Abstract

POESCHL, Gabrielle; MURIAS, Cláudia  and  RIBEIRO, Raquel. As diferenças entre os sexos: mito ou realidade?. Aná. Psicológica [online]. 2003, vol.21, n.2, pp.213-228. ISSN 0870-8231.

This paper aims at retracing the successive developments of the scientific production on the question of the existence of sex differences and on their origins, which have a fertile and a long story. We begin by evoking the ideologies developed in the XIXth century in order to explain the unequal social positions of the sexes by natural dispositions, and the first academic works aimed at identifying the traits, aptitudes and behaviors that, supposedly, should differentiate men and women. We propose some insights at the present work on sex differences and at the controversies, apparently generated by the different political positions of the authors, on the real existence of such differences. We finally present some of the theories that are presently developed by the authors who defend the existence of differences between men and women in order to give sense to these differences.

Keywords : Sex differences; gender stereotypes; gender roles.

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