Lesson 3
PSYCHOSOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF
GENDER AND SEXUALITY
INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES
After studying this module, you are expected to:
Explain the meaning of “psychosocial” in the context of gender and
sexuality;
Examine one’s level of attainment in all of the 4 psychosocial
dimensions; and
Share with a classmate one’s opinion of the importance of knowing
one’s self.
Before we proceed to this topic, I want you to guess the meaning of the
word “psychosocial”. Examine the word carefully. If you notice, it
consists
of two root words – ‘psycho’ and ‘social’. We know that the word ‘psycho’ pertains to the
mind while the word ‘social’ refers to our society or environment. Do not look for its
meaning in the dictionary yet. Learn to unlock the meaning of a word using the clues
provided here. Take a wild wild guess. Write your guess below:
In the previous lesson, we learned that men and women have
biological differences. Women are capable of conceiving and giving birth
while men possess larger skeletal body frame. These differences are mainly the reason
why certain social standards for behavior and expectations have been created. Because
of a woman’s capability to bear a child, society expects her to rear the child, raise
him/her and manage the household affairs (reproduction role). And because a man
possesses larger skeletal body frame, he is expected to perform the productive role such
as earning for the family. But in reality, many of these things or capabilities can actually
be done by both sexes except for those involving reproduction such as bearing a child.
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Taking care of children can be done both by male and female. The same applies with
working to earn for
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the family. This can also be done by women. Mostly, the limitations are only set by social
expectations.
This leads us to realize that the difference between men and women is not only in
terms of biological and physiological aspects. There is also a viewed difference in the
psychological and social aspects. This is now what we call the psychosocial perspective
of gender and sexuality.
In this lesson, we will explore and understand human sexuality by looking at a
person’s psychological and social processes.
What does psychosocial mean?
As mentioned earlier, the word psychosocial is made up of two root words:
‘psycho’ and ‘social’. The psychological aspects pertain to anything associated with
mental processes and behavior while social pertains to anything associated with human
relationships, connection, and interaction. So when we talk about how we think and feel,
we are referring to our psychological nature and when we talk about how we behave in
relation to others or towards other people, we are relating to the social aspect of our
lives.
What are the psychosocial dimensions of gender and sexuality?
1. Awareness of Self and Others
2. Intimacy and Relationship
3. Socialization
4. Meaning-Making
Awareness is our conscious perception about something. So, when we say
awareness of self and others, it means our conscious perception or understanding about
ourselves and about other people. How well do you know yourself? What are the things
you like and dislike? What are your strengths and weaknesses? How do you look or view
yourself? Are you happy and satisfied with who you are? Do you have doubts as to your
own awareness and understanding of your own sexuality? This is the awareness
dimension of gender and sexuality.
Another dimension is intimacy and relationship. They say that no man is an
island. We all need somebody in our lives. We are naturally a social being. We do not
only exist for ourselves, but we believe that we also exist for others. All of us long for
love and acceptance. We call this human relationship – a bond formed between two or
more people. These relationships may take many forms such as family relationships,
friendly or romantic relationships. Naturally, when we are in such relationships, we
become emotionally invested and we allow people to become close to us. This is what
we call intimacy.
Our lives do not only evolve around those people whom we have close
relationships with. We also interact with other people from all walks of life and many of
them are mere acquaintances or not acquaintances at all that we get to interact as we go
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on with our daily lives. We normally act, behave and interact with people in the society
according to how society expects us to be. Socialization is the process of learning to
behave in a way that
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is acceptable to society. In sociology, socialization is the process of internalizing the
norms and ideologies of society which means learning the practices, cultural norms and
traditions of our society. This is the third dimension of our gender and sexuality. How
does society expect women to behave? How does society view men? What are the
expectations of society regarding its people’s relationships, attitudes, and values?
The last dimension which is equally important to the others is meaning-making or
seeking out one’s purpose in life. Do you realize the importance of having a purpose in
life? Our purpose in life is what gives life more meaning. It is what keeps us moving
every day. In fact, this is the ultimate goal why we strive to understand the psychosocial
aspects of our experiences. It is because we want to find happiness, satisfaction,
meaning and purpose in our lives. We want to achieve physical, emotional, mental,
material and social well-being. We want to be physically healthy, emotionally happy and
stable, mentally peaceful with our thoughts, materially adequate in financial and other
resources and socially acceptable to others.
DO! Activity 1. Short Essay. Please answer very briefly
the following questions. A one to two-sentence answer
would be best appreciated.
1. Explain the meaning of the term psychosocial in relation to one’s gender
and sexuality.
2. What is the importance of knowing deeply one’s self?
3. How do you think men and women differ in terms of how they see
themselves sexually? Do you think there is a difference?
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Activity 2 – Self Assessment. From a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest, examine
your level of achievement in the following psychosocial aspects of your life. Write a
short reflection relative to your rating.
Awareness of Self Intimacy and Learning & Purpose and
& Others Relationships Socialization Meaning
1. I am sure of my 1. I don’t have any 1. I feel 1. I am sure of
gender identity. difficulty comfortable what I want to
establishing showing my true be in the future.
relationship with self to others
others.
2. I am happy and 2. I am comfortable 2. I don’t have any 2. I feel useful and
contented with with forming a difficulty when important in
what and who I relationship with mingling or this life.
am. the opposite sex. talking to new
people I met.
3. I know my 3. I trust the people 3. I don’t feel left 3. I can remain
strengths and whom I call out or out of calm even if
weaknesses. friends and place when I’m sometimes
family. in a group. situations do
not
favor me.
Total Total Total Total
Reflection Reflection Reflection Reflection
Activity 3. Reflection. Write a very short essay expressing your opinion as to the
importance of knowing one’s self well. One (1) paragraph with 5 to 8 sentences would be
much appreciated.
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