Gender

Question 1

what are sex role expectations?

Answer 1

a set of expectations that prescribes how males and females should think feel and act

Via operant conditioning, gender appropriate behavior is rewarded, whereas gender inappropriate behavior is punished.

At school, there is pressure to take ‘gender suitable’ subjects, such as maths for boys and humanity subjects for girls.

This stretches into later life in terms of careers which are deemed more suitable for specific genders, e.g. nurse for females and engineers for males.

Question 2

study to support sex role stereotypes?

Answer 2

Fagot (1978) Conducted an observational study of children around the age of two years playing at home with their parents, recording the reinforcements (e.g. praise) and punishments (e.g. getting told off) the parents provided. She found that boys and girls were reinforced and punished for different behaviours. Boys were reinforced for playing with gender appropriate toys (e.g. bricks) and punished for playing with dolls. Girls were reinforced for staying close to the parent and punished for rough and tumble play.

This shows that there is an expectation by parents that their child should fulfill sex role stereotypes and play with the appropriate toys to their stereotype.

This supports the idea of operant conditioning as through the use of rewards and punishment the stereotype is re-enforced to the child through values demonstrated by their parents.

Question 3

study to support gender appropriate toys?

Answer 3

Langlois and Downs (1980). Conducted an observation of children who were given either gender appropriate or gender inappropriate toys to play with in a room with other children of their own age. E.g. boys and girls were given either a gun or a doll. They found that those playing with gender inappropriate toys were ridiculed by their peers who openly made fun of them, when playing with gender appropriate toys this was not the case

Question 4

what is the medias effect on sex role stereotypes?

Answer 4

The media is likely to influence sex role stereotypes through Social learning theory and also by creating Social norms which boys and girls feel under pressure to Conform to.

Question 5

study to support medias influence on sex role stereotypes?

Answer 5

McGhee et al (75) – conducted a longitudinal study on a sample of 40 boys and 40 girls sampled at age 4, 8, 10 and 12 and found a positive correlation between the amount of television they watched and their sense of traditional gender stereotypes.

The role models seen within TV are displaying sex typed behaviors and children are identifying with these role models and imitate the behavior

Question 6

what was Bem’s study?

Answer 6

This is how Bem designed the sex-role inventory – asked 50 males and 50 females to rate a list of 200 trait (personality) words, in terms of how desirable they were for men and women. From the list of 200, Bem selected 20 that were consistently rated as desirable for men, 20 for women (these demonstrate sex role stereotypes) and 20 neutral. The 60 items were randomly ordered and placed on the self report questionnaire as described on the previous page.

Question 7

research study for androgyny?

Answer 7

Olds (1981) believed androgyny is a higher developmental stage reached only by some, while Bem (1983) argued that androgynous individuals have a different cognitive style and adopt behaviors which are independent of gender concepts. Therefore androgynous people are gender aschematic (not influenced by sex role stereotypes.)

Question 8

evaluation of Bem’s research

Answer 8

Bem’s research took place over 40 years ago and was carried out with Californian students. There is reasonable to assume that ideas about masculinity and femininity have changed eg assuming that women not being competitive whereas this is not the same now and it would be neutral.

However, Holt and Ellis (1998) carried out a partial replication of Bem’s work and found that 58 of the 60 adjectives still fitted in with the 3 subscales. Therefore Bem’s work demonstrates temporal validity as it continues to be a good measurement of sex role stereotypes 40 years after it was originally devised.

Question 9

what is the relationship between gender and the role of chromosomes and hormones?

Answer 9

Gender is caused by neurological differences brought on by chromosological differences and their effects on early and late testosterone exposure. Testosterone is a steroid hormone which stimulates the development of male secondary characteristics.

Question 10

explain early testosterone exposure and relationship with gender?

Answer 10

EARLY TESTOSTERONE EXPOSURE: Firstly, Males are XY and females are XX. Neonates are all essentially females but at between 8-24 weeks the SRY gene on the Y chromosome orders their gonads to release testosterone. Females don’t release much but male gonads release testosterone which effects the development of the hypothalamus. These brain differences are thought to be the cause of gender differences.

Question 11

study to support the relationship between gender and biological determinism?

Answer 11

Swaab et al (11) Looked at the BSTc for men and women. They found that both hetero sexual and homosexual men had a 2x larger BSTc but that women and MTF transgender had a smaller BSTC. (BSTc joins the hypothalamus and the amygdala)

This shows that gender identity may be biologically determined as a transgender male to female possesses the same nucleus as a female.

Question 12

case study to show biology has more of an impact go gender development than environment?

Answer 12

David Reimer – identical twin and had a poor circumcision which left him with barely any penis. Money recommended to parents that they reassign him to being a girl. Had testes and rest of penis removed and grew up as a girl. Took hormones at puberty to be a girl. Results: Always had social problems and when her mother finally told her, her response was ‘I was relieved. Suddenly it all made sense why I felt the way I did. I wasn’t some sort of weirdo’. Changed to being male, married and adopted 3 stepchildren. Unfortunately killed himself when his wife left him in 2004

Question 13

study into the role of estrogen in gender development?

Answer 13

Albrecht and Pepe (1997) increasing oestrogen levels in pregnant baboons led to heightened cortisol production , which assisted development or organs and tissues in fetuses and led to reduced miscarriages.

This is supporting evidence for difference in hormones leading to gender development

Question 14

evaluation of the roles of hormones and chromosomes on gender?

Answer 14

Bio explanation to gender overemphasis the role of nature in gender development. If biological explanation were to be true, we would expect bigger differences between male and female results and the likes of andrology would not occur.

Good scientific research using measures such as brains cans

Bio explanation is reductionist because it simplifies the complex idea of gender into individual component parts such as genes and hormones.

Biologically deterministic and suggests that our gender is determined by how much hormones we are exposed to in the womb

Question 15

explain Klinefelter’s syndrome and Turner’s syndrome?

Answer 15

The role of hormones in gender development can be seen in those with atypical chromosomal patterns. Two of the best known abnormalities are called Turner’s Syndrome where a female is born with just one X Chromosome (XO) and Klinefelter’s where a male is born with an EXTRA Chromosome (XXY). As well as having these abnormal chromosomal patterns these individuals tend to exhibit abnormal physical/sexual characteristics and gender behaviors for instance females with Turner’s syndrome tend to show the following characteristics:

Broader shape
No breasts
No menstrual cycle

Whilst males with Klinefelters tend to show the following:
Breast development
Under developed limbs
Poorly developed language skills

Question 16

study to explain KF syndrome?

Answer 16

Simpson et al. (2003) found that behavioral and language difficulties resulting from KS could be successfully treated with androgen therapy, such as testosterone supplements and psychological counseling with greater improvements the earlier the treatment was given.

Because people with KF receiving testosterone treatment helps them, we might infer that the difference in their chromosomes causes low testosterone levels

However we have a problem here with the treatment-causation fallacy, due to testosterone treatment helping KF patients, it does not mean that their symptoms are caused by low testosterone.

Question 17

explain the cognitive developmental approach to gender?

Answer 17

The cognitive developmental approach focuses on how a child’s understanding of gender develops qualitatively over time. Gender identity is seen to result from children actively structuring their own experiences, rather than being a passive outcome of social learning. Different gender behavior therefore reflects how children understand and think about gender. These changes reflect a) the accumulation of information gathered from the environment and b) the maturation of the child’s brain which allows more sophisticated process of information.

Question 18

what is kohlbergs theory?

Answer 18

Kohlberg (1966) put forward a structuralist approach to gender development. His theory proposed that a child’s understanding of gender moves forward in set, sequential stages.

At each successive stage, the child thinks in distinct and qualitatively different ways about gender. As the child moves through the stages its understanding of gender becomes more complex. Once they reach the final stage, Gender Constancy they begin actively seek information about gender from the world.

Kohlberg’s theory suggests that gender development is driven primarily by brain maturation. That is, that a child’s brain development and growth limits the complexity of thought that they are capable of at certain ages.

At the same time as maturation is taking place, the child receives information from their environment about gender. Because maturation limits gender development, Kohlberg also believed that his stages are universal, i.e. they are found in all cultures

Question 19

what is meant by structuralism?

Answer 19

The methodology that elements of human culture must be understood in terms of their relationship to a larger, overarching system or structure. It works to uncover the structures that underlie all the things that humans do, think, perceive, and feel.

Kohlberg’s theory has three stages and is therefore structuralist

Question 20

what are the stages of kohlbergs theory?

Answer 20

The first stage is gender identity, which is usually from 2-3 years. At this stage the child is able to correctly label its own sex and shortly after this the sex of other people (provided they are stereotypically ‘normal’). However, the child does not see gender as stable over time or across changes in superficial physical characteristics (e.g. length of hair, clothes), thus they may believe that they although they are a boy now, they could be a mummy when they grow up, and can change sex immediately by putting on a dress or makeup.

The second stage is gender stability, which is usually from 3- 4 years. At this stage the child realizes that gender remains the same over time, they are a boy now and they will be boy tomorrow and man when they are older. However, their understanding of gender is heavily influenced by superficial physical characteristics like hair and clothing. A boy at this stage might say that if he puts on a dress or grows long hair he would be a girl.

It is not until the third stage, gender constancy, that the child starts to understand that gender is independent of superficial physical characteristics. The child realizes that some men have long hair, some women have short hair, indeed a man could wear a dress and he would still be a man. This stage is usually from 4-7 years. It is usually at this stage that a child starts to use genitalia to justify gender (since this remains constant over time and superficial appearance).According to Kohlberg, it is not until they reach this stage that children start actively processing gender information by seeking out and copying sex-typed behavior.

Question 21

study to evaluate kohlbergs theory?

Answer 21

Munroe – the concepts of gender identity, stability and constancy occur in that order across many cultures including Kenya, Belize, Samoa and Nepal

Supports the idea that stages of gender development are universal

Specifically to do with brain development

Bussey and Bandura (1992) Children begin to demonstrate gender-appropriate behavior before gender constancy is achieved. Children as young as 4 reported ‘feeling good’ with gender appropriate toys and ‘feeling bad’ about doing the opposite.
Counter evidence to kohbly
Undermines Kohlberg’s theory by instead supports gender schema theory – children begin to absorb gender appropriate material as soon as they identify as males or females

Question 22

evaluation of klmhlbergs theory

Answer 22

cannot explain individual differences - why some children are more sex typed than others

Question 23

what does the term schema mean?

Answer 23

A mental construct that holds ideas about an object or a situation based upon experience

Question 24

what is gender schema theory?

Answer 24

Gender Schema Theory suggests that as soon as children are able to label themselves a girl or a boy (i.e Gender identity at age 2-3 ) they start actively looking to the environment in order to build an increasingly rich and complex schemas about their gender. Children do not need to reach Gender constancy to start imitating and stereotyping gender behaviors, as Kolberg suggested. Whilst children are building their schemas about gender they also learn a great deal by imitating behavior (SLT), imitation of behavior then happens much earlier than Kohlberg suggested and secondly these schemas rather than being incorrect and then correct, are initially simple and then became more complex.

According to Gender Schema Theory children are active in building their schemas and quickly develop in-group and out-group beliefs about what is gender appropriate behavior. They then start to imitate the behavior of their own sex in - group) and ignore the behavior of the opposite sex out group). Initially this may including how girls and boys should dress and what they should play and with whom, and over time this may develop into how girls and boys think or feel differently.

Bem also argued that there are individual differences in terms of the strength of the schemas which relates to how ‘sex-typed’ an individual is. She suggested that the transference of these schemas is how cultures maintain and transmit gender roles.

Question 25

what are the key differences between gender schema theory and kohl bergs theory?

Answer 25

Kohlberg’s theory suggests that gender roles develop after gender constancy and children look for gender appropriate information at the age of 7

Whereas gender schema theory suggests that after children develop gender identity at 2-3 years and they start to develop a gender schema for boys and girls

Schema theory suggests we learn through experiences

There is an argument that they are two different processes (gender constancy is linked to motivation)

Question 26

study to explain in and out group

Answer 26

Langlois and Downs (1980). Conducted an observation of children who were given either gender appropriate or gender inappropriate toys to play with in a room with other children of their own age. E.g. boys and girls were given either a gun or a doll.

They found that those playing with gender inappropriate toys were ridiculed by their peers who openly made fun of them, when playing with gender appropriate toys this was not the case

Supports gender schema theory as children gain in group beliefs because of being ridiculed for displaying out group behaviors by the in group

However doesn’t necessarily prove schema theory and could be more to do with social learning theory

Question 27

study to contrast cognitive approach to gender?

Answer 27

agot (92) compared 27egalitarian families (equal power and roles) with 42 traditional families (the mother has more of a role). They interviewed and observed the parents playing with children at 18, 28, and 48 months. They gave the children gender labelling tasks at age 4 and found that children in traditional families tended to use gender labels earlier and showed more gender role stereotyping than those in the egalitarian families.

The study supports the idea of operant conditioning having an impact on gender development and reinforcement. The development is therefore not fully explained by the cognitive approach.

Question 28

what is the psychodynamic explanation of gender?

Answer 28

The psychodynamic explanation centers on the work of freud. Freud saw conscious behavior as motivated by sexual drives, with the structure of the mind consisting of the id ego and superego the 3 components of personality. Unconscious conflicts between these structures of mind occur in the 5 stages of psychosexual development oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital, after which the adult personality is formed. The key stage involved in gender development is the phallic stage.

In the first 2 stages oral and anal a child is perceived as bisexual, as gender identity is not seen as existing and there is no visible difference between the behavior of boys and girls. However at the phallic stage (3-5years) its libido (life force) in seen as increasingly focused on the genitals and the child’s identity develops through resolution of either the Oedipus complex (for boys) or the Electra complex (for girls).

solving oedipus complex and then taking mum or dads values.

Question 29

study to challenge Freud’s theory

Answer 29

Green (1978) studied 37 children growing up in non-traditional nuclear families (with gay or transsexual parents). In all cases but one the children developed typical gender identities and role behaviors.

Freud would suggests that the lack of a same sex role model would affect the way in which gender development took place and they would develop confused gender identity, however the study suggests that the children developed typical gender identity.

Question 30

issues with the psychodynamic explanation?

Answer 30

It is highly subjective

It relies on case studies

It is not falsifiable/empirical

Question 31

explain the social learning theory explanation for gender?

Answer 31

Learning through Observation: Bandura created the social learning theory and argued that learning takes place by selecting our role models and then imitating the behavior they get rewarded for. For example children may get rewarded for gender appropriate behavior such as a boy playing with stereotypical boy toys. However they may be punished for gender inappropriate behavior such as a girl playing with stereotypically boy toys. this behavior is less likely to be imitated. This is called learning through vicarious experience. We are more likely to select Role models which belong to the group we identify with.

Question 32

study to reinforce SLT explanation?

Answer 32

Fagot (92) compared 27egalitarian families (parents have equal power and role)
with 42 traditional families (male dominated and male goes to work whilst mum stays at home
)They interviewed and observed the parents playing with children at 18, 28, and 48 months. They gave the children gender labelling tasks at age 4 and found that children in traditional families tended to use gender labels earlier and showed more gender role stereotyping than those in the egalitarian families.

Question 33

study to support operant conditioning and gender?

Answer 33

Langlois and Downs (1980). Conducted an observation of children who were given either gender appropriate or gender inappropriate toys to play with in a room with other children of their own age. E.g. boys and girls were given either a gun or a doll. They found that those playing with gender inappropriate toys were ridiculed by their peers who openly made fun of them, when playing with gender appropriate toys this was not the case

Where kids ridicule each other for behavior they are less likely to repeat it as they perceive that as a punishment

Question 34

evaluation of SLT explanation for gender?

Answer 34

SLT Fails to account for new gender behaviors e.g. child caring men was within society that is deemed to be gender inappropriate and therefore less likely to be imitated.
HOWEVER SLT is more on the nurture side of the argument for example erp found by rewarding rats for aggressive behavior this can lead to neurological changes in the brain e.g. levels of serotonin. Suggesting there is a complex interaction between the two
This supports neuroplasticity and the way in which we reward will have an impact in the way in which our brain develops

Question 35

how does the SLT explanation accommodate for cross cultural differences?

Answer 35

Different cultures reinforce or punish different behaviors in their gender groups. Thus they use operant conditioning to ensure sex typed behavior. For example, being emotional may be punished in British boys but rewarded in Latin American cultures. Furthermore, societies vary in how strongly they condition sex-typed behaviors. For example, more individualistic cultures may promote individual freedoms rather than gender roles and thus not reinforce sex-typed behaviors. More collectivist cultures may rely more strongly on each member of the society performing a particular role and thus strongly reinforcing gender behaviors. For example, reinforcing sex-typed social roles such as men being the wealth earners and females raising children and being domestic workers.

Different cultures have different social norms which shape gender behavior. These can exert influence through a variety of ways. Firstly, through normative social influence in which people conform to gender stereotypes in order to fit in For example, women fake tan to fit in.

Question 36

study to support social expectations differences

Answer 36

mead

arapesh - Both males and females showed feminine traits

mundogomar - Both males and females were fierce and cannibalistic

Question 37

evaluation of mead?

Answer 37

Suggests that there is a biological component involved with the men being more aggressive. In times of war, men have an innate tendency to be more aggressive. When trying to survive, cultural expectations are not considered and instead the need to survive takes over and men are more aggressive due to having higher testosterone levels. The social expectations within the Tchumbuli tribe are that the men were more coquettish and flirtatious but in times of war they were more aggressive.

Question 38

criticisms of meads study?

Answer 38

Criticisms of Mead’s research
Mead has been criticised for observer bias (bias in what they see), mead has a preexisting view that gender was based on nurture factors rather than biological factors and for making sweeping generalisations about Samoan people based on a short period of study

Question 39

explain the relationship between the media and gender development?

Answer 39

The media provide role models with whom children might identify with and want to imitate. Media forms include movies, tv, social media. Children are more likely to select role models who are the same gender as they are, and who engage in gender appropriate behavior, as it is more likely to be reinforced.

For example, influencers may put on makeup and get lots of likes, which will be in the form of punishment in vicarious reinforcement. In TV on the whole, males are represented in higher status roles than females, whereas women are depicted as unambitious and dependent (Bussey and Bandura, 1999) and those who ‘consume’ the most media develop stronger perceptions of gender roles.

Question 40

study to support the role of media in gender roles?

Answer 40

Huston and Wright (1998) found that in US TV programmes males always outnumbered females, especially in children’s TV. Men are shown in dominant roles and higher occupational status and women in a narrow range of inferior roles, and less able to deal with problems

This shows that children are more likely to form gender typical views because the role models they see on TV reinforce a stereotype to the children watching the program.

This may explain the gender pay gap as women have less role models in dominant roles and are therefore less likely to take on this role in society

In an ideal world we would like to see more films and media sources to pass the Bechdel test, this would help to show men and women a range of different role models

Question 41

study into the applications of media?

Answer 41

Pingree (1978) showed that stereotyping is reduced when children were shown women with non-traditional roles. This has lead to pressure on program makers to use this knowledge to alter attitudes

BUT preadolescent boys displayed stronger stereotypes after exposure to non-traditional model. May be due to boys at that age wanting to take a view that is counter to the adults.

Question 42

what is gender identity disorder?

Answer 42

Gender Identity disorder: a condition whereby the external sexual characteristics of the body are perceived as opposite to the psychological experience of oneself as male or female.

For example: born with a penis (characteristics of a male) but psychological experience of feeling like a female

Question 43

what is gender dysphoria?

Answer 43

Personal feeling associated with this

Question 44

explain the biological explanation of gender dysphoria?

Answer 44

The biological explanation suggests that gender identity disorder is the result of an inherited genetic abnormality. This is thought to occur when testosterone exposure where an XY male is not exposed to enough testosterone and XX female is exposed to too much testosterone. This leads to areas of the brain developing in line with that of the opposite gender.

One biological explanation of gender dysphoria (brain sex theory) is that an individual may have inherited a genetic abnormality. This is thought to be due to prenatal testosterone exposure where an XY male is not exposed to enough and XX female is exposed to too much. This leads to key areas of their brain developing in line with that of the opposite gender and thus them experiencing a gender identity crisis in later life.

Research has shown that male’s BSTc tends to be 40% larger than females (Ning zhou 1995) and contains around twice the neurons. There is research that shows this direct link between brain development and gender dysphoria. The explanation offered for GID is that the size of the BSTc correlates with preferred sex/perceived gender rather than biological sex. It has been found that the number of neurons in the BSTc of male to female transsexuals was similar to that of females (Zhou et al., 1995). It is possible therefore that someone could have the wrong sex brain. This all suggests that Gender Dysphoria could be caused by abnormal neural development, potentially due to prenatal hormone exposure.

Question 45

study to support the biological explanation?

Answer 45

Kruijver et al (’00) – males have 2x as many somatostatin neurons than women. Took 42 male-to-female transsexuals and female-to-male transsexuals and found the number of neurons correspond to their gender of choice but not their biological sex

This supports the biological explanation for gender because it suggest that there is a direct link between somatostatin gender and gender of choice.

Question 46

study to contradict biological explanation for gender dysphoria

Answer 46

Rekers (79) – looked at 70 gender disturbed boys and found no evidence for prenatal hormone treatment in the mothers nor history of hormonal imbalance.

Question 47

study to suggest there may be nurture involved in biological explanation for gender dysphoria?

Answer 47

Chung et al. (2002) pre natal hormonal influences (that affect size of BSTc) are not triggered to adulthood, so although hormonal influences occur before birth, the structural changes that act as a result of this don’t occur till later – this casts doubt on the idea that dimorphic differences are present in early childhood

We cannot be sure whether the differences in brain eg: the size of the BSTc are due to the prenatal exposure or due to the effects of the environment and neuroplasticity

Question 48

evaluation of the biological approach to gender dysphoria?

Answer 48

It reduces the complex idea of gender development into simple components parts such as genetic and levels of testosterones. For example, the BStc may be linked to how an individual develops their gender identity, as the males BSTc of males are 40% larger than females (Ning Zhou 1995)

It doesn’t take into account factors such as the environment which may impact gender development as Rekers found that disturbed boys with no prenatal hormone treatment didn’t display the expected typical gender behaviours which would’ve been expected by the biological approach.

contradictory evidence - Another explanation of gender identity disorder could be explained through operant conditioning. This explanation would suggest that gender identity disorder is caused through being rewarded for behaviour that is gender inappropriate and punished for behaviour that is typically gender appropriate. The individual would learn to repeat the behaviours that are being rewarded and learn to not repeat the behaviours that are being punished. Therefore potentially causing gender identity disorder.

socially sensitive research - This explanation is socially sensitive since looking at the this prenatal event as problematic isn’t necessarily right. Element of blame attributed to parents as this a genetic abnormality- that the consequences of the abnormality should be seen as an issue since for many transgender people, their identity is just who they are, so labelling it as a problem may not be correct. Although this an unavoidable biological explanation could be helpful as it may lead to people being more socially accepting of people with these gender differences, making it easier for people with the disorder.

deterministic - This explanation is deterministic as it suggests that atypical gender development is as a result of prenatal testosterone exposure, so in theory if an XY male is not exposed to enough and XX female is exposed to too much then this will inevitably lead to atypical brain development, disturbing their perception of gender. This is a problem as it overlooks the role of a person’s socialisation in the environment they grow up in. From research we are well aware of the brain’s neuroplasticity, social experiences will also have a significant impact on a person’s brain development.

practical applications - Research into the biological explanation for GID is useful in various treatments. For example hormone replacement therapy and cross-sex hormone therapy which can be used to make you more comfortable with yourself, both in terms of physical appearance and how you feel. These hormones start the process of changing your body into one that is more female or more male, depending on your gender identity. You can then undertake surgical treatments such as a hysterectomy to permentantly alter your sex.

Question 49

what is the social explanation for gender dysphoria?

Answer 49

Social Learning Theory – Children are exposed to a number of role models including partents and peers. The first role models for children are parents, and therefore SLT would predict that parents who have strongly segregated roles would have children who show stronger gender stereotypes, due to imitation. It could also be, perhaps due to abnormal biological development, that some children adopt the ‘wrong’ gender role models and therefore learn by imitation and vicarious reinforcement from the ‘wrong’ sex. i.e. a boy adopts his mother as a role model and sees her wearing make-up and being rewarded for feminine behaviors and so does the same. This leads to a reinforcement of female gender identity.

Question 50

research to support the social explanation of gender dysphoria?

Answer 50

Reker (86) looked at gender disturbed boys who had a history of cross dressing. He found that 75% of the most disturbed had no father figure at home compared to 21% of least disturbed and 12% in general population. (only 36 in sample)

Question 51

explain conditioning in terms of the social approach to gender dysphoria?

Answer 51

Conditioning – Because cultures interpret physical differences as having meaning this results in them reinforcing and punishing different behaviors in boys and girls. For instance because boys are physically stronger they are encouraged to lift weights and go to the gym whereas because women bear children and breastfeed they are encouraged to have children _Children who, because of innate biology, have some opposite sex traits may have that behavior reinforced by parents. For example, a naturally feminine looking boy might be encouraged to focus more on his appearance and a naturally athletic girl might be encouraged to engage in more traditionally masculine pursuits. The child also might receive more attention for being ‘unusual’ which further reinforces the cross-gender behavior. Thus there is an interaction between their biological traits and the behavior that is encouraged.