Sex And Gender

Question 1

Define sex

Answer 1

The biological differences between males and females including chromosomes, hormones and anatomy

Question 2

Define gender

Answer 2

The psychological and cultural differences between males and females including attitudes, behaviours and social roles

Question 3

Define sex-role stereotype

Answer 3

A set of beliefs and preconceived ideas about what is expected or appropriate for males and females in a given society or social group

Question 4

What is the difference between sex and gender?

Answer 4

• Sex represents one’s biological status as make or female (innate - nature)
• Gender represents one’s psychosocial status, making it a combination of nature and nurture
• Whilst biological sex is pre-determined and cannot be changed, one’s gender is more fluid

Question 5

What is gender dysphoria?

Answer 5

When one’s biologically prescribed sex does not reflect the way they feel inside and the gender they identify themselves as being

Such individuals may choose to have gender reassignment surgery in order to bring their sexual identity in line with their gender identity

Question 6

Outline what psychological research has shown about sex-role stereotypes

Answer 6

• Smith and Lloyd
• Furnham and Farragher
• Used to support the social learning theory of gender view that various agents of socialisation, such as parents or the media, sustain the stereotypical expectations we have of men and women in society

Question 7

Outline valid sex-role stereotypes

Answer 7

• Ingalhalikar et al. (2014) used MRI to map connections in the brains of 949 men and women
• they found that women’s brains made much better connections across the hemispheres of the brain, whereas men’s brains showed most intense activity in specific parts of the brain (e.g. the cerebellum)
• concluded that female brains made much is more able to cope with multiple tasks at once whereas the male brains made much is better at focusing on one complex task at a time

Question 8

Outline research on gender dyshporia

Answer 8

The Batista Family
- Imperato-McGinley et al. (1974) studied the Batista family from the Dominican Republic. Four children from the family were biologically identified as girls at birth and raised as girls

• It was later identified that they were affected by a rare genetic disorder which caused their male genitalia to grow internally instead of externally (they were biologically XY male)
• By puberty, their vaginas closed over and male genitalia appeared and grew to normal size. They decided to live their lives as males, in line with their sexual identity

Question 9

What were the findings of the Batista family?

Answer 9

• The Batista boys seemed to abandon their female gender identities very easily with few problems adjusting
• They quickly adapted to new roles as boys and men
• Suggests: gender identity is fluid and not fixed, sex identity may play a powerful role in gender identity - specifically, the role of hormones (a later topic)