Anecdotal observations among clinicians and laypersons suggest that some men who have been sexually abused by men as children experience more homosexual sexual attraction and engage in more homosexual sexual behavior than men who have not been sexually abused. These men often report feeling “confused” about their sexuality. Some men also report believing that there is a relationship between their homosexual feelings and behaviors and their sexual abuse as children. Moreover, research in the area of sexual abuse reveals that disproportionately more men with sexual abuse histories identify as gay and bisexual than men with non-sexual abuse histories, especially when the perpetrator of the abuse was male. However, very few studies have specifically explored the relationship between sexual orientation and sexual abuse. The proposed study will examine the relationship between sexual orientation in men and their reports of childhood sexual abuse by males. Additionally, the proposed study will distinguish between those individuals that have interpreted their childhood sexual experiences as negative (or abusive) and those who have not. Past research in this topic has categorized participants as “abused” based on a set of predetermined benchmarks (e.g., age differential, specific acts performed, etc.,) while not including the individual’s subjective account/interpretation of the experience. This research will consider how the distinction between intergenerational sexual contact that is experienced as abusive and intergenerational sexual contact that is not experienced as abusive relates to sexual orientation and sexual identity. / text

Despite growing awareness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and educational efforts to provide accurate information about sexually transmitted diseases (STD), young adults continue to engage in risky sexual practices that increase their vulnerability of acquiring an STD, including inconsistent condom use. Research has gathered ample evidence to suggest that the media, in particular television consumption, is directly linked with sexual risk, yet less is known about the potential mechanisms that may be driving this link. The present study examines body image and gender role attitudes as two potential mediators of this relationship. Three-hundred and four undergraduate students (73% female; 64% White) at a large, urban University completed questionnaires to assess television influence, body image, gender role attitudes, and sexual behavior, through an online-survey tool. Results yielded significant correlations among several predictors and condom use, although mediation was not achieved. Limitations, implications of the findings, and directions for future research are discussed.

The thesis presents the processes of gender role transition and sex reassignment from the perspectives of psychology, medicine, and sociology. Its main focus is on the various aspects influencing the psyche of a person undertaking transition. The thesis investigates why trans identity is commonly viewed as a pathology and the impact of pathologization on the self-perception of trans people. Furthemore, the traditional outline of the transition process in Czech sexology is compared to some current international approaches. A section of the text addresses psychotherapy as a key factor in transition. A significant component of the thesis is that it takes a sociocultural viewpoint on gender identity and gender roles. One of the goals is to understand how medical experts dealing with trans identity conceptualize transition and how trans people themselves conceptualize it. The overall aim is to investigate how both of these sides influence each other and what psychological aspects enter the processes of gender role transition and sex reassignment. Key words: transsexuality, transgender, sex reassignment, gender identity, gender role.

Gender roles and the nature of heterosex have been clearly outlined in the literature as having a significant impact on both individuals and societies. Some debate has existed in the field of psychology as to the nature and origin of gender and gender roles. Furthermore, it is believed that the current South African context offers a rich source of material for debate and discussion around which social factors are impacting on gender role development and how. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the perceived origins of such gender roles the study explores qualitative accounts of the various social elements of both South African and international origin which individuals perceive as impacting on gender role ideology. Individual interviews were conducted with 8 participants (4 males and 4 females) between the ages of 20 and 30, who were either living with their partner at the time of the study or had co-habited before. While all social constructs identified in the study can be understood as impacting internalised notions of gender roles some factors appear to play a more significant role than others in creating knowledge around egalitarian roles rather than perpetuating less contemporary views or gender inequality. In particular culture, religion and the family were found to be sights of perpetuation of more traditional roles, while globalisation, education, media, work and urbanisation appeared to be significant constructs in creating more egalitarian gender role ideologies. Recommendations for future research include a closer examination of these relationships within broader realms of class, religion and age.

Thesis advisor: Janet E. Helms / As the first generation born after China introduced its "one-child policy," Chinese female students in the United States belong to a special population that is under the dual pressures of their parents' expectations to succeed and the conflicting traditional Chinese stereotypes of women as obedient to men, dependent, and home orientated. Previous research on Chinese female students' acculturative experiences indicates that these women face unique challenges in redefining their gender roles. However, no studies have explored whether womanist and acculturative processes are related to this psychological transition. The current study explored womanist identity and acculturation attitudes as processes influencing Chinese women's negotiations of their gender roles and redefinitions of themselves as women while living in the United States. Chinese female international students (N=192), enrolled in colleges or universities in the US, completed a demographic questionnaire; the Womanist Identity Attitude Scale (Helms, 1990), which assessed their manner of coping with traditional role expectations; and, the Acculturation Scale for Asian International Students (Gu, 2008), which measured acculturation attitudes. Their gender-role traits and stereotypical attitudes toward American women were examined by the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) (Bem, 1974) and Attitudes toward Women Scale (AWS) (Spence, Helmrich, & Stapp, 1978). Canonical correlation analyses were used to investigate relationships among (a) womanist identity and acculturation attitudes, (b) womanist identity and gender-roles, and (c) acculturation attitudes and gender roles. Two identity-acculturation patterns, three identity-gender role patterns, and two acculturation-gender role patterns were identified. When the Chinese women were self-defining their gender-role identity, they were participating in U.S. culture and integrating traditional and non-traditional gender-role traits and attitudes. Traditional womanist attitudes were associated with increased levels of rejecting the U.S. culture, traditional gender roles, and perceived dissimilarities between themselves and U.S. women. The current study is the first to investigate gender-role and acculturation developmental issues of "One-Child" women from a psychological perspective. Obtained results suggest that their adaptive processes are more complex than anticipated. Methodological limitations of the study are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

The purpose of this study is to discover and analyse the gender stereotypes presented in a selection of books where the characters are gender neutral animals or figures, based on the fact that as a reader you cannot distinguish by the cover or the icon text if the characters are of the male or female sex. The books have been analysed with a qualitative image and text analysis from a gender perspective. The analysis has focused on highlighting the norms presented in the books with a focus on gender roles and the gender markers that can be linked to stereotypical behaviors of girls and boys respectively. The analyses show that the books contain both confirmatory and breaking representations of the characters in both text and image, regarding the prevailing gender stereotypes. / Syftet för denna studie är att upptäcka och analysera de könstereotyper som framställs i ett urval av böcker där karaktärerna är könsneutrala djur eller figurer, i den mån att man som läsare inte kan urskilja via omslaget eller ikonotexten om karaktärerna är av det manliga eller kvinnliga könet. Böckerna har analyserats med en kvalitativ bild och textanalys utifrån ett genusperspektiv. Analysen har fokuserat på att synliggöra de normer som framställs i böckerna med fokus på könsroller och de genusmarkörer som kan kopplas till stereotypa beteenden hos flickor respektive pojkar. Analyserna visar att böckerna innehåller både bekräftande och brytande framställningar hos karaktärerna i både text och bild, gällande de rådande könssterotyperna.

Thesis advisor: Mary E. Walsh / Gender is an undeniably significant element of human identity, contributing to multiple aspects of development. Previous research suggests that gender typicality, a sense that one is typical for one's own gender category, is associated with positive developmental outcomes among children while a sense of gender atypicality is generally associated with negative outcomes, including lowered self-esteem (Egan & Perry, 2001). This study further investigates the relationship between gender typicality and self-esteem from a developmental-contextual perspective by examining the relationship in the context of various developmental systems (e.g., school, peer group). Positive connections to developmental systems such as peers and school have been found to foster resilience by reinforcing strengths and buffering students from negative outcomes (Masten & Coatsworth, 1998). Therefore, it was hypothesized that classroom social support and school belonging would moderate the relationship between gender typicality and self-esteem by protecting gender atypical children from the negative cost of low self-esteem. Within the current sample, the relationship between gender typicality and self-esteem was more robust than in previous studies. While the moderating hypotheses were not confirmed, gender typicality was found to mediate the relationship between school belonging and self-esteem. The current findings underscore the vital role of gender and gender typicality in children's lives. Implications for prevention and intervention efforts in schools are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

There has been a renewed research focus on developments within the family as a result of the broad social, economic and cultural developments that have occurred across Europe since the middle of the twentieth century. Arguably the rise in female, and particularly maternal employment, has produced the greatest impact on family life and gender roles. Given that this division of labour is changing there is debate about whether men and women's expectations and acceptance of some aspects of gender roles - their gender role attitudes - have also changed. Gender role attitudes feed into an array of sociological debates such as those concerning gender inequalities, women's position in the labour market, declining fertility rates and family breakdown, and naturally feeds into the discourse surrounding welfare state and policy decision making. Whilst discussions that concern the family and personal life have also been littered with debates about the existence and influence of individualisation over every aspect of modern life. Three waves of the European Values Study (EVS) are used to explore gender role attitude change, focusing on the division of labour, over time from 1990 to 2008 and across 19 countries in Europe. Two data classification techniques are used to derive a three pronged and interconnected measure of gender role attitudes (Maternal employment, Job fulfilment and Economic independence). Two types of cluster analyses are then used to explore similarities in attitude change across countries and over time. Five welfare state typologies are then tested based on their efficacy to predict attitudes to gender roles. Finally cohort and sex-based variations in attitudes are also examined. The main findings are:• Gender role attitudes have shifted at the cross-European level towards more progressive perspectives over time from 1990-2008, with men found to be lagging behind women's more liberal attitudes.• There is evidence that welfares state typologies capture only a small amount of variance within gender role attitudes and therefore little evidence is found to support the idea that similarities in family-policy and socio-economic contexts are mirrored by similar attitudes.• The findings uncover evidence to indicate that both cohort and period effects are associated with gender role attitude change over time.• The results also identify some congruence with specific elements from theories of individualisation. The study supports findings of previous research that suggests people in these countries seem to be becoming more accepting of women's evolving biographies but that gender inequalities remain and men's attitudes continue to lag behind those of women. There is evidence to both support and reject the idea that we are living in more individualised societies.

This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of male victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). Few studies exist about the experiences of men who are victims of female-perpetrated IPV and there are not many studies about these men's experiences in seeking and receiving psychological help. Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Peck's gender role strain paradigm guided this study to understand victimology and perceptions of gender roles. Research questions attempted to understand the lived experiences of male IPV victims of female-perpetrated IPV, accessing supportive and psychological services, and their experiences of these services. Seven male individuals were recruited through flyers in community centers, law enforcement agencies, and social media sites; 5 participants were interviewed via Skype and 2 responded via e-mail. Data from interviews were analyzed and coded following an interpretative phenomenological method. Five themes were identified from 2 research questions including: male victimization is seen as less severe than female victimization, family is not easy to talk to about experience, therapy and hospitalization were used, law enforcement officers are biased, and mental health workers are routine. Findings were evaluated with existing literature and suggestions are made for help-seeking option accessibility for male victims. This study promotes social change by discussing how supporting survivors may decrease negative gender roles and social norms while promoting the betterment of professionals who work with male victims. Victim-centered services, patient-centered approaches, and treatment and support for survivors of IPV will help to improve awareness about male victims in society while offering insight to decrease negative stigma.

<p>Vår studie, som omfattar sex intervjuer, fokuserar på genusmedvetenhet hos vägledare. På vilket sätt de arbetar med genus i mötet med elever för att vidga perspektiv och på vilket sätt de kan tänka sig att arbeta med att skapa en genusmedvetenhet hos elever i år 4-6. Vårt resultat visar att genusmedvetenhet är ett svårt begrepp som har olika betydelse för vägledarna. Vägledarna menar att de inte arbetar på ett planerat genusmedvetet arbetssätt idag men vi ser att de omedvetet arbetar med genusperspektivet genom olika aktiviteter. I arbetet med elever i år 4-6, vill vägledarna bidra på olika sätt med att vidga elevernas perspektiv gällande självuppfattning, yrken och arbetsmarknad. Sammantaget visar resultatet på att vägledarna är positivt inställda till att vara en bidragande faktor för att öka möjligheten till att elevers val grundas på det ”fria valet”, inte utifrån kön.</p><p>Our study, which comprises six interviews, has focus on awareness of gender among counsellors. How they work with gender in the meeting with students to wide the student’s perspective and in which way they imagine to work to be able to create a awareness of gender in intermediate level. The result of the study shows that awareness of gender is a difficult conception which has different meaning for the counsellors. The counsellors mean that the ways they work today are not a planned way of working but we see that they are unaware of it. They work with gender in different ways. At the intermediate level the counsellors like to contribute in different ways to wide the student’s perspective concern self-knowledge, occupation and labour market. All in all the result shows that the counsellors have a positive attitude to take part in the work, to increase the possibility for students to make choices based on the “free choice” and not based on their sex.</p>