How Masculine Behaviors are Pushed upon Women
Institutionalized Androcentrism According to Sandra Bem
In her 1993 book, Lenses of Gender, researcher and psychology professor Sandra Ruth Lipsitz Bem described her beliefs regarding gender and gender stereotypes. According to her views, institutionalized androcentrism occurs when a society is "male-centered". As a result, she writes, this paradigm forces women to excessively conform to society's masculine stereotypes to be viewed positively, or at least in neutral terms. Androcentrism has become institutionalized in many different ways, so that the basics are often overlooked.
Language
In English, we use "he" to refer to either a man or a person of either gender, though this has been changing over time to "he or she". In Spanish, the plural of many personal nouns (such as "teacher" or "doctor") is, by default, masculine, unless one refers to only females.
Domestic Violence and Self-Defense
The United States definition of self-defense, argues Bem, is androcentric because it does not consider a major problem that befalls more women than men—domestic violence. In domestic violence situations, it is harder for the victim to get protection from the police, and such situations often build in intensity over many months or even years until the victim feels like there is no other option but to attack at a time when the perpetrator is weakest. The traditional definition of self-defense, on the other hand, requires that a victim be in immediate danger and use only enough force to escape that immediate danger.
Androcentrism in Psychological Theory
Androcentrism has also affected psychology. In her book, Bem discussed Freud's view of psychosexual development in relation to the penis (or lack thereof). Freud's theories became the basis for the psychodynamic perspective. According to Freud, little girls know very early in life that even their anatomy is inferior to the man's (not just their social status or power).
Pregnancy and the Courts
Bem also sites the United States Supreme Court. The court ruled in Geduldig v. Aiello (1974) and General Electric v. Gilbert (1976) that pregnancy was considered an extra, "voluntary" condition, and did not have to be covered by employer insurance benefits according to both the constitution and civil rights laws. Court justices used non-pregnant persons as the norm, and by definition, only women can get pregnant. Women cannot always prevent pregnancy either (even if they want to), just as they cannot always prevent a disability from occurring. This view is male-centered because it does not consider the basic biological fact that women need to be pregnant to have children, and that both men and women desire children. Congress did eventually pass laws such as the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Family Medical Leave Act, that took away the male bias. However, though this is not technically legal, some women may have trouble getting hired because employers know that women are more likely to take leave than their male counterparts.
Source:
- Bem, S. L. (1993). The lenses of gender: Transforming the debate on sexual inequality. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
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