ABSTRACT
A key part of any person’s identity concerns his or her understanding of gender, comprehending social notions of gender, and applying these concepts accurately to the self. A man’s gender identity enables him to identify himself as a man within a specific culture. While forming their gender identities, young boys desire ‘to imitate the masculine model, which leads to a deeper attachment to the model’ (Kohlberg, 1966, p. 165). This formation of gender identity includes sex typing and continues throughout life. Through sex typing an individual comes to acquire, to value, and to adopt gender appropriate behavior patterns. Sex typing is similar to programming a computer. The process of sex typing places a disk within the superego. This disk contains cultural messages that reflect the shared rules of society. Male messages are the various files within the disk that translate social norms into schemata, which establish guidelines for thinking and acting. All of these files, stored in the superego, program a person to behave according to culturally defined gender patterns that prescribe methods of associating with others.
