Abstract
Being asked to review the new editions of Linda Brannon’s Gender: Psychological Perspectives and
Several decades later, some departments have replaced psychology of women with psychology of gender. This change implies that we are past needing to pay special attention to women and can present the full human picture in a gender course. This change also represents an effort to appeal to male undergraduates, at a time when few of them enroll in psychology of women. (When I taught psychology of women during the 1970s, both women and men eagerly enrolled. My current class has no men.) Given these developments, I looked to see how these gender texts present issues that are of particular importance to understanding the female experience.
In all textbooks, I expect up-to-date references to studies that are explained fully enough for students to understand how the conclusions were drawn. I want students to explore how we know what we know, to learn to identify bias, and to understand that different research approaches often yield different results. These methodological concerns are especially important in the area of gender research because students typically believe that they already know about women and men. In addition, I look for contrasting points of view. I do not wish students to be presented with simple answers about complex human experience. I want them to consider the various ways that data can be collected and interpreted, as well as to be skeptical.
Linda Brannon’s Gender: Psychological Perspectives has a relatively conventional organization of the material. Her chapter “Researching Sex and Gender” includes a good presentation of how research is done and the many ways biases creep into gender research. Her thorough chapter on biology, “Hormones and Chromosomes,” includes an explanation of the menstrual cycle and a critical appraisal of premenstrual syndrome, as well as the impact of testosterone levels. This chapter serves as an example of how using the “gender” approach can maintain the focus on topics that are particular to women and broaden it to include information about men.
Brannon makes some unconventional choices. Her chapter “Emotion” organizes information about emotionality, aggression, attachment, and nurturing in an interesting and unusual way. Nonetheless, relegating the topic of sexual violence as a subsection of this chapter underplays its importance to understanding the experience of gender in contemporary society. She devotes two chapters to mental health: one focuses on stress, coping, and psychopathology and the other on treatments. That is a lot of coverage within the time span of a semester. She ends up with 16 chapters; yet, there are none about pregnancy/childbirth/motherhood, violence against women, and midlife and later adulthood. I understand that these would need to be reframed with titles about parenting and gender-related violence, but I believe doing so is essential if psychology of gender is to replace psychology of women. As the book stands, menopause is not in the subject index; pregnancy and childbirth fill one page of the health and fitness chapter. Pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, and the transition to parenting are major life events for fathers as well as for mothers (for more about this point, see Hoffnung, 2011). To reduce them to a paragraph is to miss an important educational opportunity.
In contrast, Vicki S. Helgeson’s Psychology of Gender says in the Preface that it will discuss gender primarily within the context of relationships and health. These topics are of great interest to students and are consistent with Helgeson’s research interests. In actuality, those topics are confined to the last four chapters of the text. The first six are relatively standard chapters (Introduction, Methods and History, Gender-Role Attitudes, Sex-Related Comparisons: Observations, Sex-Related Observations: Theory, Achievement). I assume this is because not every topic that needs to be covered fits neatly into her framework.
My problem with Helgeson’s presentation is not with the organization, but with the exclusion of important topics. Family is a primary aspect of human relationships, but it is missing from this book that focuses specifically on gender in the context of relationships. Pregnancy, childbirth, and reproductive health are not included. There is little mention of parenting. The short section called “Parenting and Health” provides little evidence and is based on very few studies. For example, she cites one study that says having children at home leads to lower satisfaction among U.S. women. What about the studies which indicate that family roles add to life satisfaction? There is no mention of menstruation, and condom use is relegated to a boxed feature. In fact, the only presentation of puberty or adolescence is as a subsection of the chapter on mental health.
Aside from the missing topics, Helgeson’s presentation sometimes seems light on evidence. Little relevant research is cited and not enough effort is made to include contrasting points of view. I hate to be writing about this shortcoming for a text successful enough to be in its fourth edition. For example, among the terms she defines in her opening chapter is “intersex.” “Intersex persons are those who are born with ambiguous genitals; these persons typically have surgery to alter their genitals so they can be consistent biologically” (p. 7). Although it is true that most American surgeons recommend surgery, some intersex adults and advocates argue that children should not be surgically forced into one sex or the other before they are old enough to know what sex they feel like and can make their own decisions about body alterations that have such serious implications. I believe professors are called upon to complicate issues like this one and thus to make students think. In a course about gender, intersex could be used as a tool to understand cultural forces and to make prospective parents more sensitive to developmental differences among children.
Each of these texts has interesting features. In every chapter, Helgeson includes several “Do Gender” boxes, each of which suggests a data-gathering project. Most, but not all, provide enough direction for students to try them on their own. Brannon includes several boxes in each chapter: “Headline,” “Gendered Voices,” and (side-by-side) “According to the Media,” and “According to Research.” All of these will catch students’ attention and add perspective.
Each of these textbooks has strengths. Brannon’s book is very well written and uses current research to support her points. Each chapter ends with an engaging “Considering Diversity” section. Brannon’s chapter “Sexuality” is a particularly good example of the benefits of the gender perspective because it clearly compares and contrasts male and female anatomy, attitudes, and experience. Helgeson’s text combines sociological and psychological approaches in very advantageous ways. Her chapter “Sex Differences in Health: Evidence and Explanations,” for example, discusses morbidity and mortality statistics, as well as health behaviors. And it clearly emphasizes that apparent gender differences may be due to the “artifacts” of confounding variables, such as socioeconomic status.
Both books do a good job with many topics, but I do hope future editions will have better coverage of women’s unique concerns. Otherwise, I think the change from psychology of women to psychology of gender will be a step backward rather than a step forward.