gender: atypical gender development Flashcards
define gender dysphoria
characterised by strong persistent feeling of identification with the opposite gender and discomfort with one’s own assigned sex
people often desire to live as the opposite sex and present themselves as the opposite sex
this is called transgenderism
explain brain sex theory
Ning Zhou et al studied the bed nucleus of the stria terminals which is assumed to be fully developed at age 5 and is around 40% larger in males than females
in post-mortem studies of 6 male-to-female transgender people the BSTc was a similar size to that of a female brain
suggests gender dysphoria is caused by specific brain structures that are incompatible with a person’s biological sex
explain the influence of genetic factors
Gunter Heylens et al (2012) compared 23 MZ twins with 21 DZ twins where one of each pair had gender dysphoria
they found that 9 (39%) of the MZ twins were concordant for gender dysphoria compared to none of the DZ twins
shows there is a strong heritable component for gender dysphoria
AO3: other brain differences
a weakness of the bio explanation of gender dysphoria is that there are other brain differences
Rametti studies another sexually dysmorphic aspect of the brain > white matter which is deeper tissues of the brain
he analysed male and female transgender people before they began hormone therapy
in most cases the amount of distribution of white matter corresponded more closely to the gender that they identified with rather than their biological sex
ask miss for link for this
AO3: contradictory evidence for BSTc
it is claimed that the BSTc is fully formed by the age of 5 so any hormone treatment that transgender people undergo should not effect the BSTc
however this has been challenged by Hilleke Hulshoff Chung et al’s study that found that hormone therapy did affect the size of the BSTc
therefore the observed differences in the BSTc may be due to hormone therapy rather than gender dysphoria
hard ti find a cause and effect relationship
AO3: social construction
gender dysphoria may not be a pathologised disorder but instead a social disorder
the social constructionism theory suggests gender dysphoria doesn’t represent the underlying biological differences and only represents differences constructed by society
this is because for people with gender dysphoria the confusion stems from society forcing people to be either a man or woman
from this perspective its not a pathological disorder and is a social phenomenon that arises when people are forced to pick a side
AO3: incomplete psychodynamic explanation
Oversey and Person’s explanation does not provide an adequate explanation of gender dysphoria in biological females as the theory only applies to people assigned male at birth that transitioned to female
Rekers found that gender dysphoria in those assigned male at birth is more likely associated with the absence of a father rather than fear of separation from the mother
this suggests that the psychodynamic theory doesn’t provide a comprehensive account of gender dysphoria
AO3: support for social constructionism theory
not all cultures have two genders
eg: fa’affine of Samoa recognise that there are more than 2 genders
in society more people are identifying as non-binary > this suggests that the cultural understanding of gender is now beginning to catch up with the lives of many
suggests gender dysphoria is seen as a social construction rather than a biological fact
explain the psychoanalytical theory
Oversey and Pearson argue that gender dysphoria in males in caused by the child experiencing extreme separation anxiety before their gender identity is established
the child fantasises of a symbiotic fusion with his mother to relive the anxiety, then the danger of separation is removed
this leads to the child adopting a female identity
supporting study of the psychoanalytic theory
Stollerreports in interviews with gender dysphoric males, they were seen to display overly close mother-son relationships that would lead to greater female identification and confused gender identity long-term
social constructionism
social constructionism theory suggests gender dysphoria does not represent the underlying biological differences between people but is instead invented by society
this is because for people who experience gender dysphoria, the confusion arises because society forces people to either be men or women > they have to pick a side and act accordingly
from this perspective, gender dysphoria is not a pathological condition but a social phenomenon which arises when people are forced to choose one of the two sides
