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DOI: 10.12731/2218-7405-2013-7-34
FORMATION OF THE PRECONDITIONS FOR THE EMERGENCE OF GENDER PSYCHOLOGY IN MIDDLE AGES PERIOD
Mokhova V.O.
The main purpose of this article is to analyze the main ideas of the Medieval Period authors in Europe and in Russia, in terms of identifying the most important theses of this historical period for the formation and development of the ideas of gender psychology. It is being considered the role of Christianity and the emergence of the women's education issue in the formation of gender stereotypes. In this article the Middle Ages period is being considered as a separate historical phase for the basic ideas formation in the gender psychology, which is a new approach to the history of gender science. To estimate medieval texts - European and Russian, the method of qualitative content analysis is used, by means of which the most relevant to the period ideas associated with the sexes are identified. For Europe, it inter-sexual features, for Russia -different behavioral requirements of the society associated with sexes. Conclusions contain ideas of the Middle Ages in Europe and in Russia that are relevant to the development and establishment of gender psychology. In Europe: the continuation of the ancient thesis of the initial androgyny of a human being; impact of the woman's education on her ability for development; consideration of sexuality as sinful; the issue of women's emancipation, the declining value of the large numerous families despite of a ban on interference in the reproductive cycle in the middle of the Medieval period. In Russia: the perception of inter-sexual characteristics as defined by the God; unconditional obedience of a woman to her husband; androgyny in the distribution of the farmers' responsibilities.
Objective: To analyze the main ideas of the authors of the Middle Ages in Europe and in Russia, in terms of identifying the significant theses of this historical period for the formation and development of the ideas of the gender psychology.
Method of the research work: A qualitative content analysis of the texts by the authors of the Middle Ages, relevant to the establishment of the gender psychology.
Results: With the use of a qualitative content analysis significant ideas of the Middle Ages for the formation and development of gender psychology were revealed. In Europe: the continuation of the ancient thesis of the initial androgyny of a human being; impact of the woman's education on her ability for development; consideration of sexuality as sinful; the issue of women's emancipation, the declining value of the large numerous families despite of a ban on interference in the reproductive cycle in the middle of the Medieval period. In Russia: the perception of inter-sexual characteristics as defined by the God; unconditional obedience of a woman to her husband; androgyny in the distribution of the farmers responsibilities.
The area of application of the results: the history of gender psychology.
Keywords: gender, history of gender psychology, gender differences, the Middle
Ages.
ФОРМИРОВАНИЕ ПРЕДПОСЫЛОК ВОЗНИКНОВЕНИЯ ГЕНДЕРНОЙ ПСИХОЛОГИИ В ПЕРИОД СРЕДНЕВЕКОВЬЯ
Мохова В.О.
Основной целью данной статьи является анализ основных идей авторов средневековья в Европе и на Руси, с точки зрения определения значимых тезисов данного исторического периода для становления и развития идей гендерной психологии. Рассматривается роль христианства и возникновение проблемы
женского образования в формировании гендерных стереотипов. В статье период средневековья рассматривается как самостоятельный исторический этап становления основных идей гендерной психологии, что является новым подходом к истории гендерной науки. Для оценки средневековых текстов Европы и Руси используется метод качественного контент анализа, с помощью которого определяются наиболее актуальные для периода идеи, связанные с полом. Для Европы это межполовые характеристики, для Руси - различные требования социума к поведению, связанные с полом. Выводы содержат идеи средневековья в Европе и на Руси, значимые для развития и становления гендерной психологии. В Европе: продолжение античного тезиса об изначальной андрогинности человека, влияние на развитие способностей женщины ее обученности, восприятие сексуальности как греховности, проблема женской эмансипации, снижение ценности многодетности не смотря а запреты вмешательства в репродуктивный цикл в середине периода. На Руси: восприятие межполовых особенностей как богозаданных, безусловное подчинение женщины своему мужу, андрогинность в распределении обязанностей земледельцев.
Цель: проанализировать основные идеи авторов средневековья в Европе и на Руси, с точки зрения определения значимых тезисов данного исторического периода для становления и развития идей гендерной психологии.
Метод проведения работы: качественный контент-анализ текстов авторов средневековья, имеющих значение для становления гендерной психологии.
Результаты: с помощью качественного контент-анализа были выявлены значимые идеи средневековья для становления и развития гендерной психологии. В Европе: продолжение античного тезиса об изначальной андрогинности человека, влияние на развитие способностей женщины ее обученности, восприятие сексуальности как греховности, проблема женской эмансипации, снижение ценности многодетности, не смотря на запреты вмешательства в
репродуктивный цикл в середине периода. На Руси: восприятие межполовых особенностей как богозаданных, безусловное подчинение женщины своему мужу, андрогинность в распределении обязанностей земледельцев.
Область применения результатов: история гендерной психологии.
Ключевые слова: гендер, история гендерной психологии, гендерные отличия, средневековье.
The Gender Psychology is a rapidly developing field of science nowadays. Intense accumulation of data leads to the fact that the deep historical roots of those theses, which uses gender science today, are not always traced. The urgency to clarify the origins and preconditions of the appearance of a gender theme in the psychology was highlighted by I.S. Kletsina, beginning the review of the formation of ideas of the gender psychology from the period of occurrence of the Psychology of Sexes, in about XX century [8]. Another periodization of the history in the development of the gender psychology belongs to T.B. Bendas. According to his work the formation of ideas of the gender psychology began much earlier then the XX century: the first period of the development of ideas of the gender psychology is defined as the development of the relevant ideas in the mainstream of philosophy from antiquity to the end of the XIX century [3]. Nevertheless, despite the significant expansion of the frontiers for the search of the origins of the modern gender psychology ideas, at our glance, it is no appropriate to put together in one period of the ancient times, Middle Ages and New Time period. This can lead to the loss of the sources of the significant theses of the modern gender psychology. The Medieval times, compared with the period of antiquity or of New Time period has significant differences in the social organization and relationships. Quality changes were undergone by the gender stereotypes during the period both in Europe and Russia.
Foreign authors also focus on a more detailed examination of the various historical periods, and shifts in the gender stereotypes and attitudes within the period [7,
10, 11, 13]. Here are being analyzed not only the gender stereotypes in a certain historical period, but also smaller categories, such as changes in the gender relations linked to physical disabilities and deviations [12].
In this context, the main purpose of this article is to analyze the main ideas by the authors of the Middle Ages in Europe and in Russia, in terms of identifying significant theses of this historical period for the formation and development of the ideas of the gender psychology.
The boundaries of the Middle Ages are determined by the medieval studies as following: middle of the V century (1450) - the middle of XVII century (1640) [6]. With the beginning of the Middle Ages in Europe the positions of Christianity were getting stronger, bringing significant changes in the social status of women. A man and a woman commenced to be declared as equal moral beings. Further development of the Christianity leads to a complete chastity of monks, first, and then of the whole clergy. Following the monasteries for men, the women's monasteries started appearing to become the second public institution (following the ancient "prostitutes" temples), where women got an access to education. However, the level of education of a woman in the Middle Ages was closely linked to her social and economic status. Only wealthy women obtained possibilities for spiritual development.
Compared to the social situation in Europe, the Middle Ages in Russia are quite different. This was the development period of Russia, characterized by the active development of territories, the formation of the organized governors system, the adoption of Christianity (988). The longest in time happening of the period was the Mongol-Tatar yoke (1240-1480), whose influence had a significant negative impact not only on urban development, manufacturing, agriculture, but also affected and caused changes the gender relations [1].
Let's consider the texts by the authors of the Middle Ages, having the significant value as the prerequisites of the emergence of gender psychology. As the source of the
material by European authors, we will analyze the work by I.S. Erigena ("About the Division in Nature") [4], C. de Pisan ("The Book of Women's Castle") [15], K.A. Netteskhayma ("About the nobility and superiority of female sex") [2], J. Sprenger and G. Institoris ("Hammer of the Witches") [14]. As the material by Russian authors, we will consider the only source of that period, describing the differences between the sexes - "Domostroy", as amended by Sylvester [5]. In the course of research these texts were searched for aiming at identifying the categories related to the gender issues, the social status of men and women, as well as social stereotypes associated with sexes. During the analysis the following categories were identified:
• Gender differences in the Features;
• Gender differences in Behavior;
• Androgyny;
• Equal abilities of men and women;
• The necessity to improve the women's education;
• Influence of a woman training on the development of her skills;
• The emancipation of women;
• The prohibition on intervention in the reproductive cycle;
• The superiority of the female qualities over the male ones;
• The features of character of men and women as pre-determined by God.
On the basis of the total number of selected categories, which were related to sexes and gender issues, we transfer the absolute values of the categories into percentages, taking the total number of categories in these texts as 100%. Therefore, the qualitative content analysis allowed us to trace the value of significance of certain ideas according to the topics of sexes and social stereotypes related to the period.
Taking the number of categories identified in the European texts and "Domostroy" as 100%, we obtained the following data describing the medieval period.
Table 1
Percentage of the number of categories related to sexes, in the texts by the authors
of the Middle Ages
Category Frequency of the categories appearance, in%
gender differences - Features 30.30
gender differences - Behavior 30.30
androgyny 9.09
equal abilities of men and women 6.06
the necessity to improve the women's education 6.06
the impact of training on the development of skills 6.06
the emancipation of women 3.03
the prohibition on intervention in the reproductive cycle 3.03
the superiority of women over men 3.03
features of men and women are pre-determined by God 3.03
From the above table it is evident that the most vital in a given period is a discussion of inter-sexual differences of their features and behavior - each category has 30.30%. Next vital category, which goes after, is the topic of androgyny - 9.09%. The same percentage have got the topics of equal abilities of men and women, the necessity to improve women's education and the impact of the woman's education on the full development of her skills - each has 6,06%. The most rare topics raised are: the emancipation of women, the prohibition of intervention in the reproductive cycle, the superiority of female over male qualities, as well as, the topic of features associated with sexes are pre-determined by God (3.03% for each category).
However, if we consider the difference between European texts and "Domostroy", you can see the following differences. Taking the number of categories identified in European texts as 100%, we obtained the following data. In Europe, the authors concentrated mostly on inter-sexual differences in the qualities and features of character - 36.36%. Next vital topic is the androgyny, as inherent presence of male and female in
the human being, and the reunification of these principles after the resurrection -13.64%. The topics, such as inter-sexual differences as per the society requirements to the behavior; equal abilities of men and women, the necessity to improve the women's education, the effect of a woman's training on the development of her skills is represented by 9.09%. The least significant remain the topics of women's emancipation, prohibiting interference in the reproductive cycle and the superiority of a woman over a man - 4.55% each.
Taking the number of categories identified in the "Domostroy" as 100%, we got a somewhat different picture. The number of categories present in the text diminished significantly. The most common category is the one of intersexes differences in behavior - 72.73%, the topic of gender differences in the properties and characteristics of the individual is significantly less likely to arise the interest- 18.18%. The category of the pre-determination by God of the features of men and women, which is not raised at all by European authors, is 9.09%.
Thus, we can conclude that during the Middle Ages, there were significant transformations in the social expectations associated with a gender, both in Europe and in Russia. Hence, the following ideas and social changes had an impact on the emergence and development of the gender psychology.
In Europe:
1. Erigena thesis continues the Platonic idea of the original androgynous man, and the reunification of the male and female components as the ultimate existential goal
[4].
2. The development of Christianity courses the appearance of different requirements for a woman than for a man: humility and obedience is encouraged; carnal and sexual equals to the sinful, the woman herself becomes "a source of sin," i.e., she is considered as inherently less pious and more sinful than a man [14].
3. The middle of the Medieval period in Europe is marked by the "witch hunt" and the church attempts to protect the reproductive cycle from the interventions [14].
4. Thanks to the nunneries, and then to the works by philosophers and public figures (C. de Pisan, K.A. Von Netteskhaym) an increase in the value of women's education occurred.
5. The thesis of the greater development of speech abilities of the women compared to men was proposed [2]. This thesis will be also confirmed by the modern gender psychologists [3].
6. The differences between men and women is explained not only by "natural" causes, the first time, the question of the interconnection in between the women abilities and literacy was raised, as well as, the question of women emancipation [2, 15].
7. By the end of the period, in spite of the harsh religious dogmas against interference in the reproductive cycle, in Europe, the value of having many children in a family began to loose its positions, due to increase in training time and higher complexity of the means of production.
In Russia:
1. The Middle Ages in Russia are characterized by the adoption of Christianity, while as the consequence of the influence of the Mongol-Tatar yoke we can observe more restrictions imposed to the behavior of women and their clothing.
2. According to the text of "Domostroy" a woman should be organized, hardworking, kind, laconic and economical. A man should control the religious life of the family and participate in the education of children.
3. According to the religious principals, the labour in Russia was divided into male and female, while male was considered to have higher status [9]. However, in practice, some of the duties is equally well performed by both men and women, which might suggest rather androgynous gender stereotypes.
4. According to the religious traditions of Russia - the husband has the right and responsibility to deal the instruction of his wife.
5. "Domostroy" recommends almost absolute obedience of a woman's life to the religious requirements, to her husband will and the family interests.
6. In Russia, in the Middle Ages, the issue of education and abilities of women still didn't arise. The main functions of women are limited to childbirth function, housekeeping and compliance with the religious rules.
Comparing the gender positions of the Middle Ages in Europe and in Russia, we can conclude that the social status of men and women, as well as the social expectations associated with sexes, had the following differences.
First, the advent of Christianity was earlier in Europe, while Christianity in Russia started off only at the end of the X century. The Christianity influenced the social relations changes, the improvement the women status and prepared the society to accept the thesis of the equality of sexes.
Second, the Christianity itself had differences. In Russia its dogmas concerning the women behavior were more rigid (more prohibitions regarding the dress and activities, more strict socially acceptable behavior), due to the influence of the MongolTatar yoke.
Third, while in Europe during the Middle Ages the active discussion of women's education and the issues of sufficiency of women skills began, for Russia, those issues were not vital yet then, women's functions were limited to the home and family duties.
Further study of the significance of the Middle Ages period for the formation of the preconditions of the emergence of the gender psychology can be focused on the research of the gender relations within different social classes. As a result of the analysis of the history from a gender perspective, the information on the problem of formation, functioning and changing of gender stereotypes can be expanded.
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DATA ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mokhova Veronika Olegovna, educational psychologist of Nizhny Novgorod Pedagogical College in the name of K.D. Ushinsky, graduate student in the professional development psychology
Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University in the name of Kozma Minin, Nizhny Novgorod.
41, Vitebskaya Street, Nizhny Novgorod, 603059, Russia e-mail: veronika. mokhova@gmail. com
ДАННЫЕ ОБ АВТОРЕ
Мохова Вероника Олеговна, педагог-психолог ГБОУ СПО Нижегородского
педагогического колледжа им. К.Д. Ушинского, аспирант кафедры психологии профессионального развития
Нижегородский государственный педагогический университет им. Козьмы Минина
ул. Витебская, д.41, г. Нижний Новгород, 603059, Россия e-mail: veronika. mokhova@gmail. com SPIN-код: 5194-6859
