Sex and Gender Flashcards
Gender:
Gender identity:
Gender expression/role:
Gender dysphoria:
Gender transition:
Sexual orientation:
Gender: Social construct assigned at birth THEN over and over again by self and others
Gender identity: internal feelings of being male/female/other
Gender expression/role: Social and behavioural characteristics culturally associated with maleness and femaleness
Gender dysphoria: distress and poorness of fit between gender assigned at birth and someone’s gender identity.
Gender transition: process by which transgender people move towards living in the gender they identify as
Sexual orientation: relative genders of those one’s attracted to eg heterosexual, gay or lesbian, bisexual, asexual etc
Sexual Dysfunctions
Orgasmic disorders
Sexual pain disorders
Sexual Dysfunctions
1. Sexual desire, arousal, and interest disorders
- Erectile dysfunction: Failure to attain or maintain an erection of Penis
- Female interest/arousal disorder: Persistent deficits in sexual interest or arousal
- Male hypoactive sexual desire disorder: Persistent deficits in sexual interest or arousal
- Orgasmic disorders
- Female orgasmic disorder (Absence of orgasm after sexual excitement)
- Early/delayed ejaculation disorder: Early (Ejaculation that occurs too quickly) delayed (Persistent difficulty ejaculating) - Sexual pain disorders
- Genitopelvic pain penetration disorder: Persistent or recurrent pain during intercourse, both men and women - Rare in men
NB: there also has to be distress about these!
Paraphilias
variation vs deviance
Variation: statistically rare, part of healthy sexuality and involves informed consent and no victims
Deviance: statistically rare, but not part of healthy sexuality
and likely to involve harm, victims and possible legal problems
- Pedophilic
- Frotteuristic
- Exhibitionistic
- Voyeuristic
- Sexual Sadism
- Fetishistic
- Transvestic
- Sexual Masochism
- Pedophilic - Child
- Frotteuristic - touching of unsuspecting person
- Exhibitionistic - exposing gentiles to strangers
- Voyeuristic - watching others undress or have sex
- Sexual Sadism – inflicting pain
- Fetishistic – an inattimate object
- Transvestic – cross dressing
- Sexual Masochism – receiving pain
Dx only made if:
- indv. has acted on urges/ with a non consenting person
- or fantasies cause marked distress
Paraphila differentials
- OCD (intrusive thoughts; thought-action fusion; omnipotence)
- other conditions with sexualised behaviour or less under conscious control (e.g., dementia, manic episode, SUD, schizophrenia)
Assessment
- Use gender affirming language eg sex assigned at birth, name, pronouns
- ask re who attracted to/sexuality
- ask re gender roles
-get a timeline of thoughts about identity and confusion or dysphoria - ask re satisfaction with intimate relationships
- Sexual fantasies, behaviours, routines etc.
- (beliefs about masturbation, e.g., “gets rid” of fantasy, need it to sleep)
- timeline eg early sexualisation (e.g., of exposure to porn)
- Normalise sex
- Attachment and rela history
- comorbidities eg stress
- experiences of stigma/bullying - how other people have responded
- RISK! (Self harm, suicide, victmisation)
Seligmans model (circle)
Hardest to change the inside
Masters - Human Sexual Response Cycle
- Desire, arousal, plateau, orgasm, resolution (DAPOR)
Masters & Johnson (1970) 2 Tier Model of Sexual Dysfunction
- Immediate causes eg Performance fears, adoption of spectator role (observer vs. participant)
- Distal causes eg Biological causes, sexual traumas, homosexual inclinations, sociocultural
Basson - The Female Sexual Response
- Women begin from a place of neutrality - aware of nonsexual need to be sexual - deliberate choice to be sexual - some sexual arousal - awareness now of desire to continue - more arousal and/or orgasms - spin-offs (eg bond; intimacy builds further sexual neutrality)
- Women have lack of spontaneous arousal they will often become aware of non-sexual need to be sexual (spin offs) then you become aware of sexual arousal then may have arousal then = closer relationship. Women may not imitate but then enjoy it when it occurs
Nygotsky - The Dual Control Model of Sexual Response
- The Accelerator or Sexual Excitation System (SES) (Accelerator) – What turns you on - Receives info about sexually relevant stimuli in the environment (things you hear, see, touch, taste or smell) and sends signals from the brain to the genitals to “Turn on!” Is always at work, but below the level of consciousness - it’s effect on you is to pursue sexual pleasure.
- The Brakes or Sexual Inhibition System (SIS) (Brakes) - What turns you off - Scans environment for anything the brain interprets as a good reason not to be aroused in that moment eg risk of STI, unwanted pregnancy etc.
External: Notices potential threats of getting inappropriately aroused or fear of consequences eg social consequences
Internal: negative feelings about one’s body and/or performance fears
Causal factors in sexual dysfunction (hawton)
pic
integrated model
Paraphilias causes/risk
Biological and genetic
Social theories
Conditionoing
Imprinting
Anxiety
- Biological and genetic theories: Levels of testosterone are involved in sexual activity and exposure to sexual stimuli
- Social Theories: Deviant sexual behaviours learnt the same way normative behaviours are, negative early childhood and family functioning eg high rates of abuse, neglect and disturbed family relations and these negative experiences serve as a template for future relationships
- Conditioning (classical and/or operant): eg inappropriate sexual fantasies reinforced by masturbation - (conditioned to find things arousing, find things boring so try more and more when something is a bit bad it makes you anxious and makes you orgasm and you condition yourself to have deviant arousal)
- Imprinting: During critical periods of development children are vulnerable to imprinting of various stimuli or method for sexual arousal eg the Imprinting mechanism may lead to a excessively narrow and incorrect specification of a sex object resulting in a Fetish
- Anxiety can lead to arousal (study with the bridge if you are anxious see someone is more attractive) people sneaking around get anxiety and seeing people makes them aroused
Tx general
Treatment efficacy difficult to ascertain. Ethical limitations.
- Cognitive restructuring
- Cognitive Behavioural
- Relapse prevention
- Orgasmic or masturbatory reconditioning
- Pharmacological
misc
- Higher rates MH in Queer populations bc stigma and discrimination, low social and family support, internalised homophobia, expectations of rejection, and subcultural factors eg connection v casual hook ups i.e., “mediation model”
- Sexual minority + Family rejection - doubles OR of suicide attempt to 8.4 compared to controls
- For transgender or gender non-conforming ppl suicide rate reaches 42-46% (Haas, Rodgers, & Herman, 2014)
