Social explanations

Subdecks (1)

Cards (5)

  • Psychoanalytic theory
    • Ovesey and Person - gender dysphoria is caused by a child experiencing extreme separation anxiety before gender identity is established
    • Boy fantasies about a 'symbiotic fusion' with mother to relieve anxiety and 'become' her and adopts a female gender identity
    • Stoller - gender dysphoric bio males described overly-close mother-son relationships that would lead to greater female identification and confused gender identity long-term
  • Social constructionist theory of gender development
    • Gender confusion arises as society forces individuals into either socially constructed category of male or female
    • Gender dysphoria is not pathological, but rather a social phenomenon
    • Gender performativity - the way we are judged on our ability to adhere to gender norms; if we don't adhere, we sense dissonance - dysphoria