AQA Media Studies for A Level: Revision Guide

AQA Media Studies for A Level Revision Guide 86 This way of thinking about sex and gender re ects traditional approaches, where the two sexes were seen as being directly related to assigned gender roles. Traditional ideas about gender are based on assumptions regarding men’s and women’s social and cultural roles. These are ideas that have existed for thousands of years, in some cases, and are linked to the way different sexes were expected to behave in their private and public lives. Biological sex Gender Male Masculine Female Feminine Make a list of traditional ideas of masculinity and femininity. You may nd these ideas work as binary opposites of one another. Masculine Feminine Strong Active Weak Passive 6.3 The sexes were traditionally separated in the way they engaged with the spheres shown in the diagram on the right. De ne the spheres and identify which of them would be identi ed as masculine and which feminine. 6.4 Professional sphere Domestic sphere Social sphere