Biosocial - Gender Flashcards
What do Money and Ehrhardt propose?
- There are a number of critical events that affect early development - before birth so are biological
- BUT from birth onwards social factors also play an important part (e.g. labelling as a boy/girl)
= social factors interact with biological ones to determine gender identity
What are some examples of gender behaviour having roots in biology?
Testosterone meant men did the hunting as they were stronger and faster etc
What classes a child as ‘intersex’
Most children’s biological sex matches the gender of upbringing
- Intersex children are born with ambiguous genitals and are not obviously one sex or the other
What was Money’s theory surrounding social influences?
He claimed that if the gender rearing is decided before the child’s third birthday social factors are so influential that children accept assigned gender (N/N)
Who did Goldwyn do a case study of?
Mrs DW:
- Had CAIS and was brought up as a woman
- Informed in her late teens that she was biologically male BUT was happy as a woman
How does the case study of Mrs DW support Biosocial?
Because it supports Moneys idea of gender rearing being assigned before the third birthday. DW accepted her gender and was happy as a woman.
How does N/N relate to Mrs DW?
It is unclear wether this case was due to social factors or biological ones as testosterone would have had no effect of DW in the womb so she would have developed as a female even though she was XY. Has had no influence from males hormones
= Shows nurture may be stronger than nature but DW hasn’t had much influence from nature as did not respond to male hormones
What happened to David Reimer?
A twin who’s penis was burnt off at a young age:
- Money told his parents to raise him as a girl so he became Brenda
- Was always unhappy as a girl even being unaware of his true gender. Was more masculine e.g. liked boys toys
- Told the truth at 14 and decided to be male
Why is the case of David Reimer against Biosocial?
Shows nature/biological factors are much more important than social ones
How does N/N relate to David Reimer?
Shows the effect of testosterone on David’s brain in the womb made him male even though his testicals were removed. Nature had no effect on his gender and he never felt female.
How does SSNR relate to David Reimer?
Money made decisions for David e.g. to remove testicals. This often happens however this may not be the wishes of the person as shown in Davids case.c
What did Wood and Eagley do?
Studied gender roles across the world
What did Wood and Eagley find?
- In non-industrialised cultures men contributed most to gather food, more pronounced in cultures where food was hunted
- Women contributed more to childcare
- There were also ‘swing activities’ which were preformed by males in some cultures and females in others, such as fire making
What does Wood and Eagley’s study show?
Supports BioSocial:
- Shows universal gender roles
- Shows the effect of social factors causing ‘swing activities’
How does Wood and Eagley’s study relate to N/N?
Shows most people are influenced by biological factors but also social factors = carry out different activities in different cultures due to nurture
