Chapter 5

Lecture Notes

Traditional gender roles have changed. Today an egalitarian approach to gender roles exist and includes diverse groups. Women's roles have changed more than men's. Changes affect all socioeconomic classes. For men, traditional male roles are instrumental or involve practical or task-oriented traits. They are expected to conform to the stereotypical expectations of success, competition.

Sexual scripts are acts, rules, and expectations associated with how we are to behave sexually when acting out our gender roles. Male sexual scripts often include common myths in terms of the separation of sex from love and attachment. Sex is seen as a performance. The traditional male sexual script includes these characteristics: men should not have or express certain feelings, performance is the only thing that counts, the man is usually in charge and always wants sex and is ready for it, all physical contact leads to sex for men, and sex equals intercourse and sexual intercourse leads to orgasm.