traditionally
been seen as the prerogative of women—for example, hairdressing, teaching, nursing and
social work. Nevertheless, once they do enter such professions they are more likely to
reach the upper echelons than are their female peers. For example, although 80 per cent
of teachers in the UK are female, men are four times as likely to become heads of
secondary schools (Roberts, 1992). This bias is in conformity with the top levels of the
employment market where success continues to favour males disproportionately. This
gender inequality which women experience is sometimes referred to as the glass ceiling.

Employment

(How) I have been feeling for the past ten years as a

woman in the workplace: angry, pissed off, chagrined,
subjugated, ignored, put down, left out, devalued, and
insulted.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 94

American woman writing to a magazine in 1992

(Roberts, 1992, p. 190)

The image of man the hunter is a noble one… Yet, of

course, the reality of commuter life is the very opposite of
that…. The structure of industrial life for men requires
obedience, submission, often accepting insults.
David Cohen (1990, p. 102)

Although more British women are now in employment than ever before, this employment
continues to be largely part-time and, even when women’s qualifications are equal to
men’s, they frequently continue to be paid at lower rates and to attain less responsible
positions (Roberts, 1992). In the past, such relative disadvantage could have been
ascribed to explicit processes of discrimination, but discrimnatory practices are now no
longer legal and other mechanisms must be responsible for sex differences in
employment.
In the early 1970s, Martina Horner (1972) suggested that the chief reason
underpinning women’s underachievement in the labour market was a tendency in women
to fear success, arguing that they did so because they believed that success in
employment necessarily entailed social rejection. This hypothesis became one of the most
extensively studied psychological theories about women’s behaviour in the 1970s and
early 1980s, possibly because it resonated with current media images of women, for
example, that women suffer from a Cinderella complex (Dowling, 1981) which leaves
them with a fear of independence.
Horner’s theory has, however, been heavily criticized both by feminists who argued
that it led to a blaming-the-victim approach and also on methodological grounds because
other researchers, attempting to replicate her work, showed no consistent sex differences
on her measures of fear of success (Tresemer, 1977).
Nevertheless to many the idea that most women fear success and undermine their own
attempts to achieve success by a degree of ambivalence seems intuitively correct (Unger
and Crawford, 1992). Studies such as the one conducted by Rosalind Coward in Britain
recently (1993) do suggest that some highly educated women believe that if a woman
concentrates intensively on her career her personal relationships, particularly in the
family setting, will inevitably suffer.
Many other women, whether or not they are highly educated, take issue with this and
contend that the fact that women achieve less in career terms than men is due, not to their
own ambivalence, but to structural differences in the lives of men and women. They point
particularly to the implications for women of taking time off from their careers to have
babies and stay at home with young children, and to the well documented disadvantages
this brings for their careers in comparison to men.
Such disadvantages apply not only to women in the labour market, but also are equally
of relevance to other areas as well. Recently the novelist Candida McWilliam has argued
that female writers are handicapped in comparison to their male peers because for female
writers: ‘with the birth of each child you lose two novels’ and as an instance of the kind
of pressures imposed by the full-time care of young children she describes an instance
 Poles apart? 95

where her young son ‘came into the room and put a box on my head. I asked him what he
was doing and he said, “Trying to stop you thinking”’ (Coles, 1993).
It is clearly not open to doubt that without adequate child care facilities women rather
than men continue to be disadvantaged in their careers. However it is not only in terms of
such obvious disadvantages that women are impeded, there are rather less obvious
processes which impede their advancement. One such process has been labelled
‘selective interpretation’. This term refers to a process which occurs when people
perceive identical behaviour in different manners. With respect to sex, selective
interpretation can be said to occur when judgements differ depending whether a particular
action is thought to be made by a man or a woman. Selective interpretation, with respect
to sex, has been shown, for example, in academic contexts with the operation of what has
been called the ‘Goldberg’ effect.
The Goldberg effect is named after Goldberg (1968) who found that women rated
academic articles attributed to male authors more positively than when the same articles
were attributed to women authors. Subsequent attempts to replicate Goldberg’s findings
have not been consistent but it is generally accepted that one of the factors people of both
sexes utilize when making judgements about written material is the sex of the author. It is
also accepted that many people do tend to give higher ratings to male rather than female
authors particularly when the content of the article is in a stereotypically male domain
(Gallivan, 1991).
The selective interpretation illustrated by the Goldberg effect is an example of what
has been called ‘attributional bias’. This occurs when people make use of cognitive rules-
of-thumb to assist and speed up their thinking. One such bias is of course sex-role
stereotyping and even those of us who would hope otherwise frequently find, to our
chagrin, that we utilize gender schema unwittingly. For example when someone comes
back from a hospital appointment with a consultant, we might ask: ‘What did he say?’,
making a stereotyped assumption about the sex of a senior clinician.
Furthermore, for many of us attributional bias extends beyond suppositions about the
likely sex of the person in a particular occupational role. It can be observed as well in the
manner in which we make judgements about the behaviour of people within occupational
roles. This is particularly true of those in management roles. Research indicates, for
example, that women who exert power over men in the work situation are far more likely
to be negatively judged than either men with power over other men or women with power
over other women (Unger and Crawford, 1992). In one study, experienced managers
rated men who were portrayed as influential in a corporate setting as significantly more
powerful, as higher in position, and as warmer than women in identical situations.
Additionally when men exercised expertize they were seen as particularly powerful and
active while when women did so they were seen as far colder than the men (Wiley and
Eskilson, 1982).
Many women in senior management complain of this bias and they often feel very
isolated as well, partly because there are few role models and partly because there are few
other women on the same grade in whom they can confide. Some women in senior
occupational roles also complain of being made to feel the token woman. Rosebeth Moss
Kanter (1977) has written extensively of women in such positions who feel that they are
more invisible and isolated than men and that they are likely to be defined in
stereotypically feminine terms. In addition, as is the case with members of other minority
 Gender, sex and sexuality 96

groups, (for example black people in senior management positions) they are likely to be
seen by others, and frequently by themselves as well, as representing the interests of their
group rather than of themselves.
Not all token women operate in management positions of course. Tokenism is also
found on the shop floor and when women work in such positions they often feel
uncomfortable because of the male culture of such groups. Some studies which have
documented such situations indicate that the men in such groups may sense this and may
make explicit attempts to censor both their language and the content of their
conversation. In a study of the kitchen staff in exclusive restaurants in Minnesota, where
the chefs had traditionally been men, one of the chefs interviewed reported about the
changed situation when a woman chef was appointed as follows:

…the behavior that goes on in the kitchen. Sexism and crude jokes …It’s
amazing how when you get a woman in the kitchen the attitude changes
entirely. Everyone clams up a little bit and they are careful about what
they say.
Fine (1987)

However, while women may experience negative aspects of employment, such as the
glass ceiling, tokenism and lower rates of pay in the labour market, the situation for many
men in the labour market is currently far from rosy. To begin with, as the recession has
bitten, large numbers of full-time jobs have been replaced by part-time jobs. For various
reasons these are more likely to be filled by women than men and, as a result, the rise in
unemployment has been accompanied by a tendency for men at all levels to be made
redundant and to be replaced by part-time employees who are more likely to be women
than men (Hartnett and Bradley, 1986). Research has indicated that unemployment has
very serious pyschological repercussions for men largely because for most people the
major component of the male sex-role is that of breadwinner. Men are also more likely
than women to be dependent on workmates for social interaction. Furthermore, if a
woman becomes unemployed, the alternative identity of partner/wife/mother is generally
more acceptable to her than the alternative identity of partner/husband/father to an
unemployed man (Hartnett and Bradley, 1986).
Even in employment, however, the majority of employed men experience particular
psychological pressures that are less likely to be experienced by women who have not, in
general, been subjected to the belief that failure in the labour market implies failure as a
person. David Cohen (1990, p. 6) writing about this puts it this way: ‘Man…sees his job
as the pivot of his identity. He will, therefore sacrifice his all to work’.
The implications of such a belief were encapsulated in the 1940s and 1950s by Arthur
Miller’s (1989) Death of a Salesman but the tradition lives on as can be seen, for
example, in the plays and films of the contemporary American writer and director David
Mamet (1984) which document the despair and disintegration of personality in men who
perceive themselves as failures in the pursuit of material and occupational success.
If men and women appear to experience work and unemployment somewhat
differently can this be traced to different sets of social motives and social behaviour? This
is the question we will be considering in the next section.
 Poles apart? 97

Social and emotional differences

To be a woman or a man, then, is first and foremost to

inhabit particular positions in the social landscape.
Alastair White (1989, p. 20)

The developmental psychologist, Colwyn Trevarthen (1992), contends that there are
innate motivational differences between males and females such that at birth they are
predisposed to develop rather different sets of motives and emotions. This is not a view
that has received endorsement from most developmental psychologists who believe that
from birth and well into the first few years of life there are remarkably few social and
emotional differences between girls and boys (Bee, 1992).
Despite these early indications of minimal sex differences in early childhood, there are
indications that from about 4 years of age consistent sex differences are shown in some
aspects of social behaviour. In the sections below these differences are reviewed and
discussed with reference to some of the concepts that have already been presented—
‘essential’ sex differences, socialization practices, gender concepts and power imbalances
between the sexes.
Although some sex differences in social behaviour are reasonably consistent, it should
always be remembered that they are not large and meta-analyses of such differences
indicate that the category of sex accounts for as little as five to ten per cent of the overall
variability in the social behaviours discussed below (Eagly, 1987).

Easing things along

Why can’t a woman be more like a man?

…
Men are so pleasant, so easy to please
Whenever you’re with them you’re always at ease.
Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady (Lerner)

The worthy professor was obviously overstating the case for his sex because a number of
studies, largely it must be admitted conducted in laboratories, have shown that in general,
women tend to agree more than men, to conform more to majority opinion and to be
more amenable to persuasion (Eagly and Wood, 1991, pp. 306–15). This tendency for
females to be more likely to contribute to smooth social relationships in groups can be
seen at relatively early ages. In one study 92, children of both sexes, aged between 7 and
9 years, were observed attempting to join two other children who were playing a board
game. They did not know the children playing the board game well and in some cases the
children playing were both girls, in other cases they were both boys. The results showed
that female ‘guests’ were less obtrusive in their approaches than male ‘guests’ and female
‘hosts’ were more attentive than male ‘hosts’ (Borja-Alvarez et al. 1991).
 Gender, sex and sexuality 98

There is some evidence, however, that cultural and contextual factors may modify
these sex differences. For example, Adams (1980) showed that in a sample of black
American people the sex differences in persuasion were reversed, with black men in a
group situation being more easily influenced than black women. Other studies of
conformity have shown that altering the context (for example, if responses are made in
private rather than in public) alters conformity levels for men, but not for women, in that
men are less likely to be influenced by others if they respond in private than if they are
required to make their responses public. Unger and Crawford (1992) interpret this in
terms of the greater pressure on men, compared to women, to preserve a public image of
independence and of being able to withstand the influence of others.

Social interactions in general

As already indicated, there is some indication that women (in the west at any rate) are
more prepared than men to facilitate social interaction. In doing this, they appear to be
aided by a greater propensity to communicate non-verbally. In social situations women
smile and laugh more than men (Eagly and Wood, 1991), use their faces and bodies more
expressively, touch people more and move closer to them. Women also report showing
more empathy with others although when empathy is measured, not by self report but by
measuring variables like physiological changes, sex differences decrease (Eisenberg and
Lennon, 1983).
However, sex differences in social interactions are by no means invariant. This can be
seen if we look at what is called ‘dominance’ behaviour. This refers to the kind of non-
verbal signals that are normally transmitted by people who feel themselves to be in
control of social situations. They tend, for example, to take up more personal space, to
point more and to interrupt more. In general when men and women have equal power, as
when they are peers in the same profession, men show dominant behaviour. But in
situations where women have more power than men, for instance a woman lecturer with
male students, women show dominant behaviour (Unger and Crawford, 1992).

Verbal communication

A talkative female is one who talks about as often as a

man. When females are seen to talk about HALF AS
MUCH AS MALES, they are judged as dominating talk.
Dale Spender (1978, p. 19)

Differences in the way men and women talk have received a great deal of media
attention, particularly following a recent book by Deborah Tannen, called You just Don’t
Understand (1991). In this book she argued that while both men and women need
intimacy and independence, women tend to focus on the first and men on the second and
that these differences lead the sexes to ascribe different underlying meanings to the same
utterances. She illustrates this theme by instances such as the following where a woman,
trying to initiate a free-wheeling discussion with her partner, may ask: ‘What do you
 Poles apart? 99

think?’. He may interpret this as if he was being asked to decide and tell her what to do
rather than help her to explore alternatives. In this way her desire to use the situation to
augment their intimacy as a couple, and his desire to demonstrate his autonomy and
dominance, may lead to an impasse in the conversation.
Tanner provides only anecdotal support for her argument and draws her examples
from a very restricted social range. It could be argued that her book merely illustrates a
truism which is that particular groups may have particular conversational styles. It also
seems inherently unlikely that, even if men and women do have different conversational
styles, by the time they reach adulthood they would not have learnt to decode the implicit
meanings in the opposite sex’s conversations.
Her book, however, follows on an academic tradition which has argued that there are
consistent sex differences not only in verbal behaviour but also in the attributions that
attach to these differences. Dale Spender, for example, argues that women force their
voices into higher registers than they need to, interrupt less than men and use more ‘tags’
(such as, didn’t you? isn’t it?) at the end of their sentences than men. In this way, she
argues, women present themselves as more tentative and less powerful than men.
Furthermore, Spender claims that in a television chat show if a woman and man talk
exactly the same amount, the woman will be perceived as dominating the conversation
(Graddol and Swann, 1989).
In conformity with Spender’s chat show example, it has also been suggested that
irrespective of sex differences in speech, women often experience a double bind when
they reach positions of prominence or power. If they speak in a firm and direct manner
they may be perceived as bossy whereas a man speaking in an identical manner will be
perceived as acting in a style appropriate to his position. In addition, women in power
may be evaluated differently by male and female subordinates. Indeed, Unger and
Crawford (1992) cite a study showing that men pay more attention to women who speak
tentatively than to women who speak assertively but that other women pay more attention
to women who speak assertively.
The studies cited above have been concerned with gender issues in verbal
communication, but language in itself also carries implicit messages about gender and, in
English at any rate, words for women and men are rarely parallel. Consider how the
following words reflect the difference in men and women’s traditional social roles:
Governor and governess
Master and mistress
In the first case, the word governor retains an aura of power—as in the governor of a
colony or a governor of a school—while the word governess refers to a woman who
holds a fairly menial position. In the second case, while the words master and mistress
can both be used to refer to people in authority, mistress also has an additional and less
socially desirable meaning. Similarly, while the word queen—as in a reference to a
homosexual—has a derogotary use, the word king does not.

Group behaviour
The experimental studies described in the last section cover social and verbal behaviour
in general but a number of more specialized studies have been conducted looking at sex
differences in small groups usually in laboratory settings. Some of these studies in groups
 Gender, sex and sexuality 100

behaviour indicate that women appear to concentrate more on facilitating social

interaction than men do, while men appear to concentrate more on the task in hand.
Further studies of gender differences in leadership style in such groups indicate that
women, on the whole, are more inclined than men to adopt a democratic and participatory
style particularly in mixed sex-groups (Eagly and Wood, 1991). It has been suggested
that these sex differences in group behaviour are due to differences in the psychological
characteristics of women and men in that, usually, women are more interested in people
and men in issues.
Reinterpreting the findings of such studies, it could be equally well argued that gender
related differences in group behaviour are attributable less to psychological
characteristics than to two social processes. First, the fact that women often have less
power and status than men and that as a result they need to be more accommodating.
Second, the fact that, as has been suggested occurs with verbal behaviour, different
attributions are made about the sexes even when their behaviour is the same. Thus a
women who acts assertively in a group is likely to be regarded as dominating, whereas a
man acting in the same manner is likely to be regarded as authoritative. Consequently
women learn to police their behaviour in groups to avoid social stigmatization.

Helping behaviour
If women are more likely to smooth social processes, are they also more likely to be
helpful? Sex differences in helpfulness have received a great deal of attention and,
because helpfulness has been interpreted very inconsistently, reviewing the studies is a
very complex task (Salminen and Glad, 1992). In general it has been found, not
surprisingly, that men are more likely than women to help when the helping can be
construed as either chivalrous or heroic and some studies show that men are more likely
to help an attractive female (Eagly and Wood, 1991).
Although many studies concerned with helping focus on sex differences, an additional
focus can assist in interpreting their results. If, for example, the studies incorporate clues
about the social status of the participants in the study, it is shown that both men and
women are less likely to assist women who are higher in social status than themselves,
than they are to help women who are equal or lower in social status to themselves. But
neither sex show any differences in helping behaviour to men of different social statuses.
In a similar manner, in the USA white men are less likely to help black men higher in
social status to themselves than they are to help black men of lower social status (Unger
and Crawford, 1992). These results can be interpreted as follows. First, people are often
more prepared to offer help to those lower in status than themselves than they are to help
those higher in status. Second, in general, where there no other indications of social status
or power most people operate with what we have called the attributional bias that men
have more status than women, and whites more social status or power than blacks. If,
however, the situation indicates that in this context the women or blacks involved are
high in status then this contextual social status will cancel out the more usual status
differentiations of white higher than black; men higher than women.
 Poles apart? 101

Competition and aggression

A number of psychological studies have shown that in many situations women are more
supportive to each other than men (Lott, 1990) and it is a commonly held stereotype that
men are more competitive than women. What happens, however, when women move into
situations where mutuality and conciliation are not in their own interests? For example
into situations that encourage competitiveness, separateness and self-interest? Studies of
women in such contexts suggest that in these circumstances women very often show
much the same behavioural attributes stereotypically associated with men. Thus Keller
and Moglen (1987) have shown that female academics show similar levels of
competitiveness to men. Furthermore, the contemporary political scene has indicated that
women politicians once they attain power are no less likely than men to compete
ruthlessly with their political peers.
Competitiveness is often linked to aggressiveness as stereotypically masculine. There
are, however, problems in defining what is meant by aggressiveness (Siann, 1985). If it is
taken to refer only to behaviour involving physical violence, then there is no doubt that
there are very consistent sex differences in aggressive behaviour. If, however, aggression
is defined in such a way as to include verbal behaviours such as sarcasm and verbal abuse
then sex differences are by no means consistent. Indeed some laboratory studies that have
utilized measures of aggression like the propensity to give other subjects electric shocks
have shown that there are no consistent sex differences in this propensity (Frodi et al.
1977).
If, however, we move away from verbal aggression and away from laboratory studies,
it is incontestable that men in all known societies show higher levels of physical violence
than women (Miedzian, 1992) although there are some indications that sex differences in
this area are lessening. First, because there is a growing tendency for women to fight as
soldiers and second, because more women are becoming involved in violent crimes
(Siann, 1985).
In interpreting these sex differences in violent behaviour there is, as indicated in
chapter 3, strong support particularly from socio-biologists for the claim that men are
naturally more aggressive than women although the evidence for this claim is by no
means conclusive. An equally plausible explanation for the observed sex differences can
be offered by the argument that sex differences in aggression are largely due to
socialization practices and in particular the emphasis on the masculine mystique with its
focus on toughness, dominance and the repression of compassion and empathy.

Accounting for sex differences in social behaviour

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice and all things nice.
What are little boys made of?
Frogs and snails and puppy-dogs’ tails.

(Anon)
 Gender, sex and sexuality 102

Essentialist perspectives on sex differences in psychological attributes

Chapters 2 and 3 of this book examined essentialist viewpoints which claimed that there
are deep and unchangeable differences in the nature of the two sexes. In the case of the
socio-biologists because of innate sex differences which are based in evolutionary
processes, and in the case of psychoanalytic perspectives because of the psychodynamics
of infancy and early childhood. These viewpoints will now be related to the discussion
just completed of sex differences in social behaviour starting with the psychodynamic
viewpoint.

The psychodynamic viewpoint

Male society…overlooks the fact that women’s

development is proceeding but on another basis. One
central feature is that women stay with, build on, and
develop in a context of connections with others.
Jean Baker Miller (1986, p. 83)

In many ways the foremost proponent of this perspective with reference to social
behaviour is Carole Gilligan (1982). She based her approach on a reinterpretation of
some studies on moral development that had been made by Lawrence Kohlberg (1981).
Kohlberg had presented a large number of subjects with a series of hypothetical moral
dilemmas and then on the basis of these subjects’ responses proposed that there were five
invariant stages in moral development culminating in a last, and most sophisticated, stage
where moral decisions were made with reference to absolute moral principles. Kohlberg
and his associates also suggested that their research showed sex differences in moral
development because they claimed that fewer females than males reached the final two
stages of moral development—stages four and five. Not surprisingly these findings were
contested by female psychologists, particularly Gilligan, who pointed out: first, that there
was an inherent bias in the theory in that Kohlberg had based his stages on initial studies
of the manner in which adolescent males, but not females, thought about the moral
dilemmas; second, she pointed out that there was further implicit bias in the manner in
which Kohlberg ordered the stages. This was because in constructing the order, Kohlberg
had rated stage three which is concerned with defining morality in terms of the care for
others, not hurting others and having a responsibility for others with whom one is
connected, below stages four and five which are concerned less with the practical
implications for other people and more with abstract principles. In ordering the stages
like this, Gilligan claimed, Kohlberg was biased towards a male model of moral
development.
Following on from these criticisms of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development,
Gilligan outlined an alternative theory. She proposed that moral development does
proceed differently for the two sexes and as a result women and girls speak In A Different
Voice—the title of her book—from men and boys about issues of morality. She located
these sex differences in morality in sex differences in the experiences of infancy and
early childhood. Basing her analysis on the work of Nancy Chodorow (see pp. 33–4)
 Poles apart? 103

Gilligan suggested that, where mothers are the primary caretakers of very young children,
female infants are treated in ways which contribute to feelings of connectedness and
identification with the mother, while male infants are encouraged to feel separate from
the mother. Society then continues to reinforce such differences and as a result women
grow up with an orientation towards social values, relatedness, intimacy and caring for
others, and boys with an orientation towards separation from others and interest in objects
and issues rather than people.
A number of feminist psychologists have supported Gilligan and have claimed that it
is these early experiences in infancy and their subsequent reinforcement that lie at the
base of the kind of differences in social behaviour discussed above. Many, such as Jean
Baker Miller (1986) go further and argue that these differences give women greater
strengths than men, for example greater sensitivity and greater compassion, and that
women should emphasize and build on such sex differences. Writing in this vein, Sara
Ruddick (1987) has proposed that women’s psychological predispositions to be
peacemakers, facilitators, moderators, caregivers and sympathizers enable them to serve
as peacemakers and collaborators in the public as well as the private arena.
However, as Bernice Lott (1990) has pointed out there are other implications of this
essentialist position that may not necessarily be constructive. To begin with the
essentialist proposition that there are womanly and manly attributes which are very firmly
rooted in the unconscious can lead to a position that suggests that women and men will
remain locked into different ways of behaving in social situations and that there are in
fact different, and to some extent, impenetrable spheres of personal development for the
two sexes. Furthermore, this position gives the impression that change in the area of sex
differences in social behaviour can only be achieved with great difficulty because, of
necessity, it involves trying to undo deeply embedded psychological attributes.

The socio-biological position

It pays males to be aggressive, hasty, fickle and indiscriminating It is

more profitable for females to be coy…
E.O.Wilson (1978, p. 125)

As was indicated in chapter 2, socio-biologists also believe that there are identifiable and
different psychological attributes characteristic of the two sexes. However, unlike
psychoanalysts they locate these differences not in infancy but in evolutionary history.
Consequently socio-biologists would argue that the consistencies in social behaviour
summarized and discussed above are relatively immutable because they are due to
essential and innate differences in the psychological natures of the two sexes. They see
women’s greater social sensitivity and interests as deriving from their evolutionary role
as the caretakers of children and men’s greater propensity to be involved with non-
domestic issues with their evolutionary role as hunters.

Empirical support for the essentialist position on social behaviour

In terms of empirical support for essentialist positions on gender differences in social
behaviour, the fact that sex differences in social behaviour tend to be consistently in one
direction (women more socially responsive in their orientation than men, and men less
 Gender, sex and sexuality 104

concerned with the personal implications of their behaviour than women) does tie in with
essentialist approaches. On the other hand, as was demonstrated in the description of the
empirical findings, these sex differences can be modified by changing the context and by
changing the status of participants. This suggests that the sex differences are not as
essential as theorists such as Gilligan on the one hand, or Wilson on the other, might
suggest.

Socialization perspectives on sex differences in social behaviour

(Sex role theory) is concerned with explaining the manner

in which psychological differences between the sexes is
structured and maintained by the process of socialization.
Hargreaves and Colley (1986, p. x)

As we saw in chapter 4, sex role theorists argue that if there is any consistency in sex
differences in social behaviour these can be attributed to socialization practices. They
claim that each society stereotypes particular sorts of behaviour as sex-typed in the male
or female direction. Once children have acquired their gender identity they proceed to
monitor their behaviour in conformity with these stereotypes. This sex-typing of
behaviour is further reinforced by the rewards which society provides for sex-appropriate
behaviour.
This approach to sex differences in social behaviour can, and sometimes is, construed
as suggesting that there are stable sex differences in psychological attributes. In other
words that because of experience, stereotypes and beliefs men and women reliably
behave in different ways. However, as the discussion above has indicated, changes in the
social context often alter sex differences in social behaviour. When gender role is salient,
sex differences tend to occur. At other times, when gender roles are less salient, sex
differences are less often observed. For example, Jerome Adams (1984) has shown that in
co-educational intakes at military training establishments in the USA, where attempts
have been made to eradicate differences in the way female and male cadets are treated,
sex ceases to be a predictor of differences in social behaviour. This and similar studies
suggest that when sex differences in social behaviour are observed, they are not due to
immutable and stable sex differences in psychological attributes, but are instead fragile,
related to social context and consequently easily modifiable.

Empirical support for socialization approaches to sex differences in socialbehaviour

In this and the previous chapter a great deal of evidence has been presented supporting
the contention that society rewards behaviour that is appropriately sex-typed. Evidence
was also reviewed which showed that the majority of children themselves monitor their
behaviour both consciously and unconsciously so as to fit in with cultural stereotypes
about sex roles. There is, indeed, little doubt that sex differences in social behaviour
frequently result from conformity to gender expectations and gender related experiences.
However, there are wide inconsistencies in studies of sex differences in social behaviour
and these differences are very sensitive to social context.
 Poles apart? 105

Structuralist perspectives in sex differences in social behaviour

As indicated in the discussion of Sandra Bem’s recent work (pp. 74–5) the chief problem
with attributing sex differences in attributes and social behaviour to socialization is that it
does not come to terms with the inequalities that have held until very recently between
the sex roles of men and women. It takes no account, for example, of the pervasiveness
within society of the following view that was recently expressed in a book about
fatherhood:

In western culture—and much more emphatically in other cultures—the

father of the family is still the embodiment of power and authority in the
eyes of children. Of course, the status of women has markedly improved,
and your mother may be a managing director, a professor, a judge or
perhaps a Cabinet Minister. Probably, however, a few more generations
must pass before equality of men and women is reflected in psychological
consciousness, notably the consciousness of children.
Jones (1993)

In the next chapter we will look at what was called in chapter 1, structuralist approaches
to sex and gender. These perspectives locate sex and gender differences in a social
framework which takes into account the power inequalities that have until very recently
pervaded the social and cultural world of men and women.

Notes
1. For a discussion of the associated issues see Ottenberg (1959).
2. Some conditions are linked to X chromosome transmission which means that females are less
likely to suffer from them because even if one of their X chromosomes carries the condition
the other may not. This affords females relatively greater protection from such conditions,
compared to their male peers who, because they only have one X chromosome, have no such
protection. In other cases men are disadvantaged compared to women because the X
chromosome also carries genes for the production of immunity agents and women have two
of these compared to the one in men. See Williams (1987).
3. See Fausto-Sterling (1992) and Mullen, 1993 for a fuller description of the technique.
4. Geschwind (1982) proposed a complex set of associations between left-handedness, certain
disorders of the immune system and some developmental disabilities such as stuttering and
dyslexia, and differences in levels of testosterone. Linked to this set of associations he also
proposed that mathematical genius is associated with the effect of testosterone on the
maturing brain and thus to males. His work, however, has been severely criticised on
methodological grounds. See also Bleier (1988).
5. Unger and Crawford (1992) noted that men also tend to do better than women at mathematics
in tertiary education. In many instances, however, such differences in achievement,
particularly in the USA, can be largely attributed to the fact that males tend to take more
demanding maths options at school. See also Fausto-Sterling (1992.)
6. GCSE figures published by Department of Education in June, 1993. For a discussion of sex
differences in mathematics at the tertiary level, see Cohen and Fraser (1992).
7. There is in fact very little evidence to suggest any connection between sex differences in
mathematical abilities such as mathematical reasoning and physiological sex differences,
such as sex hormones. For example, when Kimura and her associates investigated the link
 Gender, sex and sexuality 106

between testosterone (the male hormone) and mathematical reasoning, they found that men
with lower levels of testosterone performed better i.e. the more ‘masculine’ the hormone
level, the lower the performance at the maths test (Kimura, 1992, pp, 81–87).
8. In the water-level task, test-takers are asked to make judgements about the level water would
take in a tilted beaker.
 Chapter 6
Structuralism, Feminism and Post-
feminism
In passing I would like to say that the first time Adam had
a chance, he laid the blame on woman.
Nancy Astor, speaking at the beginning of the 20th
century (1993, p. 101)

There is not a war in the world, no, nor an injustice, but

you women are answerable for it.
John Ruskin in Sesame and Lilies (Starr, 1991, p. 79)

In the first chapter of this book, it was suggested that there are three major approaches to
sex and gender—essentialist, socialization and structuralist approaches. Subsequent
chapters have dealt with the first two of these—chapters 2 and 3 with essentialist and
chapters 4 and 5 with socialization approaches. The present chapter will concentrate on
the third approach, beginning with anthropological perspectives. Following on from this
we will consider the impact of feminist thought on the psychological study of sex and
gender and finally we will look at the adult lives of males and females from a structuralist
and post-feminist perspective.
Structural approaches to the social sciences are concerned with illuminating the deep
structures that have been conceptualized as underlying not only social behaviour but also
the manner in which we think about the social world. As noted in chapter 1, a number of
theorists have suggested that a major feature of such conceptualizations is a tendency for
them to be organized around networks of opposites, e.g. male—female and masculine—
feminine. While the male—female or sexual bipolarity is, in a sense given, in that all
societies dichotomize infants at birth into boy or girl, the second polarity is not. This is
because although there may be certain similarities across most societies there are also
cultural differences in the manner in which the attributes of masculine and feminine are
prescribed. Structuralist approaches suggest that it is such prescriptions that provide the
basis of gender.
In this sense, as Hare-Mustin and Maracek (1990, p. 3) put it, ‘gender is an invention
of human societies, a feat of imagination and industry’. They also suggest, as noted in
chapter 1, that this invention, or as they sometimes term it ‘construction’, is reproduced
in three ways:
1. in the manner in which infants are gradually transformed into men or women;
2. in the manner in which the social world is organized into men’s and women’s spheres;
3. in the manner in which we think and talk about the terms male and female.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 108

The preceding chapters of this book have provided some support for these claims about
the role of cultural variables in the genesis of gender and additional and rather more
direct evidence is offered by examining anthropological studies of sex and gender. It is to
these that we now turn.

Anthropological perspectives on sex and gender

Sociology is the study of the clad, anthropology is the

study of the unclad.
Informal rule of thumb for confused students of the
social sciences, circa 1970.

Although the English word ‘anthropology’ is considerably older, the idea of anthropology
as a general science of human beings was essentially a creation of the nineteenth century
and, as such, its roots in Darwinism can easily be traced (Bullock and Stalleybrass, 1982).
Essentially it was concerned with understanding contemporary western societies by
examining their roots in more ‘primitive’ societies. Consequently western anthropologists
journeyed from Europe and the USA to what we now term the Third World and
attempted to gain a deep understanding of particular groups of people by living amongst
them.
The work of these early anthropologists is almost always profoundly ethnocentric, that
is, heavily influenced by the implicit values of European culture. Furthermore, until
women began to be more involved in the field, it also suffered from a male bias (Tavris
and Wade, 1984, p. 4) in that male anthropologists understandably emphasized the roles
and viewpoints of men in the cultures they were studying. Moreover, although issues of
what we now term gender were never centrally examined, early anthropologists reported
that male domination over females was universally observed.
More recently this assumption has been questioned. For example, Annette Weiner
(1976) reanalysed the famous early twentieth century studies of Bronislaw Malinowski
(1962) amongst the Trobianders and concluded that female Trobianders exercised
considerable power in their own right. Furthermore in a study already mentioned in this
book, Marie Lepowsky (1990) reported that in a culture she studied in New Guinea, there
is no tradition of male dominance. Even more provocatively, some anthropologists have
recently argued that as apparently basic a category as male/female may simply be a
human invention rather than a universal biological distinction. In support of this they
point to the extent to which societies vary in the manner in which they distinguish
between males and females (Tavris and Wade, 1984).
Thus while in some societies, for example, many, but by no means all Muslim
cultures, gender categories are very rigidly applied (Siann and Ugwuegbu, 1988), in
others, such as amongst the Balinese, gender categories are very flexible (Atkinison,
1982). Even more dramatically in some societies such as the Hua of New Guinea, gender
categories are not immutable. Older women can become in social terms, men; and older
men, after ritual imitation of menstruation and childbirth, can become, in terms of their
social role, women (Meigs, 1976).
 Structuralism, feminism and post-feminism 109

Additionally, in some cultures there were, and are, institutionalized ways for people to
change gender without, as in contemporary western culture, altering their physiology
such as in operations performed on transsexuals. For example, some native American
cultures have a custom known as ‘berdache’ where a man can play the social role of a
woman in all major aspects of life (Whitehead, 1981). Similarly, amongst some central
African people, a woman with enough wealth can buy the status of a man (O’Brien,
1977).
These instances from anthropological studies lead to a reappraisal of two commonly
held beliefs about gender in the west. First, that it is the major and most important way to
classify people. Second, that gender is immutable unless it is modified by surgery.
Anthropological studies can, however, also broaden our understanding of gender issues in
other ways: with reference to status inequalities between the sexes; with reference to
sexual rituals; with reference to social control and with reference to sex and temperament.
Let us now examine each of these briefly.

Status inequalities between the sexes

Although there are notable exceptions, in most societies men have dominated over
women. It is clear, however, that there are marked differences in the extent of this
dominance. A number of anthropological studies have investigated the variables that
affect the extent of male dominance. Tavris and Wade (1984) conclude that these indicate
that sexual inequalities in dominance are often influenced by the economic and social
pressures in the society concerned. The links, of course, are very complex because the
influence of external pressures, such as wars or colonialism, can affect customs which
can then affect the economic balance between the sexes. For example, as men were
drawn into towns when east African and central Africa became colonized by the
European powers, the exploitation of women’s agricultural labour increased (Nkweto-
Simmonds, 1987).
One of the major aspects of economic pressures is of course the production of food. A
number of studies have investigated the extent to which this is associated with women’s
status. Peggy Sanday (1981) studied 12 societies in which female status ranged widely.
She utilized four indicators of women’s status:
1. material control—whether women distributed food outside the family;
2. demand for female produce—whether there is a demand for the food women produce
outside the family;
3. political participation—whether women influence political decisions;
4. group strength—whether women belong to women’s groups which can advance their
interests.
Using these four measures to get an index of status, she related this index to the
percentage of food produced by women. She found that there was not a direct
relationship. Instead she reported that women were more likely to have high status, not in
societies where they actually produced the highest percentage of food, but in those where
there was a relatively equal division of labour between the sexes.
Thus an example of a society where women’s status was high is that of the Iroquois. In
this North American society men prepared the fields and women planted and harvested
 Gender, sex and sexuality 110

the crops. The tribe also fished and hunted with both men and women fishing while
hunting was carried out mainly, but not exclusively, by men. In this society there was a
relatively equal production of food and this was accompanied by a relatively equal sexual
balance in participation in the making of political decisions.
Other studies have also emphasized that it is not only the amount of food that is
produced that is important in contributing to the status of women, but also that women’s
status is related to the extent to which this food is prized by the society. For example,
when it is high in protein it tends to be valued in comparison to other foods (Tavris and
Wade, 1984).
The extent to which men dominate over women is, however, not only related to food
production, it is also related to the extent to which men and women in any particular
culture work together. It has been shown that the mutual interdependence of the sexes in
the work situation is associated with relatively lower levels of male dominance (Johnson
and Johnson, 1975). Low levels of male dominance have also been observed in societies
where the systems of beliefs about gender stress that males and females are
complimentary, rather than different to each other (Sanday and Goodenough, 1990). In a
similar manner, male dominance tends to be lower in societies where both sexes value
nurturing and co-operation in social life.
In general, in societies where there is economic interdependence between the sexes,
where co-operation between the sexes is high and where mutuality is stressed, gender
inequalities in status tend to be low and male dominance tends to be minimal. Women in
such societies are consequently likely to be autonomous economically and as a result, as
in the Vanatinai society studied by Lepowsky, women as well as men occupy public and
prestige -generating roles. The existence of such societies indicates that as Lepowsky
(1990, p. 214) puts it:

…that the subjugation of women by men is not a human universal and is

not inevitable, and that sex role patterns and gender ideology are closely
related to overall social systems of power and prestige.1

Anthropological studies such as the one referred to above serve to reinforce a structural
approach to gender because they show that gender issues are associated with social
processes and social forces as well as with the socialization of sex-typed behaviour.

Sexual rituals
Many societies prescribe sexual rituals. For example in connection with childbirth,
menarche (onset of menstruation) and menstruation. There are wide variations in these
rituals. With respect to menarche, many societies confine girls to particular areas at the
time menstruation is expected to begin and during this period they are taught by older
women about the sexual mores of their society (Siann and Ugwuegbu, 1988). In contrast,
in most contemporary western societies, there is no public acknowledgement at all of this
important event in a young girl’s life. On the contrary, both the girls concerned and their
families are very reluctant to talk about it and Unger and Crawford (1992) report that the
great majority of young girls do not discuss the onset of menstruation with anyone except
their mothers.
 Structuralism, feminism and post-feminism 111

The way menstruating women are treated also varies a great deal. Some societies
make no prescriptions at all about this while many others, including some western
societies until very recently, have believed that menstruating women pollute and
contaminate, and consequently have restricted the actions and behaviour of women
during menstruation. Some societies, such as orthodox Jews, do not allow sexual
intercourse during, and for some days after, menstruation.
Rituals concerned with childbirth also show wide variation across societies. In very
many societies, especially until recently western societies, husbands or sexual partners
have been almost totally excluded from childbirth. In other societies husbands have
traditionally been involved in both the course of the pregnancy and in childbirth.
Anthropological studies show this involvement to vary a great deal from societies where
men may restrict their eating of certain foods during the pregnancy to societies where
men are involved in what has ben called ‘couvade’. Couvade is the word used to refer to
a deliberate imitation of pregnancy. The extent of this imitation varies a great deal but in
one society, reported on by Paige and Paige (1981), the husband also takes to his bed or
hammock, writhes and moans and finally ‘gives birth’ in conjunction with his wife.
One of the most extreme sexual rituals is circumcision. Where this is practiced in
western societies, this is confined to males and tends to be carried out at birth. In non-
western societies this is often carried out in later childhood or in early adolescence and
may be extended to females as well as to males.
Female circumcision is a practice which has been very widely practised in parts of
Africa and Asia. It varies from relatively minor clitoral incisions to the almost total
removal of the clitoris. In some cases infibulation, sewing up part of the genital area, is
also practised. In many instances female circumcision is followed by considerable
medical pathologies such as infections, haemorrhages and chronic pelvic infections. Not
surprisingly, then, female circumcision is a very controversial issue and there is
considerable pressure both in western countries, where some immigrant groups still
practice it, as well as in Africa and Asia to prohibit it entirely. Nevertheless, there is some
indication that women from communities which practice female circumcision do not
always themselves wish to see the custom banned (Epelboin and Epelboin, 1979).
If we are interested in issues of gender, we may ask what purposes these rituals serve.
Not surprisingly, psychoanalysts locate these rituals and taboos in unconscious
motivation. For example, they may relate male circumcision to castration anxiety and
father—son rivalry, and menstruation taboos to men’s fears of rampant female sexuality.
Looking at the taboos from an anthropological perspective Paige and Paige (1981) have
suggested that rituals are used to convince and persuade others of one’s intentions. In the
case of circumcision they argue that when parents allows members of their own groups to
circumcise their sons—and more controversially and rarely their daughters—they are
demonstrating to their own group and to outsiders, that they are loyal to their own group.
In the case of couvade, the father is emphasizing to other members of his group that he is
the father of the child his wife is about to bear. In the case of ceremonies associated with
menarche, it is being demonstrated that the girls concerned are now of marriagable age.
Other explanations of sexual rituals are more pragmatic. It has been argued that rituals
concerned with when sexual intercourse can take place serve to control population
growth. For example, the Jewish practice of confining intercourse to the middle and latter
end of the menstrual cycle when women are more likely to conceive is likely to increase
 Gender, sex and sexuality 112

the population, as of course is the Catholic taboo on most methods of birth control. On
the other hand, some societies with limited resources help to lower the birth rate by only
allowing heterosexual intercourse at particular times.
It is most likely, of course, that these explanations are not mutually exclusive and that
sexual rituals and taboos serve many interacting purposes, including one additional
purpose: the social control of women.

Social control

Women were probably the first slaves, and while elite

women had considerable power in early states, they were
subject to men of their class. Women not only did not
‘progress’ but have been increasingly disempowered,
degraded and subjugated.
Marilyn French (1992, p. 1)

History is replete with instances of the social control of women by men, ranging from the
manner in which women were denied the suffrage and the power to control their own
financial resources until very recently in the west, to the manner in which girls and young
women could be bought and sold as concubines in China until the 1950s.
This social inequality has been tempered of course by time, social class and
circumstance. Indeed, as already demonstrated, both historical and anthropological
sources have shown periods and societies when such inequalities are, or were, absent or
relatively slight. Furthermore, as Marilyn French concedes in the quote above, elite
women in all hierarchical societies have had more power and status than men from
lowlier classes. Nevertheless, the fact that men have dominated over women in most
societies is undeniable and such inequalities obviously have also contributed to sexual
rituals and taboos.
Female circumcision, for example, has served to control women’s sexuality and the
taboos surrounding menstruation have served to remind women that, in comparison to
men, their sexuality and physical nature is repellent. As Norman Mailer in The Prisoner
of Sex, 1971, puts it: ‘…that unmentionable womb, that spongy pool, that time machine
with a curse, dam for an ongoing river of blood’ (quoted in Starr, 1991, p. 45) echoes a
theme in western thought going back through the centuries. For example, Hesiod’s
recommendation in Work and Days, circa 800 BC, to men in the ninth century: ‘Never
wash in water that a woman has used…for there is a dismal forfeit that will contaminate
(the male body) (quoted in Starr, 1991, p. 49).
Women have also been subjected frequently to physical constraints on their
movements as well as on the manner in which they dress. Sometimes this has been very
explicit. For example, in the social rituals of Victorian England where upper class young
women could not meet with men outside their immediate family if they were not
accompanied by a chaperone. At other times the restraint has been, or is indeed still,
imposed on them less by custom than by social conditions. For example, the restraint
imposed by the fact that in many western cities an unaccompanied woman may place
herself in great physical danger.
 Structuralism, feminism and post-feminism 113

Westerners sometimes regard the practice of purdah as the most extreme example of
such social control. Purdah is the term used to refer to the rituals of seclusion imposed on
many eastern women, particularly those living in Islamic cultures. These include aspects
of their dress such as the wearing of the veil, or chador (an all-enveloping cloak); the
restriction on social mixing with men other than members of the immediate family and as
a result, in some cases, their attendance at single sex schools and, very exceptionally,
single sex universities.
While many western commentators, including some feminists, have regarded purdah
as the epitome of men’s social control over women, large numbers of Islamic scholars,
including the distinguished woman writer Rana Kabbani (1986), dispute this conclusion.
In the first place they argue that the practice needs to be seen in the context of the
honour which all families wish to preserve. Family honour, known as ‘izzet’ in most
Muslim cultures, rests on the behaviour of individual members of the extended family
and requires piety, responsibility and conformity with recognized social and religious
customs. For women, chastity and sexual purity are essential and purdah is seen as
protecting their honour (Mernissi, 1971).2 The manner in which purdah is interpreted
varies a great deal and while in the past purdah involved the almost total seclusion of
women in the home, (Mahfouz, 1991)3 this is certainly not the case today. For example,
in a recent interview contemporary Iranian feminists (Siann and Knox, 1992) claimed
that the practice of purdah, far from precluding women from taking an important role in
social and political life, actually facilitates this by freeing women from the need to play
the dual roles imposed on the western working woman—competent worker and
desirable/feminine woman. In short, they argued, purdah eliminates the need for a woman
to be a sex-object. They also stressed the advantages purdah confers in terms of
guaranteeing the personal safety of women, noting that their chadors acted as a protection
against the baser instincts of men and enabled them to walk down the streets of cities on a
basis of equality with men.
It has also been pointed out that even when, in the past, women were confined to their
home by the operation of purdah, this was by no means always a negative experience.
Lila Abu-Lughod (1983), for example, who lived with Bedouin women, described how
much autonomy they had within the domestic setting and the positive, supportive
atmosphere of a female world with a shared experience of humour, affection and warmth
(Jeffery, 1976).
In the light of studies such as those described above, Tavris and Wade (1984) argue
that western interpretations of purdah have tended to be highly ethnocentric in conformity
with a general tendency to regard non-western modes of male—female interaction as
inferior to western. It would be more appropriate they claim to see purdah as an example
of the monitoring of female chastity that has, in the past, characterized very many
societies. Such monitoring of chastity serves the dual purpose of protecting young
women from unwanted pregnancies and ensures that when they marry, they marry men
who are members of their own social class or clan.
Thus purdah should not be seen as a bizarre and repellent eastern custom but should
instead be related to practices such as the chaperonage of young women in Victorian
Britain. It is worth noting too, that even in the middle years of this century restrictions on
the leisure activities of unmarried daughters were very commonly practised in certain
 Gender, sex and sexuality 114

Catholic societies, for example in the rural villages of countries like Greece, Spain,
Portugal and Italy.
In concluding this section on social control I would argue that the discussion
illuminates once again the manner in which cultural variables modify the balance of
gender relationships. A related issue is the manner in which cultural variables affect the
perceived psychological attributes of men and women, and it is at this that we shall now
look.

Culture gender and temperament

Throughout history, the more complex activities have been

defined and re-defined, now as male, now as female, now
as neither, sometimes as drawing equally on the the gifts of
both sexes, sometimes as drawing differentially on both
sexes.
Margaret Mead (1971, p. 336)

Margaret Mead is perhaps the anthropologist best known to the general public,
particularly in the USA. She was born in 1901 and from the early 1930s until the 70s
played an important role in the formation of American attitudes to issues concerned with
gender and sexual morality. Her field work as an anthropologist was carried out mainly in
Samoa and New Guinea and it was her stay in New Guinea that laid the basis for her
seminal work on the manner in which culture shapes the personalities of women and
men.
In the book she wrote about this, Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies
(1938), she examined three very contrasting societies. In the Arapesh tribe both sexes
exhibited nurturant and maternal behaviour and both looked after the children. Children
were betrothed in childhood and small boys learned to assist with the feeding and care of
their small wives-to-be. Members of both sexes learned to be co-operative, unaggressive
and concerned with the needs and rights of others. The model personality was much the
same for both sexes and was similar to the model of female behaviour in America at that
time. The second tribe she described, the Mundugumor, also exhibited little difference in
the model attributes of females and males but these attributes differed considerably from
those approved by the Arapesh. Both sexes were expected to be ruthless, aggressive and
strongly sexual and there was little emphasis on nurturant or caring behaviour even in
relation to very small children. The society appeared to value the kinds of traits in both
sexes that were traditionally associated with the extreme kinds of masculine behaviour in
the USA.
The third society she described, the Tchambuli, unlike the other two did show marked
variations in the model behaviour expected of males and females. This sex-typing,
however, contrasted markedly with the sex-typing of behaviour then prevalent in the
USA. Amongst the Tchambuli, women took charge of all business and domestic affairs.
They worked in large groups and the socialization of small girls was directed towards
competence and responsibility. Men, on the other hand, spent most of their time, not
working but in their ceremonial houses, carving, painting, gossiping and exhibiting
 Structuralism, feminism and post-feminism 115

considerable rivalry with each other. Little boys were absorbed into this way of life from
an early age.
It was from consideration of these three societies that Mead developed her ideas
concerned with the effect of culture on temperament. She argued that societies reinforce
and censure particular attributes which are not necessarily, as in the case of the Arapesh
and Mundugumor, related to the sex of the individual. But if these attributes are related to
sex, the attributes considered appropriate to each sex can vary with culture. This was the
case with the comparisons she drew between the Tchambuli and American culture. What
is important is the influence of culture on the social behaviour expected of individuals of
both sexes. As Mead (1935, p. 280) put it:

Standardized personality differences between the sexes are of this order,

cultural creations, to which each generation, male and female, is trained to
conform.

Mead’s conclusion that culture selects and shapes sex-typed behaviour has been
confirmed by other anthropological studies which have demonstrated that the
psychological attributes associated with the two sexes does show variation across cultures
(Sanday and Goodenough, 1990). Despite recent reappraisals and reanalysis of some of
her work, (Freeman, 1983) notably her studies of adolescence in Samoa, Mead’s work on
sex and temperament remains very influential and has had particular impact on feminism.
It is to this topic that we now turn.

Feminism

Feminism is a:
socialist, anti-family movement that encourages women
to leave their husbands, kill their children, practise
witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.
The American evangelist, Pat Robertson (1992)

The thing women have got to learn is that nobody gives

you power, you just take it.
Roseanne Barr (1993, p. 161)

As Corinne Squires (1989, p. 1) has noted, ‘Feminism and Psychology are important for
each other.’ Nineteenth and early twentieth century feminists often cited psychological
studies which pointed to the role of social learning in shaping sex-typed behaviour.
Additionally, from the opposing perspective of psychoanalysis, a number of early
psychoanalysts, mostly but not always women, endorsed feminist demands. This
interaction will be discussed in this section and we will look first at the influence of
feminism on the study of gender. Following on from that we will examine what have
been called ‘backlash’ effects—that is the manner in which some men and women have
 Gender, sex and sexuality 116

construed feminism as having a negative effect on the psychological development of their

own sex. Finally the chapter will end by focusing on some of the ways in which structural
approaches to gender and feminist thought has impacted on the adult lives of women and
men.

Feminism and gender

As Rosemary Tong (1992) has noted, feminism, like most broadly based philosophical
perspectives, accommodates a number of diverse approaches. Not all of these approaches
deal directly with the issues of gender with which this book is concerned. Consequently
this discussion will be confined only to those approaches which have contributed to the
psychological understanding of gender issues: the existential, the psychoanalytic, the
radical, the constructivist and the post-modern.

Existentialist approaches

Now, what peculiarly signalizes the situation of woman is that she—a free
and autonomous being like all human creatures—nevertheless finds
herself living in a world where men compel her to assume the status of the
Other.
Simone de Beauvoir (1984, p. 29)

Jean-Paul Sartre with his companion and lover Simone de Beauvoir (Tong, 1992)4 had a
powerful and in many ways dominant influence on French intellectual thought in the
middle years of this century. Both were heavily influenced by philosophers such as Hegel
and Heidegger and both worked within a philosophical tradition which has become
known as existentialism.
Existentialists argue that human beings are self-creating in that we are not naturally
endowed with particular psychological characteristics but acquire these characteristics by
the kind of choices we make in life. In this manner we ‘create’ what we become. While
Sartre and his predecessors within this tradition elaborated this approach within the
framework of typically masculine choices, de Beauvoir illuminated the implications of
the existential approach for women.
In her extremely influential book, The Second Sex, she argued that men centre on
themselves as ‘Self’ and consequently regard women as ‘Other’. She believed that men’s
conception of women’s ‘otherness’ centred on their perception that women lack certain
qualities. Thus women’s difference from men is seen by men not as an alternative and
positive difference but as an imperfection. In thus making women the negated self, de
Beauvoir argued, the situation is created whereby regarding Women as Other, man
perceives her as a threat to Self and as such needs to subordinate her to him. More
importantly for women’s psychological development, de Beauvoir proposed that women
are not only regarded as ‘other’ (and inferior to men) by men, but internalize this point of
view and come to accept the position of men as essential and of women as inessential
(McCall, 1979).
She went on to suggest that there are three basic propositions which reinforce this
asymmetry between the sexes. First, that in all societies this binary opposition with men
 Structuralism, feminism and post-feminism 117

dominant over women has existed and continues to exist. Second, she suggested that the
division associates masculinity with culture and feminity with nature and, thirdly, she
linked the first two propositions by suggesting that males dominate women as culture
dominates nature.
Given her gloomy diagnosis of women’s position, what steps did de Beauvoir believe
that women could take to escape their destiny? First, she suggested that they should
demand the right to work as equal to men. Second, she encouraged them to follow in the
tradition of earlier women intellectuals and writers such as Virginia Woolf and probe the
human condition in their thoughts and writing. Finally, she recommended that women
should work with men towards the transformation of society and the economic
independence of women.
De Beauvoir’s influence has been very great. It was felt, for example, in anthropology
where her conception of the universal duality male dominant/ female subordinate, tallied
with the anthropological views referred to in the earlier sections of this chapter. Her
contribution to twentieth century French literature is also indisputable, but pre-eminently
she contributed to feminist thought by her insistence that women should strive for
economic independence and intellectual parity with men.
In conclusion, and with particular relevance to the issues central to this book, she
forced women to look critically at the manner in which they have tended to internalize
their ‘otherness’ and to collude with the belief, held until very recently by the very great
majority of men, that somehow at some fundamental level women are not only different
to men but, particularly in areas of the intellect, inferior. It is the persistence of this belief
that leads to instances of what was referred to in the last chapter as the Goldberg effect
where women, as well as men, rate journal articles more highly if they believe them to be
written by a man rather than by a woman.

Psychoanalytic approaches

…to free herself from what is holding her back, a woman must do more
than fight for her rights as a citizen; she must also probe the depths of her
psyche in order to exorcise the original primal father from it. Only then
will she have the space to think herself anew and become who she has the
power to be.
Rosemary Tong (1992, p. 172)

Psychoanalysis has never been overtly anti-feminist in that there were a number of
women psychoanalysists from the beginning of its development. However, as was
evident from the discussion in chapter 2 of this book, early psychoanalysts tended to
develop their discussion from a description of the period of early childhood, which they
called the Oedipal stage, in which they gave far more emphasis to the experience of boys
than they did to the experience of girls.
Many feminists working within a psychoanalytic perspective have, not surprisingly,
focused on this aspect of psychoanalysis. Some, like Juliet Mitchell (1974), have
accepted the importance of this stage, arguing that it is the vehicle by which patriarchy,
or male dominance, is perpetuated. Nevertheless, while accepting its centrality in
psychological development, Mitchell has argued it must be destroyed. Other feminist
 Gender, sex and sexuality 118

psychoanalysts, like Sherry Ortner (1975), have contested Mitchell’s position proposing
that rather than attempting to destroy the Oedipal stage, it should be transformed by
instituting a system of dual parenting which would change the dynamics of the classical
Oedipal stage.
However, a more powerful reinterpretation of the psychoanalytic tradition has come
from feminists working within the psychoanalytic tradition who focus less on Freud’s
psychosexual stages, such as the Oedipal stage, and more on the psychoanalytic view of
the role of infancy and early childhood in perpetuating subtle and pervasive gender
differences. Theorists falling into this tradition like Chodorow (see chapter 2) and
Gilligan (see chapter 5) have argued that it is in the earliest years that gender differences
are forged. For it is at this period that girls develop a greater need than boys to love and
be loved and to be accommodating to the needs of others; while boys learn that it
important to distance yourself from others and to concentrate on achievement in the
world outside the family. Consequently such theorists, endorsing Ortner’s
recommendation, though from a rather different perspective, argue that feminists and
psychoanalysts alike must strive for dual parenting. The presence of both sexes ensuring
that boys as well as girls come to value feelings of nurturance and girls as well as boys
come to value the need for autonomy.

Radical approaches

I have come to believe…that female biology—the diffuse, intense

sensuality radiating out from the clitoris, breast, uterus, vagina; the lunar
cycles of menstruation; the gestation and fruition of life which can take
place in the female body—has far more radical implications than we have
yet come to appreciate.
Adrienne Rich, quoted by Lynne Segal (1987, p. 9)

All feminists no matter what their orientation explicitly challenge the manner in which a
world dominated by men has not only subordinated women but has also created a
framework in which men’s achievements are valued more than women’s. Consequently
all feminists would endorse the position that men, whether wittingly or unwittingly,
frequently act against the interests of women. From this stance, feminists criticize what
they call patriarchy—a world dominated by, and run in the interests of, men. Most
feminists trace the development of patriarchy to cultural and social processes and argue
that it is the role of feminists to oppose these processes. A minority, however, operating
sometimes from an essentialist position locate the source of partriarchy and its oppression
of women in differences in the very nature of men and women. They argue, for instance,
that women differ fundamentally from men in what Adrienne Rich has called the ‘cosmic
essence of womanhood’. They believe that this essence, combined with women’s
capacity for motherhood, enables women to lead lives which are more in tune with the
natural world than are the lives led by men.
Consequently some radical feminists recommend that instead of trying to minimize
gender differences, women should instead establish a new and very different approach to
femininity by reversing patriarchal dualities. Totally rejecting any move towards
androgyny, women should glory in their difference from men (Tong, 1992) and value the
 Structuralism, feminism and post-feminism 119

qualities men have traditionally criticized in women such as passion, fertility and
irrationality.
Perhaps the most extreme proponent of this perspective is Mary Daly who writes of
men’s rule as ‘poisoning’, ‘polluting’ and ‘contaminating’ and pleads passionately that
women replace it with their own ‘elemental’ purity. They must embark on a spiritual
odyssey into ‘woman’s space’. In order to do this women must totally transform the
language of gender and the manner in which men have labelled women in the past:

Breaking the bonds/bars of phallocracy requires breaking through the

radiant power of words, so that by releasing words, we can release our
Selves. Lusty women long for radiant words, to free their flow, their
currents… The race of Lusty Women, then, has deep connections with the
Race of Radiant Words.
Daly (1984, p. 4)

Words like witch/crone/hag should be reclaimed from their negative connotations and
women should confer on them fundamentally new and positive meanings, revelling in a
flight from the oppression of men and creating a new ‘Race of Lusty Women’. From this
position Daly promotes ‘Lusty Women’s’ separation both from a male-centred world and
from those women who have been unable to free themselves from this world: the ‘Painted
Birds’ (stereotypically feminine women), the ‘token feminists’ and the ‘fembots’ (female
robots or professional women).
Daly’s radical feminism is not widely subscribed to but it has been influential in two
ways. The first is one which she would no doubt endorse: it has helped to create a climate
where women can transform their status as ‘other’ from a negative lack to a positive
difference. It has also been influential in a completely different way. This is in fostering a
particular stereotype of feminists which has created a degree of antagonism towards
feminism in both women and men. This issue will be explorted in the discussion on the
backlash to feminism in the later part of this chapter.

Social constructionist approaches

For constructivists, values and attitudes determine what are taken to be

facts.
Rachel Hare-Mustin and Jeanne Maracek (1990, p. 23)

Social constructionist is a term that is used by American theorists (Unger and Crawford,
1992) who write about the psychology of gender from an overtly feminist perspective.
This perspective suggests that gender operates at individual, interpersonal and cultural
levels to structure people’s lives. Thus in Sandra Bem’s phrase (see chapter 4) most of us,
for most of our lives, view the world through ‘gender polarizing lenses’ making
judgements and attributions about ourselves and others that are coloured by their gender,
our own gender and the kind of behaviour we regard as appropriate for each gender.
This approach to psychology also challenges one of the key assumptions of
mainstream or traditional approaches to psychology in that it contests the traditional
contention that psychologists can operate from a value-free and objective stance. On the
 Gender, sex and sexuality 120

contrary, social constructionists argue that traditional approaches are neither value-free
nor objective. This is because these approaches have been dominated by the
presumptions, and frequently the biases, of middle class, white males. As evidence for
these assertions they point to the work of psychologists like Lawrence Kohlberg (see
chapters 4 and 5) whose theories were built on studies conducted with groups of subjects
which were almost exclusively male.
Social constructionists also point to the fact that in western society, until very recently,
males have dominated over females. This has given males a power base from which they
have tended to overvalue male achievements and undervalue female achievements. For
example, they point to the fact that while it has been frequently reported that women
score higher than men on many tests of verbal ability and men score higher than women
on many tests of mathematical ability, media attention is focused on the areas in which
men do better than women, rather than the reverse.
Because social constructionists argue that it is the dominant groups whose power and
assumptions shape our social world, they also take into account that male dominance and
power over females is frequently overlaid and made complicated by social class and
ethnic differences.
Evidence supporting social constructionist approaches can be found in those studies
reviewed in the last chapter which indicated that identical behaviour carried out by men
and women is frequently rated and appraised in different ways. As for example when a
female manager is perceived as bossy but a male manager behaving identically is
perceives as authoritative.

Post-modern approaches

The more multiple the acknowledged parts of the person are, the more
capable they will be of identifying with many different positions
…women are likely to incorporate greater multiplicity than men…
Wendy Hollway (1989, p. 129)

Recently a number of feminist psychologists, influenced by the French thinker, Foucault

(1979), have written about gender issues from what has been called a post-modernist, or
sometimes post-structuralist (Hollway, 1989), perspective. In general the post-modernist
movement in the social sciences, in conformity with social constructionist approaches,
disclaims the search for enduring, absolute and universal truths. Instead its protaganists
argue that it is impossible to escape the bias of our own personal and cultural positions
(Morawski, 1990).
The post-modernist position, however, goes further than social constructionist
approaches. This is because post-modernists not only argue that it is difficult, if not
impossible, to agree about the objective nature of the outside world, but they also
maintain that our experience of our internal world is also at its core, fragmentary and
shifting.
In essence they deny that we have any stable and coherent internal ‘self’, instead they
argue we continually change and ‘position’ ourselves. For example, a woman scientist
may position herself as a caring mother in conversations with a group of other young
mothers but as an ambitious scientist in conversation with a group of young scientists.
 Structuralism, feminism and post-feminism 121

However, this positioning is not only actively carried out, but it is also in a sense forced
on her by the different social dynamics. Other people treat you differently depending on
the social role you are perceived to be playing. In addition, according to Hollway, we do
not actively position ourselves all the time. In many instances our positioning is
unconscious and may only reveal itself when we take up different positions in our
discussions and interactions with others.
A young man may, of course, also position himself differently at different times. For
example, as a loyal fan of a fooball club on a night out after a Cup Final on the one hand,
and as a responsible young father when applying for a bank loan, on the other. However,
if he is white and middle class, because his social and gender groups are those dominant
in society, he has to shift his position less. In general, according to those arguing for a
post-modernist approach, multiplicity is less characteristic of dominant groups than of
those with lesser social power. So, for example, multiplicity of positioning is more
characteristic of black groups than white. Amina Mama puts it this way:

The capacity to occupy many social positions is true of many, if not all,
black people who have lived in the west, in ways that are not necessarily
so for white people who have lived in Third World countries because of
the historical status of expatriate communities as colonizers.
(Hollway, 1989, p. 130)

Like the feminists working from anthropological and social constructionist approaches,
post-modern feminists emphasize the manner in which power and status imbalances
between the sexes create sex differences in behaviour.5

Psychological aspects of the feminist backlash

Many new breeds of woman are upon the earth: there are
female body builders whose pectorals are as hard as any
man’s, there are women marathon runners…there are
women administrators with as much power as any man;
there are women paying alimony and women being paid
palimoney…
Germaine Greer, 21st Anniversary edition, (1991, p. 9)

It is undeniable that the opportunities open to women have expanded in the past 20 years.
Women prime ministers are no longer uncommon. Women have attained high positions
in military establishments, for example in the USA army, and the the last two American
ambassadors to the United Nations have been women. In many countries more women
have been appointed as judges although this level of the legal profession has tended to
remain very much a male preserve, perhaps because judges are, on the whole, older than
most other professional groups. The sexual ratio in entry to professions, such as
medicine, law, dentistry, veterinary medicine, is far more balanced and indeed in most
cases has reached parity. The role of women in the media has also changed in that there
 Gender, sex and sexuality 122

are a now a large number of women commentators, reporters and analysts, and they are
no longer confined to women’s issues but comment on financial, political and military
issues.
This is not to deny that there are obstinate and obdurate pockets of resistance to sexual
equality, notable in the church and, in Britain, in the selection of women as parliamentary
candidates. Furthermore, as discussed in chapter 5, there tend to be relatively few women
in senior positions in management or in academic life, particularly in the more prestigious
universities. Nevertheless, that the position of women in the occupational field and in
public life has changed dramatically is not open to serious arguement.
The extent to which other aspects of sexual inequality have changed is more
controversial. A number of feminist authors have argued that there has been little
movement in areas such as violence against women and in the provision of child care
facilities for women. Some feminist authors have also maintained that there has been a
backlash against the advances that women have made in the occupational and social
fields.

Backlash (1)—the undeclared war against women

The backlash decade produced one long, painful and unremitting

campaign to thwart women’s progress.
Susan Faludi (1992, p. 492)

…men-as-a-caste—elite and working class men—continue to seek ways

to defeat feminism by rescinding or gnawing away at its victories (legal
abortion), confining women to lower employment levels (putting a ‘glass
ceiling’ over professional women) or founding movements aimed at
returning them to fully subordinate status (‘fundamentalism’).
Marilyn French (1992, p. 5)

Susan Faludi has argued that after the strides made by women in the 1960s and 1970s, the
80s were a decade in which forces antagonistic to the rights of women gathered strength
and attempted to reverse the gains that women had made. In support of this claim she
mustered large numbers of media reports which have been concerned with the apparently
ominous aspects of women’s progress.
She quoted media reports which focused on the unhappiness with their personal life
reported by some women at the peak of their careers, or which highlighted the
ambivalences felt by working mothers. She referred also to Hollywood films such as
Fatal Attraction in which a career woman is shown to be flawed, unhappy, neurotic and
malign in contrast with the benign and favourable portrait of a wife and mother. She
suggests that these instances all point to a backlash phenomenon which seeks to
‘refeminise’ women so that women once again become eager to marry and to devote
themselves to the welfare of their children and husbands. She does not suggest that the
forces of the backlash are conspiring to stop women working. On the contrary she
suggests that working women are seen as positive provided their motivation to work is
largely to bolster the family income thereby increasing domestic consumption.
 Structuralism, feminism and post-feminism 123

In a similar vein, Marilyn French has suggested that modern cultures, at least since the
invention of agriculture, have been engaged in a systematic war against women and that
the strides that have been claimed for women in the last decades are illusory. Instead,
French claimed, women have continued to be heavily discriminated against, notably in
the area of violence against the person. She reported that in the USA nearly 2000000 men
batter their partners and about four women a day die as a result of male abuse.
Both French and Faludi cite the violence against abortion clinics which they argue has
contributed to the lowering of inhibitions against killing women. Both refer to the case of
Marc Lepine, the 25 year old engineer, who shot 14 young women at the University of
Montreal in 1989 claiming in his defence that the women were ‘all a bunch of fucking
feminists’ (Doody, 1992).
Yet both Faludi and French have had to come to terms with the fact that even if the
backlash effect is masterminded by men, phenomena they cite as part of the backlash
involve women as well as men. For example, the graduates and successful women
interviewed by Rosalind Coward (1993) who are ambivalent about their pursuit of careers
and the women who, even if provoked to do so by men, demonstrate at the gates of
abortion clinics. Thus, if there has been a swing away from overt campaigning for the
rights of women it has to be related to the manner in which women as well as men view
issues connected with feminism. Consequently in the next section we will review the
evidence concerned with women’s attitudes to feminists and feminism.

Backlash (2)—women’s views on feminism

Q. ‘What flashes into your mind in response to the word feminist?’

A. ‘Short hair, hairy legs, my old lecturer who was a lesbian.’
‘A rather opinionated bossy woman who likes to get into arguments and calls 90 per
cent of men male chauvinist pigs and always feels that the world is male dominated.’
‘A woman trying to be a man. Insecure with her sexuality, so she turns it against
men—a man-hater.’
 Gender, sex and sexuality 124

‘An annoying pain who dresses like a man and moans about pathetic petty little
problems.’
‘A woman with glasses, curly hair and a moustache wearing green wellies and riding
clothes.’
‘Usually a woman who can’t get a man.’
‘A feminist is a woman who insanely believes in female rights. Some may even go as
far as saying that God is a woman.’
‘Middle class woman standing “ranting and raving”-about relevant issues but in an
over dramatic way.’
‘Someone concerned with the need to free women from the subordination imposed
upon them by society.’
‘Getting the best of both worlds for me really—usually females fighting to compete in
a man’s world.’
Female first year students studying at Scottish universities in 1993 (Beloff et al.
1993).

In a recent study conducted at three Scottish Universities, I and my colleagues canvassed

the views of over 1000 first year undergraduates on feminists and feminism. There were
roughly equal numbers of males (505) and females (556) and the majority were social
science students although a sizable minority were studying engineering and science.

Drawing by female undergraduate in a

survey of attitudes to feminists, Beloff
et al., 1993.
Although the majority of women, 63 per cent, said that they were either very or quite
sympathetic to feminism, and only 5 per cent said that they were not at all sympathetic to
feminism, their views on feminists were less positive. Of the 95 per cent of women who
 Structuralism, feminism and post-feminism 125

made extended comments about feminists, just over half made negative comments while
significantly fewer made positive ones (38 per cent).
The overall impression gained from this survey was that only a minority of the women
in the sample identified with feminists and many actively wished to distance themselves
from them. These findings reinforced the picture which had been built up by asking about
this informally. It was also buttressed by the number of times women were heard to say
‘I’m not a feminist but…’
I believe that this ‘but’ is important. Most women appear to value the advances made
in the area of women’s rights. They will, if pressed, acknowledge that these advances
were achieved as the result of the efforts of feminists in the past. Most also feel strongly
about any discrimination they experience from men, at any level, and most will take
action against such discrimination. Relatively few, however, identify with feminists
because they regard feminists as women who ‘go over the top’ or in the words of one
female respondent ‘women who should calm down a bit’.
Comments made by the women respondents about feminists were also frequently
related to their appearance. These comments tended to reflect a view that I have come
across frequently in conversations with women of all ages, which characterizes feminists
as sexually unattractive to men. Furthermore in responses to the survey there was
frequently a sense that admitting to being a feminist would mark one out as essentially
unfeminine. This descriptor is one which I believe most women regard as essentially
uncomplimentary although I have to admit that I have nothing but anecdotal evidence for
this belief.
Quite obviously the comments made in the paragraph above apply in the main to
heterosexual women, although I have also met a small number of lesbians who also
appear to wish to distance themselves from feminists.6
Turning to the subject of feminism rather than feminists, women appear to me, both
from this survey and in my own experience, to have a kind of pick and mix attitude to
feminism. In general they are aware that the term ‘feminism’ covers a very broad range
of perspectives. They are also, in the main, very favourably disposed to anything they see
as contributing to the advance of women. Consequently large numbers of our respondents
indicated that there are aspects of feminism that they support. But the proviso was
frequently made that they would not want to do this in an extreme manner. These views
resonate with those of very many women with whom I have discussed issues relating to
feminism and it seems particularly characteristic of younger women.
Christine Griffith (1989), writing about a study she conducted with a group of young
working class women in their last years at school and as they entered the job market, has
indicated rather similar findings. She reported that while her respondents were
sympathetic to many of the demands of feminism they frequently made the disclaimer
that ‘I’m not a women’s libber’. As in the university survey reported on above, this
disclaimer appeared to be related to the notion that collective female resistance is
negative, unattractive and unfeminine.
There is no doubt that such stereotypes are fostered by the media but there is also little
doubt that the stance taken by radical feminists, such as Mary Daly (1984) and Andrea
Dworkin (1980), who do a great deal to court publicity, also contributes to the impression
many women have of feminists as ‘hating men/excessive/pushy/overly
 Gender, sex and sexuality 126

pushy/dominating/opinionated/righteous/narrow minded’ to quote some of the comments

made by female undergraduates in our survey.
Both surveys also indicate, I believe, a continuing ambivalence felt by very many
women. This is that while they wholeheartedly endorse equal rights for women at work,
in the home and in society at large, at some very deep level, they fear that too
campaigning an attitude to women’s rights is somehow related to a loss of femininity.
Such ambivalences were referred to in chapter 5 and we will return to the issue in the
concluding sections of this chapter.

Backlash (3)—men respond to feminists.

Q. ‘What flashes into your mind in response to the word feminist?’

A. ‘Dyke, short hair, whingeing, self defence, chip on shoulder.’
‘Usually unreasonable, vulgar, lesbian 60s.’
‘Big, fat, dresses like a man, looks like a man, acts like a man and hates men, single.’
‘A plain looking woman with spectacles, lots of books on her library shelf and a
propensity for argument…’
‘Women with too much attitude.’
‘A woman who is pushy, sometimes aggressive in advancing women’s place in
society. She is normally unattractive…men find it hard to get on with her perhaps
because she frightens them.’
‘Fine up to a point. Any feminist who goes over the top is just going to get ignored.’
‘Over the top women. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with equal rights.’

Male first year students studying at Scottish universities in 1993 (Beloff et al. 1993)
As noted above, Susan Faludi has asserted that there is currently a powerful backlash,
initiated by men, against feminism. Her contention is certainly supported by a number of
books published in the past decade. These fall into two types: those written by men who
appear repelled and threatened by the advance of women; and those written by men who
have reappraised gender positions. Before discussing these books, however, I would like
to turn to the responses made by the male undergraduates in the survey described above.
In general, as with the women, men were more favourably disposed towards feminism
than towards feminists. Almost 90 per cent of men made extended comments about
feminists and 56 per cent of these were negative. On the other hand, 39 per cent said that
they were very or quite sympathetic towards feminism and only 16 per cent said they
were not at all sympathetic to feminism.
Their views on feminists, however, as revealed by the extended comments and
drawings they made, were considerably less favourable. They often paralleled the
remarks made by the women respondents and large numbers of men also commented that
feminists are ‘over the top’ or in the words of the quote at the beginning of this section
have ‘too much attitude’. There were also a great many very unflattering references to the
personal attributes and frequently to the appearance of feminists. Like the women
respondents, many male respondents appeared to perceive feminists as unattractive,
unfeminine and antagonistic to men. It should be remembered, however, that these
negative views of feminists were not in general accompanied by a rejection of feminism
 Structuralism, feminism and post-feminism 127

because only 16 per cent of the men indicated that they were not at all sympathetic to
feminism.
Those men, however, who declared themselves unsympathetic to feminism, tended to
display a very deepseated antagonism to feminists. For example, the three men who made
the following comments:

Drawings by male undergraduates in a

survey of attitudes to feminists, Beloff
et al., 1993.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 128

Drawing by male undergraduates in a

survey of attitudes to feminists, Beloff
et al., 1993.

‘Man-hating, politically correct, brash, rude, ugly, masculine’

‘A hypocrite-silly cow that thinks about no 1. No sex please—I am a

feminist.’

‘A feminist is an ignorant woman who doesn’t have a clue what she is

standing for, and just can’t face the fact that masculinity is the master
race’ (my italics).

Such masculine antagonism and distaste for feminists has also been reflected in two
recent books, No More Sex Wars and Not Guilty: In defence of Modern Man (Thomas,
1993). In the first of these the journalist Neil Lyndon (1992a) claims that the assumptions
feminists make are:

…false in logic, false in their assessments of social change and its

consequences, false in the deductions and conclusions to which they lead.
Lyndon (1992b)

Lyndon bases these claims on his interpretation of recent changes in the areas of sexual
equality. For, while he accepts that women were discriminated against in the past and that
 Structuralism, feminism and post-feminism 129

there was a necessity for this to be redressed, he takes issue with feminist interpretations
of both the inequalities and the changes. To begin with he challenges the notion of
patriarchy and the fact that until recently there have been massive sexual imbalances in
power. Second, he claims that the changes in women’s lives that have taken place over
the last hundred years are due to social processes, such as equal rights legislation and the
advent of reliable contraception, rather than to the efforts of feminists. Third, he argues
that women are now in the ascendent and legislation, for example with respect to child
custody, favours women. Finally he contests the notion that women suffer from male
violence to any appreciable extent arguing that women grossly misrepresent the extent to
which they are the victims of male violence. On the contrary he claims that large numbers
of men are attacked by their wives and partners but that this is under-reported because:

so completely has the public absorbed the battered-woman image that it

has become genuinely difficult to set out the facts.
Lyndon, (1992c)

Lyndon’s extremely critical approach towards feminism and feminists is echoed by

David Thomas (1993, p. 1) who argues that women simply cannot be worse off than men
because:

…if men are so much better off than women, how come so many more of
them kill themselves.

Like Lyndon he sees contemporary western society as ‘obsessed with women to the point
of mass neurosis’ (Thomas, 1993, p. 2) and like Lyndon he believes that sexual equality
legislation and recent social changes following on from such legislation have now
disadvantaged men. But behind both books, it seems to me, is the lament of the last
quotation I have given from our survey—women no longer accept that ‘masculinity is the
master race’.
I believe that both these books and some of the responses to our survey indicate that
for a minority of men the victories won recently by women are extremely threatening and
that such men do reflect the backlash to feminism about which Faludi and French write.
Unlike Faludi and French, however, I do not believe that this backlash is organized, or
indeed, very powerful. But I am convinced that, for a minority of men, women’s equality
in the home, at work and in social life does represent a very great psychological threat to
which they react with fear and on occasion with violence. We will return to this issue in
the next chapter.
Quite another backlash effect has been shown by a number of men who have
responded to the change in women’s power and status by arguing for a redefinition of
masculinity. This has taken two forms. The first was the advent of the ‘new’ man and the
second was the advent of the ‘wild’ man.

Backlash (4)—redefining masculinity—new men and wild men

Men are changing—not perhaps with the bang of transformation, but also
not simply with a whispered hint of a slight nudge in a new direction.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 130

New role models for men have not replaced older ones, but have grown
alongside them, creating a dynamic tension between ambitious
breadwinner and compassionate father….
Michael Kimmel (1987, p. 9)

In the 1970s and 1980s a number of men, in direct response to feminism, formed
themselves into consciousness raising groups. In these groups they attempted to come to
terms with the premise held by feminist women that ‘the personal is political’ and they
also attempted to make changes in their own attitude and behaviour that would meet the
changing needs of women. Paralleling these responses at the personal level, a number of
academics, most but by no means all male, set out to study changing approaches to
gender in men (Cohen, 1990).
Most of these men took on board the basic premise of feminism that most societies
have been patriarchal in that their power structures have privileged men rather than
women. In seeking to redress this at the personal level they set out to review their own
responses to women. It was out of such groups that the profile of the ‘new man’ was
delineated—caring, compassionate and committed to equality with his wife or partner in
the home and his female colleagues at work. Masculinity was no longer to be equated
with dominance and men, as well as women, were to be prepared to talk openly about
their feelings. Furthermore, sexual relations between the sexes were to reflect equal
respect and concern for the differing sexual needs of men and women (Hearn and
Morgan, 1990, Chapman and Rutherford, 1988).
Such a redefinition of masculinity began to be reflected by departments of men’s
studies, designed to run in parallel to the burgeoning departments of women’s studies and
to forge and investigate new models for modern men. Sociologists, in particular, began to
analyse the extent to which power inequalities between the sexes had in the past
constrained the way women and men could interact with each other and they also began
to seek ways to reverse such inequalities.
There is no doubt that some of the changes proposed in the men’s groups of the 1970s
and 1980s have occurred. Men do more housework and spend more time with children
than they did previously, though they still do considerably less of both than women
(Kimmel, 1987). Men are also more prepared to talk about their feelings and emotions
than they were in the past, as is very clearly seen in the number of men who do so in the
media.
Furthermore, although as we shall see in the next chapter there is no evidence that
rapes and sexual assaults on women are declining, most men no longer openly harass
women sexually. Moreover they are far less likely than they were to talk in a sexist
way—in the company of women at least.
I believe that these changes do reflect a genuine alteration in the notion of masculinity.
As Kimmel notes in the quote in the beginning of this section, new role models for men
have come into being. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the area of fatherhood. It is
now almost universally accepted that childen’s loving relationships should be with men
as well as women as is evidenced by the condemnation, and frequently stigmatization, of
one-parent families by many politicians and in certain sections of the media. Thus, even
those men who most contest the advance of feminism, for example Lyndon and Thomas,
 Structuralism, feminism and post-feminism 131

place a very central emphasis on the rights of men as well as women to nurture and care
for their children.
The emergence of new role models for men which brought masculinity closer to what
had previously been considered to be more typical of femininity was soon met with
resistance. In particular, in the USA, a new form of essentialism emerged. A number of
men’s groups were formed concerned that the new direction in defining masculinity
epitomized by the new man, betrayed the true nature of masculinity. Robert Bly (1993),
probably the most prominent member of such groups, put it this way:

We are living at an important and fruitful moment now, for it is clear to

men that the images of adult manhood given by the popular culture are
worn out: men can no longer depend on them.

Bly, who has been very influenced by the psychoanalyst Carl Jung (see chapter 2) argues
that men and women differ in their nature but that western society has blurred this
difference. He believes that men need to make strong social bonds with other men and
that this is particularly important for fathers and sons. These bonds are best forged,
according to Bly, in conditions which bring the men and boys concerned close to nature
so that boys can get into contact with what he calls their ‘wild men’:

When a man gets in touch with the Wild Man, a true strength may be
added. He’s able to shout and say what he wants in a way the sixties-
seventies man is not able to…(but) the ability of a male to shout and be
fierce does not imply domination…
Bly (1993, pp. 26–7)

Bly also claims that women themselves reject the wimpish nature of new men and
secretly long for the return of wild men. His concept of the return to the essential nature
of masculinity, is epitomized by the figure representing masculinity in a European folk
tale, Iron John. Thus ‘Iron John’ provides the title for his book.
I believe that Bly’s writing and his organization of retreats where men can reclaim and
reshape their masculinity reflects a response to the challenge posed to many men by the
growing domestic and social power of women. Like many of the male respondents to our
survey and like Neil Lyndon and David Thomas, Bly gives the impression that as women
continue to move into areas which have previously been exclusively male, their sense of
their own personal masculinity is powerfully challenged.

Adult lives

There is no doubt that feminist and structuralist approaches to gender are now being
absorbed into areas of psychology where previously more traditional or mainstream
perspectives dominated.7 This is particularly noticeable in two areas: sexuality and family
life.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 132

Sexuality in adult life

Heterosexual relationships

If love is the answer, could you please rephrase the question.

Lily Tomlin (1993, p. 49)

In the first chapter of this book sexuality was reviewed from a historical perspective and
we noted that it is now generally conceded that women are no less sexual than men in
that their interest in, and response to, sexuality is as intense as men’s. However, as was
shown in chapter 4, young women are still keenly aware of the double standard which
permits and encourages young men to experiment sexually but disapproves of young
women who act in a similar manner.
Nevertheless, the evidence is that young women commence sexual relationships at
much the same age as young men and that increasing numbers of women as well as men
have adulterous relationships after marriage. There is also evidence that women rather
than men tend to initiate divorce proceedings. Furthermore, throughout the western
world, while greater proportions of the population marry than in the past, people are
marrying later and young people of both sexes are far more prepared to live together in
stable relationships and have children without getting married (Unger and Crawford,
1992). There is little doubt, however, that despite this shift in behaviour some gender
differences in attitudes to sexuality at all ages continue to operate.
Young women are both less likely to engage in casual sex than young men and are less
comfortable with the idea of casual sex. They are also more likely to state that they take
the danger of contracting Aids more seriously than are young men.
Rhoda Unger and Mary Crawford argue that, despite the changes brought about by
feminism and women’s changing position in society in general, gender differences in
sexuality continue to be pivoted on deeply internalized scripts of male dominance and
female passivity. They note that the strategies spelled out for the sexes continue to differ.
For young men the message continues to stress having sex, for young women the stress is
on avoiding it. Thus American studies show that the first time couples date, it is mostly
men who seek to initiate sexual relationships while women are more likely to strive not to
‘turn men on’. As dating continues the pattern does too. One study of American students
showed that while men complained of not having intercourse often enough, of having too
few partners and of not having enough oral sex, women expressed dissatisfaction because
of lack of foreplay, painful intercourse and because of experiencing feelings of fear and
guilt (Darling and Davidson, 1986).
It is not only studies of students, however, which continue to show the persistence of
the concept of male dominance in sexuality, men’s greater propensity for sexual
dominance is shown in other studies as well. For example, Blumstein and Schwartz
(1983) surveyed married, cohabiting, gay and lesbian couples and found that in all types
of relationships men continued to stress the need for dominance. Women, on the other
hand, stressed the need not for submission but a reluctance to dominate and a need for
closer emotional relationships.
While studies such as these appear to support the notion that men continue to be more
likely to associate sexuality with sexual performance and women to associate it with
 Structuralism, feminism and post-feminism 133

emotions, this does not preclude the fact that both men and women are frequently very
ambivalent about these aspects of sexuality. For, while women may condemn casual sex,
as they move out of adolescence they become less preoccupied about their sexual
reputations and, as Gad Horowitz and Michael Kaufman (1987) point out, for many men
there is now a large degree of conflict about sexuality. While many social messages spell
out that heterosexual masculinity is associated with power over women, in the sense that
men are projected as the dominant partner, there are other messages concerned with the
need to avoid the exploitation of women.
Sexuality for older heterosexual women continues to be permeated with ambivalences.
To begin with most women continue to be exposed to the message that for women,
satisfying and stable emotional relationships are all important. Furthermore, fiction
directed at young women continues to stress the importance of romance. But there are
other messages too. For example, role models like Madonna present an active and
initiating version of female sexuality.
In order to illustrate the nature of such ambivalences let us look at two hypothetical
relationships which are both built on a number of real life case studies. In the first
instance consider Sally, aged 24, and Peter, aged 25, who have been living together for
three years. Both are recent graduates with similar degrees and come from similar
backgrounds and both have similar careers. When it comes to discussing issues
concerned with interpersonal relationships, whether social, emotional or sexual, they
agree that women as much as men can take the initiative. They also believe in sharing
household chores, shopping and cooking and they have a joint bank account.
Sally applies for and gets a new job which brings with it a very large increase in
salary. Peter professes not to mind that Sally now earns almost one and a half times his
salary. On the strength of Sally’s rise they decide to buy a car. Sally tells her best friend
that she is going to take a back seat in the choice of the car because ‘Peter is feeling
pretty threatened by my new job, so I’m being very careful not to make him feel
inadequate’. I would suggest that were the positions reversed Peter would not express the
same inhibitions.
I believe that Sally and Peter epitomize two continuing tendencies in heterosexual
relationships. First, the sense that many women have that men’s egos are very easily
threatened by their partner’s achievements and second, that in most heterosexual
relationships women work more actively than men to preserve the emotional equilibrium.
The second couple, Liz and David are older and have children in their early twenties.
David is at the peak of a reasonably successful career while Liz has a part-time job which
she feels does not really stretch her. Liz discovers that David is having an intense
relationship with a younger woman. David is very upset by Liz’s discovery of his affair
and regrets hurting her by his behaviour. Liz is deeply upset at her discovery and is
particularly resentful that David is being unfaithful at a time when she feels her own
sexual desirability is declining. She wants, however, to preserve their marriage, provided
he ends the relationship and that it remains a secret from the rest of the world. This is not,
she confides to her friends, because of any great love she still feels for him but because
the fate of a single woman in her fifties is one she wishes to avoid and because she
believes that society still looks down on a woman who ‘can’t keep a man’. Should they
split up she cannot see herself meeting a single man her own age and she will not
entertain the idea of a relationship with a younger man. David, on the other hand, cannot
 Gender, sex and sexuality 134

understand her attitude and claims that she is struggling to preserve their marriage less
out of love for him than out of a desire to retain the status of a married woman.
The differing perspectives of David and Liz illustrate three further themes in
heterosexual relationships. First, the normality and social acceptability of sexual
relationships between older men and younger women compared with the reverse. Second,
the lingering feeling many heterosexual women have that a single woman inevitably is an
object of pity or derision because she is seen as lacking in sufficient femininity to hold a
man. Finally, many women, particularly older women, still define their identity in terms
of being a wife or partner.
In conclusion, I would reiterate that while sexual inequalities in education and
employment are being eroded, and that while sexual differences in attitudes, values and
behaviour are diminishing in general, when it comes to issues concerned with sexuality,
gender differences in attitudes, values and behaviour remain.

Homosexual and lesbian relationships

I was aware of my sexuality at age nine, which makes a nonsense of an

age of consent of 21 and of the ideas of CONVERSION, PERVERSION
and the CORRUPTION of youth.
Derek Jarman (1993, p. 144)

In chapter 3 we looked at a perspective on homosexuality and lesbianism which argued

that sexuality is largely innately determined. At that stage I indicated that the belief that
homosexuality is somehow inborn is one that is increasingly being held by many
members of the gay and lesbian community.
It is not, of course, the only perspective. It was argued, for example, in the last century
and even by some psychiatrists during this century that homosexuality was a pathological
condition which could be cured by medical means, by for instance the administration of
hormones (Ruse, 1988). As we have seen, other perspectives on homosexuality traced its
origins to individual experience. Psychoanalysts argued that sexual orientation is forged
during infancy and early childhood by psychodynamic forces in the nuclear family, while
social learning theorists claimed that sexual orientation owes a great deal to the manner in
which sex-typed behaviour is shaped and reinforced by socialization for those particular
individuals who become homosexual or lesbian.
All these differing perspectives tend to regard sexuality as very central to the core of
self. They all make the assumption that whether one is heterosexual, bisexual or
homosexual, one’s sexuality is not easily influenced by social context or transient
conditions. On the contrary it is seen as an essential part of identity. There is, however,
another perspective on homosexuality which owes its origins largely to anthropological
studies which takes issue with these assumptions. This perspective (Caplan, 1987)
suggests that the manner in which sexuality is perceived is constrained by cultural
practices and values.
According to this viewpoint, while in the west we tend to regard sexuality as a core
component of self, in certain other cultures sexual behaviour, in terms of hetero or
homosexuality, is not regarded as central to personal identity. In certain societies, for
example, during male initiation rites, all males take part in homosexual activities
 Structuralism, feminism and post-feminism 135

although in adult life there appears to be few, if any, homosexual relationships (Caplan,
1987). In other societies, for example, amongst certain Muslim groups in east Africa,
gender and sexuality appear not to be strongly linked in people’s minds. A young woman
on her own, a state which is not regarded as acceptable for young women, can move in
with a richer, older person who may be either male or female and have sexual relations
with them. She can later have sexual relations with a person of a different sex to her
protector. Thus the younger woman’s gender is not seen as necessarily predicting, or
limiting, her sexual behaviour (Shepherd, 1987).
Anthropological studies of sexuality such as the ones cited have had very little
influence on homosexual and lesbian groups in the west. Feminism has, however.
Feminists, of all persuasions, together with gay activists have exerted considerable
political pressure since the 1960s to change public perceptions of homosexuality and
lesbianism. This has resulted in a general acceptance by most members of the public that
homosexuals and lesbians are not deviant in any pathological sense, and has also resulted
in changes in legislation decriminalizing sexuality (for example between adult consenting
males) which had previously been prescribed. Certain inequalities remain however. For
instance in the UK, the age of consent for homosexuals is defined as 21, whereas for
heterosexuals it is 16.
Despite these changes, sexuality for homosexuals and lesbians remains far more
fraught with difficulties than it does for heterosexuals. This is particularly the case during
puberty and adolescence when the social context for young people is usually regarded by
teachers, parents and peers as unproblematically heterosexual. This means that ‘coming
out’ during these years offers few role models and, as a result, although very many
homosexuals and lesbians report that they were aware of their sexuality from a relatively
early age, (Ruse, 1988) few come to terms with it until their late adolescence or early
twenties.
Later in life homosexuals and lesbians continue to experience considerable
discrimination at many levels, and many members of the general public continue to show
high levels of prejudice against them. A tendency which has certainly not been lessened
by the erroneous labelling of AIDS as a gay disease.

Marriage, partners and family life

Ah, how good it is to come home to your wife when she

believes in you and submits to your purpose that is beyond
her. Then how wonderful this nightfall is. How rich you
feel, tired with all the burden of a day in your veins,
turning home.
D.H.Lawrence (1971, p. 193, his italics)

She rose to his requirements, dropped

The playthings of her life
To take the honourable work
Of woman and of wife.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 136

Emily Dickison, The Wife (1900)

Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each

other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now
and then.
Katherine Hepburn (1993, p. 49)

It is not likely that even Neil Lindsay or David Thomas, in their flight from feminism,
would endorse the kind of sentiments encapsulated in the first two quotations above
because views on marriage and parenthood have changed enormously over the last
hundred years.
In particular since the 1960s, and certainly influenced by the feminist movement,
notions of marriage and parenthood have been permeated by an acceptance of a number
of propositions about gender roles which would have been regarded as totally
unacceptable in the past.
To begin with, parenthood is no longer seen as necessarily linked to marriage, partly
because of the rise of single parent families and partly because a significant number of
couples living in stable relationships do not marry. It is now also generally accepted that
mothers of even very young children are likely to work, not only part-time but also full-
time. It has been accepted that mothers, as well as fathers, have the right to pursue
fulfilling and satisfying careers, although the organization of child care still falls
disproportionately on mothers. Finally, fathers have become far more actively involved in
parenthood (Niven, 1992, White and Woollett, 1992) even if, as we have seen in chapter
4, fathers and mothers continue to play somewhat different roles.
There is no doubt that these changes owe a great deal to more flexible notions of
gender, and that feminism as well as more structural approaches to gender have
contributed to these changes. It should not be forgotten, however, that changes in the
economy, such as greater male unemployment and more part-time jobs for mothers, have
also played their part in the relative blurring of gender roles in the family. Furthermore,
the rise in unemployment amongst young males, particularly amongst those with few
educational qualifications, has meant that it has become far harder for such men to play
the traditional role of breadwinner and, consequently, more and more young women are
bringing up children in one parent families.

Conclusions

In this chapter we have surveyed the effects of our understanding of gender relationships,
of structural approaches to gender and of feminism. Together with the rise of the gay
movement they have contributed to radical changes in the way in which men and women
live their lives, think about gender issues and relate to each other. In general, they have
been associated with a blurring of gender roles and an equalization in gender
 Structuralism, feminism and post-feminism 137

opportunities but, particularly in the area of sexuality, gender differences in values and
behaviour remain.

Notes
1. It should be pointed out that the Vanatinai are a matrilineal society (i.e. lineage is related to
the mother not the father) and that this often also contributes to the status of women.
2. Mernissi (1971) argues that while purdah has the expressed purpose of protecting women’s
honour, there are dual traditions in Islamic thought concerning whether this is threatened
more by women’s latent but strong sexuality or by men’s inability to control their sexuality.
3. Mahfouz (1991) describes the manner in which purdah affected the lives of Egyptian women
at the beginning of this century.
4. Although many people believe that Sartre was de Beauvoir’s lifelong mentor and lover, it has
become increasingly clear that although they were lovers early on, in later life their physical
relationship ended. Although de Beauvoir had originally been Sartre’s student she later
became his intellectual companion and sometimes his teacher.
5. As Celia Kitzinger (1991, pp. 111–30) has pointed out, it is only very recently that
psychology has taken the concept of power on board.
6. We were not able to make any assumptions about the sexuality of the respondents to our
survey, but it seems very likely that the very great majority of negative responses about
feminists were made by heterosexual rather than lesbian women.
7. See for example the series Psychology published by Sage and the journal Feminism &
Psychology.
 Chapter 7
Fatal Attractions
It is significant that there is a difference between the sexes
in the type of phantasy which will appeal to each. The idea
of being seized and borne off by a ruthless male who will
wreak his sexual will upon his helpless victim has a
universal appeal to the female sex. It is the existence of
this phantasy which accounts for the wide popularity of
such figures as The Sheikh, Rhett Butler, or even King
Kong.
Anthony Storr (1970, p. 91)

American girls are like horses, very independent. They

have never been controlled by anybody. But if you can
break them in, they are very grateful, as all women are.
Michael Caine, 1974,—my italics—(Storr, 1970, p.
130)

In this last chapter issues relating to sexual antagonism, in particular, sexual assaults, rape
and date or ‘acquaintance’ rape and finally violence will be considered. These issues
cannot, of course, be considered out of their social and cultural context. Such contexts are
perhaps best observed by looking at gender images and stereotypes, both historic and
contemporary, and it is to these that we now turn.

Stereotypes and images

Stereotypes serve as the agents of social messages about

the appropriate roles and behaviours of women and men.
Rhoda Unger and Mary Crawford (1992, p. 125)

Stereotyping and counter-stereotyping

Psychological approaches to the study of sex differences have traditionally placed a
heavy emphasis on the role of stereotypes (Unger and Crawford, 1992). Stereotyping is
said to occur when a group is portrayed in such a way that all members of the group are
regarded as having the same set of characteristics, attitudes or conditions of life (Durkin,
1986). Quite clearly stereotyping in the area of gender is linked to what has been referred
to in this book as sex-typing.
 Fatal attractions 139

As noted in chapter 4, many psychologists, particularly those from behaviourist or

social learning backgrounds, have argued that one of the major reinforcers of sex-typed
behaviour is the extent to which the media depict males and females in a sex-typed
manner (Liebert and Sprafkin, 1988). The major avenues for this sex typing have been
films, television and tabloid newspapers. Most of the research on this topic, however, has
been carried out on television coverage, largely because the majority of the population,
particularly young children, spend more time watching television, and more recently
videos, than listening to the radio, going to the cinema or reading.
The extent to which American television in the past showed men and women in a sex-
typed manner has been documented in very great detail. For example, studies in the late
1970s and early 1980s reported that three-quarters of all leading characters on prime-time
television were male; men were also more likely than women to be shown to exercise
creativity, solve problems, give orders and help or save others. Furthermore, men were
also more likely than women to be shown to be rewarded for such actions (Sternglanz
and Serbin, 1974). Women, on the other hand, tended to be portrayed as deferential,
passive and compliant (Tavris and Wade, 1984).
Women were also more likely than men to be shown as victims, but were less likely to
be victimized if they played conventional roles, for example if they were married.
Women were almost always portrayed as housewives and, if they were shown as
working, were unlikely to be in professional, interesting or challenging occupations
(Unger and Crawford, 1992). Commercials, in particular, sex-typed women as the
consumers of beauty products and products for the home while advertisements for cars,
insurance and banking services were almost always directed at men. When there were
authoritative voiceovers in commercials, for instance by medical experts, the voices were
usually male. Moreover, while women presenters were invariably young and
conventionally attractive many men presenters were older and not necessarily
conventionally goodlooking.
Similar sex-stereotyping has been shown until recently on British television. Women
were outnumbered by men, shown in a narrower range of occupational roles and tended
to be shown as more emotional and as less dominant than men. Furthermore, as in
America, they were more likely to be portrayed in commercials as consumers of beauty
and household products and less likely to do authoritative voice-overs (Gunter, 1986).
In recent years there have been dramatic changes in such sex-typing. Women are
frequently portrayed in professional roles, as detectives, as experts and women now
present hard news programmes and documentaries, and appear as experts in a wide range
of fields from astronomy to financial forecasting. Furthermore, there has been a
movement, particularly in programmes directed at younger people, towards counter-
stereotyping, that is the presentation of images of men and women that run directly
counter to traditional sex-typing (Durkin, 1986).
Despite these changes certain biases remain, particularly in the area of commercials.
For example, a study of prime-time adverts on ITV in 1990 showed that men continued to
outnumber women, continued to be more likely to do voice-overs, and were more likely
to be seen as in paid employment. Moreover even though men as well as women were
portrayed as doing housework, men were more likely to be shown as doing it for friends
while women tended to be shown doing housework in their traditional role within the
family. Gender differences were also shown in the physical appearance of the sexes in
 Gender, sex and sexuality 140

that more women than men were shown to fall into the 21–30-year-old age group and
youth, good looks, blonde hair and ideal body type were more characteristic of the
women appearing in the commercials than of the men (Cumberbatch, 1990).
However, while there is no doubt that sex-stereotyping did, and to some still does,
characterize a great deal of media portrayals of the sexes, it is by no means a foregone
conclusion that such stereotyping necessarily contributes to sex differences. As Tavris
and Wade (1984) point out perceptions of sex roles are not simply shaped by any one
source. So that, while children watch a great deal of television, it is highly unlikely that
television alone can account for the sex-typing of behaviour because children are
presented with a wide range of other sources of information about the social world at
home, at school and at play. Furthermore, the notion that behaviour is shaped by the
media, places the consumer in a very inactive role and the media in the role of what has
sometimes been called the ‘hypodermic syringe’ (Howitt, 1982). The analogy here is that
the media simply inject information and attitudes into a passive consumer with the flow
of influence in one direction only, from the media to the viewer, reader or listener.
Empirical evidence, however, suggests that the hypodermic syringe is not a
particularly useful analogy. To begin with, a number of studies show that people do not
simply absorb what is presented to them in an inert fashion. Instead it appears they are
more likely to pay attention to, and be influenced by, those media messages which
resonate with and reflect their own views and that they tend to reject messages which
conflict with their own understanding of the world (Cumberbatch and Howitt, 1989).
Furthermore, the media are generally regarded by the public with a degree of cynicism so
that even very young viewers tend to view TV with scepticism particularly when it comes
to, what is perhaps still the heaviest purveyer of sexual stereotypes, commercials
(Cullingford, 1984). Thus the notion of the viewer as passive does not seem appropriate.
Neither does the uni-directional nature of the hypodermic syringe analogy. This is
because what is sold in newsagents, heard on the radio and shown on TV is increasingly
driven by market forces and audience ratings. Thus consumers affect what is presented to
them as well as the reverse process and the direction of influence proceeds in both
directions.

Images and cultural representations

Confronted by images, our impulse is to understand rather

than to find things incomprehensible. In a familiar culture
it is not the difficulty of finding and making meanings
which is most striking but the way in which these
meanings depend on assumptions shared between the
producer of the image and the context in which the image
appears at least as much as on the image itself.
Richard Allen (1992, p. 22)

While psychologists have tended to give stereotypes a central role in discussing the
manner in which messages about sex differences are conveyed, analysts writing in the
area of cultural theory have placed more emphasis on the notion of cultural representation
 Fatal attractions 141

and images. From this orientation the media is seen as interacting with, and representing,
notions of femininity and masculinity which are already embedded within the culture.
Furthermore, as the quote by Allen at the beginning of this subsection indicates, cultural
theorists point out that images are never perceived in isolation; it is the context that helps
fix the message. For example, Allen cites five pictures of female soldiers he viewed at the
beginning of the Gulf war. In the first, women soldiers were seen boarding a plane on a
television newscast; in the second, a newspaper pictured a woman soldier sitting cradling
a rifle; in the third, also in a newspaper, a woman soldier on guard duty was shown
gazing across a desert; in the fourth, a woman soldier was interviewed on television about
her family and in the fifth, the child of the woman last mentioned was seen on television
in its grandparents’ house watching its mother on the screen and saying ‘that’s my
mummy’.
Allen writes that all five pictures started from the same point—‘a desire to picture a
woman soldier’. However, while the first placed women soldiers in a factual context, the
second two ‘sexualized’ them because the photos occupied almost full pages, were close-
ups and were shown in papers which usually showed pin-up pictures of women in that
position. The final two identified the woman soldier primarily in her role in the family.
In this way, Allen argues, media representations frame and focus images in a manner
which reflects the viewpoint of the journalist or producer. However, while such framing
may reflect the journalist’s or producer’s intention, it may be rejected by the viewer, who
may sometimes actively, and at other times less consciously, reinterpret an image. For
example, a woman viewing the third picture, the woman soldier gazing across the desert,
may focus longingly on the solitude not the incipient sexuality perceived by Allen.
Allen’s analysis focuses on what would at first glance appear to be a counter-
stereotypical image—women at war. But he shows that, in essence at least, four of the
pictures are framed within a very ancient dichotomy—woman as madonna (mother) and
woman as whore (the sexualized photos). Although it should be borne in mind that such a
framing may not be interpreted in this manner by the viewer.

Images and themes

The madonna and the whore

For every glowing portait of submissive women enshrined in domesticity,

there exists an equally important negative image that embodies the
sacrilegious fiendishness of what William Blake called the ‘The Female
Will’.
Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar (1979, p. 28)

Both feminist and cultural theorists frequently point out that, until very recently, and
largely as a result of the patriarchal nature of most societies, the arts have tended to focus
far more on men’s portrayal of women than the reverse. Particularly in visual arts where
women have been the focus of the male artist’s, and commonly the male viewer’s, gaze
(Berger, 1990).
It has often been suggested that male portrayals of women have frequently pivoted
around a dichotomy where at one pole woman is worshipped as pure, virginal (when
 Gender, sex and sexuality 142

unmarried) and chaste (when married), while at the other pole she is seen as a dangerous
seductress. This dichotomy is often seen at its most extreme in fundamentalist religious
thought. For example, within the Judaeo-Christian tradition, not only did Eve betray
Adam, but according to the ancient Hebrew tradition, so did her predecessor Lilith who
was the first woman God made. While God made Adam of dust, Lilith was made of filth
and sediment. When Adam tried to impose his will on her, she challenged him and
accordingly was banished and in revenge became a spirit of evil who seduced men from
their wives and populated the world with furious demons (Tavris and Wade, 1984, Unger
and Crawford, 1992).
Both Lilith and to a lesser extent, Eve, represent the dangers and seductiveness of
female sexuality and they stand in marked contrast to the purity of the virgin Mary and
the chastity of other biblical figures like the faithful Ruth of the old Testament. These
biblical oppositions prefigured a dichotomous view of femininity that has been markedly
persistent. Jane Ussher (1991, p. 86), for example, has pointed out that in the nineteenth
century, in particular, the ‘juxtaposed images of woman as angel and as a castrating
sexual monster’ permeated western thought. Contrast these two images:

…the strange woman, she the flower, the sword

Red from spilt blood, a mortal flower to men,
Adorable, detestable.

Swinburne, 1865 (Starr, 1991, p. 61)

…the rose-lipt girls are sleeping

In fields where roses fade.

Housman, The Shropshire Lad (1896)

Images like these induced not only men but also women themselves to regard eroticism in
women as dangerous, unnatural and incipiently evil, and to idealize submissiveness and
sexual innocence. The fate of women who openly rejected this straitjacket was isolation,
ostracization and, as in a number of fictional portrayals of such women-Tolstoi’s, Anna
Karenina and Thomas Hardy’s, Tess—a violent and untimely death.
Such images are not only to be found in the past but they also continue to be found in
mainstream fiction and films even at the end of the twentieth century (Smith, 1993). For
example, in the contrast in the film Fatal Attraction between the conventional and
virtuous wife and the assertive and sexually rapacious mistress and the violent death met
by the sexually predatory figure played by Diane Keaton in Waiting for Mr Goodbar.
It has frequently been suggested that the source of this dualistic image of women is to
be found in men’s fear that the sexual woman is potentially the castrating she-devil.
Consequently men need to continually monitor and keep in check sexual initiative and
independence in women and to remind them of the fate that potentially awaits them if
they step too far out of line. It has also been argued that it is this fear, allied to men’s
 Fatal attractions 143

envy of women’s reproductive powers, that fuels the misogyny which is characteristic of
the portrayal of women by many, but by no means all, men both in the past and, to a
lesser extent, in the present.

The beauty myth

We are in the midst of a violent backlash to feminism that uses images of

female beauty as a political weapon against women’s advancement: the
beauty myth.
Naomi Wolf (1990, p. 2)

The ideal woman is not only traditionally chaste and sexually submissive she is, of
course, also beautiful and desirable. And if she is not born beautiful, according to Naomi
Wolf in The Beauty Myth, she is nowadays expected to remedy this deficiency to the best
of her abilities.
While many feminists have written critically about the emphasis placed on women’s
appearance in contemporary culture few have had so powerful an impact as has Naomi
Wolf. She argues that while beauty in the past was merely associated with desirable
qualities in women, female beauty in present times has become an imperative. This has
come about in the following way according to Wolf. In the past women were kept in their
place by confining them to the domestic sphere. Following the limited success of the
woman’s movement, however, men threatened by women as rivals in the workplace and
deprived of women’s constant ministration to masculine needs in the home:

reimposed on to liberated women’s faces and bodies all the limitations,

taboos and punishments of the repressive laws, religious injunctions and
reproductive enslavements that no longer carried sufficient force.
Wolf (1990, pp. 5–6)

According to Wolf, even successful and potentially powerful women have internalized
the message that unless they are sexually desirable, beautiful and youthful in appearance
they are worthless. Consequently in the grip of a destructive obsession, women diet,
spend large amounts of money on clothes, hairstyles and cosmetics and are ravaged by
self loathing when they fail to match up to the lithe, desirable and unflawed images
perpetually presented in the media by models and film stars. Wolf argues that this quest
to conform to media images results in a uniformity of aspiration—women ‘lack the
choice’ (Wolf, 1990, p. 228) to aim for anything other than the current media ideal.
There is no doubt that Wolf is correct in her documentation of the extent to which the
lives of a majority of women in the west, particularly in their younger years, are
dominated by a desire to present themselves as attractive and desirable. Most younger,
and a large number of older, women spend a relatively large proportion of their
disposable income on clothes, cosmetics and diet foods and devote considerable thought
and time to their appearance and, for many women, self esteem is inextricably linked to
their physical appearance. Furthermore, as the growing incidence of anorexia nervosa and
bulimia attests, the preoccupation with weight in particular can become exceedingly
 Gender, sex and sexuality 144

destructive. Wolf’s analysis of the extent to which such preoccupations contribute to

economies that are driven by market forces is also indisputable.
However, I believe that her apocalyptic analysis of women’s concern with their
physical appearance is unbalanced because she fails to take a number of linked
associations sufficiently into account. First, I believe she does not consider the extent to
which market forces of the type she documents currently affect men, particularly younger
men, as well as women. This issue will be returned to later.
Second, I think she ignores the extent to which physical appearance today is as much
related to style, as it is to sexual desirability, or indeed normative or conventional notions
of beauty. Who, for example, could regard the 1980s and early 1990s with their rapidly
changing and frequently simultaneous fashions of punk, new romantics, power dressing,
supermodels, grunge and waif models as imposing conformist, or indeed in the case of
the last two categories, overtly sexual models of beauty?
Linked to the simultaneous existence of a number of opposing styles of beauty, is a
third consideration which I would argue Wolf does not take sufficiently into account.
This is the claim made by many women that most of the time what motivates their choice
of clothes, hairstyle and cosmetics is the particular image or style they identify with, and
which they enjoy wearing, rather than the wish to look overtly sexually desirable. Finally
I think Wolf ignores the extent to which physical attractiveness has, throughout the ages,
for men as well as women smoothed the path of personal destinies, quite irrespective of a
beauty industry.

Beauty and sexuality as currency

There once was a king whose beautiful, golden-haired wife…

Psyche’s great beauty caused her to be worshipped…
Cinderella’s beauty…amazes everyone at the ball
An old queen…had a very beautiful daughter…
Quotations from Fairy tales (Stein and Corbett, 1991)

Throughout the ages, as the quotations from the fairy tales above indicate, heroines and to
a lesser extent heroes, have been portrayed as physically attractive. Furthermore, as
empirical studies have shown time and again, physical attractiveness contributes to
success in the educational, social and occupational spheres. In job interviews, for
example, physical attractiveness is frequently linked to success. In general, however, this
finding is shown to hold more powerfully for women than for men (Unger and Crawford,
1992).
Of course, most of us do not consciously discriminate in favour of those whom we
perceive to be attractive and it may be that one of the reasons for the success of good-
looking people is that as attractive children they found social skills easier to acquire than
their less attractive peers. Nevertheless that there is a link, however tenuous, between
physical appearance and success is indisputable. Consequently if women and, to a lesser
extent, men expend time, money and energy on their appearance they may be less in the
grip of an unthinking and blind adherence to a beauty myth than to a realistic acceptance
of the importance of physical appearance.
 Fatal attractions 145

The extent to which it is possible to overtly manipulate both their appearance and their
sexuality in order to succeed with the opposite sex (or indeed with their own sex in the
case of those who are not heterosexual) obviously varies from individual to individual,
and for particular individuals across times and contexts. Nevertheless, it is my belief that
few of us, particularly when young, have never behaved in the manner that the politician
Edwina Currie talked about in the quotation following:

I like being with men. I like working with men. I like pulling out all the
stops and trying to figure out how to get my own way, how to get what I
am after. And if that means being slightly underhand and teasing them, or
flattering them or whatever, I don’t give a damn. I’ll just do it. It’s often a
very calculating and manipulative way of going about things, but I’ve
always done that.
Edwina Currie (1988)

The wimp and the rake

Mad, bad and dangerous to know.

Reputedly said by Lady Caroline Lamb about Lord Byron with whom
she was having a passionate, and for her, destructive affair.

While the dual madonna/whore image discussed above is frequently referred to in texts
on gender it is seldom, if ever, analogized to the other sex. The analogue does, however,
exist and can certainly be identified as running through western literature and art. In this
case, the dichotomy pivots around women’s images of men with at one pole, the safe,
caring and unexciting image of the good husband and at the other, the dangerous,
sexualized and tantalizing figure of the elusive lover.
In the eighteenth century Mozart opera, Donna Anna, despite the tender and loving
protection offered by Don Alfredo, is obviously fascinated by the notorious and evil Don
Giovanni. Similar conflicts between the safe and the sensual characterize many
nineteenth century novels—Jane Eyre rejects the saintly St John for the saturnine Mr
Rochester; Anna Karenina leaves her bureaucratic and conventional husband for a
dashing army officer; Emma Bovary, unsatisfied by the domestic virtues of the good Dr
Bovary, seeks excitement in affairs with men who may be irresistible but are clearly
irresponsible as well. In twentieth century novels and films women continue to be torn—
Scarlett O’Hara between the virtue of Ashley and the glamour of Rhett Butler; Lady
Chatterley caught in the conflict of money and class on the one hand and danger and sex
on the other. In the film Straw Dogs the heroine, bored by her worthy academic husband,
turns for excitement to men who are not only more obviously virile but are also
incipiently violent. In a film made almost two decades later the same tensions surface—
Isabella Rosellini in Blue Velvet remains in thrall to the sinister figure played by Dennis
Hopper despite the entreaties of the handsome but conventionally small-town figure
played by Kyle Maclachan.
In a somewhat similar vein, it has been suggested that the unreconstructed male
chauvinist offers women more excitement and satisfaction than is offered by the caring
and compassionate ‘new’ man. Not surprisingly, however, the protaganists of this
 Gender, sex and sexuality 146

viewpoint tend to be men and, less commonly, women who write from an overtly anti-
feminist stance (Lyndon, 1992a, Thomas, 1993, and Stassinopolous, 1973).

Contemporary trends

Changing images of women

Let’s talk about sex: How to have a brilliant time in bed

Title of article in 19, July, 1993

A visit to any newsagent will offer convincing evidence that in recent years the media
have offered very different images of the sexes to those of even 10 years ago. The most
obvious change is in the overt discussion of sexuality in women’s magazines. Whereas
mainstream women’s magazines in the past referred obliquely to sexuality, and with the
presumption that sexual initiatives would come from men, things are very different now.
For example, Shout, which has replaced the long-running teenage magazine for girls
Jackie, offers advice on taking the initiative with boys. Magazines like 19 and More,
which are directed at slightly older readers, carry articles which not only advise women
on ways of taking the sexual initiative but also discuss sexual practices and techniques
very explicitly (Keenan, 1992, Shout, 1993).
Although women’s magazines continue to focus on relationships with men, beauty
and, in the case of those directed at older readers, household issues, they all, unlike
magazines of previous years, now take for granted that women are also concerned with
their careers and working lives. Some magazines, like Cosmopolitan, frequently feature
articles on working life, but, in general, most women’s magazines do not devote a great
deal of space to such articles.
There is, however, little doubt that the content of women’s magazines has been
influenced by feminism even if they seldom carry articles written from an explicitly
feminist standpoint. For, as Wolf herself points out, women’s magazines today frequently
deal with issues that were high on the feminist agenda in past decades, such as rape,
abortion, women-battering, economic independence and sexual self-expression.
Furthermore, their tone has shifted in that images which run counter to traditional sex-
typing are discussed with approval. For example, in an article about female musicians in
an issue of Elle, Liz Evans (1993) writes:

In the 90s, a generation of female musicians has arrived, women and girls
who are not content with taking a back seat to their leather-clad, ego-
touting brothers… Smashing down the barriers which have stereotyped
female performers…these women are using word, music and images to
express their different personalities…(and draw in) teenage girls across
America (who) link up through mailing lists and fanzines…to resist male
intimidation and form new bands.

In addition to these changes in mainstream women’s magazines, the last few years has
also seen the emergence of magazines both in the UK and in America like Playgirl and
 Fatal attractions 147

For Women, devoted to the kind of coverage of sexuality, in both words and picture,
which is as For Women (1993) puts it ‘what they don’t show you in Cosmo’. While only
a minority of women may ever buy magazines like these, most women presumably know
of their existence because their arrival was widely covered in the mass media and the
knowledge that women now have a female equivalent of male magazines like Penthouse
and Playboy contributes to a general acceptance of what Wolf calls women’s ‘sexual self-
expression’.
Moving away from magazines to newspapers, there is no doubt that despite the
retention of page 3 girls in some tabloids, references to women in terms of their sexual
and physical attributes have decreased. This has been accompanied by considerable
changes in the range of material which women write about in both tabloid and broadsheet
newspapers.
There have also been changes in the presentation of women in mainstream films in
that, despite the backlash to feminism found in films such as Fatal Attraction, Pretty
Woman and Presumed Innocent, (Smith, J., 1993) women are more likely than they were
in the past to play the role of active and powerful protagonists (as for example in the
Alien series and Thelma and Louise). Women directors are also beginning to make their
mark, and although successful women directors are the exception a number of them, for
example Gillian Armstrong My Brilliant Career, Jane Campion Angel at My Table,
Sweetie and The Piano, and Beeban Kidron Used People, have recently demonstrated that
films looking at the world through the eyes of female rather than male protagonists can
become not only critical but also box office successes.
Change has also come to the television screen. This change lies mainly in the variety
of different images of women that are now on offer ranging from counter-stereotypical
images like tough policewomen and cynical cab drivers to more conventional wives,
sweethearts and mothers. Turning away from the manner in which women are portrayed,
to what women do on the small screen, we can see a similar extension of opportunities.
Women are no longer confined to reading the news, singing and dancing or acting as
seductive assistants on game and quiz shows. Instead they host shows, feature as
comedians, analyse the news, deploy cameras, are employed as technicians, direct and
produce.
Clearly, then, the media offer young women a great many more images and role
models than were on offer to past generations. In a world which features Madonna,
Victoria Wood, Ruby Wax, Sarah Dunant and Margaret Thatcher, the notion that women
are necessarily more passive and less enterprising than men, socially and sexually cannot
be sustained. Nevertheless, some younger women continue to feel that, for them, what
Nancy Friday (1991) calls ‘The Rules’ still exist. These rules spell out that while it may
be permissable and acceptable for exceptional women to be where the action is, if the
average young woman raises her head too far above the parapet, the personal
consequences may not necessarily be all that rewarding. Such women believe that men,
and for that matter other women, do not really like pushy women and as a result they
monitor their own self-presentation and sometimes modify their aspirations.
Furthermore, while women may see media representations of women with children
successfully pursuing careers, the lack of adequate child-care facilities, combined with
the implicit assumption that finding alternative childcare is the women’s rather than the
man’s responsibility, results in some mothers, who are affluent enough to have the choice
 Gender, sex and sexuality 148

about working, feeling as bewildered as those interviewed by Rosalind Coward (1993, p.

191):

Will the children be deprived if I work? Will I go mad if I don’t? Is the

local school good enough for my child? What will happen to the kids
when they leave home? More important, what will happen to me?

Young women from less affluent backgrounds can show equal scepticism about the
reality of the opportunities ostensibly on offer to women these days. For example the
schoolgirl, interviewed by Sue Lees (1986, p. 131), when asked about her future said:

…I see myself pushing a pram. I don’t see myself working actually.

Either at home or queuing at the Labour Exchange, something like that…
A girl in my class she’s got a baby who’s a couple of months old. I don’t
see myself working.

Contemporary images of men

What has changed are the surfaces of lads themselves, the way they carry
their masculinity. Individuality is on offer, incited through commodities
and consumer display. From jeans: red tabs, designer labels, distressed
denim. To hair: wedges, spiked with gel, or pretty hard boys who wear it
long, set off with a large earring.
Mort (1987, p. 193)

In the June 1993 issue of GQ (Gentlemen’s Quarterly):

Clothes Minded: If you really want to get smart
Indian Summer: The tropical look to beat the heat
Less is More: The Latest in Affordable Fashion…
In the May, 1993 issue of Arena: The Award-Winning
Magazine for the Young Dude:
20 pages of essential spring fashion
A collector’s guide to Denim

Not surprisingly the changes in media representations of women have been accompanied
by analogous though rather less dramatic changes in the images of men. One of the most
noticeable aspects of the change has been the acceptance that men, as well as women, are
interested both in their appearance and in what they wear. These assumptions can be seen
in the emergence of magazines for men like GQ and Arena which are centrally concerned
with fashion. It is now also generally accepted that when a man openly expresses an
interest in fashion, this is not a pointer to his sexuality but to his sense of style, and
articles have begun to appear about male, as well as female, supermodels (Quick, 1993).
The notion that men as well as women care about their physical appearance has
opened a set of lucrative marketing niches. Little boys can be induced to persuade their
 Fatal attractions 149

parents to buy them expensive trainers; adolescent boys to buy anti-dandruff shampoos
and anti-spot creams and lotion; young men to buy clothes with designer labels and older
men to spend more money on aftershave lotions and colognes for men. In the
terminology used in chapter 4 of this book, for many men physical appearance has
become an important component of their self-concept. And for a very small but
increasing, minority of men burgeoning doubts and worries about their physical
appearance assume grave enough dimensions to lead to eating disorders such as anorexia
(Mair, 1993).
Men, as well as women, are now increasingly offered disparate physical images and
styles. Furthermore, the number and rapidity of change in styles and fashions confer a
freedom on men to experiment with different self-presentations and liberate young men
from feeling that an interest in self-presentation is necessarily a statement about their
sexuality. In other words, expressing an open interest in clothes, hairstyles and physique
is no longer taken, as it was in the very recent past, to be an indication of homosexuality.
Frank Mort (1987, p. 204) puts it this way:

Haircuts, the cut of jeans, ways of walking and being are points of
comparison between young men… The effect of all this is to open up a
space for some new visual codes of masculinity. What’s cool now is not
the assertion of a fixed masculine identity but a self-conscious assemblage
of style. (my italics)

Mort was writing in 1987 before the recession cut the disposable income of a generation
of young school leavers. Nevertheless, the trends he describes continue and within the
straitjacket of austerity and even poverty, the traces of the style revolution of the 1980s
has not been obliterated. Men, as well as women, have been given the freedom to
experiment with their personal appearance.
Sexual images of men have changed too, partly as a result of the increasing sexual
sex-expression now permitted to women. As a result, the 80s and 90s have not only seen
the arrival of the male supermodel but also the advent of the male stripper. The American
group, the Chippendales, have in particular fascinated the tabloid press in the UK and it
has regularly featured stories about them and their would-be imitators (Daily Mail, 1993).
Although magazines, advertisements and commercials, albeit chiefly in the service of
market forces, now offer men a range of alternative physical images and styles, the
portrayal of men in mainstream films and television series has not changed appreciably
and sex-typing is still strong. The hero still tends to be stereotyped as active, virile and
often tough. The image of the ‘new’ man has, however, influenced media representations
of individual men in four ways.
First, as already mentioned above, he is permitted a degree of narcissism about his
appearance, as for example in the famous scene in American Gigolo where Richard Gere
displays his extensive wardrobe. Second, allied to his interest in his appearance, he is
allowed to be the object of female gaze, as women have traditionally been the object of
male gaze, for example in the cases of male models and strippers. Third, he is permitted
to look after children provided he is, at the same time, tough enough to take the world on
(Kramer vs Kramer, Three Men and a Baby). Finally, he is more likely than he was in the
past to talk about his feelings although when he does so he needs to have some sort of
 Gender, sex and sexuality 150

rationale for this behaviour, for example to help his sister in Prince of Tides or because
he is a foreigner, as in Green Card.
It seems to me, however, that the emphasis on style and presentation of self
notwithstanding, that there is less flexibility in the manner in which men are portrayed on
the media than there is for women. Women are routinely portrayed in what were
previously male preserves such as medicine, law, science and the police force while men
are relatively less frequently portrayed as nurses (except in documentaries), hairdressers,
beauticians, primary school teachers, personal assistants and secretaries. In line with what
has already been noted, however, they are now more frequently shown as single parents.
I believe this gender difference is due to the historic inequalities in status between
male and female occupations which makes counter-stereotyped images more
psychologically threatening to men than to women. This is why, sexuality aside, men like
Julian Clary are presented more ironically and more ambivalently than women like
Madonna. Women may not like Madonna but she presents a credible role model. Men
may like Julian Clary but he does not provide a credible role model for them.

Pornographic images

Like beauty, pornography is in the eye of the beholder.

Richard Green (1987, p. 427), in a review article on
psychological aspects of pornography.

Justice Potter Stewart’s admission to the 1970 Presidental

Commission on Pornography that: ‘although he couldn’t
define it, he knew it when he saw it’.
Williams (1990, p. 17)

In this section on pornography we will centre on the three issues that it seems to me are
of direct relevance to gender:
1. Are there gender differences in the use which is made of pornography?
2. Does taking part in the production of pornography inevitably debase the women who
do so?
3. Is there any evidence that pornography contributes to men’s abuse of women?
Before moving into these areas let us look at some background factors.
As Dennis Howitt and Guy Cumberbatch (1990) point out, pornography is notoriously
difficult to define. The word itself has a Greek derivation from the term pornographios
which means ‘writing about harlots’, or prostitutes, (Williams, 1987) but it is a relatively
modern word in English usage and did not enter Webster’s Dictionary until 1864 when it
was defined both with reference to prostitution and also with reference to licentiousness
and orgies (Howitt and Cumberbatch, 1990). It has retained both these connotations in
modern times: the second connotation, the notion that pornography is designed to arouse
sexuality, being the aspect most generally accepted as lying at the core of pornographic
 Fatal attractions 151

material while the first connotation, the aspect concerned with the degradation of women
in particular, being the one most commonly associated with it by feminists.
Turning for the moment to the first aspect, it can be seen immediately that defining
pornography in terms of its ability to arouse sexuality does not immediately differentiate
it from what could be termed ‘erotica’, and while people in favour of censorship wish to
ban pornographic material they seldom talk of extending the ban to erotica. Thus the term
pornography tends to be differentiated from erotic material in that pornographic
depictions of sexuality are defined as being ‘explicit’ (Howitt and Cumberbatch, 1990).
This notion of sexual explicitness has more recently been further refined with the use of
the terms ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ core.
The distinction between the terms hard and soft core tend to focus on one of two
dimensions. First, the degree of explicitness, for example whether sexual intercourse is
simulated or is actually filmed or videotaped and second, the degree to which the material
is either violent, or demeaning and degrading to women/and or children (Howitt and
Cumberbatch, 1990).
If there has been little concensus about defining pornography amongst experts, there is
equally little concensus amongst the general public about what they regard as
pornographic material. For example, in one large and representative sample of the public
who were asked to classify adverts by the Advertising Standards Authority, seven per
cent classified a drawing by the early twentieth century artist Gustav Klimt, which was
used in a perfume advert, as obscene and two per cent classified it as harmful (Howitt and
Cumberbatch, 1990). It is not likely, however, that the 80 per cent of respondents to a
Cosmopolitan survey who said that ‘page 3’ photos were pornographic (Howitt and
Cumberbatch, 1990) would have judged the Klimt drawing obscene. Neither is it to be
expected that the nine per cent in the Advertising Standards Survey who disapproved of
the Klimt drawing would necessarily wish to ban page 3 photos.

Who uses pornography?

The depiction of eroticism and sexuality in words and images is hardly a contemporary
phenomenon; the Japanese, for example, have a long tradition of erotic prints and the
celebration of sexuality in stone carvings is common in India (Siann, 1985). Indeed it was
the discovery in the mid-nineteenth century, when Pompeii was excavated, of sexually
explicit artefacts, such as erect stone phalluses at street corners and paintings of sexual
intercourse on vases and walls that reintroduced the word ‘pornography’ to general usage
in Europe.
In Europe, however, the production of explicitly sexual images seems to have occured
mainly in the mid-nineteenth century. It has been suggested that the development of
pornography is linked to the then prevailing middle-class morality which displaced both
the licentiousness of the eighteenth century aristocracy and the repressive and inflexible
morality of earlier Christian teaching. At that time there was a deep chasm between the
respectable and the not respectable. Thus while discussion of sexuality and eroticism was
repressed and any evidence of sensuality in women was roundly condemned in the
middle class, prostitution, child prostitution and male prostitution flourished in the less
salubrious areas of cities.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 152

When Pompeii was excavated it became apparent that explicit depictions of sexuality
had been on display in the public places of the cities of what the Victorians regarded as a
great civilization. Faced with this contradiction, the guardians of morality lodged all the
items recovered from Pompeii which they considered to be obscene in locked rooms from
which women, children and the uneducated were excluded. Expensive catalogues with
Latin and Greek quotations were produced and as Gillian Rogerson and Wilson put it:

in this way pornography was born as a genre available to bourgeois men

who could declare their interest was scholarly.
Rogerson and Wilson (1991)

It is not surprising then, given these circumstances and the prevailing moral climate, that
sexually explicit images and pornography in the west reflected almost exclusively the
sexuality of male heterosexuals. This bias in terms of sexuality continued until the middle
years of this century. Today, however, while much pornography, particularly that
concerned with violence towards women, reflects the same bias, more and more films,
magazines and videos are being produced with different sexual orientations. As a result,
pornography is no longer bought or rented almost exclusively by heterosexual males but
is also bought and rented by heterosexual women, lesbians and gay men.
Indeed it is now estimated that in the USA 40 per cent of the X-rated video rental
market is female, and it is also estimated that two out of three women in France and
Germany watch video porn regularly (McClintock, 1992). Furthermore, sex magazines
for women are proliferating both in the UK and the USA (Smith, C., 1993).

Working with pornography

Heterosexual and lesbian pornographic films, performances, photographs and videos
cannot, of course, be produced without the participation of women. Unger and Crawford,
writing from a feminist perspective, argue that such women are inevitably humiliated and
exploited. They also report they may be forced, abused and tortured. For example, at a
hearing in Los Angeles, one witness testified that women suffered permanent physical
injuries as a result of posing for photographs depicting sadomasochistic images (Unger
and Crawford, 1992).
Other feminists, writing about women who take part in the production of pornographic
material, take issue with the proposition that the ‘sex-workers’, as they call them,
concerned in the production of pornography inevitably suffer adversely. Instead they
claim:

…most sex-workers…complain bitterly about the stigmatization of

women who work in the sex industry by anti-pornography
feminists…(describing) why they choose the work they do and the type of
control they feel it gives them over their lives, as well as the feelings of
victimization caused not so much by how they are treated at work as by
their fears of arrest, low pay, poor working conditions, inadequate health
care and social stigmatization.
Segal and McIntosh (1992)
 Fatal attractions 153

Because they wanted to continue working in the industry, but in such a way that they
were in control and benefited financially, a group of women who had been starring in
pornographic films set up a film company in 1983 to make pornography for women. This
trend for women to make, as well as star in, porn film continues mostly in the USA with
the production of pornography aimed at both the heterosexual and lesbian market
increasing (Williams, 1990).

The effects of pornography

In the last few years, partly because of the increasing availability of pornography and
partly because of a growing public awareness of changes in sexual morality, concern
about the effects of pornography have been voiced with growing frequency in the United
Kingdom (Itzin, 1993) and as a result the Government commissioned a report on
pornography and its effects. Let us look briefly at the type of research on which this was
based and the conclusions contained in the report, this will be followed by two opposing
views held by feminists on pornography.

The impacts and influences of pornography

Evidence of the adverse effects of pornography is far less clear cut than
some earlier reviews imply. Inconsistencies emerge between very similar
studies and many interpretations of these have reached almost opposite
conclusions.
Dennis Howitt and Guy Cumberbatch (1990) in a Report
commissioned by the Home Office.

Evidence as to the effects of pornography, particularly its impact on women, has been
sought in a number of ways. Demographic surveys have investigated the extent of
changes in the level of sex crimes following the liberalization of laws about pornography
and sex shops, particularly in the Scandinavian countries. Studies have been carried out
on the use of pornography by convicted sex offenders. Interviews have been carried out
with the victims of sex crimes concerning the extent to which they believed that the men
carrying out the crimes used pornographic material. Finally, a number of empirical
studies have been carried out in laboratories, and sometimes with student populations
outside laboratories, in which subjects who viewed pornographic films and videos were
compared with controls who viewed other material. Such studies have most typically
compared subjects and controls on attitudes to rape and to women in general before and
after viewing the videos and films. Earlier laboratory studies, however, made before the
imposition of ethical controls, compared the extent to which subjects and controls were
prepared to insult, or aggress against, women after viewing the material (Siann, 1985).
Any attempt to review such evidence is fraught with difficulty. To begin with the
manner in which material is labelled pornographic or not varies over time and over
investigation. Statistics, too, are notoriously unreliable. For example, the extent to which
reported figures on rape and sexual assault actually reflect any trend is problematic
because, for many reasons, notably the extremely unsympathetic treatment which has
been meted out to them by both police and courts, women are often reluctant to report
 Gender, sex and sexuality 154

such crimes. The results of laboratory studies may be unreliable because they have been
conducted mainly on undergraduates who are not necessarily representative of the
population at large and who may give responses that reflect what they think the
investigators want to find. Finally, as the quotation at the beginning of this section
indicates, there is considerable divergence in the way different investigators interpret
similar results.
Bearing these considerations in mind, Cumberbatch and Howitt, in the review
commissioned by the Home Office, concluded that the available evidence did not permit
the conclusion that the effect of pornography was such that its elimination would result in
a diminution of sexual attacks on women and children. Fundamentally they argued that
this is because it is unlikely that pornography is the only determinant of such attacks.
They also point out that it is a distortion of history to believe that there is anything
peculiarly modern about sexual abuse and sexually violent attacks which could be linked
to the increasing availability of pornography. Furthermore, they note, that while some
studies do show that sex offenders frequently use pornography, other studies show that
sexual problems are more likely to occur in people who have been exposed to
pornography relatively late in life. They also point out that there appear to be no adverse
effects on the majority of people who use pornography.
Their conclusions are in accord with a number of other researchers in the area, for
example, the American psychiatrist Richard Green (1987). Other researchers, notably the
American social psychologist, Neil Malamuth (1987), argue that while the direct effects
of pornography are difficult to prove, indirectly, by contributing to a social climate which
treats people, particularly women, as objects for the sexual gratification of others,
pornography must be implicated in sex offences.
In recent years the subject of pornography has more than any other illuminated
divisions within the ranks of feminism. On the one hand, it has been argued that
pornography cannot be held responsible for women’s subordinate status while, on the
other, it has been argued that pornography is pre-eminent in men’s domination of women.

Feminists against censorship

Pornography may mirror the sexism of society, but it did not create it.
Pornography as we know it—mass produced for a mass audience—is a
recent invention. Women’s oppression, unfortunately, came long before
porn.
Feminists against Censorship (1992) Rogerson and Wilson (1991,
cover notes)

Feminists who reject the censorship of sexually explicit material fear that censorship
would contribute to what they see as a growing diminution in civil liberties for the
population as a whole. Furthermore, those feminists whose political sympathies are on
the left and the liberal left question the growing collaboration between feminists
campaigning for the abolition of pornography with fundamentalist right wing social
movements. However, radical feminists have recently sought to distance themselves from
the fundamentalist right (Itzen, 1993).
 Fatal attractions 155

Anti-censorship feminists also claim, as the quote above implies, that women’s
historic domination by man can hardly be ascribed largely to pornography but that
pornography simply mirrors gender inequalities. Banning pornography, they argue,
would not eliminate remaining economic and social gender inequalities. They also
contend that feminists who are concerned in the main with the banning of pornography
divert both their own and public attention from the more fundamental aspects of gender
inequality.
Finally a minority of lesbian feminists have argued for the right of lesbians to view
representations not only of what they call vanilla sex, gentle erotica, but also depictions
of lesbian sex with sadomasochistic overtones (Segal, 1989, Tong, 1989).

Feminists for censorship

Pornography is the theory. Rape is the practice

Anti-pornography slogan attributed to Robin Morgan
Segal (1989, p. 106)

In the system of male domination explicated in pornography, there is no

way out, no redemption.
Andrea Dworkin (1992, p. 223)

Radical feminists argue that men are not only inherently violent but also that it is through
violence, in the form of rape or its threat, that they control women. It was this viewpoint,
according to Lynne Segal (1992), that led radical feminists to focus on pornography in
the 1980s.
According to radical feminists because men are able to terrorize women by the threat
of rape, they utilize this control not only in their behaviour but also symbolically in the
way they talk about women and in the way they represent them in pornography. The best
known exponent of their viewpoint, Andrea Dworkin (1992) sees the direct aim of
pornography as follows—the women’s sex is ‘appropriated’, her body is ‘possessed’, she
is ‘used and despised’. The penis becomes, in pornography as in life, the ‘symbol of
terror’ and it is only when pornography no longer exists that women will be free.
While Dworkin sees pornography as a form of black propaganda for all women,
confirming them in their subservience, she also sees it as spurring on those men who are
insecure about their sexuality and thus pornography purveys messages to both sexes
which amplify women’s subjugation. Dworkin also argues that, because pornography is
premised on inequality, it can be thought of as a violation of civil rights and in the USA
Dworkin and her collaborators, both within the radical feminist movement and within the
fundamentalist right, continue to campaign to have it declared illegal (Tong, 1992).

Gender and violence

Down in the gutter, down in the ditch.

You better back off. Back off bitch.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 156

Face of an angel with the love of witch.

Guns ‘N’ Roses © 1991 Warner Chappell Music Ltd. Reproduced by

permission of International Music Publications Limited.

…after millennia of male war against them, women are

fighting back on every front.
Marilyn French (1992, p. 211)

Throughout this book there have been references to sexual antagonism, mainly with
respect to misogyny—the dislike or hatred of men for women—and with respect to the
rejection of men by radical feminists. However, while misogyny has been found to some
extent in most societies and at most times, and while the great majority of men and
women feel antagonism towards the other sex as a group occasionally, I do not believe
that sexual antagonism characterizes the human race. I also believe that, as the earlier
sections of this chapter demonstrate, the great majority of contemporary media
representations of the sexes are not such as to stir up antagonism between the sexes or, in
the case of men, to encourage aggressive sexuality designed to humiliate and debase
women.
Nevertheless, while contemporary media representation and values may not, for the
most part, reflect or amplify sexual antagonisms, as the discussion below will indicate,
men who assault women appear to endorse the kind of traditional values which celebrate
machismo and resonate with the dichotomous ‘madonna/whore’ vision of femininity.

Sexual offences and rape

A little bit of rape is good for man’s soul.

Norman Mailer, 1972, in Starr (1980)

Rape and sexual assault do not characterize all known societies and anthropological
records show a number of pre-industrial societies in which sexual coercion was, or is,
unknown. Peggy Sanday (1979), who examined the differences between ‘rape-free’ and
‘rape-prone’ societies, argues that male dominance and the forcible sexual control of
women evolve as societies become more dependent on the destructive capacities of men
and less dependent on female fertility. In this way she relates sexual violence to cultural
variables, a link which will be further developed below.
However, while rape and sexual assault might not be universal, in recent times they
have been absent in only a very tiny minority of societies. They have certainly been
characteristic of most societies when at war and the rape of women, and sometimes
children and men, by victorious forces has been authoritatively documented from the
time of the religous crusades (Brownmiller, 1975) to the present—for example, the
horrific sexual crimes associated with ethnic cleansing in former Yugoslavia.
 Fatal attractions 157

There also appears to be some evidence that rape and sexual assaults are increasing
across western societies (Johnson, 1988) in contemporary times although such trends are
difficult to validate because victims are frequently reluctant to report the assaults they
have suffered. Comparability over time is also difficult to establish because the manner in
which sexual assaults and rape are defined has differed across societies and from time to
time (Unger and Crawford, 1992). For instance, it is only very recently that forced
intercourse in marriage has been defined as rape in the UK.
In recent years a large number of surveys have been conducted documenting the extent
to which women have suffered from rape and sexual assaults. One American study (Koss,
1989) carried out with over 3000 women college students reported that 15 per cent of the
respondents had experienced rape and 12 per cent attempted rape. This and similar
studies also revealed that large numbers of women have not reported sexual assaults, or
indeed rapes, that have been perpetrated on them by acquaintances, particularly when the
attacks have occurred when they were out with the men concerned. This last kind of rape
has been termed ‘date rape’.
As a result of these studies, there have been a number of initiatives aimed not only at
supporting women who have been raped but also at identifying risk factors. The studies
attempting to identify who is at risk have not been particularly successful, but they have
served to dispel the myth that women who are raped are different in terms of
psychological attributes and sexual conduct from other women On the contrary, it would
appear that all women in western society are potentially equally at risk (Unger and
Crawford, 1992).1
Attempts to characterize males who sexually assault and rape women have been
somewhat more successful and a number of attributes have been identified. The single
best predictor appears to be that rapists have peers who condone and encourage sexual
conquests (Ageton, 1983). Rapists are also more likely to come from families with a
history of violence and to have had an early and varied sexual history (Unger and
Crawford, 1992).
Not surprisingly, in view of the wide prevalence of rape, a number of perspectives
have been offered accounting for it and the section below will explore some of the
approaches, bearing in mind that they are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Accounting for rape and sexual assaults

Evolutionary and biological approaches

Chapter 2 discussed a particular essentialist perspective, the socio-biological which
explains gender differences in terms of innate differences in the nature of men and
women that derive from evolutionary development. Rape, from this perspective, is seen
as arising from a biologically based sex-drive, stronger in men than in women, which
serves to guarantee the reproduction of the species. It is argued that males have a stronger
sex-drive because natural selection favours males who copulate with numerous females,
while females achieve reproductive success through limiting their copulation to males
who are committed to help care for females and their offspring.
Theorists, operating from this perspective, also point out that by virtue of their greater
physical strength males are well equipped to further preservation of their species in this
way (McCammon et al. 1993).
 Gender, sex and sexuality 158

While rape is certainly made possible by the male’s greater physical strength this
approach does not explain satisfactorily why some men rape and others do not. In
particular, this perspective would lead to the proposition that rapists differ from non-
rapists because they are more sexually frustrated. There is no evidence, however, to
support this because studies show that most rapists have sexual partners and an active sex
life at the time of their offence (Scully, 1990).
This socio-biological approach also has difficulty in accounting for the fact that rape is
not universal and that its incidence appears to be linked to the status and power of the
sexes within particular societies. For instance, rape has not been reported in societies in
which the status differentiation between the sexes is non-existent or very slight
(Lepowsky, 1990).

Psychopathological Approaches

Rape is a pseudosexual act, complex and multidetermined, but addressing

issues of hostility (anger) and control (power) more than passion
(sexuality).
Norman Groth (1980, p. 2)

It has been argued that people who commit sexual crimes do so because they are
suffering from psychopathological conditions or mental illness. However, studies of
convicted rapists do not show any evidence that they are more prone to mental illness
than the rest of the population (Unger and Crawford, 1992).
A variant of the psychopathological approach was proposed by Norman Groth (1980),
who argues that rape and sexual assault springs from psychodynamic roots and, rather
than being fuelled by sexual motivation, is fuelled by a desire to exert domination. He
developed a typology of rapes, each of which is based on some form of emotional
problem concerned with the need to subordinate the victim. This typology included the
anger rape—the rapist is extremely angry with the victim and rape is the ultimate
expression of his anger; the power rape—the rapist is motivated by a desire to possess or
demonstrate power over the victim, typically because he feels an underlying insecurity
about his masculinity; and the sadistic rape—in which the rapist derives pleasure from
humiliating the victim.
However, not all sexual assaults are inevitably driven primarily by aggression and the
need to humiliate and dominate. In the case of date rape, in particular, it has been
suggested that sexual rather than aggressive motives tend to be salient (Unger and
Crawford, 1992). Furthermore Diane Scully (1990) who conducted intensive interviews
with 114 convicted rapists disputes Groth’s contention that, in the case of convicted
rapists, rape is invariably the expression of aggression. Instead she reports that many of
her sample reported that sexual motivation was a major component of their offence.
There is, however, no doubt that many men who sexually assault and rape are extremely
resentful and angry individuals. Moreover the manner in which such men sexually assault
women, and not infrequently men, humiliates and degrades their victims to an unbearable
extent.
 Fatal attractions 159

Cultural/feminist approaches
Theorists writing about rape from a cultural perspective point to the absence of rape in
societies where there is gender equality and argue that, where females are treated with
respect and where they have high prestige, rape and sexual assault do not occur. They
also note that in such societies attitudes towards sex are relaxed and, while sexual
conduct is governed by custom, it is characterized by sensuality and enjoyment rather
than by repression (Lepowsky, 1990). Consequently there is minimal association of sex
with violence.
Feminists, like cultural theorists, also tend to link sexual assaults and rape to cultural
values, both with respect to women and with respect to sexuality, arguing that, as in all
aspects of gender relations, rape and sexual assaults reflect power and prestige
imbalances between the sexes. They also argue that the phenomenon of gang rape, like
rape in war, tends to foster and reinforce a particular kind of male bonding which draws
its sustenance from traditional or sex-typed beliefs about male behaviour. There is
evidence to support this contention in the fact that rapists are likely to have close friends
who have also been involved in sexual assaults.
The extent to which men who carry out sexual assaults and rape endorse traditional
views of masculine superiority has been shown by a number of studies. For example, the
intensive interviews Diane Scully (1990) conducted with rapists showed that these men
not only harboured a general distrust of women, but they also had extremely repressive
views about women’s sexuality. Their views supported the double standard whereby male
sexuality is perceived as natural and to be celebrated, but overt female sexuality is seen as
unnatural and characteristic of immoral and loose women. They also showed a strong
identification with the traditional male role. Scully argues that rapists and sexual
offenders differ from other men, not in terms of psychopathology or emotional problems,
or family background, but in the extent to which they endorse values which enhance the
status of men and diminish the status of women.
The men that Scully interviewed frequently rationalized and excused their behaviour
by reference to what have been called ‘rape myths’. For example, that all women secretly
yearn to be raped, that women who invite men to their home are ‘asking for it’, and that
women who wear clothes that are revealing are fair game. Thus they attempted to justify
their assaults by reference to the double standard—their victims were the kind of immoral
and loose women who deserved what they got.

Social learning appoaches

Related to, and in many ways reinforcing, the cultural perspective is an approach which
sees sexual assault and rape as at the extreme pole of the sextyping of masculine
behaviour which was, and to a lesser extent still is, reflected in the media.
Arguing in this vein, Ellis (1989) claims that men learn aggressive behaviour to
women, including rape, through four processes. First, the sex-violence linkage whereby
in slasher and horror films and even in some music videos violence and sexuality become
inextricably associated. Second, through modelling, in that rapists frequently have friends
and associates who have committed sexual offences. Third, through ‘desensitization’, a
term which is used to describe the lessening of sensitivity to the pain of others, which is
said to occur through repeated exposure to scenes of aggression and violence in the
 Gender, sex and sexuality 160

media. Finally, Ellis points to the extent to which society still teaches young men
stereotypes and sexist beliefs such as the ‘rape-myths’ referred to above.
Ellis’ work indicates that sexual assault and rape are frequently linked to violence.
However, not all violence perpetrated by men against women is sexual although, as the
discussion below will indicate, violent men—like rapists—are men who tend to view
women in a highly negative and disparaging manner.

Violence

Women should be struck regularly, like gongs

Noel Coward 1930, in Starr (1991), p. 129.

It is a well-known fact that you can strike your wife’s

bottom if you wish, but you must not strike her
face…Reasonable chastisement should be the duty of
every husband if his wife disobeys.
George Mackay, Sheriff of Kinghorn, Scotland, 1975,
p. 134.

Battered women
Domestic violence, or violence against spouses or partners, clearly varies enormously
from a slap or a push to the use of knife or gun. Although, as we shall see, women as well
as men perpetrate domestic violence, and although domestic violence is also found in
homosexual and lesbian relationships, in the very great majority of cases of domestic
violence it is the men who abuse women. In addition, the more extreme cases of abuse
tend to be carried out by men on women and the women are not infrequently pregnant
which creates risks for the unborn child as well as the mother (Unger and Crawford,
1992).
As the quotes above indicate, male chastisement of their wives or partners has, even in
the very recent past, had a degree of social acceptance (Dobash and Dobash, 1980) and
until recently police were reluctant to become embroiled in such incidents because of the
widely held endorsement of the husband’s dominant position in the household. Partly as a
result of such attitudes, there has been widespread underreporting of male domestic
violence against women.
There are, however, a number of other reasons why women have, until recently, been
reluctant to report such abuse. To begin with, women have frequently reacted to such
abuse with guilt and shame rather than with rage and anger. Guilt, that they have not been
able to sustain that most important component of women’s traditional role, a happy
family life, and shame at making public such inadequacies. At a more practical level,
until modern times most women, particularly those with children, have been
economically dependent on their husbands. In addition, until very lately many abused
wives had no refuge that was safe from pursuing husbands or partners.
Men who abuse women do so in a society where, until recently, there was a tacit
acceptance of the husband’s right to chastise his wife. Nevertheless only a minority of
 Fatal attractions 161

men do batter their partners and consequently there must be other factors contributing to
this behaviour. A great many studies have been conducted seeking to identify these
factors and there is some agreement on the characteristics of such men.
They tend to have a history of alcohol of alcohol abuse and to have both witnessed and
experienced physical violence in their homes as children. In addition they appear, on the
whole, to have poor social skills, to lack assertiveness, to be socially isolated and to have
low self-esteem. They are also likely to endorse traditional sex roles. The picture that is
built up by the research is of depressed men with poor coping skills who feel inadequate
at many levels and who have grown up in an abusive domestic climate. Consequently,
particularly when their inhibitions are lowered by drink, they are liable to lash out at the
most immediate target, particularly if they feel that she is threatening their already low
self-esteem, for example, by being unfaithful.
While more abused women now leave their husbands or partners, others remain and
some who leave return. It has been suggested that such women do not leave abusive
relationships because of a feminine tendency towards masochism. In other words it was
suggested that women who stayed in abusive relationships do so largely because they
derived some sort of emotional satisfaction from suffering (Goldstein, 1983). There is,
however, little evidence to sustain such a view. Women who remain in abusing
relationships have been shown to differ from other women not in terms of their personal
attributes, but in terms of their perception of the lack of alternative strategies.
Thus from extensive interviews with battered wives, Lenore Walker (1984) developed
the concept of ‘the battered woman’s syndrome’ to explain why women remain with
abusive men and why they sometimes see murdering their partners as the only solution.
Subject to continual control from their partners, with no avenue of escape because of
their economic dependency they feel totally impotent and helpless. Furthermore, they
often fear that their reports of their partners brutality may not be believed, and they also
fear that if they do leave, their partners will find them and kill or injure them and their
children. A fear that is, in fact, frequently justified.
Physical abuse is often accompanied by psychological abuse and consequently, as
their husbands continue to ridicule and degrade them, the women feel even more
helpless. In this kind of situation it is not surprising that some women become unable to
take the initiative and leave.
However it is not only heterosexual women who are subject to violence from their
partners. American studies suggest that the level of violence in lesbian relationships is not
very different from the level in heterosexual relationships. One study by Brand and Kidd
(1986) of heterosexual and lesbian relationships found 27 per cent of the heterosexual
relationships and 25 per cent of the lesbian relaionships to be violent. Consequently
violence in domestic situations cannot be seen only as a gender issue.

Battered men
When aggression is related to gender, however, it is not always the woman who is the
victim. A very small minority of cases of domestic violence involve male victims. In
some of these instances, when the man is very severely injured or even killed, this is the
end product of what has been described above as the ‘battered wife syndrome’ when the
woman, at the end of her tether, resorts to extreme violence herself.
 Gender, sex and sexuality 162

At a less serious level, what has been termed ‘courtship’ violence is reported in
American studies to be carried out almost equally by women and men. The term is used
to cover a continuum of behaviour ranging from verbal abuse, through screaming, yelling
and name-calling to severe physical violence which occasionally includes the use of
weapons. Such discord is reported as usually relating to jealousy, disagreements about
drinking and sexual refusal.
A national survey in the USA of almost 5000 college men and women, (2600 women
and 2100 men) indicated that approximately 37 per cent of men and 35 per cent of
women had inflicted some sort of violence in heterosexual relationship. It is thought that
these figures mirror the rates in non-student populations in the USA (White and Koss,
1991). However, while there may be similar incidences of violent and aggressive
behaviour for the sexes, Rhoda Unger and Mary Crawford (1992) suggest that the
motives differ. Women are more likely to report being aggressive in self-defence while
men report that they are aggressive to instil fear. Furthermore, women are more likely to
report being emotionally upset by the violence and are also more likely to be seriously
injured. Courtship aggression in both sexes is associated with a previous history of
aggression and for women it is associated with having been exposed to aggression at
home.
Violence in courtship seldom results in severe injury although both victims and
offenders frequently feel emotionally upset for some time. Verbal aggression is, not
surprisingly, much more common. Although courtship violence has received a great deal
of attention in the USA it is not at all clear whether it is a serious social problem either
there or anywhere else. It is, however, perfectly feasible to suppose that people, who are
violent during courtship, are likely to have been violent as children and are likely to be
violent later in life. It is equally feasible, and indeed supported by some preliminary
studies, (Roscoe and Benaske, 1985) that women who are abused in marriage are also
likely to have been abused in relationships before marriage as well. There is a great deal
of evidence indicating stability over time in aggressive behaviour (Siann, 1985).

Summary

This chapter has indicated that contemporary representations of women and men in the
media differ considerably from historic images and stereotypes, particularly in the case of
women. Women are now provided with a very varied range of role models and a
woman’s right to sexual self-expression is now generally accepted. While there have
been some changes in the representation of men, particularly with respect to men in the
role of fathers, there tends to be fewer portrayals of men in what were traditional female
spheres than of women in what were traditionally male spheres.
While the media, in general, do not celebrate machismo, some television programmes
and feature films still do. Furthermore, a significant proportion of pornography endorses
men’s right to treat women, and sometimes children and other men, as objects for their
own sexual gratification.
Men who rape and assault women are likely to endorse traditional views of the sexes.
In particular they are likely to regard overt sexuality in women as unacceptable. Male
violence to women, however, cannot be ascribed simply to media and cultural
 Fatal attractions 163

stereotypes. Indeed while violence between the sexes is predominantly carried out by
men on women, such violence cannot be regarded as explicable only in terms of gender
antagonism.

Notes
1. Articles in the media now reflect this general conclusion particularly with respect to ‘date’
and ‘acquaintanceship’ rape (More, 10–23 June, 1992).
 Afterword

Like most people, as I was growing up, when I thought about gender I tended to focus on
the differences between men and women. I feel this book shows that contemporary
society conditions us to think in this way. However, the more I researched and read about
gender issues the more I moved to a position which focused on convergence rather than
divergence. This is because I believe that human identity is socially constructed and
consequently the more similar conditions, power and resources become for men and
women in any society, the more appropriate it will be to think about individuals as people
rather than as members of two essentially different groups.
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 Index

aborigines 15
abortion 133
activity as male attribute 7, 72, 89
education 101–2
Freud 22, 28, 30
images 162
psychoanalysis 37–8
work 104
Adam and Eve 154
Adler, Alfred 31–3
adolescence 50, 82–7, 120, 147
advertisements 151–2, 162
Africa 45, 76–7, 89, 118, 121
aggression as male attribute 44, 89, 110
chromosomal abnormalities 51
Freud 31
hormones 51–3, 62
New Guinea 124
social learning 67
socio-biology 59–60
violence 173, 174, 176, 177
Aids 15, 17, 85, 143, 147
Allen, Richard 153
alpha-reductose deficiency 48, 62
anal stage 26
androgynes 52–3
androgynized women 46
androgyny 72, 74, 129
anima 30, 33
animus 30, 33
anorexia nervosa 156, 162
Arapesh tribe 124
Australia 15, 82

Balinese 118
Bedouin 123
behaviour 88–90
biological determinism 41
dimorphism 42, 44–5
gender differences 6, 8, 21, 105–15
sexual 143–8
social learning 65–8
 Index 178

Bem, Sandra 71–6, 115, 131

Bem’s Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) 72
Bemba tribe 77
berdache 118
Bible, The 11, 154
biological determinism 7–8, 13, 31, 39, 41–63
brain function 57–8
chromosomes 43, 50–1
homosexuality 60–1
hormones 43, 45–9, 51–6
bisexuality 17–18, 21, 28, 46, 146
Bly, Robert 142
brain
chromosomal abnormalities 50
homosexuality 60, 97
hormones 49, 55, 57
hypothalamus 56, 59, 60
sex differences 45, 57–8, 62, 92–3, 96, 98–9
Breuer, Josef 23

castration 38, 44, 52

anxiety 26, 28, 121, 155
symbolic 35
celibacy 11
central nervous system 56, 57
Charcot, Jean 22–3
chastity 11, 12, 123, 154, 155
childbirth 31, 53, 119, 120
childhood
gender differences 33, 39, 41, 93–4
homosexuality 145
psychoanalysis 7, 23–4, 25, 34
social behaviour 112–14
see also children;
infancy
children 9, 24, 41, 125, 141, 160
care facilities 103, 134, 148, 160
cognitive development 68–71
pornography 164, 167, 177
as prostitues 12, 165
sex typing 79–81, 87
sexual rituals 121
social learning 64–7, 70, 73, 87
stereotyping 151, 152
violence 167, 170, 174, 175
see also adolescence;
childhood
Chodorow, Nancy 32–3, 112, 128
chromosomes
abnormalities 45, 49–51, 61-2
gender differences 43, 45–7, 92
 Index 179

homosexuality 61
hormones 46–7
Church 3, 16, 133
circumcision 121–2
Clary, Julian 1, 163
cognitive development 68–71, 73
gender differences 90, 92–99
commercials 151–2, 162
counter-stereotyping 150, 152
images 154, 160, 161, 163
couvade 120, 121
criminality 50–1, 167
cross-dressing 1–2, 20–1

Daly, Mary 129, 136

date rape 150, 171
de Beauvoir, Simone 34, 126–7
Deutsch, Helen 30–1, 36
divorce 145
dominance 7, 9, 32, 117–19
castration 52
feminism 126–30, 141, 144
group behaviour 108–9
pornography 168
psychoanalysis 36–8
sex differences 38–9, 72, 107, 110
social control 122
violence 169, 171, 174
Dominicam Republic 48–9, 62
dreams 23, 46
du Maurier, Daphne 19
Dworkin, Andrea 136, 169

economic dependency 118, 119, 127, 175

education 92, 99–102, 146
ego 25
Ellis, Havelock 13, 14, 173, 174
employment 152
adolescence 82–3, 86–7
child care facilities 103, 133, 148, 160
feminism 134–5, 148
images 159, 162
sexual inequality 3, 100–5, 147–8
women 12–13, 89, 144, 147–8, 159
Erikson, Erik 29–30
essentialism 6–7, 16, 21, 39, 64, 116
feminism 129
homosexuality 59, 60–1
new men 140–3
social behaviour 105, 112–14
socio-biology 59–60
 Index 180

violence 171
evolutionary theory 60
sex differences 7, 41, 45, 112, 114
violence 171
existentialist feminism 126–7

Faludi, Susan 133, 137, 140

fantasies 14, 23, 37, 46, 68, 150
feminists and feminism 8, 24, 116, 143, 148
backlash 92, 127, 131, 132–42, 155, 159
biological determinism 7, 31, 62
existentialism 126–7
gender differences 29, 33, 37, 99, 102, 112
homosexuality 146
images of women 154, 155, 158–9
pornography 164–8
post-modern 126, 130–2
psychoanalysis 31, 34, 36, 127–8, 129
purdah 122–3
radical 128, 130–1, 168, 169
social constructionism 126, 130–2
social learning 73, 127
socio-biology 59–60
violence 133–4, 140, 141, 171–2
fetishes 26
films
images of men 161–2
images of women 154, 158–61, 177
pornography 164–6
stereotyping 150–1
violence 174
Foucault, M 131
free association 23
French, Marilyn 133–5, 140
Freud, Anna 24–5, 29
Freud, Sigmund 22–39, 128
followers and critics 29–34
homosexuality 38–9
origins of psychoanalysis 22–4
psychosexual development 25–7
relationships with women 24–5
sex differences 6–7, 27–9

gender constancy 69, 71

gender distinction 5–10
gender identity
biological determinism 45–52, 62
psychoanalysis 34–6, 39
social learning 68–70, 79, 87
gender polarizing lenses 75, 130
gender schema 73–4, 86, 103
 Index 181

gender stability 69
gender typing see sex typing
genitalia 12, 29, 38, 90, 121
abnormal 45, 47–9, 51
ambiguous 19, 43–4
genital stage 27
Gilligan, Carole 8, 111–13, 128
glass ceiling 102, 104, 133
Goldberg effect 103, 127
gonads 42, 43, 46
group behaviour 108–9
guevedoce 48

Harris survey 21
helpfulness 109–10
hermaphrodites 42, 45–6, 49, 51, 52
homosexuality 14–18, 21, 25, 38–9, 145–7
adolescence 86
androgynized women 46
chromosomes 61
essentialist perspectives 58, 60–1
hormones 146
images of men 161
pornography 164
social learning 67–8, 146
spatial ability 95–7
transvestism 20
violence 174
hormones 43–4, 45, 52–7
abnormalities 45–9, 51, 62
brain 48, 57–9
chromosomal abnormalities 50–2
homosexuality 145
spatial ability 95–7
transsexuality 19
Horney, Karen 31, 36
Hua 118
Humphrey, Barry 20
hypothalamus 56, 59–60
hysteria 22–3

id 25
identification 67
images of men 161–3, 177
images of women 150, 154–61
beauty 155–8
contemporary trends 158–61, 176–7
madonna and whore 154–5, 158, 170
pornography 163–9
imaginary phase 34
India 77, 164
 Index 182

infancy 34, 64–5, 76, 116–17

homosexuality 145
sex differences 29, 33, 93
social behaviour 111–13
see also childhood
intelligence 51–2, 58, 92–3
Iroquois 119
Islam (Muslim) 122, 123, 124, 146

Jacklin, Carole Nagy 93, 94, 95

Jung, Carl 30, 31, 34, 142

Kenya 79
Kinsey, Alfred 13, 14, 16
Klinefelter’s syndrome 51
Kohlberg, Lawrence 69, 70, 71, 111, 112, 130
Korea 77
!Kung tribe 45, 76

Lacan, Jacques 34–5

language 6, 9, 35–6, 108
La Rue, Danny 20
latency stage 27
Law of the Father 35–6
lenses of gender 74–5, 87
Lepowsky, Marie 117, 119
lesbians and lesbianism 38–9, 145–6
brain 59
feminism 137
pornography 165, 166, 168
sexuality 14, 16–18, 21
violence 174, 175
LeVay, Simon 61
Levi-Strauss, Henri 9
libido (sex drive) 10–14, 25–6, 28, 30–1
Lilith 154
literature 4–6, 77, 82, 158
lordosis 44
Lott, Bernice 72–3, 112
Lyndon, Neil 139, 140, 142

Maccoby, Eleanor 93–5

Madonna (singer) 2, 20, 144, 160, 163
magazines 158–9, 165
marriage 9, 24, 143–5, 147–8
rape 170
sexuality 11–16
transsexuals 19
Xanith 18
masochism 26, 27–8, 30, 36, 175
 Index 183

see also sadomasochism

masturbation 12–14, 26, 68
mathematical ability 93, 95, 99, 101, 130
Mead, Margaret 124–5
menarche 120, 121
menopause 29, 53, 55, 56, 62
menstruation 29, 118, 120–2
hormones 47, 53, 54, 55
meta-analysis 93, 94, 95, 96, 98, 106
mirror phase 34
misogyny 4, 155, 169
Mombasa 18
mood 51, 52, 56, 62
moral development 111–12
Morris, Jan (formerly James) 19
mounting behaviour 44
Mundugumor tribe 124
Muslim (Islam) 118, 122–3, 146

native Americans 118, 119

New Guinea 15, 49, 62, 117–18, 124–5
new men 140–2, 158, 162
newspapers 151, 152, 153, 159, 162

Oedipal phase 35, 37, 128

Oedipus complex 26
oestrogen 43, 56
Oman 18
oral stage 26

parents 23–4, 27–35, 39, 114, 147

feminism 129
gender difference in play 93
of newborn 59–60
sex stereotyping 77, 101
sex typing 79, 80, 81
sexual rituals 120
social learning 65, 66–7
passivity as female attribute 7, 72, 89, 97
education 99–100
feminism 143
images of women 160
psychoanalysis 22, 29, 30, 37–8
social learning 67
stereotyping 150
penis envy 27–8, 30, 31, 34, 39
personality 7, 28, 29, 34, 124–5
phallic stage 26–8, 30–3
physical appearance 70, 86, 90–2
feminists 139
images of men 161–3
 Index 184

images of women 154–6

stereotyping 82, 150
Piaget, Jean 68
Plath, Sylvia 36, 37
play 78, 79, 81, 91–2
polymorphous sexuality 26
pornography 38, 163–9, 177
censorship 164, 168–9
post-feminism 116
post-modernism 35, 127, 130–1
power 10, 13, 15, 89–90, 142
feminism 127, 131–3, 139–42
sexual inequality 3–4, 21, 35, 107, 110
sexual violence 174, 175
social control 121–2
pregnancy 31, 76, 77, 120
hormones 46, 52, 56
pre-menstrual tension 54, 56, 62
pseudohermaphrodites 63
psychoanalysis 6–8, 22–40, 121
dominance 36–8
feminism 29, 33, 36, 125, 127
Freud and followers 24–33
homosexuality 38–9, 145
origins 22–4
recent trends 32–6
psychodynamics 111–12, 145
psychosexual stages 25–7, 34, 128
puberty 12, 91, 146
hormones 43, 47–9, 53
purdah 18, 122–3

race 14, 68, 71, 107, 109–10, 130–2

brain function 57
employment 104
radio 151, 152
rape 141, 149, 170–1, 177
date 149, 171
feminism 172–3
pornography 167–9
psychopathology 172
social learning 173–4
Red Sea fish 42
Rich, Adrienne 60, 128
role models 65–6, 160, 177
romanticism 11

sadism 26
sadomasochism 166, 168
Samoa 125, 126
Sampson, Deborah (transvestite) 20
 Index 185

Satre, Jean-Paul 126–7

sex drive (libido) 10–14, 25–6, 28, 30–1
sex manuals 13–14
sex role theory 8, 113–14
see also sex-typing
sex-typing 71–5, 77–9, 113–14, 124–5
adolescence 86
childhood 79–81, 87
education 99–101
feminism 126
homosexuality 145
images 159, 162
sexual antagonism 150–1
social learning 69, 70
toys 98
sexual assault 3, 141, 149, 170–1, 176
feminism 172–3
pornography 167, 169–70
psychopathology 172
social learning 173–4
sexual organs see genitalia
sexual orientation 16–19, 38–9, 51, 145
biological determinism 45, 58, 61–2
pornography 165
social learning 66–7, 144
sexual rituals 120, 121–2, 123
sexual self-expression 159, 162
Shepherd, Gillian 18
social class 24, 66, 67, 70, 94
adolescence 84–6
feminism 136–7
pornography 164–5
power 130–2
sex typing 76, 87
sexuality 11, 13, 18
social control 122–3
social constructionist feminism 126, 130–2
social control 121–3
social interactions 106–8
socialization 64–5, 86, 116, 145
gender differences 75, 106, 109, 113–14
social learning 59, 64–71, 87, 151
children 64–7, 70, 73, 87
feminism 71, 126
gender identity 69–70, 79, 87
gender-schema 73
homosexuality 67–8, 145
violence 174–5
socio-biology 7–8, 59–62, 91, 111–13
violence 110, 169
spatial ability 58, 60, 94, 97–100
Spender, Dale 107, 108
 Index 186

status 4, 9, 109–10, 118–20, 145, 163, 168

adolescence 84, 85
bought in Africa 118
feminism 131, 133, 140
sexuality 11, 15–16
social control 121
transsexuality 19
violence 171, 173
stereotyping 1, 76–7, 113–14, 150–3, 177
adolescence 82
feminists 131, 137
sex differences 41, 95–6, 99, 101–4, 111
images 152, 158, 162
sexuality 19
transsexuals 19
violence 174
Stopes, Marie 13
structuralism 6, 8–10, 21, 114, 116
feminism 126, 141
subjugation 38–9, 169
submissiveness 7, 9, 154, 155
subordination 7, 9, 84, 127, 128
super-ego 25–8
supermales 50–1
surgery 12, 19–20, 118
Swahili community 18
symbolic order 35

Tchambuli tribe 124–5

television 66, 152, 160, 162, 177
stereotyping 151–3
temperament 124–5
Terman, Lewis 93
testicular-feminization syndrome 47
testosterone 43, 47–8, 52–4
Thomas, David 139, 140, 142, 147
tokensim 104
toys 76, 80, 98
transference 23
transsexuals 19–20, 21, 47, 118
tranvestites 1–2, 20–1
Trobianders 117
Turner girls 49, 50
twins 60–2

unconscious 23, 25, 30, 34, 35, 39

Vanatinai 15–16, 119

Van der Velde, T H 14
verbal ability 58, 94, 95, 130
communication 107–8, 110
 Index 187

victimization of women 151

Victorians 12, 122–3, 165
violence 3, 7, 59, 110, 150, 169–77
chromosomes 50–1
domestic 174–5
feminist 133–4, 139, 140, 172–3
hormones 52–4
pornography 164, 165

Walkerdine, Valerie 100–1

wild men 140–2
Witkin study 51–2, 96
Wolf, Naomi 155–6, 159
Woolf, Virginia 127

Xanith 18