ABSTRACT
Although concepts of gender identity (knowing that you are male, female, or intersex) (Williams, 1986) and gender role (adopting culturally defined male and female behavior) are probably widespread cross-culturally, their expression is highly culture specific. Chapters 1 and 2 discuss the symbolism of maleness and femaleness and the diversity of gender role behavior among cultures (e.g., Margaret Mead’s classic work is one body of recently challenged research on this topic: Mead, 1949, 1961 [1928], 1963 [1935]). We also know from the literature that culture change can impact gender roles cross-culturally (Lurie, 1973; Radin, 1926; Sharp, 1981). However, the extensive amount of energy vested in examining and trying to understand gender role behavior through the life cycle in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries is largely a function ofmiddle-class industrialized and, specifically, U.S. culture.
