The Differences Between Males and Females:
lEach of us is by nature a sexual creature.
lSex is probably a topic you already know a
lot about.
lSexuality has a tremendous impact on
relationships, personal identity, and health.
lIt is very important to be well informed
about it.
Child Psychology
* Link*
Female or Male?
l Basic physical
differences between males and females can be divided into primary and secondary
sexual characteristics.
Social
Psychology *Link *
Primary Sexual Characteristics
l Refer to the
sexual and reproductive organs themselves: the vagina, ovaries, and uterus in
females and the penis, testes, and scrotum in males.
Secondary Sexual
Characteristics
l They are more
superficial features that appear at puberty. They develop in response to
hormonal signals from the pituitary gland.
l In females,
secondary sexual characteristics include breasts, broadening of the hips, and
other changes in the body shape.
l Males grow
facial and body hair, and the voice deepens.
l These changes
signal biological readiness for reproduction.
What are the basic dimensions of sex?
l Sexual anatomy
l Sex Hormones- In general, sexual
characteristics are related to the action of sex hormones. (Hormones are
chemical substances secreted by endocrine glands.)
How does one’s sense
of maleness and femaleness develop?
l Gender
Development
l Gender
Identity
l Sex Role
Socialization
Gender Development
l
Becoming male or female starts simply enough.
l
Genetic sex is determined at the instant of conception:
l
Two X- Chromosomes initiate development of a female.
l
An X Chromosome plus a Y Chromosome produces a male.
Social Psychology Network* Link *
Gender Identity
l Your personal,
private sense of being male or female is known as Gender Identity.
l Gender
Identity is a learned self-perception.
Sex Role Socialization
l Learning sex
roles begins immediately. Infant girls are held more gently and treated more
tenderly than boys.
l Both parents
play more roughly with sons than with daughters. (Who presume to be more
“delicate”).
l Later, boys
are allowed to roam over a wider area without special permission. They are also
expected to run errands earlier than girls.
l Daughters are
told that they are pretty and that “nice girls don’t fight.”
l Boy’s are told
to be strong and that “tough guys don’t cry.”
To what extent do
females and males differ in sexual response?
l Phases of Sexual Response
l Female Sexual Response
l Male Sexual Response
Phases of Sexual
Response
l A capacity for
sexual arousal is apparent at birth or soon after.
l Researchers
verified instances of orgasm (Sexual Climax) in boys as young as 5
months old, and in girls as young as 4 months old.
l They also
found that 2- to 5-year-old children spontaneously touch and exhibit their
genitals.
Female Sexual Response
l 25% of females
engage in preadolescent sex play.
l “Male” hormones also
affect the female sex drive. In addition to estrogen, a women’s body produces
small amounts of androgens which can increase the sex drive in women, just as
they do in men.
Male Sexual Response
l 50% of males
engage in preadolescent sex play Psych Web by Russ Dewey *link *
Are Men more
easily sexually aroused than women?
l Women are no
less physically responsive than men are. However, compared with men,
women more often have a negative emotional response to erotic stimuli,
such as explicit pictures of sex.
l That is, women
more often report feeling upset or disgusted by these stimuli.
School Psychology
Resources Online - Sandra Steingart,Ph.D. *Link *
