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This entry is part of the BDSM Dictionary hosted by Informed Consent.

This is the version from 3 Apr 07, 10:06 PM. The full history of this entry will show any more recent versions.

ICcode for "Gender role"

A [b]gender role[/b] is the pattern of masculine or feminine behaviour or duties defined by a particular culture or social group.  Every society has a gender system, although the components and workings of this system vary widely between societies.

In many ways gender identity and roles function as any other social identity and role. Every known human society presents individuals with a set of statuses by which members of the society identify themselves and one another and to some extent determine the interaction between them.

Gender role covers a wide spectrum of expectations from the trivial, such as what clothes are worn, to the vital, such as childrearing.  It includes aspects of [about=submissiveness]submissiveness[/about] and [about=dominance]dominance[/about] although these are not typically followed in [about=BDSM]BDSM[/about], where there is often a wider acceptance of variety than in the surrounding society.

There is much debate on the extent to which biological gender or gender stereotyping is connected with gender role.  Most people accept that there are genuine psychological differences in behaviour and cognition between men and women while acknowledging that individual differences - sometimes very varied - also exist.


[heading]External links


[item][about=Wikipedia:Gender role]Wikipedia has an extensive article[/about]

[item][url=http://library.thinkquest.org/17067/you/nfgender.html]Television and gender roles[/url]

[item][url=http://psychology.about.com/cs/childth/ht/genderrole.htm]Gender role in child development studies[/url]


[heading]See also


[item][about=Gender identity]Gender identity[/about]

[item][about=Transgender]Transgender[/about]

[item][about=Intersex]Intersex[/about]

 
 
 


(This entry in the BDSM Dictionary incorporates text from the [url=http://www.londonfetishscene.com/wipi/index.php/Gender_role]Gender role[/url] article in Wipipedia.)

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