10. atypical gender development Flashcards
gender dysphoria is used to describe a person who
experiences discomfort or distress because there is a mismatch between their sex assigned at birth and their gender identity. For many people who experience this, gender dysphoria is a source of stress and discomfort recognised as a psychological disorder in the DSM-5.
BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
GENETIC FACTORS - what did Coolidge do and find?
twin study
Coolidge et al. assessed 157 twin pairs (96 MZ 61 DZ) for evidence of gender dysphoria. They found that 62% of the variance could be accounted by genetic factors, suggesting there is a string heritable component to gender dysphoria.
BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
GENETIC FACTORS - what did Heylens do and find?
twin study
Heylens et al. compared 23 MZ twins with 21 DZ twins where one of each pair was diagnosed with gender dysphoria. They found that 39% of the MZ wins were concordant for gender dysphoria compared to none of the DZs which indicates a role for genetic factors in the development of gender dysphoria.
BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
BRAIN SEX THEORY
Suggests that gender dysphoria has a basis in brain structure the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST).
what is it the size of in males, females and transgender females?
It is larger in man than women and has been found to be female sized in transgender females.
BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
People with gender dysphoria have a BST which is the size of the
gender they identify with, not their biological sex.
This dimorphism in the BST fits with the report made by people who are transgender that they feel, from early childhood that they are born the wrong sex.
BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
AO3: atypical gender development biological explanation strength
OTHER BRAIN DIFFERENCES - Rametti (white matter)
Evidence suggests there may be other brain differences associated with gender dysphoria.
Rametti et al. studied the white matter which is another sexually dimorphic aspect of the brain - there are regional differences in the proportion of white matter in male and female brains. They analysed the brains of both male and female transgender individuals before they began hormone treatment as part of their gender reassignment. in most cases, the amount and distribution of white matter corresponded more closely to the gender the individuals identified themselves as being rather than their biological sex.
This suggests that there are early differences in the brains of transgender individuals.
BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
AO3: atypical gender development biological explanation limitation
CONTRADICTORY EVIDENCE - Pol, Zhou
The central claims of brain sex theory have been challenged.
Pol et al. studied changes in transgender individuals’ brains using MRI scans taken during hormone treatment. The scans showed that the size of the BST changed significantly over that period. In the studies by Zhou et al. the BST was examined post-mortem and after the transgender individuals had received hormone treatment during gender reassignment treatment.
This suggests that the differences in the BST may have been an effect of hormone therapy rather than the cause of gender dysphoria.
SOCIAL EXPLANATIONS - SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM
Argues that gender identity
does not reflect underlying biological differences between people and instead that these concepts are invented by societies.
SOCIAL EXPLANATIONS - SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM
For individuals who experience gender dysphoria, the confusion arises because
why?
society forces them to be either a man or a woman and act accordingly. From this perspective, gender dysphoria is not a pathological condition, but a social phenomenon which arises when people are required to choose one of two paths.
SOCIAL EXPLANATIONS
McClintock cites the case of individuals with a genetic condition in the Sambia tribe of New Guinea.
what does it cause? what did it mean before they had contact w others?
This causes some biological males to be categorised as girls at birth because they have a labia and clitoris. At puberty their genitals change due to the large increase in testosterone - testes descend, and the clitoris enlarges into a penis. This genetic variation is common among the Sambia, and it was routinely accepted that some people are men, some are women, and some are females-then-males. Since this culture has had contact with other cultures, females-then-males are judged as having a pathological form of gender dysphoria.
SOCIAL EXPLANATIONS - PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
Ovesey and Person emphasise social relationships within the family as the cause of gender dysphoria. They argue that gender dysphoria in biological males is caused by
think mother
a boy experiencing extreme separation anxiety before gender identity has been established. The boy fantasises a symbiotic fusion with his mother to relieve the anxiety, and the danger of separation is removed. The consequence of this is that the boy, becomes the mother and acquires a woman’s gender identity.
SOCIAL EXPLANATIONS - PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
has some support from Stoller who found
in interviews GD biological males displayed overly close relationships with their mothers suggesting stronger female identification and conflicted gender identity in the long term.
AO3: atypical gender development social explanation strength
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM - fa’afafine
Not all cultures have two genders.
Some cultures recognise more than two genders, such as the fa’afafine of Samoa. This is a challenge to traditional binary classifications of male and female. The fact that increasing numbers of people now describe themselves as non-binary suggests that cultural understanding is only now beginning to catch up with the lived experiences of many.
This suggests that gender identity is best seen as a social construction rather than a biological fact.
AO3: atypical gender development social explanation limitation
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY - counterevidence from Rekers
There are issues with the psychoanalytic theory of gender dysphoria.
Ovesey and Person’s explanation does not provide an adequate account of gender dysphoria in biological females as the theory only applies to transgender women. In any case, Rekers found that gender dysphoria in those who were assigned male at birth is more likely to be associated with the absence of the father rather than the fear of separation from the mother.
This suggests that psychoanalytic theory does not provide a comprehensive account of gender dysphoria.
