Gender (to-do)

Question 1

what is sex?

Answer 1

being genetically male (XY) or female (XX)

Question 2

what is gender?

Answer 2

a persons sense of maleness or femaleness - a psychological / social construct

Question 3

what is androgyny?

Answer 3

introduced by Sandra Bem in 1970’s - people can be both masculine & feminine equally - supposedly more mentally healthy due to avoiding fixed gender roles

Question 4

what are sex-role stereotypes?

Answer 4

society has expectations on how we are supposed to behave
- sex role stereotype is learned as children are exposed to the attitudes of others (e.g. girls wear pink’)
- is implicitly and explicitly learned from modelling

Question 5

what is the BSRI?

Answer 5

Bem’s Sex Role Inventory
- 60 question test (20 male, 20 female & 20 neutral words)
- rated on a 1-7 scale
- if you had equal masculine and feminine it was classified as androgynous
- if you had low masculine and low feminine it was classified as undifferentiated

Question 6

Strengths of BSRI

Answer 6

High Reliability
- had a high test-retest score over a 4 week period - scores ranged for 0.74-0.94 (0.8 is strong)

Use of Distractors
- the test uses words that are associated with neither male or female characteristics which reduces demand characteristics - making results more reliable & reducing extraneous variables

Question 7

Limitations of BSRI

Answer 7

Words used
- Hoffman and Borders asked 400 students to rate each word as being M or F - the only 2 to pass the 75% agreement threshold were ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’

Question 8

What is the ‘SRY’?

Answer 8

sexually determining region Y
- is only on the Y chromosome and causes the formation of the testes
- the testes then produce androgens making us male

Question 9

what is Testosterone?

Answer 9

triggers the development of male genitalia and secondary sex characteristics
- Barnum and Bailey found that Females exposed to large doses of testosterone began to develop tomboyish behaviour

Question 10

what is Oestrogen?

Answer 10

Responsible for directing the menstrual cycle and secondary sex characteristics in females
- Shi et al found prenatal exposure could lead to smaller brain size
- dampens ‘fight or flight’ response and encourages ‘fend and befriend’

Question 11

Strengths of Biological approach to Gender

Answer 11

support for testosterone
- Wang investigated hypogonadium (testes fail to produce normal testosterone levels) - gave 22 men testosterone therapy for 180 days - found change in body shape, strength, sex function, e.c.t

Question 12

Limitations of Biological approach to Gender

Answer 12

reductionist
- underplay explainations - e.g. cognitive approach highlighting influence of thought processes and schemas - suggests other factors have influence and gender is more complex than just our biology

Socially limited
- ignores social factors - Hofstede et al claim that gender roles around the world are more based on social norms - researches equate ‘masculinity’ with individualist culture and therefore those traits will be valued higher by capitalist states

Question 13

what is the David Reimer case study?

Answer 13

Born Bruce Reimer had a surgical complication as a baby leaving him without a penis leading his parent to make him female - now Brenda he lived as a female but never fully adjusted and had sever mental problems and when told what happened went back to living as a male - David then killed himself