Topic 1: Theoretical Perspectives {by 9/6}
Chapter 2 – “Theoretical Perspectives” is due this week. Address the following two discussion points: (1) Multiple theoretical perspectives are presented in Chapter 2. Which theory do you find the least attractive/most “insulting” towards women? Explain. (2) Which theory do you find most appropriate/accurate in conceptualizing women? Explain. Typically your original post would be due on Tuesday, however, due to the holiday your post is due Thursday. Thus, your original post should be posted by the beginning of class 9/6. Have your two replies no later than 9/8. *Please remember to click the “reply” button when posting a reply. This makes it easier for the reader to follow the blog postings.
Dr. Adam M Volungis 
Sep 05, 2012 @ 10:26:48
I find Freud’s theory most insulting towards women. I think that most of my classmates will agree with me on this one. Penis envy and the idea that girls feel mutilated when they realize the don’t have a penis is ridiculous to me. Freud also claims that since girls don’t have penises, men are inferior to them. I think that these are only some of the insulting things that Freud has mentioned in his theories.
I think that the gender schema theory appropriately conceptualizes women. This theory discusses how people tend to make associations with certain genders. Gender schema also relates to self concept which I think is formed by how a person is brought up. For example when I was growing up most people assoiated dancing with girls and playing sports with boys. However, in my family, I was always encouraged to play sports. My point is that certain families encourage their children to do whatever they want instead of whats expected of their gender. So, self-concept will not be exactly the same for every female (or male) depending on the norms of their childhood experiences. However, I think that people will always have the tendency to associate certain things with certain genders even though it may not be true for everyone.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 17:07:25
I totally agree with what you said on how certain families encourage their children to do whatever they want while other families want their children to do what society says its right. I know a family that allows their son to play with Barbie’s while another family would find it wrong for a boy to play with such a toy. I also think society has labeled certain toys to be associated with girls only such as dolls/Barbie while, boys should only play with cars/trucks.
Sep 10, 2012 @ 10:54:48
I agree as well. Also colors are seperated as “boy colors” and “girl colors”. I know plenty of girls that like the color blue and plenty of boys that like the color pink. I also feel that it is important for parents to be supportive of these decisions because if they are not they are holding their child back and not teaching them a sense of equality.
Sep 07, 2012 @ 16:40:55
Morgan,
I agree with everything you said about Freud’s theory. Right away he makes it so that men are superior to women and that women are always in the wrong. He does not think about how our environment affects us and instead bases it all off of our biological ways. I doubt any of us wanted to kill our mothers to get to our father or were envious of our play mates because they had penises. Freud has no evidence to prove any of his theories are correct and also based them all of his patients who were seeing psychological help…
Sep 09, 2012 @ 12:48:34
I agree with all of the above about Freud’s theory. I think it is very strange that his theories could be taken seriously by anyone.
Sep 08, 2012 @ 12:10:21
Morgan,
I think it was really insightful when you spoke of how despite the parents who allow their children to live freely within gender roles, people will still associate certain things with female/male. I tend to believe that despite the new movement of raising a child in a gender neutral setting, there are innate tendencies within all of us to identify with either male or female norms.
Sep 10, 2012 @ 15:46:45
Morgan,
I agree with what you said about gender schema and that self concept is formed by how the person is brought up, and that it varies from family to family.
Sep 05, 2012 @ 11:08:51
The theory that is definitely the least attractive to me would be Freud’s theory on Psychoanalytic development. The reason why I believe it to be the most insulting to women is because feminists would most likely reject this theory of development. I would say that because feminists would probably reject his thoughts about the Oedipal complex, penis envy and the thought that sexual instincts derive from childhood. The whole Oedipal Complex seems pretty far fetched in that how could a man seriously have that strong of feelings for his mother that he wants to have a child with her and essentially kill his father to get to the mother. Pretty bizarre to me! The theory of penis envy seems crazy to me because I have NEVER felt the urge to compete against a boy because I envied his male ways.
The theory that I find to be most appropriate and accurate in conceptualizing women is Karen Horney’s thoughts on womb envy and how she disagreed with Freud’s thoughts on penis envy. She explained how men experience anatomical inferiority, which is a feminity complex. It is essentially an overcompensation for feelings. She derived her results from observations on puberty rites of preliterate tribes. Womb envy is apparently a strong force.
Sep 05, 2012 @ 20:57:49
I agree with you that the whole theory that a young boy wants to have a child with his mother therefore having to get rid of his father is totally bizzare. There is no way that a child has thoughts like that. It is not even like a young child knows anything about sexual desires.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 10:54:36
Hey, Gina, I really like what you had to say! I would think most Feminists would object to his theory, too. Why do you think Feminists would most likely reject his thoughts about the Oedipal complex, Penis envy and the belief that sexual instincts are learned at a young age? Do you agree with any of Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory or do you think it’s all silly?
You wrote that Horney’s theory explains how men experience anatomical inferiority, which is a feminity complex. What do you mean by that? I personally think that Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory makes males superior, and females inferior, and that Honrey’s “womb envy” theory makes females superior, and males inferior. Would you agree/disagree?
You mentioned that Horney received her results from observing preliterate tribes; do you believe this is a large, and diverse enough sample size to observe puberty rites?
Thank you!
Sep 05, 2012 @ 13:14:48
I personally think, like most, that Freud’s theory is most insulting to woman. The fact that it is based off of clinical peoples behavior and not “normal” behavior also makes it not as reliable. The phallic stage and the three key female personality traits were the most insulting. To think that “penis envy” even exists in young girls is just ridiculous. I also know that woman do not have the desire to feel pain like childbirth and to be “penetrated” like Freud decribes as Masochism. I also don’t believe that girls have an immature superego. I have never felt inferior to a male or a feeling of jealousy towards a male figure.
The theory that I find most accurate and appropriate to conceptualize woman would be the gender schema theory. I believe this theory is the best because it describes how people make certain assumptions depending on your gender. That is why in the powerpoint when reading the passage about the surgeon, I know for me, I had to re-read it because I was confused. It never even occured to me that it could be the mother. I think that this theory also depends on how you were raised. If you as a young girl were not told to be whatever you wanted to be or to play a sport then you might grow up to not believe there is equality. No matter what there will always be stereotypes and certain gender roles that will always have an attachment to men or woman but it does not mean that it HAS to be that way.
Sep 05, 2012 @ 18:20:48
I agree with the second part of this post even thought I didn’t chose gender schema as the most appropriate theory to conceptualize women. I would chose the gender schema as my second because I also had to reread the surgeon part of the powerpoint and that opened up my eyes and realized that we do process our own thoughts about genders without noticing.
Sep 05, 2012 @ 20:05:48
I definitely agree with you about the gender schema theory. When I read the passage about the surgeon, I also had trouble with it because I did not think of the mother either. I automatically associated the surgeon to a male. I think this shows that we automatically associate certain things with certain genders, even it if is not intentional. I think this has a lot to do with society because I was not raised being told that only women could have this job or only men were capable of doing that job. Therefore, I think that society plays a huge role in making us associate certain things with certain genders.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 12:01:35
I also agree that gender schema theory is the most accurate. It is very evident in todays society that things are assumed about you because of your gender. For example in the powerpoint when there was talk of a surgeon I immediately assumed that it was a man when in fact it was a woman surgeon.
Sep 09, 2012 @ 12:50:52
I agree with the gender schema theory as well, but I think our culture has a lot to do with this, and he social learning theory. We learn gender roles through our culture and society which in turn gives us a model on how we perceive gender.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 16:42:52
I also agree with you on the gender schema theory. When I first read the passage about the surgeon, I also automatically associated the surgeon to be a male, and then when I re-read the passage I realized that the father had died and that the surgeon was son’s mother. Alyssa, I agree with you on how we automatically associate certain jobs with gender. We associate doctors to be males and nurses to be female, this happens because society assigns gender to certain jobs.
Sep 07, 2012 @ 20:08:59
I definitely agree with the gender schema theory. I know for a fact that part of who I am is based on my perception of how women should be in today’s society. When I was a young girl I was taught to play with Barbies, wear pink, and wear makeup and those who didn’t do this were abnormal. I wonder who we would be if gender didn’t play such an important role in our society. Then we could be free to be whoever we wanted from the start.
Sep 08, 2012 @ 11:32:14
Hi Taylor,
I agree with what you said about having to re-read the passage about the surgeon. I think it is interesting how we are so programmed to just assume things. After I read that the surgeon was the boys mother, I was surprised that it didn’t even cross my mind. This is a really good example of the gender schema theory.
Sep 05, 2012 @ 14:07:16
I believe that Freud’s theory is the most insulting towards women. He automatically suggests that the penis is “superior”, thus creating an inner complex of envy and inferiority within females. I agree with Freud on some points, such as the notion that some of the human psyche is unconscious, but I disagree with him on his views regarding gender difference. I found it interesting to actually think about how most of his observations were done on his patients undergoing therapy, which in turns gives him views of the disturbed compared to the norm. I find that Freud’s “phallocentric” views are too narrow minded and focus too much on sexuality.
I also disagree with the evolutionary theory which is outdated and for the most part inaccurate. I believe that the social learning theory and the cognitive development theory are most favorable towards equality as well as women. The social learning perspective has an emphasis on social and cultural components that the development of gender roles is based off of. I believe that gender is a social construction and it is clear that it varies quite a bit from culture to culture. Gender roles are such a huge part of our culture and our everyday lives that we dont even realize how much they effect us.
The cognitive development theory is an interactionist theory which means that it is sort of a blend of nature and nurture instead of simply one. It addresses the interaction between the state of the organism and the information available from the culture. I believe our culture has a huge influence on our behavior and how we develop and adopt gender roles.
Even though it is not my favorite, I like how the feminist theory states that gender is not only socially constructed, but it is a power variable in our culture, which lessens the power of women.
Sep 05, 2012 @ 18:18:42
I agree with the first part of this because Freud does assume that the penis is inferior and that women “want” it and “envy”, I do not believe that is the case.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 10:32:54
Hey Anna, I really like what you had to say! I think Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory does assume males as the superior sex, in turn making women inferior, which is insulting. I also think the “unconscious mind” is super interesting. Other than woman seeking treatment, and who may have had disturbing experiences, he should have had a larger, and more diverse sample size. I am guessing his findings were solely based off of women in therapy, who had similar disturbing experiences; Would you agree?
The evolutionary theory needs updated for sure; most people would agree that we must mix nature, and nurture, and not simply nature, like many of these theories, including the evolutionary theory suggests.
Bandura’s Cognitive Social Learning Theory is an appropriate/accurate in conceptualizing women, too! Personally, I favor nurture over nature, and I think the theory does a good job at explaining how cultural, and social influences, influence behavior. I also like that he takes into account cognitive influences on how we learn, such as self-regulation, and self-efficacy. This theory wasn’t my very favorite because I think Bandura doesn’t really explain his beliefs on cognitive influences in depth.
Since you mentioned how you believe Feminist Theory is not only socially constructed, but also is a power variable in our culture that makes women inferior – do you believe the power variable in our culture that makes women inferior is also influenced by “nature,” or Anatomy and Biology influences?
Thank you!
Sep 06, 2012 @ 11:51:23
Anna, I believe you to have many interesting points. Thank you. I definitely agree with everyone saying that they don’t agree with Freud’s theories because they seem to be very bizarre and not realistic. The one part of your answer that I very much agreed with is the unconscious theories that Freud had thought about. I took psychology of dreams with Dr. Sanderson and learned a lot in that class… mainly how when we dream, a lot of the information gets pushed into our unconscious and we have to see a therapist to try and push the information to the present. I know that Dr. Volungis is a behavioral therapist and probably does not believe in Jung’s theories… which is understandable. Though, I found it to be very interesting. Freud’s thoughts about sex and aggression are tied into the whole dream work process.
Sep 11, 2012 @ 15:09:46
I also agree with this very much. I dont believe that men are superior to woman but there are some points of Freuds theory that I do agree with like you said about the thoughts taking place in your unconscious
Sep 05, 2012 @ 15:59:48
I would also have to agree with my classmates above and say that Freud’s psychoanalytic theory is the least attractive towards women. I disagree with Freud on his stages of development; I don’t think girls feel penis envy or are jealous of boys because they have a penis. I personally am not jealous of boys just because they have a penis. I also don’t agree with Freud’s Electra complex, I don’t think any girl would hold their mother responsible for her castration. I don’t think any girl would have the desire to be impregnated by her own father. I can’t believe Freud would even think of this. I don’t understand why Freud held women accountable for a majority if not all of his weird theories. I also don’t agree with the 3 key female personality traits women have. I don’t think all women have the desire to be impregnated just because they desire to experience pain. Women normally get pregnant so they can have children and expand their family not to experience child bearing pain.
I think that the social learning theory is accurate in conceptualizing women. I think your gender is formed by observing what others around you do. As a young girl, if I saw my mother vacuuming the house, I would most likely copy what she was doing and associate her action with what girls do. If I saw my dad mowing the lawn, I would probably want to mow the lawn too, not knowing that girls don’t really mow the lawn. A lot or our actions are associated with gender. For example we associate sports with boys and cooking with girls. However, nowadays a lot of actions we considered to be gender specific are not. I think society has a lot to do with it.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 11:49:25
I can definitely relate to you about the social learning theory. When I was a little girl, I also would copy what my parents were doing. If my mom was cooking or cleaning, I would want to do the same exact thing. If my dad was outside raking the leaves or mowing the lawn, I would want to do that too. When I was younger I did not realize that some of the things my parents were doing were gender related, however I think society enforces gender specific things on a higher level. Therefore, I think we get our gender associations just by observing what the people around us are doing, which makes a gender association for certain things.
Sep 08, 2012 @ 11:38:44
Hi Avnee,
I agree with what you have to say about the social learning theory and how society has changed things. I think that girls not only copy their mothers but they also can copy some of the actions of their fathers. For me personally, I remember both watching sports with my dad and mopping the floor with my mom. Both actions seemed completely normal to me.
Sep 05, 2012 @ 18:17:32
The least attractive and most insulting theory towards women would probably be Freud’s theory about penis envy. I chose this because I find it odd, he had a different way of viewing things in which I believe most people would not agree with. Also it degrades women by automatically assuming that the penis is inferior and that girls envy it and want to have one or whatever the case may be. It seems Absurd that someone can feel that way about not having a penis, and it basically degrades women and puts men above them. Being a man, I still find this theory to be my least favorite.
I find the social learning theory to be the most accurate in conceptualizing women.I would chose this theory even if it were flipped the other way around referring to men. The reason why I believe this is the most appropriate/accurate theory is because I believe that kids at a young age learn from their surroundings. Obviously genes and traits are passed down and have a lot to do with who you are but the environment also plays a big role. Observational learning is the main aspect of this theory that I agree with. Females at a young age realize their gender and begin to see the women around them and how they act, they also watch tv, and movies. That is why usually girls at a young age play with barbies, like dressing up, and princesses ect.. However this is not always the case but it is the theory that I find most appropriate.
Sep 07, 2012 @ 16:36:58
Chris,
I agree with the social learning theory. Even though many of our traits are passed down to us from our families, our environment plays a big role in the way we act or portray ourselves within society. Like you said, this not only refers to women but to men as well. Right when girls are born they are put into a world of pink everything and are taught that girls play with Barbies and not trucks. As they grow they see how the girls around them, whether they be play mates or female family members, they learn to copy others that look like them. They learn to be passive and that wearing make-up and dresses is what girls are supposed to do.
Sep 05, 2012 @ 19:56:23
I find Freud’s theory to be the least attractive and most insulting towards women. I do not agree with his concept of the penis envy. Freud says that when girls realize they do not have a penis they are envious of males. I do not think this is true at all. I think he is only saying this because he is a male and he thinks males are more powerful than women. Also, I do not think that Freud’s Electra complex or Oedipal complex is accurate. I do not think that when you are a little boy or girl you have a desire to sleep with either your mom or dad. I don’t believe that little kids think that way. I don’t understand how Freud came to these conclusions. Overall, his theories are very insulting towards women and just do not make much sense to me.
I find the social learning theory to be most appropriate in conceptualizing women. I believe that people are influenced to do certain things by what they are observing. I think it makes sense that some girls imitate what their mother does, or some boys imitate what their father does, or even vice versa. I think that being a little kid and trying figure out what is going on around you, it would make sense for them to observe what their mom or dad is doing and then repeat that. I also believe that reinforcements will also make gender differences disappear because a child will most likely do anything if they are given a good reinforcement. So if a boy is told to imitate his mother for a certain reinforcement, I think that he will do it even though that might not be what males typically are thought of as doing. With this said, I think the social learning theory is the best one to conceptualize women. I believe that our gender is based on the world around us and how we learn and observe what to do through society.
Sep 11, 2012 @ 11:40:56
Alyssa ,
I agree that children imitate what their parents do at a young age. I know when I was younger I would look to what my mother and other older women figures around me to learn how to act, dress, ect.
Sep 05, 2012 @ 20:15:21
As far as what theoretical perspective is most offensive towards women, Freud’s psychoanalytic theory is overwhelmingly the winner. While at least the Oedipal and Electra complexes seem to exhibit equalness in the sexual urgings of both boys and girls, it is odd that the Electra complex is never fully resolved where as the Oedipal is. Freud theorizes that this leaded to an immature superego in women, but doesn’t give concrete reasons that this exists in women and not at all in men. To me, this is blatantly sexist and baseless. Also, the idea that women experience “penis envy” while there is no such counterpart for males in psychoanalytic theory is one-sided and unfair.
Cognitive Development Theory is the most reasonable and well-supported theory when conceptualizing women. The idea that the answers to some tests, like IQ, are not “wrong” but rather spring from a different cognitive organization makes sense when it comes to gender and other decisions, as well. While I don’t think Kohlberg’s test of morality was fair to women, I agree completely with Gilligan’s revised version that stated women operate from a care perspective and men from a justice perspective, neither being wrong but rather both being different.
Sep 05, 2012 @ 20:49:01
The theory that I find most insulting to women would be Freud’s theory of penis envy. There is no way that when girls are young children they notice that either their brother or playmates have a penis and soon realize that they do not and become envious of them. This whole part of the theory just does not make any logical sense. But the part of the theory that really becomes insuting to women is when Freud states that when young girls do notice the penis they feel inferior to it and therefore become “envious” of it. This makes women seem like they are the weaker species and are incapable of ever living up to the greatness of a man.
The theory that I find the most accurate is the gender schema theory. This shows how both men and women make assumptions about how someone should live their life according to their gender. It explains how we are very sterotypical of what men and women should do because of their gender.
Sep 05, 2012 @ 22:08:25
I find Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory least attractive, and most “insulting” towards women. I find Freud’s theory unappealing for several reasons. Current Psychology is based on objective findings from testing and research; where as Freuds’ theory is too subjective; his theory is based off of personal, subjective beliefs and cannot be scientifically tested. Also, Freud relies too much on “nature”; Anatomy, and Biology, and does not take into account “nurture” factors; such as social and cultural factors. His theory does touch base on nurture, except his belief that the relationship between children, and their parents is a sexual relationship. This assumption may have been true for Freud’s female clients seeking therapy, but he really should have studied a diverse population of females, in various settings to test these ideas. Lastly, Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory seems accept males as the superior sex.
I find Bandura’s Social Learning Theory most appropriate/accurate in conceptualizing women. I like this theory’s explanation of how women “work” for several reasons. First, I think we often reflect people, and the environment around us; consciously, and unconsciously. I believe that if we do something, and get rewarded for it, we’ll keep doing it, but if we get reprimanded, especially socially, we will most likely stop that behavior. Also, I believe we often absentmindedly observe, and it enters our mind, and then later on, whether it be later that day, week, month, and so on, we will imitate the observable behavior.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 11:04:12
Freud’s theory of psychosexual development is undoubtedly the most insulting. His theory on childhood development through various stages illustrates a sexist view that is quite negative toward women. He says that as young children, girls develop a “penis envy” of their male counterparts. Freud believes that the penis symbolizes power and domination over women and the males develop a fear of castration, as if to fear being a girl – subordinate to boys. Freud’s whole theory revolves around the inferior female – young women cannot not even develop as far along as the men because they are also cognitively lesser according to Freud. Freud further blames the mother for anything developing wrong in her child’s life. As a woman, it would be astounding to not take offense to these “theories”.
As far as most accurate, the gender schema theory makes the most sense in my mind. Before a child is even born, the mother paints a blue room for her son or a pink room for her daughter. Before the baby is born it is already told what its favorite color is supposed to be; girls love pink, boys love blue. Little girl wear dresses to school, little boys wear shorts. We are conditioned as young children to “act as a lady” and that “boys will be boys”. Women are not “ladies” because of a difference in cognitive development, little girls grow up to be “ladies” because of this gender schema, there are accectable and unaccectable behavoirs based on your assigned gender. Little girls grow up based on their gender schema and the copious examples presented around them.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 12:00:49
The gender schema theory is something that I did not consider in my post… so I have to agree with what you said! There are definitely behaviors that take place as soon as we are born… most of us probably don’t recognize it at first… but it happens. The color schemes for boys and girls are a great example. We are all brought up in our culture to act and dress a certain way, whether it be from our parents, friends or other family members.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 11:45:59
I think the least attractive and most insulting theory is Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory, by far. I don’t think any part of his theory is logical and I think its completely degrading to women. The concept of “penis envy” is just absurd, and I don’t think that there’s any way that young girls notice their brother or playmates penises and envy them. I also don’t agree with Freud’s Electra complex whatsoever. I don’t think any girl has the desire to be impregnated by their own father. Overall, Freud’s theories are completely insulting to women and don’t make much sense to me at all.
The theory I find to be most accurate in conceptualizing women is Social Learning Theory. I do believe genes are passed down to children from their parents, but at the same time I think we are influenced by our surroundings and people in our lives. I think females realize their gender early on by observing older woman figures, such as their mothers and learn the way females are supposed to act according to society.
Sep 11, 2012 @ 10:21:51
Nichole,
I agree with you that Frueds accusations are degrading to women. It’s so crazy to think that we would ever want to be impregnated by our own father and also the fact that he claims we have these desires at such a young age. It’s absolutely disturbing.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 12:14:43
Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory has to be the most insulting towards women. I highly doubt young children are thinking about killing one of their parents to get to the other or think that their penis may be caught off or that theirs was already cut off. He makes women seem weak and incapable of growing as good citizens in society because he says that they never fully mature or have a sense of morality like men do. I strongly disagree with it all because he makes a claim, yet has no evidence to back it. All of his ideas about women are bias and have been shown only within his clients who are seeking therapy. He does not take into consideration that our environment and culture plays a big factor in the way both men and women think or act as they grow. He wrote this all from an ignorant male point of view. Since this was something new during this time, many people did believe it, which caused many women to think that there is something wrong with them so they sought help that they never needed in the first place. All men and women are different psychologically, and I feel that Freud did not take that into account.
I really liked the gender schema theory by Sandra Bem. It is something many of us can relate to and she has evidence to show this. It is a theory that can and has been tested. She writes how our families and environment have an impact on how we act and interpret different situations around us. Even without being told to do so, we automatically assume that the surgeon in the first example must be a man because we always see doctors as being portrayed as such. Most girls or boys conform to the gender role society expects us, mainly when we are young. Even if we don’t, we still tend to cluster words or subjects according to gender. It seems to be something within our nature, not through biology but through our surroundings.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 12:49:44
The theory I find most insulting towards women would be Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory. In this theory he claims that girls at a young age form “penis envy” when a girl recognizes that she does not have a penis she feels “envious” and “cheated” of her mate, leading to the young girl not being able to satisfy that need for a penis and resulting in her having the desire to be impregnated by her father. I find this view to be extremely bizarre and also degrading towards women. I can not understand why Freud would ever think that a young child would ever desire having sexual relations, let alone with their own father.
I definitely think that the social learning theory is the most accurate in conceptualizing women. I agree that when growing up young children learns by what others are doing around them. For me when I was younger I followed what my mother and older cousins were doing realizing what is right for my gender. I also agree that reinforcement is different for boys and girls, claiming that the two genders are rewarded and punished differently. For example, when I was younger my brother was allowed to stay over a friend’s house overnight before I was solely because he’s a boy.
Sep 07, 2012 @ 20:03:50
I definitely agree with you here. I also do not understand why or how Freud came up with the Oedipal Complex theory or the majority of his theories, for that matter. Why was Freud so fixated on children having sexual feelings at such a young age.
Sep 09, 2012 @ 12:55:27
I also find it strange that Freud was so fascinated in sexuality and children..
Sep 10, 2012 @ 10:58:50
I agree with all of these comments and as we talked about in class children are not educated enough at this age about sexual desires especially with their mother makes it seem more ridiculous. I find it weird too how obsessed Freud is with his sexual theories…..he has sterotyped himself and anytime someone mentions a theory about sex people automatically assume it is Freud. My question is why would he want to be though of in that way!
Sep 10, 2012 @ 15:37:37
Mallory,
I completely agree with you about Freud’s theories and how bizarre they are. It’s extremely weird to me that he even had the idea to do research on such a disturbing topic.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 13:20:15
I feel that Freud’s theory that is most insulting towards women is similar to most of the class. I feel that the penis envy theory does not make any sense. I do not think that a girl could ever be jealous of a male’s penis or feel inferior to a male. I feel that this has caused the common issue that men are better than women and are stronger than them and all the made up stereotypes of men verses women. I also feel that the Oedipal Complex is ridiculous, the fact that little boys want to sleep with their mother and take their father’s out first is ridiculous however I have seen little boys learning about marriage ask if they could marry their mother and could not understand why he could not marry his mother someday. I do not know if this has anything to do with the Oedipal complex but I found it interesting. I still do not agree with the concept.
I feel that the gender -schema is pretty accurate. I mean everyone always says boys will be boys and girls will be girls. This is usually very true. They act and behave in certain ways. Men and women have their differences but also their similarities. And I agree with a couple people that men and women have their own stereotypes that they feel they need to live up to or follow. For example in my psychology class last year we talked a lot about stereotypes and normal male/female behavior. There was an example of a little boy that wanted to wear a dress to school however that is not “normal” so the parents would not allow that.
Sep 08, 2012 @ 12:16:19
Gianna,
I think it’s really interesting that you bring up the idea of boys wearing dresses and it not being perceived “normal.” I recently read an article about a father who wore a dress himself in order to support his five-year old son’s choice to wear one. The community was VERY opposed to it, and I think the family even moved because of it. It’s a shame that in today’s world we still feel the need to put so much emphasis on outdated theories and gender identifications like clothing.
Sep 08, 2012 @ 16:09:26
Gianna,
My responses were the same as the one you chose. I think the gender-schema theory is really interesting as it seems to drive our behavoirs day to day. I think it is also interesting to think about a little boy wanting to where a dress. I wonder if the little boy and all his friends wanted to wear dresses if the mothers would be more apt to allow it since it wouldn’t be solely their son stepping outside the gender stereotype
Sep 10, 2012 @ 11:02:00
Meghan,
That is an interesting thought and this also makes me wonder if it is more of a normal/ abnormal thing or if the parents would be embarressed if their son walks around in a dress.
Sep 10, 2012 @ 11:03:46
Meghan,
That is an interesting thought and this also makes me wonder if it is more of a normal/ abnormal thing or if the parents would be embarressed if their son walks around in a dress. I also think it is social status and reputation reasons.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 13:51:26
I find Freud’s theory to be most insulting to women. Freud’s research is mainly based on the research he did on his clients as a therapist who were exhibiting abnormal behavior so it cannot be applied to all people. Freud coined the term “penis envy” which states that women feel envy towards a man’s penis because they believe their female organ is inferior or missing something. This is why men are more powerful and dominate than women. I disagree with this strongly because as a child I never remember feeling that way, which is when Freud says penis envy begins. Also, Freud’s research concluded that women blame their mothers for castration and therefore have an unconscious desire to be impregnated by their father. I also strongly disagree with this and find it to be extremely abnormal and insulting. I am more inclined to believe Karen Horney’s theory which states that men are the ones who have “womb envy” and are constantly compensating for the fact they can’t reproduce by being aggressive, competitive, and dominant.
Sep 08, 2012 @ 16:13:33
Nicole,
Your inclination to side with Karen Horney’s theory is interesting. It seems a little hypocritical to say that it’s insulting to women for men to assume women experience “penis envy” but ok to reverse the role in that men feel “womb envy”. If women can be insulted, wouldn’t it seem only natural for men to be insulted at the same claim?
Sep 11, 2012 @ 19:35:24
I believe the most unattractive and least appropriate theoretical perspective is definitely Sigmund Freud. I have never heard of a girl being jealous of a males private parts. However, in the Oedipal complex boys are envious of their fathers. I do think this is true. Although, I do not believe such thing is true with girls being jealous of male parts. According to the book, Freud once said in 1948 “Girls notice the penis of a brother or playmate, strikingly visible and of large proportions, at once recognize it as the superior counterpart of their own small and inconspicuous organ, and from that time forward fall a victim to envy for the penis.”
The theoretical perspective that I believe to be most appropriate would because I honestly think that males are more envious of the females ability to reproduce. It makes more sense to me that boys are the jealous ones and not girls. I think this because when a boy knows that a female can reproduce and have more babies, he may become mad and envious. In my opinion, usually female girls will not envy male parts, but will learn to deal with the situation. Freud states that since girls attempt to regain the penis but fails, she will have less moral development. But, why is it that girls mature faster than boys?