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Unit 3 Growing up Male or Female I. Reading and thinking about the topic: I.

1 Read the following passage: Biology determines what sex we are at birth that is, whether we are male or female. However, society and culture determine our gender roles that is, the socially learned patterns of behavior that distinguish boys from girls and men from women. Gender roles are learned though the process of socialization. In order words, we learn what society considers masculine and feminine as we grow up and interact with other people. Becoming a man or woman is dramatically more complex now than it was a century ago. Boys and girls today have more freedom to explore their individuality and less pressure to conform to traditional gender roles. or example, today both young men and young women can have !obs that were previously limited to only one sex. "hildren who are born today are given choices about the way males and females should behave and thin#. $any of today%s gender roles were unthin#able in our parents% or grandparents% generations. I. !nswer the following "uestions according to the information in the passage: &. How do we learn about masculinity and femininity' (. How have gender roles changed' I.3 Read these "uestions and share #our answer with a partner: &. )hen you were a child, what did your family, teachers, or friends tell you about men%s and women%s behavior' (. *o you thin# gender roles will continue to change in the future' How' I. $ %ersonali&ing the topic: +ead the following list of personality traits. irst, match the trait with the correct description. ,hen decide whether you believe these -ualities are mostly biological .things you are born with/ or mostly social .things you learn/. or each trait, chec# the appropriate box. ,hen compare your answers with a partner. 'escription %ersonalit# Mostl# Mostl# (rait )iological *ocial Gets along well with other people 0thletic Is good at sports Brave "an ma#e decisions alone "ompetitive Is not afraid of doing things "ooperative )ants to be the best at things riendly *oes what he or she wants to do Independent 1refers to be led by others $ischievous Is afraid to tal# to others 1assive )or#s well with other people 2trong3willed Behaves badly ,imid .ta#en from 4im 2anabria, Academic Encounters. Life in Society. Listening, "ambridge5 "ambridge 61, (778/ II. Read the following e+cerpt and decide whether the statements below are true or false according to the te+t. In the integrative dynamics of the human personality, one very important factor is identity. *uring childhood and adolescence, a person progressively gains awareness of being 9him:herself;, an awareness of his:her own identity. ,his is integrated into a process of recognition of one%s being and, conse-uently, of the sexual dimension of one%s being. ,his is therefore awareness of identity and difference. <xperts usually ma#e a distinction between sexual identity .i.e., awareness of the psycho3biological identity of one%s sex,

and the difference with regard to the other sex/, and generic identity .i.e., awareness of the psycho3social and cultural identity of the role which persons of a determined sex play in society/. In a correct and harmonious process of integration, sexual and generic identity are complementary because persons live in society according to the cultural aspects corresponding to their sex. ,he category of generic sexual identity .9gender;/ is therefore of a psycho3social and cultural nature. It corresponds to and is harmonious with sexual identity of a psycho3biological nature when the integration of the personality is achieved as recognition of the fullness of the person%s inner truth, the unity of body and soul. 2tarting from the decade between &=>73&=?7, some theories .which today are usually described by experts as 9constructionist;/ hold not only that generic sexual identity .9gender;/ is the product of an interaction between the community and the individual, but that this generic identity is independent from personal sexual identity5 i.e., that masculine and feminine genders in society are the exclusive product of social factors, with no relation to any truth about the sexual dimension of the person. In this way, any sexual attitude can be !ustified, including homosexuality, and it is society that ought to change in order to include other genders, together with male and female, in its way of shaping social life. @AB "laiming a similar status for marriage and de facto unions .including homosexual unions/ is usually !ustified today on the basis of categories and terms that come from the ideology of 9gender;. .http5::www.vatican.va:romanCcuria:pontificalCcouncils:family:documents:rcCpcCfamilyCdocC(777&&7=Cde 3facto3unionsCen.html/ &. 0 person%s identity is fully developed in childhood. (. ,here should be a relationship of complementarity between sexual identity and generic identity. D. "onstructionist theories of gender argue that one%s generic identity is to be understood exclusively in terms of social conditioning and expectations. E. "onstructionist theories of gender have been #nown and defended for centuries. 8. ,here is no connection between theories of gender and a possible endorsement of homosexuality. III. In this section #ou will hear a two,part lecture gi-en b# 'r. Mar# Frosch. a teacher and ad-isor at an all girls/ school. (he title of the lecture is The Benefits of Single-Sex Education for Girls . !fter listening to the lecture twice. fill in the blanks with the appropriate answers. &. *r. rosch believes that single3sex education is A.. for girls. (. *r. rosch mentions three arguments against single3sex schools, which are5 aAA. bAA. cAA. D. "ontrary to what supporters of coeducational schools claim, *r. rosch argues that important benefits can be derived from an all3girls% education. )hich are these' aA.. bA. E. 0ccording to *r. rosch, girls who are educated in single3sex schools areA. prepared for the 9real; world. I0. !re bo#s and girls treated differentl# b# teachers in coeducational schools that #ou ha-e attended1 If so. how1 2ould #ou argue in fa-our of single,se+ education or do #ou prefer coeducational schools1 2ith #our partner. write a paragraph supporting #our -iews. .adapted from 4im 2anabria, Academic Encounters. Life in Society. Listening, "ambridge5 "ambridge 61, (778/

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