Title: 4.1 Understanding Sex and Gender – Social Problems
Headings: 4.1 Understanding Sex and Gender
4.1 Understanding Sex and Gender
Learning Objectives
Gender as a Social Construction
The Development of Gender Differences
Biology and Gender
Culture and Gender
Socialization and Gender
The Family
Peers
Children and Our Future
Schools
Mass Media
Religion
A Final Word on the Sources of Gender
Key Takeaways
References

Content: In prehistoric societies, two major social roles existed (1) hunting or gathering food to relieve hunger, and (2) bearing and nursing children. Because only women could perform the latter role, they were also the primary caretakers for children for several years after birth. And because women were frequently pregnant, their roles as mothers confined them to the home. Meanwhile, men were better suited than women for hunting because they were stronger and quicker than women. In prehistoric societies, then, biology was indeed destiny: For biological reasons, men in effect worked outside the home (hunted), while women stayed at home with their children. Evolutionary reasons also explain why men are more violent than women. In prehistoric times, men who were more willing to commit violence against and even kill other men would “win out” in the competition for female mates. They thus were more likely than less violent men to produce offspring, who would then carry these males’ genetic violent tendencies. If the human race evolved along these lines, evolutionary psychologists continue, natural selection favored those societies where men were stronger, braver, and more aggressive and where women were more fertile and nurturing.