Gender Roles in Same Sex Relationships

BY DANICA LE, DANIELLE VASSALLO AND SINDY NGUYEN

Context & Introduction

Ellen DeGeneres and

Portia De Rossi are a famous, lesbian married couple. Within this same sex marriage, does each partner acquire a specific traditional male or female gender role? This is what our group sought out to find with our visualisation assessment.

Research
In terms of research, we conducted

Contents
For our visualisation project, we

an interview via email with Dr Matthew Kalitowski, a psychologist who has had many years counselling same sex couples. Utilised internet resources. Content analysis of gay magazine, Pride, and lesbian magazine, Cherrie. We also sent out semi-structured questionnaires via email to people currently involved in a same sex relationship. We received 36 replies, though we sent out 60. Our methodology was quite effective, as it gave us invaluable insight into the workings in same sex couples.

attempted to make something not really well known, that is, gender roles in same sex couples, known to the general public through infographics and diagrams. Our findings could then be structured into three distinctly different headings: Gender roles and identity. Gender roles in same sex couples. Changes in gender roles over time.

Gender Roles and Identity

Gender roles are components of behaviour or functions that society considers appropriate for members of each sex. Masculinity tends to be associated with traits such as rationality, efficiency, competition, individualism and ruthlessness.
We can thus establish the dynamics of a relationship by the traits we take on. In our questionnaire, we asked Why do stereotypical gender roles occur?
26.7% of same sex couples agreed that it relied on the gender identities of the partners in the couple. This meaning that, whichever sex (in terms of personality traits) the partner identifies with more, is the gender role they will take on.

The conventional female role encompasses characteristics such as caring for the home and children, nurturer and acceding to the wishes of others. The traditional male role includes achievement in public life, being a good provider, and proscribes emotional dependency and expressiveness.

Femininity is linked with traits such as emotionality, prudence, coo-operation, a communal sense and compliance.

From here, we can see that there are stereotypical personality traits for each gender.

However, like heterosexual relationships, we find that the traditional lines between male and female roles are staring to blur., with roles interrelating with one another.

Gender Roles in Same Sex Couples- How are these roles allocated/developed?

Changes in Gender Roles Over Time

Past Gays and lesbians could be turned straight. Being gay or lesbian was illegal in most states (1975). Age of consent was 18 for gay males. Present Wider acceptance. Minority who still believe it is true. No law against being gay or lesbian. Now, it is the same as heterosexuals (16).

Women viewed as keepers of the home.

Womens role to have a family. Women got paid lower wages than men.

Gradually changing, i.e. Men can take paternity leave.

Many women today are careeroriented. Gradually changing.

What is the difference between publishing these visualisations from written commentary?
Were not simply just showing

audiences a block of text, that may just as easily go unread by putting our research into a simple and straightforward layout, we are ensuring that the information is easy to understand for all people. Images, diagrams and flow charts are easier to digest for the audience. Audiences are more likely to remember a certain image than a block of text, because of their visual appeal.

Visualisations are more

engaging than written commentary, because they first draw the reader in with its use of colour, diagrams and pictures. We realise that people generally have a short attention span, and as such, these visualisations are quicker to read and not as time-consuming as written commentary.

References

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