Gender-Based Sex Roles

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how different human societies define romantic love according to specific cultural beliefs about gender-based sex roles and social mores about sexual expression. In particular, it looks at how in the United States (and much of the Western part or the world as opposed to Islamic cultures), these cultural values include a marked difference in the sexual behavior expected of males and females. It discusses how elements of American social psychology promote destructive cultural beliefs about the nature of sex and romantic love that actually undermine human happiness and how gender-based differential sexual socialization virtually guarantees a predatory approach to dating on the part of males, at the expense of fundamental fairness as well as female wellbeing.

Outline:
Introduction
The Western Version of Burkas, Veils, and Forced Female Circumcision
Western Sexual Mores and Fundamental Beliefs about Romantic Love
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"As early as grade school, boys are encouraged and rewarded socially for popularity with their female counterparts while grade school girls become sensitive to concepts related to being a "slut" even before full sexual maturity or actual sexual experimentation. By the age of puberty, young women wishing merely for confirmation of their physical attractiveness must already be very cognizant of the fine line between attractiveness and insulting pejorative assumptions and crude allegations related to promiscuity. Likewise, by the time young men and women first begin to date, sexual promiscuity is already viewed as a badge of honor in males and a mark of social shame in females. In principle, the psychological motivation for these cultural attitudes is rooted as much in male insecurity as their comparatively extreme Middle Eastern versions employing more overt forms of female suppression. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ackerman, D. (1994) A Natural History of Love. New York: Vintage.
• Baker, R., Elliston, F. (2002) Philosophy & Sex. Buffalo: Prometheus
• Barash, D.P., Lipton, J.E. (2001) The Myth of Monogamy: Fidelity and Infidelity in Animals and People. New York: Henry Holt.
• Branden, N. (2002) The Psychology of Romantic Love. New York: Bantam
• Buss, D.M. Jealousy: Prescription for Passion; Psychology Today, pp. 55-61 (May-June/00).

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