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An individual's sex and associated gender-role expectations exert a primary influence on one's sense of self and nearly all the individual's interpersonal relationships. The purpose of this research project is to investigate how male counsellors experience the phenomenon of being a man, relative to issues associated with his sex and gender-role expectations, in the field of counselling. Because the emphasis is on the experience of sex and gender-role issues for male counsellors a phenomenological research method was chosen. Seven male counsellors were interviewed. The investigator conducted two interviews with each counsellor. The initial interview was designed to elicit the person's experiences of the phenomenon of being a male counsellor. After a preliminary analysis of this interview, a summary was prepared and shared with the respondent during the follow up interview. The purpose of this meeting was to verify the interpretation of the previous interview and to offer the individual an opportunity to supplement or modify his remarks. The interviews were transcribed by the investigator and analyzed using a method described by Karlsson (1993). The analysis of the data yielded three general categories of experience. They were experiences related to gender-role stereotyping, the experience of erotic feelings and the experience of being a man in a field in which they are a minority. A fourth category, which described the experience of the interviews, was included to further illuminate the results. for counsellor training, consultation The findings are discussed in light of previous research and include suggestions and further research.

No description available.

This thesis explores issues of subjectivity and gender around ritual activity in Xianyou county, Fujian Province, China. It focuses on three groups of women: Buddhist nuns, mediums and village women engaged in the ritual caretaking of their families. It also examines a spirit writing text from the late Qing dynasty (1644-1911). It is suggested that subject positions and kin positions are to a certain extent coextensive and that participation in certain rituals is what constitutes one as a gendered subject (as a "woman") and in certain kin roles (as wife, daughter-in-law, etc.). Other gendered subject positions (such as that of melancholic lover) are explored in an attempt to complicate any simple determinism that might accompany to easy a correspondence of kin position with sex role.

The goal of this thesis is to question conventional definitions of work through the detailed study of a professional group---specifically rural clergy---whose work falls outside the parameters of accepted definitions of work. According to the feminist literature, work and non-work are differentiated typically by dichotomies which privilege a masculine model of work and devalue women's experience; thus, "real work" is defined as an activity which is paid rather than unpaid, public rather than private, instrumental and intellectual rather than emotional. Professional work definitions also obscure the way in which "work" relies on activities which are linked with the feminine in these dichotomies. Through in-depth qualitative interviews with rural clergy, I explore the extent to which women and men draw on these gendered dichotomies to define work. In some ways, the approach of clergy counters conventional work norms: for them, emotional labour is a priority, work is not limited to a specific time or place, and public and private lives frequently overlap. I demonstrate how clergy define their work in terms of obligation, context, visibility, and time. Furthermore, I also argue that clergy delineate work in terms which still reflect a masculinized work norm specific to their profession. This "clergy masculinized mode" professionalises emotional labour by separating it from the facilitating work of female volunteers; it assumes a worker free from domestic demands in order to fulfil professional obligations within a flexible time frame; and it overlooks how the overlap of the public and private spheres is sustained by the work of wives. Thus, delineating work is particularly problematic for female clergy because professional demands are confounded with demands for adjunct work typically performed by women. My findings (1) highlight alternative markers of work which are suggestive for feminist theory; (2) point to a gap in theorizing about the gendering of work when con

The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which elementary school students label physical activities according to gender. Participants for this study were 202 students grades one through six from a Muncie Community School in Muncie, Indiana. Participants were divided by age and gender for the statistical analysis. The students were asked to respond to the Physical Activity Stereotyping Index (PASI), a Lickert-type instrument designed to assess the degree to which individuals label selected physical activities according to gender.Results of the study suggested that children's perceptions about the gender appropriateness of physical activities may be a function of age as evidenced by higher scores for the older children. It appeared also that boys gender-label physical activities to a greater extent than do girls. Those findings suggested that as children widen their experiences with social interactions, they adopt clearly-defined and gender-specific play patterns. / School of Physical Education

In this study I examined how sex of the child and the adult and the age of the child influence people's perceptions regarding the abusiveness of adult-child sexual interactions and attributions of blame and responsibility in such incidents. The relationship of gender-role attitudes to perceptions of child sexual abuse was also investigated. Undergraduate students read one of eight vignettes depicting a sexual interaction between a child and an adult in which the sex of the child, the age of the adult, and the sex of the adult were experimentally manipulated. Respondents then answered questions regarding their perceptions of the abusiveness of the incident and attributions of responsibility and blame made to the adult. Results indicated that scenarios depicting a 15-year-old were rated as less abusive and less responsibility was attributed to the adult relative to vignettes involving a 7-year-old. Furthermore, when the vignette depicted a 15-year-old with an adult of the opposite sex, less blame was attributed to the adult. / Department of Psychological Science

Research in the area of sex and gender communication has been largely relegated the organizational setting and the superior/subordinate framework. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the effects of biological sex and psychological gender on evaluations of communication appropriateness within the interpersonal context. College students were first asked to complete a sex-role inventory. There were then presented with a series of scenarios depicting a communication encounter in which communicators adhered to gendered communication behavior norms, and a communication encounter in which communicators deviated from gendered communication behavior norms. After reading each transcript, participants completed a communication appropriateness scale for each character presented in the scenarios. The results show that within the interpersonal context, there are differences between males and females in evaluations of general competence, and that males enacting a feminine style of communication are evaluated as more communicatively appropriate than males enacting a masculine style of communication. Finally, this study provides a critique on the Bem Sex-Role Inventory based upon empirical evidence. / Department of Communication Studies

Gender roles have progressed and evolved over time, with women having adopted masculine traits to a greater degree than men have adopted feminine traits. This study examined college students’ views towards women taking on negative stereotypical masculine traits, such as derogatory language and aggressiveness, as presented in two film clips. Results indicate that students who are more egalitarian in their gender views and who identify as masculine in their gender role perceptions were more likely to have favorable views of the nontraditional speech and behavior presented. Open-ended responses revealed a range of attitudes towards what is considered appropriate language and behavior for both men and women, indicating that a is shift occurring, albeit subtle. / Department of Sociology

There is no abstract available for this thesis.