The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

Methods and History of Gender Research 61

not be adaptive. Examine sources of gender-

role strain at your college in Do Gender 2.3.

The first four questions assess self-role dis-

crepancies, and the last four questions as-

sess socialized dysfunctional characteristics.

See Sidebar 2.1 for another view of male

gender-role strain in the form of hegemonic

masculinity.

The concept of gender-role strain has

largely been applied to men. The ideas were

inspired by popular books on men that ap-

peared in the 1970s and the 1980s, such as

Goldberg’s (1976)The Hazards of Being

Male, Nichols’s (1975)Men’s Liberation: A

New Definition of Masculinity, and Naifeh

and Smith’s (1984)Why Can’t Men Open

Up?, and in the late 1990s by Pollack’s (1998)

Real boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths

of Boyhood.These books, based largely on

anecdotal evidence collected by men inter-

viewing men or men observing boys, outline

how some of the features of the male gen-

der role limit men’s relationships and are

potentially harmful to men’s health. In his

examination of young boys, Pollack (1998,

2006) suggests that gender roles are much

more rigid for boys than girls in our soci-

ety. He describes amale codeby which boys

are not to express any form of vulnerability

for fear it will be perceived as feminine, and

femininity is equated with being gay, which

is strongly derogated by boys. More recently,

gender-role strain was explored in an in-

terview study about friendship with 15- to

16-year-old (largely Caucasian) boys (Oran-

sky & Maracek, 2009). The major theme that

emerged from these interviews is that boys

avoid self-disclosure and displays of emo-

tion or physical pain, for fear of being viewed

as gay, of lacking masculinity, and of being

taunted by peers. Even when friends share

emotions or disclose feelings, boys feel that

the best thing they can do as a friend is to

DO GENDER 2.3

Gender-Role Strain

Interview 10 women and 10 men at your

college. Identify common sources of

gender-role strain.

1. Think about how men (women)
   are expected to behave. How does
   your behavior differ from how men
   (women) are expected to behave?


2. Think about how men (women) are
   expected to look. How does your
   appearance differ from how men
   (women) are expected to look?


3. Think about the personality char-
   acteristics that men (women) are
   expected to have. How does your
   personality differ from the personality
   men (women) are expected to have?


4. Think about the things that are
   supposed to interest men (women).
   How do your interests differ from
   the interests that men (women) are
   expected to have?


5. Think about the ways in which your
   behavior matches the behavior that
   society expects of men (women). Do
   you feel any of these behaviors are
   harmful?


6. Think about the ways in which your
   physical appearance matches the
   way society expects men (women)
   to look. Do you feel any of these ex-
   pectations are harmful?


7. Think about the ways in which your
   personality matches the personal-
   ity society expects men (women) to
   have. Do you feel any of these
   personality traits are harmful?


8. Think about the interests you have
   that correspond to the interests so-
   ciety expects men (women) to have.
   Do you feel it is harmful to have any
   of these interests?

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