Atypical Gender Development Flashcards
Define gender dysphoria
-used to describe when person experiences distress/discomfort due to mismatch between sex assigned at birth + gender identity
-recognised as psychological disorder in DSM5
Explain how gender dysphoria could be explained in terms of biological influence - BST
-1 bio explanation suggests GD has basis inn brain structure , the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) -brain sex theory
-Structure involved in emotional responses
-area larger in men than woman, found to be female-sized in transgender females
-leads to suggestion people with GD have BST which is size of gender they identify with , not size of biological sex
-this dimorphism in BST fits with report made by people who are transgender that they feel from early childhood, they were born wrong sex
-follow up study 6 transgender people showed avg BST neuron number in female range
Explain how gender dysphoria could be explained in terms of biological influence - genetic factors
-Coolidge et al
Assessed 157 twin pairs 96 MZ 61 DZ for evidence of GD
-found 62% of variance could be accounted for by genetic factors
Suggests there’s strong heritable component to GD
-similarly, Heylens et al compared 23 MZ w 21 DZ where 1 of each pair diagnosed w GD
-found 39% MZ were concordant for GD compared to none of DZ. which would indicated role for GF in developing GD
Whats a limitation of BST and its central claim shave been challenged
Pol et al studied changes in transgender indivuals brains using MRI taken during hormone treatment
Scans showed size of BST changed significantly
Studies by Kruijver et al + Zhou et al , the best BST was examined post-mortem + after transgender individuals received hormone treatment during gender reassignment treatment
Suggests differences in BST may been affect of hormone therapy, rather than cause of BST
Whats a strength of biological explanation and evidence that suggests there may be other brain differences associated with GD
Rametti et al studied another sexually dimorphic aspect of brain , that of white matter
There are regional differences in proportion of white matter in male/female brains
He analysed brains of both male/female transgender individuals , BEFORE they began hormone treatment as part of gender reassignment
Most cases, amount/distribution of white matter corresponded more closely to gender individuals identified as , not bio sex
Suggests early differences in brains of trans people
Explain social constructionism as a social explanation for Atypical gender development
-SC perspective argues gender identity doesn’t reflect underlying biological difference between people, + instead concepts ‘invented’ by societies
-ppl who experience GD , gender ‘confusion’ arises as society forces ppl to be either man/woman = act accordingly
-from this view, GD isn’t pathological condition but social phenomenon which arises when people required to pick one out of 2 paths
-McClintock cites case of individuals with genetic condition in Sambia of New Guinea
-causes some biological males to be categorised as girls at birth as have a Labia +clit
-at puberty genitals change due to incr testosterone , tetses descend , clit enlarges into penis
-this genetic variation common among the sambia , accepted some people are men, women and some are Kwolu- aatmwol , female to male
-since this culture has contacted with other vultures , now judged as having pathological form of GD
Explain psychoanalytic theory as a social explanation for Atypical gender development
-Ovesey + Peterson emphasise social relationships within family as cause of GD
-argue that GD in biological males is caused by a boy experiencing extreme separation anxiety before gender identity has been established
-boy fantasises of symbiotic fusion w his mother to relieve anxiety , and separation danger removed
Consequence of this is the boy becomes the mother, adopts woman’s gender identity
-theory has some support
Stoller reports that in interviews, GD bio males displayed overly close relationships with their mothers suggesting strong female identification , thus conflicted gender identity in long term
Whats a strength of the social constructionism approach in that not al cultures have 2 genders
Seen how some cultures recognised more than 2 genders, like in Samoa
This is a challenge to traditional binary classifications of male and female
Indeed fact that increasing no. Of ppl now describe themselves as non binary suggests cultural understanding is only now beginning to ‘catch up’ w lived exp of many
Suggests gender identity +dysphoria is best seen as social construction, X biological fact
Whats a limitation of the psychoanalytic theory of GD
-ovesey + petersons explanation X provide adequate account of GD in biological females as theory only applies to trans women (those who assigned male at birth who identify as women)
In any case, research by Rekers found GD in those assigned male at birth more likely to be associated w absence of father than fear of separation from mother
Suggests psychoanalytic theory doesn’t provide comprehensive account of gender dysphoria
