Do the statistics concerning gender and delinquency provide information about the nature of gender and crime per se, or are they a result of biases associated with the legal system? How would the issue of race be related to this discussion?
In a report in Archives of Sexual Behavior Journal, Rosenthal and her colleagues say that researches have shown that a large number of teenagers especially in the western countries have had intercourse at an earlier age than in the previous generations and have experimented in a wide range of sexual practices (Rosenthal et al, 1999). They continue to say that this is a result of both biological and psychosocial components. Biological explanations leading to adolescent sexual activity have been given as the timing of puberty in boys but for girls, the connection becomes more complicated as social control becomes a more important influence than the timing of puberty itself. Environmental factors that have a bearing on adolescent sexual behavior are things like a family environment, peer relations, school, and religion. Of the most important environmental factor in this age is the influence of media on the sexual attitudes of young people. Adolescents listen more to their peers and want to do what the rest of their peers are doing. This means that if an adolescent socializes with sexually active people they are more likely to engage in sexual activities. As opposed to popular concern by parents sex education in schools has been shown to delay the onset of sexual activity and religion has been shown to have the same effects for the adolescents who are churchgoers and who place importance on religion.
Do the statistics concerning gender and delinquency provide information about the nature of gender and crime per se, or are they a result of biases associated with the legal system? How would the issue of race be related to this discussion?
Juvenile delinquency is described as a multitude of violations of both legal and social norms from petty offenses to serious crimes committed by young people between the ages of 12 to 20 years as described by (World Youth Report, 2003). The United Nations Guidelines for the prevention of Juvenile Delinquency stress that antisocial behavior in children is a normal part of the process of growing up, however, it can lead to a stable criminal behavior and in effect produce a criminal career.
The World Youth Report, (2003) continues to point out that there is a strong relationship between gender and delinquency, where police reports show more than double rates of crime in young male offenders as compared to female offenders. In a report Juvenile Offenders and Victims Report of 1994, approximately 300 murders in the US were committed by males as compared to females which were a thousand less (Kalb & Williams, 2001). This shows that juvenile males have a higher tendency to violence than females. In another study of high school students in 2003, 33% of them admitted to being involved in physical fights which is a pointer to an aggressive nature. In this study, a substantially more number of males were involved as compared to their female counterparts. This is attributed to the above report to women conforming to social norms than men due to restrictive and simulative factors such as fear of sexual adult. Culture is the explanation for this as social norms do not tolerate deviant behavior from girls and in others masculinity is attributed to confrontation, domination, and control. Further, a recent test to the Agnew’s General Strain theory that explains why children are drawn to aggressiveness shows that although girls are more exposed to strains and have fewer resources to cope with depression, they report consistently lower rates of offending than their male counterparts.
The issue of race in delinquency is highly contested with some researchers arguing that black children are more likely to be involved in crime while others see it otherwise. It is however likely that non-white children are more likely to be involved in offenses due to being economically less advantaged and consequently the environment in which they grow up like inner-city slums (Kalb & Williams, 2001).
How do the recovery rates differ for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa? Is gender a factor that should be taken into account? Why is there a difference?
Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder as a result of serious interruption in the way a person deals with food, weight, and body image. It starts with an urge to lose weight or maintain a weight that is abnormal given their height and age. Bulimia Nervosa, on the other hand, is an eating disorder where a person eats a lot of food at once or binges and tries to lose it by vomiting, excessive exercising, fasting, or using laxatives. Just as in anorexia people with bulimia are occupied with weight and body image. Recovery rates for both disorders differ in that anorexia has a recovery rate of 23-50% and relapses range from 4-27% with an average of 5-6 years of treatment and 30% of patients never recover. In the case of Bulimia with the best treatment recovery rate is 55-85% with 90 days of starting treatment but studies have shown that 14-26% of relapses according to Keel, (2005).
In considering eating disorders gender is a factor that should be put to mind since the statistics available show low cases of these disorders in men which are misleading according to some researchers since they are partly due to underdiagnosis according to Swain, (2006). Another reason is that the disorders are much harder to diagnose among men until the situation has become severe. Eating disorders are also associated with girls and boys or men affected face feelings of shame and denial.
There are differences in eating disorders in both male and a female in both the psychological and physical manifestations as Swain, (2006) continues to say. In men, there is no pursuit of a perfect body figure as in women and they tend to deny there is a presence of excess weight or unhealthy eating behavior. The triggers for an eating disorder are also different in women and men. Men have a body image that is focused on macular form and less ashamed of binge eating.
What are some of the complications in studying issues related to the sexual-reproductive system?
In studying issues of the sexual reproductive system especially among adolescents and young adults various complications arise according to Barkat & Majid, (2003). These include a lack of effective health programs to reach out to young people by the government and its agencies. This has led to the deplorable state of health of these people especially in developing countries as the available resources lack the means to link them to young people. Another complication is the lack of access to information and services especially bearing in mind that they are very vulnerable to reproductive system risks due to the emotional, physical, and mental changes they are going through. Available information is not specific to them. Another related complication is the lack of access to services due to the lack of unaffordability of these services. Quality health services are expensive in many places and for a young person who may not be employed or with no insurance cover this becomes even harder. Matters of the reproductive system are viewed to be a very private business. This brings complications while studying such things especially among young people who prefer to keep silent even when they have problems only share them with their close friends who happen to know better. Moreover, some reproductive system complications are viewed with stigma in society especially sexually transmitted diseases and therefore young people fear coming forward with them.
How does gender affect health care?
Men and women have different behaviors and roles dictated by the norms and values of different cultures as Loue, (2006) discusses. These are ones that produce gender differences that do not necessarily mean equalities. These gender norms can however produce inequalities when they empower one gender to the disadvantage of the other by arrangement. In health status and health access inequalities between men and women can arises in man ways such as when society standards encourage men to be promiscuous while at the same time he has no obligation to use a condom with his wife thereby infecting her with HIV. In other instances, it is viewed by society as a masculine thing for a man to smoke and a woman smoking is a frown upon, this far increases the man’s chances of getting lung cancer as compared to women. Gender norms and values in most societies in the world have curtailed the social and economic autonomy of women. This has affected health in many ways such as women have a higher vulnerability to infections such as HIV and malaria according to the United Nations. Women also cannot be able to access health care as they are economically deprived. In other parts of the world, early marriages and pregnancies are encouraged which are to the detriment of women’s health. Equality in health care access and status can be achieved if the governments are committed to gender and health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
According to socially accepted stereotypes, men prefer to have more sexual partners and are less committed to relationships than are women. Discuss some potential reasons for these findings. Also, think about the attitudes of people regarding romance today compared to those of people in the early 20th century. Do you think that society’s beliefs have undergone a significant change? Why or why not?
It is a socially acceptable stereotype that men prefer more sexual partners and are less committed to relationships than women. Some of the potential reasons for this are that men are driven by uncontrollable sexual urges according to Das, Esmail & Eargle, (2006). This explains that men are more expressive of their sexual desires and communicate them directly while women are less expressive and use the tactic to communicate them as the above authors continue to say. This goes on to explain that men’s sexual desires are merely physically stimulated by senses such as sight and are more willing to explore them with many partners. Another reason is the cultural legacy of polygamy which men have exploited to their advantage while female sexuality is censored in many cultures. Another explanation for this state of affairs is explained by the social exchange theory which looks at sex as a resource for women and men want it thereby constituting a mere social exchange. This is encouraged more by the social and cultural factors which put men in more powerful position than women and therefore able to explore many sexual relationships today people’s outlook on romance is quite a different from that in the 20th century since women have become more empowered and expressing their needs and rights in relationships.
Reference List
Barkat, A & Majid, M. (2003). Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health in Bangladesh: Status, Policies,Programs and issues. Dhaka: Futures Group International.
Das, S., Esmail, A. & Eargle, L. (2006). Men’s Exploration of Multiple Sexual Partners: Economic Vs. Psychosocial Explanation. Bangladesh Sociology organization.
Keel, P. (2005). Eating Disorders. USA: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Loue, S. (2006). Assessing Race, Ethnicity, and gender in Health. Cleveland: Springer Science and Business Media Inc.
Rosenthal, D., Smith, A., & Visser, R. (1999). Personal and Social Factors Influencing Age At First Sexual Intercourse. Archives of Sexual Behavior , Vol. 28, No. 4, 319-333.
Swain, P. (2006). Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. New York: Nova Science Pulishers Inc.
World Youth Report. (2003). Juvenile delinquency. United Nations.