Psychology of Sex and Gender

TMA05

Evaluate two perspectives on the psychology of sex and gender. What can these perspectives tell us about what it is to be a man or woman?

This essay evaluates two perspectives on the psychology of sex and gender. These perspectives are then examined to tell us about what it is to be a man or woman? Although there are other influential perspectives on the psychology of sex and gender, such as biological and psychoanalytical, this essay focuses on evolutionary psychology, a science based approach and social constructionist, which comes from a meaning based tradition ( Hollway, Cooper, Johnston, Steven, 2003, pp 113-169). The two perspectives are assessed and compared to see if they conflict, co-exist and/or complement each other. We then move on and examine how both perspectives provide unique insights into what it is to be a man or woman, before reaching a conclusion based on the weight of evidence provided by both schools of thought. There is no clear dividing line between sex and gender, although in the past it was linked to biological and psychological differences respectively. According to the famous psychoanalyst Carl Jung, who developed the idea of androgyny, individuals are a complicated mixture of both masculine and feminine traits. (Hollway et al., 2003, p. 118 )

Evolutionary psychology enjoys a sound platform to work from and has developed a proven tradition based on natural and sexual selection. The difficulty for evolutionary psychology is to prove that specific genetic differences can be traced directly back to generations of adaptive change. The differences could be the result of other factors,

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such as social pressure and this weakens the evolutionary psychology position. An example this occurred in a study where a high percentage of men agreed to have sex with an attractive stranger. None of the woman agreed compared to 75% of the men. Evolutionary psychologists claim this is consistent with a man’s drive to have many...