In North America, the question of whether the exposure of the breasts is deemed to cause social harm is an issue that has been tackled by courts, institutions, and the general public. The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) uses the definition of social harm to decide whether such an act is regarded as in[...]
Archive for April 15th, 2010
Essay: Power Structures Surrounding Femininty
Stereotypes of Gender Discrepancies in Academics
“In 1968 Phillip Goldberg asked university women to judge the merits of several scientific articles that were attributed to a male author (“John McKay”) or to a female author (“Joan McKay”). Although these manuscripts were identical in every other respect, participants judged the article[...]
Rating Infants Differently Based on Gender
“Gender-role stereotypes are well-ingrained cognitive schemes that we use to interpret and often distort the behaviour of males and females. People even use these schemas to classify the behaviour of infants. In one study (Condry & Condry, 1976), university students watched a video-tape of[...]
How Gender Gets Socialized
“In one research program, 4- and 5-year-olds were shown unfamiliar gender-neutral toys (for example, spinning bells, a magnet stand), told that these objects were either ‘for boys’ or ‘for girls,’ and asked whether they and other boys or girls would like them. Children clearly relied on th[...]
Do Gender Stereotypes Influence a Child’s Memory?
“Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) proposed that once people learn gender stereotypes, they are more likely to attend to and remember events that are consistent with these beliefs than events that would disconfirm them. Carol Martin and Charles Halverson (1981) agree, arguing that gender stereotypes ar[...]