Gender: Atypical gender development Flashcards
What is gender identity disorder?
Characterised by strong feelings of identification with the opposite gender and discomfort with one’s own assigned sex.
People with GID desire to live as members of the opposite sex and often dress and use mannerisms associated with the opposite gender.
What are the two MAIN explanations of GID?
Biological
Social-Psychological
What are the biological explanations of GID?
Brain sex theory
Transsexual gene
Phantom limb and cross wiring
Environmental effects- pesticides
What is Brain Sex Theory?
It suggests that GID is caused by specific brain structures that are incompatible with a person’s biological sex, in particular dimorphic areas.
Who researched into Brain Sex Theory?
Ning Zhou
He studied the BSTc which is assumed to be fully developed at 5 and around 40% larger in males.
In post-mortem studies of 6 male-to-female transgender individuals, the BSTc was found to be a similar size to that of a typical female brain.
What is the transsexual gene?
Hare et al (2009) studied the DNA of 112 female transsexuals. They had longer versions of androgen receptors than the ‘normal sample’. This means that there is less testosterone and therefore, under-masculing the brain.
What are the 3 social-psychological explanations of GID?
Mother-son relationships
Father daughter relationships
Mental illness
What is the mother-son relationship explanation of GID?
Stoller (1975) proposed that gender dysphoria results from distorted parental attitudes.
In clinical interviews with individuals diagnosed with gender Dysphoria, Stoller observed that they displayed overly close and enmeshed (tangled) mother-son relationships. This would be likely to lead to greater female identification.
What is the father daughter relationship explanation of GID?
In the case of FtM transsexuals, Zucker (2004) has suggested that females identify as males because of severe paternal rejection in early childhood. Unconsciously, they think that if they become male, they might gain acceptance from their fathers.
What is the mental illness relationship explanation of GID?
A number of psychologists have proposed that gender dysphoria is related to mental illness, which in turn is due to childhood trauma or maladaptive upbringing.
Coates et al (1991) produce a case history of a boy who developed gender dysphoria, proposing that this was a defensive reaction to the boy’s mother’s depression following an abortion. This trauma occurred at 3 years old, a time when gender development is most sensitive to gender issues.
Suggest that the trauma may have led to cross-gender-fantasy as a means of resolving the ensuring anxiety.
AO3 for atypical gender development
-Contradictory evidence for BSTc
-Twin studies are inconclusive
-Biological explanations oversimplify
-Ethical issues
(-AO3) Contradictory evidence for BSTc
It is claimed that the BSTc is fully formed at age 5 so any hormone treatment that transgender individuals undergo as part of surgery should not have a bearing on the BSTc. But it has been found that transgender hormone therapy did affect the size of the BSTc. Therefore observed differences in the BStc may be due to hormone therapy rather than being a cause of GID.
(-AO3) Twin studies are inconclusive
Not only do twin studies in this area not produce high concordance rates, it is also very difficult to separate the influence of nature versus nurture. Twins may influence each other and the environmental conditions they are exposed to are very similar. Also, GID occurs so rarely that sample sizes in twin studies tend to be extremely small, limiting the extent to which effective generalisations can be made.
(-AO3) Biological explanations oversimplify
Biological Explanations Complex Concept. Biological Explanations reduce complex conditions and behaviour to simple genetic, neuroanatomical and hormonal levels. There is a danger that other important and contributing factors like social and psychological levels are ignored. This means that the biological explanation of GD is very reductionist. Instead, an interactionist approach is appropriate looking at several different social and psychological levels.
(-AO3) Ethical issues
There are ethical issues with research into dysphoria, namely that it is an extremely socially sensitive area of research, with potentially huge consequences for individuals represented in research. For example, if a biological cause is identified this might help others to become more accepting of transsexuals, understanding that it is not their fault, or it may cause others born with the biological cause to be neglected. evidence from research suggests that a simple deterministic cause-and-effect relationship is unlikely either way, the outcome has important social consequences for sufferers of gender dysphoria.
