Gender differences in the ABC's of the birds and the bees: What mothers teach young children about sexuality and reproduction

Sex Roles

Volumn 62, Issue 3-4, 2010, Pages 278-291

  Martin, Karin A ^a   Luke, Katherine ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN   (United States)

Author keywords

Gender differences; Parent child communication about sexuality; Sexual socialization; Sexuality and reproduction; Young children

Indexed keywords

EID: 77950461165     PISSN: 03600025     EISSN: 15732762     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11199-009-9731-4     Document Type: Article

References (60)

1. Bem, S. L. (1989). Genital knowledge and gender constancy in preschool children. Child Development, 60, 649-662.
2. Best, R. (1983). We've all got scars: What boys and girls learn in elementary school. Bloomington: Indiana University.
3. Burgess, V., Dziegielewski, S., & Green, C. E. (2005). Improving comfort about sex communication between parents and their adolescents: Practice-based research within a teen sexuality group. Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention., 5, P379-380.
4. Butler, J. P. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.
5. Ceballo, R., Chao, R., Hill, N., Le, H., Murry, V., & Pinderhughes, E. (2008). Excavating culture: Summary of results. Applied Developmental Science., 12, 220-226.
6. Couper, M. P., Traugott, M. W., & Lamias, M. J. (2001). Web survey design and administration. The Public Opinion Quarterly., 65, 230-253.
7. De Gaston, J. F., Weed, S., & Jensen, L. (1996). Understanding gender differences in adolescent sexuality. Adolescence, 31, 217-231.
8. DiIorio, C., Kelley, M., & Hockenberry-Eaton, M. (1999). Communication about sexual issues: Mothers, fathers, and friends. Journal of Adolescent Health, 24, 181-189.
9. DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E., Neuman, W. R., & Robinson, J. P. (2001). Social implications of the internet. 27, 307-336.
10. Eccles, J. S., Jacobs, J. E., & Harold, R. D. (1990). Gender role stereotypes, expectancy effects, and parents' socialization of gender differences. Journal of Social Issues, 46, 183-201.
11. Feldman, S. S., & Rosenthal, D. A. (2000). The effect of communication characteristics on family members' perceptions of parents as sex educators. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 10, 119-150.
12. Fine, M. (1988). Sexuality, schooling, and adolescent females: The missing discourse of desire. Harvard Educational Review, 58, 29-53.
13. Fine, M., & McClelland, S. (2006). Sexuality education and desire: Still missing after all these years. Harvard Educational Review, 76, 297-338.
14. Frankham, J. (2006). Sexual antimonies and parent/child sex education: learning from foreclosure. Sexualities, 9, 236-254.
15. Geasler, M. J., Dannison, L. L., & Edlund, C. J. (1995). Sexuality education of young children: Parental concerns. Family Relations, 44, 184-188.
16. Guilamo-Ramos, V., Jaccard, J., Dittus, P., & Collins, S. (2008). Parent-adolescent communication about sexual intercourse: An analysis of maternal reluctance to communicate. Health Psychology, 27, 760-769.
17. Higonnet, A. (1998). Pictures of innocence: The history and crisis of ideal childhood. New York: Thames and Hudson.
18. Hill, N., & Tyson, D. (2008). Excavating culture: Ethnicity and context as preditors of parenting behavior. Applied Developmental Science, 12(4), 188-197.
19. Hilton, G. L. S. (2001). Sex education-the issues when working with boys. Sex Education, 1, 31-41.
20. Ingraham, C. (1994). The heterosexual imaginary: Feminist sociology and theories of gender. Sociological Theory, 12, 203-219.
21. Irvine, J. (2002). Talk about sex: The battles over sex education in the United States. Berkeley: University of California.
22. Jaccard, J., & Dittus, P. (1991). Parent-teen communication: Toward the prevention of unintended pregnancies. New York: Springer-Verlag.
23. Jackson, S. (1982). Childhood and sexuality- understanding everyday experience. Oxford: Blackwell.
24. Kane, E. W. (2006). 'No way my boys are going to be like that!': Parents' responses to children's gender nonconformity. Gender & Society, 20, 149-176.
25. Kim, J. L., Sorsoll, C. L., Collins, K., & Zylbergold, B. A. (2007). From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. The Journal of Sex Research, 44, 145.
26. Kohlberg, L. (1966). Moral education in the schools: A developmental view. School Review, 74, 1-30.
27. Laumann, E. O., Gagnon, J. H., Michael, R. T., & Michaels, S. (1994). The social organization of sexuality: Sexual practices in the united states. Chicago: University of Chicago.
28. Martin, K. A. (1996). Puberty, sexuality, and the self: Boys and girls at adolescence. New York: Routledge.
29. Martin, K. A. (1998). Becoming a gendered body: Practices of preschools. American Sociological Review, 25, 123-222.
30. Martin, K. A. (2005). William wants a doll. can he have one?: Feminists, child care advisors, and gender-neutral child rearing. Gender & Society, 19, 456-479.
31. Martin, K. A. (2009). Normalizing heterosexuality: mothers' assumptions, talk, and strategies with young children. American Sociological Review, 74, 190-207.
32. Martin, C. L., & Ruble, D. (2004). Children's search for gender cues: Cognitive perspectives on gender development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 67-70.
33. Martin, K. A., & Kazyak, E. (2009). Hetero-romantic love and heterosexiness in children's g-rated films. Gender & Society, 23, 315-336.
34. McGuffey, C. S. (2005). Engendering trauma: Race, class, and gender reaffirmation after child sexual abuse. Gender & Society, 19, 621-643.
35. McLoyd, V., Cauce, A., Takeuchi, D., & Wilson, L. (2000). Marital processes and parental socialization in families of color: A decade review of research. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 1070-1093.
36. Measor, L. (2004). Young people's views of sex education: Gender, information and knowledge. Sex Education, 4, 153-166.
37. Miller, K., Kotchick, B., Dorsey, S., Forehand, R., & Ham, A. (1998). Family communication about sex: What are parents saying and are their adolescents listening? Family Planning Perspectives. 30.
38. Moore, L. (2003). 'Billy the sad sperm with no tail': Representations of sperm in children's books. Sexualities., 6, 277-300.
39. Nolin, M. J., & Petersen, K. K. (1992). Gender differences in parent-child communication about sexuality: An exploratory study. Journal of Adolescent Research, 7, 59-79.
40. Omar, H., McElderry, D., & Zakharia, R. (2003). Educating adolescents about puberty: What are we missing? International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 15, 79-83.
41. Raffaelli, M., & Green, S. (2003). Parent-adolescent communication about sex; retrospective reports by latino college students. Journal of Marriage and Family, 65, 474-481.
42. Raffaelli, M., Bogenschneider, K., & Flood, M. F. (1998). Parent-teen communication about sexual topics. Journal of Family Issues, 19, 315-333.
43. Raffaelli, M., Smart, L. A., Horn, S. C. V., Hohbein, A. D., & Al, E. (1999). Do mothers and teens disagree about sexual communication? A methodological reappraisal. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 28, 395.
44. Regnerus, M. D. (2005). Talking about sex: Religion and patterns of parent-child communication about sex and contraception. The Sociological Quarterly, 46, 79-105.
45. Rich, A. (1980). Compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence. Signs, 5, 631-660.
46. Robinson, K. (2005). Childhood and sexuality: Adults constuctions and silenced children. In J. Mason & T. Fattore (Eds.), Children taken seriously: In theory, policy and practice (pp. 66-76). London: Kingsley.
47. Rosenthal, D. A., & Feldman, S. S. (1999). The importance of importance: Adolescents' perceptions of parental communication about sexuality. Journal of Adolescence, 22, 835-851.
48. Schalet, A. (2000). Raging hormones, regulated love: Adolescent sexuality and the constitution of the modern individual in the United States and the Netherlands. Body & Society, 6, 75-105.
49. Schalet, A. (2004). Must we fear adolescent sexuality? Medscape, 6, 44.
50. Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS). (2004). Guidelines for comprehensive sexuality education: Kindergarten-12th grade, (3 rd ed.). Retrieved from http://www. siecus. org/_data/global/images/guidelines. pdf.
51. Simon, R., Eder, D., & Evans, K. (1992). The development of feeling norms underlying romantic love among adolescent females. Social Psychology Quarterly, 55, 29-46.
52. Somers, C. L., & Surmann, A. T. (2004). Adolescents' preferences for source of sex education. Child Study Journal, 34, 47-59.
53. Sprecher, S., Harris, G., & Meyers, A. (2008). Perceptions of sources of sex education and targets of sex communication: Sociodemographic and cohort effects. Journal of Sex Research., 54, 17-26.
54. Tolman, D. (2002). Dilemmas of desire: Teenage girls talk about sexuality. Cambridge: Harvard University.
55. van der Valk, I., Spruijt, E., de Goede, M., Larsen, H., & Meeus, W. (2008). Family traditionalism and family structure: Attitudes and intergeneracional transmission of parents and adolescents. European Psychologist., 13, 83-95.
56. Ward, L. M. (2003). Understanding the role of entertainment media in the sexual socialization of american youth: A review of empirical research. Developmental Review, 23, 347-388.
57. Ward, L. M., & Wyatt, G. (1994). The effects of childhood sexual messages on African American and white women's adolescent sexual behavior. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 18, 183-201.
58. Weaver, A. D., Byers, E. S., Sears, H. A., Cohen, J. N., & Randall, H. E. S. (2002). Sexual health education at school and at home: Attitudes and experiences of New Brunswick parents. Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 11, 19-31.
59. Witt, S. D. (2000). The influence of television on children's gender role socialization. Childhood Education, 76, 322.
60. Wright, D., & Young, R. (1998). The effects of family structure and maternal employment on the development of gender-related attitudes among men and women. Journal of Family Issues, 19, 300-314.