gender Flashcards
sex
refers to biological status and whether you are assigned male or female at birth
gender
refers to someones psychological status, including social norms and cultural expectations we associate with this
androgynous
mix of male and female
Bem
- created the Bem Sex Role Inventory
- asked 600 questions about masculine and feminine characteristics
- most people were fairly androgynous
Bian, Leslie and Cimpian (2017)
found that at 6, girls are already more likely to avoid games for ‘brilliant, really clever’ children
Witt (1997)
suggested that androgynous upbringings may be more beneficial to children
gender biology
- humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes
- 23rd pair is either XX or XY
- the sperm is the gamete that determines the sex
Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome
- the sperm cell contains the sex determining region which leads to development of testes
- at 8 weeks, these can be insensitive to androgens so male development never happens
Klinefelter’s syndrome (XXY)
- feminine physique
- 30% of cases lead to breast development
- small testes and possibly infertility
- poor language and reading skills
- passive temperament starting as a child
Turner’s syndrome (XO)
- webbing in neck
- ovaries are undeveloped leading to infertility
- anorexia and amenorrhoea
- above average language skills
- socially immature
primary sexual characteristics
genitals
secondary sexual characteristics
voice deepening, breast growth, body hair growth
testosterone in girls
- high levels lead to disorders like PCOS
- positively correlated with violent behaviour
Oxytocin
- ‘love’ hormone produced across all sexes
- produced at most after giving birth or breastfeeding
Young (1966)
opposite sex hormones were given to rats and they started acting like the opposite sex
- however gender is more complex than this§
Kohlberg’s stages of learning gender
- gender labelling
- gender stability
- gender consistency
gender labelling
at age 2 or 3 infants begin to label others based on appearance
gender stability
at age 4 children recognise gender is stable, so boys grow into men, but still view gender as superficial and based on clothes, toys etc
gender consistency
at age 6 kids crack conservation and being to understand gender is a fixed status
Thompson (1975)
found that 90% of 3 year olds could identify their sex accurately, compared to 76% of 2 year olds
Slaby (1975)
asked young children questions such as ‘were you a girl or a boy when you were a baby’ and infants only began to give correct answers after age 4
Martin et al (1990)
suggests these schemas are developed in 3 stages:
- learning what is associated with each gender
- grouping ideas together
- rules begin to be formed
Bauer (1993)
did different masculine and feminine things to see which children copy him and the girls would copy both actions, but boys would only copy masculine
- but the masculine was shaving a bear
evaluation of Kohlberg
- reductionist
- difficult to measure
- lacks temporal validity
- doesn’t take into account non binary and androgynous
Freud
to develop properly, children required 2 parents of opposite genders so they could identify with and inherit the values of each gender
Patterson
found girls raised by lesbians have similar gender identities to those raised by heterosexual parents
Horney (1967)
argued that men’s womb envy was more prominent than penis envy
internalisation - Freud
children identify with the same-sex parent as the means of resolving their complexes, so they will take on their values and attitudes
Buss (1989)
- studied 37 cultures with 10,000 participants
- asked them what they look for in a partner
- men preferred younger partners who were physically attractive
- women preferred older partners who were ambitious
evaluation of Buss study
- ignores colonialism as we put these stereotypes onto all cultures, based off our culture
- ignores economic disparity as women used to not have access to money
- ignores different sexualities and diversity
Williams (1986)
- studied remote cultures with no TV and then after TV
- gender stereotypes became massively enforced when TV was introduced
Bee
children’s books and media are the most stereotypical of gender roles
Mead (1935)
studied tribes to see if gender is innate
arapesh = similar to western stereotype
mundugmoor = both genders are aggressive warriors
tchambull = roles were reversed
direct reinforcement
- children are more likely to be praised for demonstrating gender appropriate behaviour
- they will imitate behaviour they see being rewarded
indirect reinforcement
- they see the consequences of other people’s behaviour which shapes their views
e. g. seeing a young boy being bullied for being feminine
4 cognitive processes to learning gender behaviour
- attention
- retention
- motivation.
- motor reproduction
gender identity disorder
is a disorder underpinned by gender dysphoria which is the feeling of discomfort from being in the wrong body
Coates (1991)
a boy fantasised about being a girl as his mother was heavily depressed from an abortion and this was his way of coping, so this disorder came from emotional trauma and neglect
Stoller (1975)
gender identity disorder in boys comes from being too close to their mothers, meaning they become feminine
Cole (1997)
studied 435 individuals with dysphoria and found that there was no greater incidence of psychiatric problems
Zucker (1996)
did find that 64% of 115 boys with concerns about their gender identity did have seperation anxiety disorder
transmedicalism
emphasises the requirements of trans people to medically transition and stresses biological causes
Hare (2009)
- studied the DNA of 112 trans women
- suggested the influence of a gene on the presence of a longer androgen receptor
- this could reduce foetal testosterone and lead to a feminised brain
