Understanding Gender Norms

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Course description

Have you ever wondered where we get our ideas of masculinity and femininity from? In this course we will explore the rules and norms around gender performance and how we get to prove our gender identity to others. We will define these norms for masculinity and femininity, and reveal the process by which we are socialised into gender roles and the rewards for success and the penalties for failure! And to make all this learning more tangible, we will share two common case scenarios that appear when working psychotherapeutically with issues of masculinity and femininity in the therapeutic encounter.
All our courses are informed by scientific research, the experiences of our clients, as well as our own. Practising affirmatively involves a commitment to working from a place of compassion and reflection. So, throughout the course you will be encouraged to reflect on your own experience of gender role socialisation and the taken-for-granted norms that you may have in your own mind about what it means to be authentically masculine or feminine.

To understand where masculine and feminine gender norms come from, what they are and how they are communicated in culture
To familiarise yourself with the way in which gender role socialisation is a shared experience for all of us that aims to create homogenous binary groups of masculine men and feminine women
To learn about how rewards and penalties are deployed and their effects on all of us in creating taken-for-granted assumptions about how men and women should be and behave in society
To increase your confidence in working with questions of gender, gender identity and gender norms, including with trans and non-binary clients

This course is aimed at supporting all healthcare professionals to learn more about what masculinity and femininity actually mean. There will be a special focus on psychological processes and so, this course could be particularly helpful to mental health professionals (such as: psychologists, psychiatrists, counsellors, psychotherapists, social workers, family therapists, mental health nurses, and others)
All our courses are delivered using accessible language, and so even though you might not be our target audience, should you be interested in learning more about gender and gender diversity, we welcome you to join