Gender Development Flashcards
Sex
Innate biological origins for differences between males and females
Based on sex chromosomes
Gender
categorization of oneself or others as girls or boys or neither (e.g. men, women, etc)
Cisgender
identify with their assigned gender at birth
Transgender
identify with a different gender than assigned at birth
Nonbinary/genderqueer
persons who do not identify exclusively with one gender category
Gender-Fluid
persons who self identify with different gender categories, depending on the context
Bigender
persons who identify with both feminine and masculine gender expressions
Agender
persons who do not identify with any gender category
Gender Typing
process of gender socialization during development
Cross-Gender Typed
behaviours contrary to those stereotyped for a given person’s assigned gender
Gender Nonconforming
those who are highly cross gender typed in relation to their assigned gender
Can include transgender or other non cisgender identities
Also used to reference cisgender children with cross gender typed interests (e.g. tomboy)
Gender Typed
behaviours stereotyped for a given person’s assigned gender
Gender Binary
considering only girls and boys as only two categories
Dimorphic System
biological system can only take one of two forms and that its effects on the brain, gender identity, or other outcomes can only take one of two forms
Challenges to gender Binary
Both sets of hormones (androgens and estrogens) present in both males and females
Most people show variety of male and female typed behaviours
Transgender and non binary people found across cultures
Gender Constancy
Gender remains stable across time and is consistent across situations
Preschoolers do not understand this
Gender Segregation
Children begin to prefer playing with same gender peers and avoid other gender peers
Increases steadily from 3-6, remains stable throughout childhood
Across cultures
Social Dosage Effect
Amount of time preschool/kindergarten children spent with same-gender peers predicted subsequent changes in gender typed behaviour over 6 months
Assertion
Attempts to exert influence over the environment
Seen more in boys
Affiliation
Making connections with others
Seen more in girls
Controlling
High assertion, low affiliation
Collaborative
High in both affiliation and assertion
Obliging
High affiliation, low assertion
Withdrawal
Low assertion & affiliation
Gender-Role Intensification
Common in context of heterosexual dating
Related to increases in gender discrimination
Most adolescents experience sexual harassment, especially girls
Gender-Role Flexibility
Reject traditional gender roles as social conventions
More likely among girls
Social support particularly important for gender non-conforming youth
Depend on breadth of opportunities experienced in society for gender ingroup
Ambivalent Sexism
Complementary effects of hostile sexism and benevolent sexism
Traditional heterosexual dating scripts spawn from here
Intersex Conditions
Recessive genesis can result in person of one genetic sex who develops sexual structures associated with other sex or undergoes only partial development of sexual structures associated with genetic sex
Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH)
Recessive gene that leads to production of high levels of androgens during prenatal development
Primarily affects development of genetic females (can affect males too)
Can lead to development male or partially masculinized genitalia (e.g. enlarged clitoris)
Internal structures usually remain female
These girls more likely to choose more physically active play
Most identify as girls
Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS)
Recessive genes causing androgen receptors to malfunction in genetic males
Increased androgen production does not trigger typical physical changes in sexual differentiation
Males born with female external genitalia but male internal reproductive structures
Commonly self identify as women
Typically show preferences for stereotypically female interests
Menarche
Onset of menstruation
Adrenarche
Onset of sexual attraction correlates with maturation of adrenal glands
Spermarche
Capacity for ejaculation
General Intelligence
Boys and girls are equivalent in most aspects of intelligence and cognitive functioning
Proportionally more boys score at extremes (low and high, learning disabilities and gifted)
Girls tend to show higher levels of school adjustment across many countries
Girls tend to attain higher overall school grades than boys
Highschool dropout rate in Canada higher for boys
Verbal Skills
Girls have tendency to be slightly advanced in early language development
Girls tend to achieve higher average performance in reading and writing from elementary to high school
Boys more likely to suffer speech related difficulties and dyslexia
Spatial Skills
Boys tend to perform better than girls in visual-spatial processing
Difference emerges around 3-4 years, becomes more substantial with age
Differences most obvious involving mental rotation of complex geometric figure
Other spatial tasks show smaller gender differences (e.g. finding hidden figure in larger image)
STEM-Related Skills
Gender gap in math achievement has closed dramatically (no average difference between genders in elementary or middle school)
Small average difference favouring boys in high school (math)
Direct Aggression
Overt physical or verbal acts openly intended to cause harm
Boys do more physical aggression
Indirect Aggression
Relational/social aggression
Attempts to damage a person’s social standing or group acceptance through covert means (e.g. gossip or social exclusion)
No average gender differences during childhood for indirect aggression
Negligible effect during high school for girls more
