Gender- Gender dysphoria Flashcards
What is gender identity disorder/gender dysphoria?
-When an individual experiences a mismatch between their biological sex and gender identity
-There is a conflict with the sex assigned at birth
-Often results in the individual experiencing feelings of discomfort/ trapped
Why does the DSM5 now refer to GID as gender dysphoria?
-To remove the damaging label of people with the condition as disordered
What type of disorder is GID? (excludes atypical gender conditions iwth a biological basis such as kinefelters or turners)
-Psychological (as it is not due to chromosomal differences)
Does GID affect more males or females?
Males
How prevelant is the condition (amount of people receiving (hormone) treatment for it)?
-1 in 4000
When do indications start? Give an example
-Fairly early
-Children may be unhappy wearing clothes of their biological gender/playing games associated with that gender
Why do some transgender individuals opt for gender reassignment surgery?
-To change their external gentilaia to thier dseired sex
(According to the DSM) what are the clinical characteristics?
-Experience will affect ability to function in everyday life
-No biological disorder should occur at the same time
-Must experinece ongoing identification with the opposite sex
-Feel a strong sense of discomfort with their own biological sex
How long must symptoms be present for before it is diagnosed?
-At least 6 months
Give some charcteristics of DID
-Strong desire to be rid of ones sex charcteristics due to incongruence
-Mismatch between expreinces/expressed gender and assigned gender
-Strong desire for the sex characteristics of the other gender
-Strong desire to be/ be treated as the other gender
-Strong sense that the typical feelings + reactions of the other gender
What is it often associated with?
-Clinically significant distress
-Impairment in social/occupational or other important areas of functioning
What does the biological explanation for gender dysphoria argue?
It is physiologically determined
Are biological or social explanations more recent + supported with more evidence?
Biological
What does brain sex theory argue?
Dysphoria is caused by specific brain structures that are incompitable with a persons biological sex
Research on BSTc: What were Zhous findings?
-Assumed to be fully devolped at age 5
-Around 40% larger in males than females
Research on BSTc: What do postmortem studies reveal?
-6 male to females transgender individuals have a bst of typical female size
Research on BSTc: What did Krujver find?
-The transgender individuals had an avergae BSTC neuron number in the female range
Research on BSTc: Conclusion of findings?
-The size of the BSTc is correlated with differences in gender
What evidence is there to suggest there is a biological basis for the heritability of the condition?
Twin studies
Describe coolidges research
-157 twin pairs (96 MZ and 61 DZ), assesed them for evidence
-Prevelance estimated to be 2.3% with 62% of these cases accounted for by genetic variance
-Suggests there is a strong heritable component to GID
-
Describe Heylens research
-Compared 23 MZ twins with 21 DZ twins
-One of each pair was diagnosed with GID
-Found that 9 (39%) of MZ twins was concordant comapred to non of the DZ which would indicate a role for genetic factors in the devolpment of GID
Give an evaluation point (determinsim)
-Biologically deterministic
-GID soley determined by biological factors
-Brain sex theory argues that the size of the GSTc can be related to gender
-Inherited gene variants, such as a longer than usual androgenreceptor gene have been detected in gene-profiling studies, resulting in biological males being unresponsive to testosterone and therefore having an absence of male features
-Suggests indiciduals do not play an active role in deciding whether they are transgender
Give an evaluation point (reductionist)
-Biologically reductionist
-Brain sex theory reduces the devolpment of DID to areas of the brain
-Inherited gene variants, such as a longer than usual androgenreceptor gene have been detected in gene-profiling studies, resulting in biological males being unresponsive to testosterone and therefore having an absence of male features
-This has applications for treatments
-However
A holistic approach would be to acknowledge that there may be a hormonal predisposition to preferring the opposite gender identity that is reinforced socially through parental or peer approval, and to realise that not everyone experiences gender dysphoria to the same extent or for the same reasons.
Give an evaluation point (twin studies)
-Suggests that nature (biology) does influence the devolpment of DID
-Twins are growing up in the same enviroment (nurture) which shows that there is a biological predisposition
