Comments | differenceblog: Do men have a gender?

differenceblog

Do men have a gender?

Nov 05, 2007 08:34

Social psychologist Peter Hegarty commented on a post from last December on the "male-norm effect." Last year's post discussed Hegarty and Buechel's 2006 content analysis of gender difference psychology articles from 1965-2004, which found that men were reported as the norm. An experiment by Hegarty (2006) suggests this effect can be manipulated ( Read more... )

peter hegarty, androcentric, josephine korchmaros, psychology, author responses, race, felicia pratto, social psychology, carmen buechel

Comments 14

(The comment has been removed)

astrogeek01 November 5 2007, 15:38:10 UTC

I mostly just feel like "me".

But then, I'm usually an anomaly. Maybe we can ask people who... um. Aren't anomalies? Do I know any? Hmm. -thinks-

differenceblog November 5 2007, 15:48:52 UTC

Well, I obviously felt something anomalous. I mean, it was kind of a lot of work to go through. So there seems to be some difference between "I just feel like me" and "I am made constantly unhappy by people reading me as female" -- which was more the case with me than "My body makes me really unhappy all the time." The body dysmorphia has been pretty mild for me, throughout.

I guess, in the dark, when I'm staring at the ceiling and can't fall asleep, I wonder if I would have gone to all the trouble if "male" wasn't the default gender in our society. I think I would have, because if anything, I feel like my role is more structured and restrictive now than it was for a woman.

But yeah, the question of whether I would have transitioned in a social vacuum (or in a culture different enough from our own as to be purely fictional) occurs to me from time to time. I still haven't made up my mind on the question, but I have made up my mind that it doesn't much matter.

astrogeek01 November 5 2007, 16:06:17 UTC

I feel like my role is more structured and restrictive now than it was for a woman.

I can certainly see that. Which of course shows that men do in fact have gender... even if it is always taken as "the norm". A lot of gender roles are pushed on men in detrimental ways, just as for women. Just one example, reading about stay-at-home-dads and their experiences in how people treat them is somewhat...disheartening. (e.g. people have no problems sending their kids over to play at another SAH mom's place, but feel uneasy about sending 'em over if it's a SAH dad; of course this is anecdotal and not a study, but it's likely true)

Thread 8

dancingwolfgrrl November 5 2007, 15:56:17 UTC

I think it is the NY Times that is famously supposed to have suffered a fit of political correctness in the midst of which they referred to women as "people of gender."

differenceblog November 5 2007, 17:54:36 UTC

I took a quick Google for that, but all I found was transgender stuff for "people of gender." Sigh.

differenceblog November 5 2007, 17:58:08 UTC

Hm. Okay, I tried a little harder and found a couple unverified sources ascribing "people of gender" quotes to Anthony Masiello (Mayor of Buffalo, NY) and Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House)... There's nothing that I'd call a reputable source suggesting that, though.

dancingwolfgrrl November 5 2007, 18:28:05 UTC

Maybe it's all an internet rumor. Those transpeople, they've got them some gender, you know! *headdesk*

anonymous May 30 2008, 16:56:17 UTC

There are people who do not experience a gender essence and those who do quite strongly ( ... )

differenceblog May 30 2008, 16:58:53 UTC

this is a great comment. I'd like to move it over to the Blogger site. Let me know if this bothers you.

differenceblog May 30 2008, 17:01:00 UTC

copied to here:
http://www.differenceblog.com/2007/11/do-men-have-gender.html