Gender differences in identity formation as a function of self-other relationships

Effects of differential male-female relational definitions of self on resolutions to the first six of Erikson's identity crises were examined in a sample of 388 adolescent males and females. Subject categorization of relational self-definitions was based on the Relational Self-Definition Scale. Resolutions to identity crises were measured by the Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory (EPSI). Predictions were drawn from theoretical notions related to Gilligan's view of distinctive male-female trends in self-other development and indicated that males with self-definitions separate from others and females with self-definitions connected with others would report higher degrees of positive resolutions on EPSI subscales compared to males with connected self-definitions and females with separate self-definitions. Results revealed that specific predictions were supported for resolutions to Trust, Initiative, and Intimacy crises independent of individual differences in age, educational level, vocabulary, and socioeconomic status of subjects. This suggests that gender differences in identity development may be linked to distinctive malefemale trends in the use of relational self-definitions consistent with Gilligan's views.Received Ph.D. from Wayne State University in applied/personality psychology. Research interests include self-other development in adolescence and adulthood.     

Sport,Gender and Ethnicity: Practises of Symbolic Inclusion/Exclusion

In this paper symbolic inclusion/exclusion processes in sport with respect to gender and ethnicity among adolescents (n = 1025) are analyzed from a social-critical perspective. It was found that sport participation preferences of young people are still influenced by dominant normative gendered and racial/ethnic images. Sport can serve not only as an agent of integration among youth, but is also used to differentiate and discriminate. On one hand sport participation is less predictable with respect to gender, due for example to interactions with ethnicity. Although ethnic minority girls participate the least in sport, ‘black,’ traditional ‘masculine‘ sports such as soccer and fighting/self-defense are valued relative highly. On the other hand, the data show that especially the male adolescents symbolically exclude girls from ‘masculine’ sports such as soccer; in addition for both ethnic minority and majority boys the fear of being labelled as a ‘sissy’ works as a strong mechanism of self-exclusion from participation in traditional ‘feminine’ sports. However, stereotypical normative images are not only confirmed through sport (participation), but also continually challenged.Researcher/lecturer, Tilburg University. Research interest in inclusionary and exclusionary mechanisms in sport, especially with respect to gender, ethnicity and sexuality.Senior researcher, Utrecht University. Major research interest in gender, ethnicity and leadership positions in sport.     

Gender, citizenship and human reproduction in contemporary Italy

This article examines how the recently introduced law on assisted reproduction in Italy, which gives symbolic legal recognition to the embryo, came about, and how a referendum, which would have repealed large sections of it, failed. The occupation of the legal space by the embryo is the outcome of a crusade by a well-organised alliance of theo-conservatives. These groups see in reproductive medicine an uncontrolled interference with their notion of the natural order of things. Such a worldview requires a total ban on stem cell research, limitation of access to reproductive technologies and repressive laws to govern the area. This conservative dream scenario has come closer to being realised by the introduction of a law doing all of these things in the name of the protection of “Life”. In the case of this law, the “life” to be protected is the embryo. In the name of “Life”, scientific advances and individual liberty have been curbed. The politics of embryo citizenship is a politics which values the yet to come over the here and now, purgation over pleasure, and the transcendent over the material.     

living a body myth,performing a body reality: reclaiming the corporeality and sexuality of the Indian female dancer

This paper investigates the dilemma that has been projected upon Indian female dancers' bodies by contemporary Indian audiences when female desire occupies the centrality of a performance and projects the female body as sexual, articulate and independent of the discipline and propriety of classicism. Locating this dilemma in the nationalist construction of Indian womanhood and femininity as ‘chaste’, this paper adopts Victor Turner's notions of liminal and liminoid phenomenon and Brechtian defamiliarization technique as a feminist strategy to construct a framework within which the contemporary Indian dancer can reclaim her sexuality in performance. To investigate the complex nationalist trope of chaste Indian womanhood, and to analyse the subversion of this trope by placing agency on the female body as sexual, I locate my argument in the discussion of The Silk Route: Memory of a Journey by Kinaetma Theatre, UK, which was performed in Kolkata in August 2004.     

Introduction: Gender and power 2

The question of what might be understood as battles over the body in a society of gender equality is discussed. Women have become more like men, but at the same time their bodies appear to speak more clearly of difference. Difference between the genders has traditionally been understood in the light of the body/nature as immutable. In this study I explore where theoretical approaches that question such understandings might lead us. The production of gender is understood as produced in tandem with heterosexuality and linked to the culturally deep-structured homophobia. The body's suitability as battlefield over gender is seen in relation to its status as nature and therefore true.     

Promotion of Gender Equality at the Workplace: Gender Mainstreaming and Collective Bargaining in Italy

The article examines gender equality in collective bargaining and looks at the extent to which gender and equal opportunities issues have been mainstreamed in industrial relations systems in Italy where, despite the existence of old and new legislation on gender equality, there are persistently low levels of female employment and the precarious workforce is made up predominantly of women. The central question addressed in the article is whether the injection of a gender mainstreaming approach in the Italian collective bargaining system, combined with legislative measures, may improve the situation of women in the context of both public and private spheres. In particular, the article looks at whether gender mainstreaming has the potential to pave the way towards an ethos of substantive equality at the workplace, whereby women enter the workforce on equal terms and men are in a position to share the dual responsibilities of paid and unpaid work. The article maintains that gender mainstreaming may fulfil its transformative potential as a catalyst for changing both the conceptual and analytical tools which the law deploys, provided it is envisaged as a three-fold strategy involving simultaneous processes of deconstruction, replacement and inclusive measures, together with deliberative forms of democracy and the imposition of a statutory positive duty on public authorities to mainstream equality.

Evolution and Gender

Dupre´ considers recent attempts to explain gendered difference in human behaviour by an appeal to evolutionary theory, particularly in the context of the recent programme of 'evolutionary psychology'. It argues that the fundamental assumptions of this programme are unsupported and implausible, and the attempt it offers of providing a universal account of human behaviour does little or nothing to counter the prima facie diversity of gender difference. A more sophisticated understanding of evolutionary theory suggests that we should see gender as developing out of a complex and variable cascade of interactions between biology and environment, rather than as the expression of species-wide biological universals.     

Gender,identity and experience: Researching marginalised groups

This article will examine the status of the researcher when conducting research with Gypsy families and Asian women. It will explore how the positioning of the researcher as an outsider and insider can affect the research relationship and can be a useful and privileged position from which to engage in the research process. Gender, identity and experience can create a shared empathy and a shared understanding between the respondent and the researcher in which trust and rapport can encourage respondents to open up and discuss their personal experiences. The article also examines the complexities and tensions associated with how the status and identity of the interviewer can affect the research relationship and how an appreciation of difference is fundamental to this process.