Atypical gender development

Question 1

Gender dysphoria

Answer 1

When a person experiences discomfort or distress because there is a mismatch between their sex assigned at their birth and their gender identity

Question 2

Biological explanations for Gender dysphoria

Answer 2

• Brain sex theory: Suggests gender dysphoria (GD) is related to brain structure - at birth, the ‘bed nucleus of the stria terminalis’ (BST) is larger in men than in women
• It was found that at birth the BST is female sized in transgender females
• Genetic factors: Twin studies - suggests there is strong heritability for gender dysphoria - found 39% of MZ twins concordant for gender dysphoria compared to 0% of DZ twins

Question 3

Social explanations for Gender dysphoria

Answer 3

• Social construction: Gender identity is ‘invented’ by societies, gender confusion because forced to select a gender - so GD is social not pathological
• McClintock study - In New Guinea - genetic condition causes some males to be categorised as female at birth as they have female genitalia - at puberty, male genitalia show
• Psychoanalytic theory: Research has emphasised social relationships within family as the cause of GD
• GD in boys is caused by separation anxiety before gender identity is established - his feelings towards his mother relieves the anxiety - The consequence is that the boy becomes the mother and adopts a woman’s identity

Question 4

Biological explanations - evaluation - strength

Answer 4

• Other brain differences associated with GD
• Other researchers have studied another area of the brain (White matter) - There are differences in volume of white matter in men and women - they analysed transgenders before hormone therapy - found the volume of white matter corresponded with the gender they identified with rather than their sex

Question 5

Biological explanations - evaluation - limitation

Answer 5

• Contradictory evidence
• limitation of brain sex theory
• Researchers studied changes in transgenders brains using MRIs taken during hormone treatment - scans showed the size of the BST changed over that period
• Suggests differences in BST may have been due to hormone therapy

Question 6

Social explanations - evaluation - strength

Answer 6

• Social construction
• Not all cultures have 2 genders
• e.g Fa’afafine in Samoa
• Increasing numbers of non-binary people suggests that cultural understanding is only beginning to catch up with the lived experience of many

Question 7

Social explanations - evaluation - limitation

Answer 7

• Psychoanalytic theory
• Explanation doesn’t provide an adequate account of gender dysphoria in biological females as the theory only applies to transgender women
• Research has found that GD in males is more likely associated with the absence of the father