Chapter 6 Flashcards
John Money vs. Tiger Devore’s views on gender
- Money believes gender is learned, and that gender identity can also be learned if assigned early and properly enforced
- Devore (who was born intersex) believes that gender is learned, but gender identity cannot be assigned and learned -> it’s determined by our mind
typical medical practice for infants with ambiguous genitals and its alternative
- typical practice: surgery to “normalize” genitals
- in 2006, it was recommended to be very cautious with doing these surgeries
- alternative: do nothing - allow kids to live with body they’re born in, and they can decide later if they want to go through surgery
typical advice parents of transgender children receive
- “gender adjustment model”
- convince child to accept/adjust to birth sex
- correct cross-gender behaviour (gender non-conformity)
- reinforce sex-typing (children conforming to gender norms and enjoying activities consistent with socially acceptable activities for their gender)
modern advice parents of transgender children receive
- “identity actualization model”
- accept gender identity claimed by child
- allow child to socially transition in childhood and physically transition in adolescence (through puberty blocking hormones - controversial b/c we don’t know long-term effects on development, sex hormones, and/or sex-reassignment surgery)
sex
- biologically defined term
- classification of people as male or female based on chromosomes, hormones, internal reproductive organs, and genitalia
intersex
individual with ambiguous genitals who cannot be easily classified as male or female
gender
- socially defined term
- based on roles, behaviours, activities, and personality traits considered ‘proper’ for men and women
- usually consists of 2 binary categories: masculine and feminine
- culture and history dependent
gender identity
- personally defined (defined by our own mind)
- contains 2 aspects: core gender identity and gender role identity
core gender identity
- how one personally defines their sex identity
- typically solidified by 3 years of age
- typically a binary category (male or female)
- typically permanent, immutable (can’t be changed by parents or doctors), and stable
genderqueer
someone who doesn’t identify as male or female
transgender identity
- core gender identity and biological sex at birth do not match (1% of people)
- gender dissonance
cisgender identity
core gender identity and biological sex match
gender-role identity
- how one personally defines their gender identity (preferred gender roles, ornamentation, behaviour, activities, personality traits)
- tied to familial, society, cultural and historical factors
- continually modified/refined across the lifespan (ex. can be modified to become more traditional once you become a parent)
androgynous
if one’s gender role identity includes some socially prescribed roles, behaviours, activities, and psychological attributes of both men and women
4 types of gender role identities
- masculine: high levels of masculinity, low levels of femininity
- feminine: high levels of femininity, low levels of masculinity
- androgynous: high levels of both masculinity and femininity
- undifferentiated: low levels of both masculinity and femininity
Implications of studies showing that different gender role identities have different levels of self-esteem in different countries
- In America, adolescents with masculine or androgynous gender identity had highest self-esteem, whereas in Israel, girls with masculine gender identity had lower self-esteem
- shows that American results aren’t universal
- also shows that androgyny can have self-esteem benefits and that forcing people to adhere to gender norms isn’t even in their best interest
gender expression
- the way one publicly communicates their gender identity with others (behaviours, clothing, hairstyle, etc.)
- typically consistent with core gender identity, but not always (ie. when dressing up in drag)
transgender as an umbrella term
- includes both gender identity (gender dissonance) and gender expression (gender variant or cross-gender behaviour)
- has political advantage of being more inclusive in order to prevent discrimination
how parents reinforce sex-typing in children
- parents reinforce sex-typed behaviour as young as 18 months
- children show sex-typed behaviour as early as 18-24 months (before they can label themselves as male or female)
- parent reinforcement of gender norms positively associated with sex-typing in children
how same-sex peers contribute to sex-typing in children
- kids show preference for same-sex friends as early as 3 (after they can label themselves and others as male or female)
- sex-typed behaviour is encouraged in same-sex friendship interactions
- same-sex friendships positively associated with sex-typing in children -> demands more gender conformity
interactions in same-sex female friendships
- enabling style of interaction
- no open conflict (must be publicly nice, can be mean behind each other’s backs)
- no boasting/self-promotion
- support/compliment each other
interactions in same-sex male friendships
- restricted/constricting style of interaction
- open conflict expected
- self-promotion expected
- interrupting expected
how age contributes to gender role knowledge and flexibility
- age influences gender role knowledge, which positively correlates with sex-typing in children
- age is negatively correlated with cross-gender behaviour in children
gender role knowledge/sex-typing at 0-3 years
- low gender role knowledge
- low sex-typing; some cross-gender behaviour is the norm
gender role knowledge/sex-typing at 3-5 years
- rigid gender role knowledge/low flexibility (nothing is in the “both” basket - things are either for boys or for girls)
- rigid sex-typing, low cross-gender behaviour
gender role knowledge/flexibility at 7 years
some gender role flexibility (a few items in the “both” basket)
how cognitive factors contribute to gender stereotype flexibility
- kids with early peaks in gender stereotype rigidity also showed early onset on gender stereotype flexibility
- kids with later peak in gender stereotype rigidity also had later onset of gender stereotype flexibility (flexibility reached by age 10)
how social factors/societal values contribute to gender stereotype flexibility
- 6 year-olds show greater gender stereotype rigidity for masculine role and greater gender stereotype flexibility for feminine role
- mirrors adult responses to cross-gender behaviour
How Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning would explain sex typing
parents/adults reinforce (ie. through smiling) gender conformity and punish (ie. through frowning) cross-gender behaviour
How Bandura’s theory of observational learning would explain sex typing
- children observe models that conform to gender norms
- models can be parents, media, etc.
gender constancy theory
- when children acquire an understanding of gender constancy, sex-typing increases
- old theory that isn’t well-supported by data
gender schema theory
- once children acquire an understanding of gender identity, sex-typing increases
- there is data to support this
universal stages of gender knowledge
- gender identity
- gender stability (across the lifespan)
- gender constancy
gender identity stage
- acquired at 2.5-3 years
- question asked: “is this a boy or a girl?”
gender stability
- acquired at 3-4 years
- question asked: “what will the girl be when she grows up? A mom or a dad?”
gender constancy
- acquired at 5-7 years
- question asked: “if this girl cut her hair short, will she be a boy?”
