Atypical gender development Flashcards
What is gender dysphoria?
A psychiatric condition where individuals feel a misalignment between their biological sex and their gender identity
What gene is associated with gender dysphoria?
The androgen receptor gene
Which gene allele is associated with gender dysphoria?
The long allele of the androgen receptor gene
Which psychologist studied the androgen receptor gene?
Hare
What did Hare et al find?
That male to female transgender people were more likely to have the long androgen receptor allele than the cisgender control group
What is the role of the long androgen receptor gene allele?
Reduces the action of testosterone which ‘under-masculinises’ the brain
What is the brain-sex theory?
It suggests that individuals with gender dysphoria have brains that do not align with their biological sex
What are the 2 brain regions are associated with atypical gender development?
BSTc and sexually-dimorphic nucleus
How do males BSTcs differ from females BSTcs?
They are twice the size and contain twice the number of neurons
What did one study find about MtF transgender individuals BSTcs?
That they were in the female size range
What did Stoller propose about gender dysphoria?
Biological males who experience gender dysphoria feel this way because of distorted parental attitudes
What is the psychodynamic explanation of gender dysphoria?
During young childhood, boys who have an overly close relationship with their mother experience severe separation anxiety - to overcome this, the boy becomes the ‘mother’ in order to reduce anxiety, thus identifying as a female
How can SLT explain gender dysphoria?
Children gain positive reinforcement from parents and/or peers for exhibiting behaviour usually associated with the opposite gender
What are the 4 AO3 points for atypical gender development?
1) Criticisms of brain-sex theory
2) Support for social explanations
3) Socially sensitive
4) More than one explanation needed
What did Chung find about BSTcs?
That the difference in volume doesn’t develop until adulthood
What is the issue with the brain sex theory?
It suffers from bidirectional ambiguity
Why does the brain sex theory suffer from bidirectional ambiguity?
Because we are unable to establish whether the brain differences or the gender dysphoria is the cause
What percentage of biological males diagnosed with gender dysphoria also had maternal separation anxiety?
64%
What did one study find about maternal involvement in boys with gender dysphoria?
That there are high levels of maternal over-involvement
Why do social explanations of gender dysphoria lack population validity?
As most research focuses on male to female transgender individuals
Why is research into atypical gender development potentially good?
It may lead to greater acceptance and understanding of the transgender + gender dysphoric community
Why may research into atypical gender development be socially sensitive?
If a definitive biological cause is found it may lead to attempts to ‘treat’ gender dysphoria, which may not be the most physically, emotionally and cognitive ethical thing to do
What has research into the types of male-to-female transgender individuals found?
There are 2 types
Who proposed two types of male-to-female transgender individuals?
Blanchard
What two types of transgender individual did Blanchard propose?
Homosexual transsexuals and non-homosexual transsexuals
What are homosexual transsexuals?
Biological males who wish to change sex because they are attracted to men
What are non-homosexual transsexuals?
Biological males who are sexually aroused by the idea of themself as a woman
What did the Japanese study into men with gender dysphoria find?
That there were 2 types; those who had been longing to be a female since childhood and those whose discomfort did not occur until adolescence
