Chapter 5: Gender Identity and Gender Roles Flashcards
Gender
The behavioural, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex
Gender is distinct from anatomic sex
which is based on the physical differences between female and males
Sexual differentiation
The process by which males and females develop distinct reproductive anatomy
Aristotle mistakenly believed that
Hot semen generated males, whereas cold semen made females
Chromosomes
Rodlike stricture in the nucleus of every living cell. It carries genetic cord, in the form of genes.
Zygote
Fertilized ovum (egg cell)
At about _____ weeks, a primitive heart begins to drive blood through the embryonic bloodstream.
3
Embryo
Stage of prenatal development that begins with implantation of a fertilized ovum in the uterus and concludes with development of the major organ system about 2 months after conception
Androgens
Male sex hormone (without this we develop femalere productive organs
Testosterone
Male steroid sex hormone
Inguinal canal
A fetal canal that connects the scrotum and the testes, allowing the latter to descend
cryptorchidism
At least one of the testes fails to descend from the abdomen into the scrotum
Intersex
is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that is not typical for males or females
Hermaphrodites
Someone who possesses both ovarian and testicular tissue
- May menstruate
- Incomplete internal reproductive organs
- Female breast structure
Less rare intersex conditions may occur in as many of ____% of live births
2%
congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH)
Intersex condition in which a genetic female has internal female sexual structures and masculinized external genitals
- Female fetus’ adrenals produce large amounts of androgens
- Androgens masculinize genitals, which enlarges the clitoris and labia which fuse and look like a scrotum
- Usually raised as boys but develop breasts at puberty
- Can be partly corrected with surgery and hormone therapy
- Normally have internal structures (e.g ovaries)
Gender dysphoria
A sense of incongruity between assigned sex and gender identity that causes significant distress
androgen-insensitivity syndrome (AIS)
Intersex condition in which a genetic male is prenatally insensitive to androgens.
Genitals do not become normally masculinized and individuals are typically assigned female sex at birth
Klinefelter’s syndrome (1 in 500 males)
Disorder in which a male has an extra X sex chromosome (XXY pattern than XY pattern)
- Small testes and reduced fertility
- Develop breasts (1/3)
- Lack of facial hair
- Less interest in sex. but testosterone injects can increase this
Turner’s syndrome (1 in 2500 Females)
Female has just one X sex chromosome (An pattern opposed to XX)
- immature female, ovaries absent or rudimentary
- Short and have a webbed neck
- Infertility, no breast development
- Estrogen replacement therapy (age 12-15) will help in development (i.e breasts)
Dominican Republic syndrome
DHT-deficient males
Genetic enzyme disorder prevents testosterone from masculinizing the external genitalia
- Genetically XY but develop female-like external genitals
- Typically raised girl / women
- Defect prevents prenatal conversion of testosterone into DHT (Dihydrotestosterone)
- At puberty, male genitals develop due to increased testosterone (16/18 study patients become men)
- Culture impacts biology as men rules country
Lecture Material
Beyond all of this
Triple X syndrome
XXX, 1;1000
- Normal IQ range, but reduced compared to siblings
- Language delay for half the cases
- Facial features such thin lip, short nose, underdeveloped jaw, etc
Poly X syndrome
XXXXX (very rare)
-Serious IQ drop (25-75 points)
Supermale
super male
XYY (1;1000)
- taller, learning disability and delayed speech half the time
- Youthful face, reduced body hair (lack of testosterone)
- Small testes, osteoporosis
Testicular Feminization syndrome (XY)
- Androgens produced, but insensitive to testosterone
- External female genitals
- Blind vagina, no uterus
- Little sexual motivation
- Due to lack of androgens
What do these examples of intersex variants tell us?
- Intricate interaction between genetic and hormonal influences
- If excess androgen during critical periods of embryonic development - male like genitals in genetic female
- Also suggests an hormonal role in sexual motivation
Role of androgens in sexual motivations for male and female
Castration (remove testes in males)
- But this reduces or abolishes sexual interest
- But some may continue interest due to experience and psychological factors (after pueberty as they have had sexaul reponses)
Androgen brain implants in hypothalamus of nonhumans (if one implants androgen into the brain, this generates sexual behaviour)
When women lose their andrenal glands
They lose androgens and decrease sexual motivation
-plus estrogen is produced from androgen
Androgen therapy alone is not very effective with Women with low sexual desire
But androgen administered to women with certain cancers increased sexual motivation
Conclusions
1) Sexual motivation requires proper amoint of hormones 6 erptic stimuli (Direct or symbolic)
2) Androgen have a role for men and women
- estrogen and progesterone also important for women
3) Experience can mitigate low testosterone but not fully of-set
4) Optimal amount of androgen
- typically more is produced naturally than necessary
5) Biological only part of story
- psychological /social factors very important for sexualty (biology is not everything)
Gender identity definition
our psychological awareness or sense of being a boy or a man, or a girl or a woman, or another gender
-one of the most central aspects of self-concept
Most children become aware of their assigned sex by about ___ months of age
18 months (1.5 years)
By ____ months, most children have acquired a firm sense of gender identity
36 months (3 years old)
Gender binary
Social system that classifies sex and gender into two distinct, opposite forms of masculine and feminine
Gender identity is usually consistent with ____ sex
chromosomal
Sex assigned at birth
refers to the classification of anatomic sex given at birth as either male, female, or intersex
Intersex
An individual whom the development of external and / or internal genitalia has been atypical
cisgender
the sex they were assigned at birth matches their gender identity (penis = boy)
intersexuality
Atypical development of the external and / or internal genitalia
transgender or trans
person whose gender is different from their assigned sex at birth
- 1.4 million trans individuals in the United States
- Young adults aged 18 to 24 were more likely than older groups to report that they were transgender.
Gender Dysphoria
involves a sense of incongruity between assigned sex and gender identity such that individuals:
(1) believe they have thoughts and feelings consistent with the other gender;
(2) would like to be treated as the other gender;
(3) want to change their sex characteristics to be consistent with the other gender.
agender
umbrella term for people who do not have a gender or who describe their gender as neutral
Gender fluid
refers to a changing or “fluid” gender identity
Genderqueer
an identity adopted by people who do not identify or express their gender within the gender binary
Two-Spirited
term used by some Indigenous people to describe interrelated aspects of their gender, sexual, community, culture, and spiritual identities
Transitioning
refers to the activities that some trans people may pursue to begin living as the gender with which they identify rather than the gender they were assigned at birth
autogynephilic
Sexually stimulated by fantasies that their own bodies are female
Gender Reassignment
- Surgery (irreversible)
- hormones (male-to-female trans person receives estrogen, female-to-male trans person receives androgens)
External surgery for genitals
Male-to-female (MFT) surgery is generally more successful
the penis and testicles are first removed. Tissue from the penis is placed in an artificial vagina, where sensitive nerve endings will later provide sexual sensations . A penis-shaped plastic or balsa-wood form keeps the vagina distended during healing.
phalloplasty
Surgical creation of an artificial penis (penises don’t work very well, and the procedures are costly)
Stereotypes
fixed, oversimplified, sometimes distorted ideas about a group of people
Gender roles
stereotypes in that they evoke fixed, conventional expectations of men and women.
Sexism
the prejudgment that a person will possess certain traits because of gender
Two types of sexism remain prevalent
1) benevolent sexism
2) modern sexism
benevolent sexism
the tendency to help women as—what we used to call—the “weaker sex.”
modern sexism
the proclamation that sexism as we knew it is dead; we live in a “postsexist” society in which both women and men are judged only on their merit when it comes to hiring them or guiding them into various lines of academic and vocational work.
Women’s participation in the labour market has increased by ____% between 1950 and 2015
60
aggressive adolescent girls were more likely than aggressive adolescent boys to experience ___________
isolation, powerlessness, and depression.
Biological Perspectives
process by which an individual becomes a man or a woman.
Biological Perspectives (Gender Typing)
tend to focus on the roles of genetics and prenatal influences in predisposing men and women to gender-linked behaviour patterns.
-Roles of hormone in sculpting the brain
The Evolutionary Perspective (Gender Typing)
men’s traditional roles as hunters and warriors, and women’s roles as caregivers and gatherers of fruits and vegetables, are bequeathed to us in our genes
A study investigated the toy preferences of boys and girls at three age levels:
1) 9 to 17 months, when infants can first demonstrate toy preferences independently
2) 18 to 23 months, when an understanding of gender begins to emerge
3) 24 to 32 months, when understanding about gender becomes further established
Psychoanalytic Theory
requires that boys come to identify with their fathers and girls with their mothers
Oedipus complex
Conflict of phallic stage in which the boy wishes to possess his mother sexually and perceives his father as a rival for her love
-ages of three and five
Social–Cognitive Theory
explain the development of gender-typed behaviour in terms of processes such as observational learning, identification, and socialization
-rewards and punishments influence children to imitate adult models of the same gender
Socialization
Process by which an individual is guided into socially acceptable behaviour patterns through information, rewards, and punishments
Cognitive–Developmental Theory
- Kohlberg
- gender typing is not the product of environmental influences that mechanically stamp in gender-appropriate behaviour; rather, children themselves play an active role
- form schemas
schemas
A concept, or a way of interpreting experience or processing information
gender typing entails the emergence of three concepts:
gender identity, gender stability, and gender constancy
gender stability
the recognition that people retain their genders for a lifetime
gender constancy
The concept that people’s genders d not change, even if they alter their dress or behaviour
-age seven or eight
gender schemas
Cluster of mental representations about male and female physical qualities, havaiours, and personality traits
traditional sexual script
Men take assertive and active role in heterosexual interaction while women take a receptive and passive role
-men and women are expected to behave and interact sexually is still in place
The Sexual Double Standard
men and women are evaluated differently for the same sexual behaviours
psychological androgyny
State characterized by possession of both stereotypical masculine traits and stereotypical feminine traits
