What is gender and sexual orientation? - Chapter 11

What are gender-based stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination?

All cultures have sets of beliefs about traits of men and women and which roles they should have. This is called the gender belief system. This system describes which roles someone has, which attitudes people should have about the roles of men and women and what people should think about those that violate gender-based information. This system influences one’s self-concept and his/her perception of others. The information of the belief system is passed on throughout media, parents and peers. Learning the content of a belief system begins at an early age and continues until an old age.

What are gender stereotypes?

Stereotypes about men’s traits conclude characteristics such as strong and independent. This cluster is labelled agentic or instrumental. Stereotypes about women’s traits conclude characteristics such as warm and kind. This cluster is called communal or expressive. Traits are not only positive. There are also some negative characteristics associated with the sexes. Women are seen as jealous and moody, whereas men are seen as arrogant and insensitive. The physical characteristics are also part of the belief systems, as well as emotions. People’s beliefs reflect gender polarization, this is the assumption that gender-associated characteristics are bipolar. When one is masculine on a dimension, people expect him also to be dominant on another dimension. People don’t expect that a woman with physical feminine traits has masculine personality traits. Judgments of power and status are associated with gender stereotypes. High-status individuals are believed to have stereotypically male traits and low- status individuals are believed to have stereotypical female traits.

Stereotypes seem to reflect female and male characteristics quit well. Stereotypic beliefs mirror the characteristics women and men use to describe their own traits. Stereotypes seem to be accurate at the group level. This comes with a cost, however. Because people think that stereotypes are accurate, they may use them in the wrong way. They might think that every woman is kinder than every man. They can also be prescriptive. That means that they lead to assumptions about what every woman or man should be like. This can lead to prejudice if a male or female doesn’t fit these assumptions.

There has not been a lot of change over time about stereotypical beliefs. Women have always been seen as communal and that believe will probably stay that way. Male stereotypes have also been stable. One thing that has changed is that women are now seen as more agentic than before. There will probably be more change in the future. As gender roles change, women in competitive, male-associated roles will be more accepted.

What is the difference between attitudes towards men and women?

People think that because men are perceived as having a higher status, they are more liked than women. The opposite is actually true. Women are more liked than men. This is called the ‘women are wonderful’ effect. Women are viewed more positive than men on traditional evaluate measures.

This is also found in measures of implicit attitudes towards women and men. Women were more associated with happy/positive words like good and paradise. But being liked doesn’t mean being treated fairly. Women are still being discriminated against when it comes to work. They are paid less than men in the same function and they also have to wait longer to get promoted.

What are subtypes of women and men?

Men and women interact in everyday life. To handle information about the world, we use stereotypes. If you want to handle effectively with somebody, you can create subtypes. These subtypes are grouped into occupations, family roles, ideologies, physical features and sexuality-related subtypes. Judgments about these also made between liking and respect. Housewives are usually liked, but not really respected. Businesswomen are respected, but not liked. So whether a man or women is liked depends on the roles they occupy. Usually traditional roles are preferred to modern roles. Women in non-traditional roles are disliked most.

There are two types of modern sexism: hostile and benevolent sexist beliefs. Sexist beliefs propose that women demand special privileges and want to control men through marriage and sex. Benevolent sexist beliefs are more positive beliefs and they propose that women are nurturing and should be taken care of. It sounds weird, but one person can hold both beliefs at the same time. This will, of course cause ambivalent behaviour. Benevolent beliefs result in the ‘women are wonderful effect’. This, however, only works for women in traditional roles. Benevolent sexists believe women should be ‘shielded’ from high-status roles, because it could stress them out. But because of this, women are excluded from certain roles. Hostile sexists view women who occupy non-traditional rules as a threat to male status and power and they do not like these women because of this.

What is the role of women in the workplace?

Women have come a long way in jobs. They are still over represented as elementary school teachers and secretaries, but there are more women in high-status (male) jobs than before. Why can’t women occupy more high-status roles? The role congruity theory proposes that people believe that women are less likely than men to be successful in a leadership role. This can prevent women from being hired in these kinds of jobs. If women get a leadership role the second part of the discrimination comes to play. These women will get lower evaluations than do men in the same roles. This is because it violates the expectation of what leaders should be like. It also violates the expectation of what women should be like. Even women in faculty roles get bad evaluations if they teach male-dominated fields, like chemistry.

Women are discouraged from taking up certain jobs, because they think they would not feel welcome in them. Also, because of the stereotype that women are not good in maths women will think that they are simply not good enough for a certain job and won’t even try to pursue a career in this.

So what does improve a woman’s chance of getting a male-dominate job? One thing is giving them female role models. If you can show that there are successful women in that field they will feel more secure about themselves. Also, if women look at certain characteristics of leader roles, like cooperation and affiliation, they will feel more secure because they posses these characteristics.

What is the male gender role?

Boys and men are discouraged from exhibiting feminine characteristics and they are expected to show toughness and violence. They also are expected to show power and strength. Benevolent sexist attitudes toward men reflect the belief that men must be protected and nurtured and hostile sexist attitudes toward men reflect a resentment of their higher status and power. The worst role violation for men is appearing feminine and weak. Boys learn these things at a young age. The roles of men have changed. Men help out more with the children and they also help with the laundry and cleaning up the house. Not to the extent that women do, though.

What is heterosexism and sexual prejudice?

Lesbians and gay men don’t have the same rights heterosexuals do in most countries. They are not always allowed to marry. The stigma against the group ‘gays’ is called sexual stigma and the stigma against an individual gay person is called sexual prejudice.

What are stereotypes of lesbians and gay men?

People have stereotype beliefs about gay men and lesbians. Stereotypes of gay men are that they are feminine and wear certain clothes. Lesbians are described as masculine, shorthaired and wear masculine clothing. Gay men are rated as more similar to heterosexual females and lesbians are rated as more similar to heterosexual males. People also think that a gay couple and a lesbian couple exist out of one person fulfilling the male roles and one person fulfilling the female roles. The sexual orientation hypothesis predicts that people are more likely to believe feminine men are gay than to believe that masculine women are lesbian. Researchers focus more on gay men than lesbians, because gay men’s sexuality is viewed as more serious than lesbian’s sexuality. Also, lesbian sexuality has been invisible in Western societies for a long time.

What are attitudes toward lesbians and gay men?

Attitudes towards gay men and lesbians are changing. It used to be a taboo to be gay or lesbian. Nowadays, Western countries are much more accepting of homosexuality. Younger people are more accepting of gays and lesbians than older people. People who are high on right-wing authoritarianism and who hold fundamentalist religious beliefs have the most negative attitudes towards homosexuality. Heterosexism stems from conformity to authority. People, who know gay men and lesbians personally, are more positive towards homosexuals.

Heterosexual men are more negative towards homosexuals than heterosexual women are. Especially when a gay men is rated, not a lesbian. This is because of the gender roles people are expected to have. Men are not supposed to show their feminine side and gay men usually do. Heterosexuals are supposed to reject femininity and supposed to reject other’s femininity as well. Why don’t men reject lesbians the same way they reject gay men? This is because of the higher status of males. Women are more flexible in their roles.

What are attitudes toward bisexual men and women?

There is not much research about bisexuality. The research that has been conducted, shows that gay men, lesbians and heterosexuals all have negative attitudes about bisexuals. They think that bisexuals are promiscuous. Heterosexuals also believe that bisexuals are more likely to give their sexual partner a disease.

Is there heterosexism in the workplace?

Discrimination based on sexual orientation is legal in the United States. A lot of people get discriminated because of their sexuality in the workplace. This discrimination can be formal or informal. Gay people might not get hired because of their sexuality. They can also be joked about and harassed. A number of factors make a workplace less heterosexist. If there are more gay people in the workplace, one is more willing to come out. Also, if the organisation has gay-friendly policies the workplace is much better for homosexuals. Also, when a workplace doesn’t allow discrimination against homosexuals, gay people will be more accepted at that place.

What about coming out?

Homosexuals don’t always feel freely to discuss their love life with others. They are afraid to put pictures up of their lovers and don’t discuss relationships. Gay people have no luxury of discussing their lives with others, a luxury heterosexuals do have. If gay people can’t come out, they will keep their information for them. Because of this, they can fail in conversation. They don’t want to talk to their friends about their love life and this can create distrust. Sometimes, when people do come out, family members might get upset. Not because somebody is gay or a lesbian, but because they are mad that this person didn’t tell them this before.

Is there prejudice againt transgender people?

This part is about prejudice against people who have a transgender identity. These individuals believe they are assigned an incomplete or incorrect gender at birth that doesn't describe their true selves. Cisgender means that people are gender-conforming and do not identify as transgender. The individual difference variables that predict the attitudes toward homosexuality also predict transphobia, or negative attitudes toward transgender people. Research also shows that personal contact with a transgender person leads to less negative attitudes and more positive attitudes toward that group.