Sex & Gender

• Biological Sex

  Genetically male (XY) or Female (XX)

  Influences hormonal differences (reproductive organs, body shape)
• Gender

  Psychological & social characteristics associated with being male or female

  Heavily influenced by social norms and cultural experiences
• Sex role stereotypes

  a set of shared expectations about the types of qualities and characteristics appropriate for each sex
• How are sex role stereotypes communicated and reinforced

  communicated = society

  reinforced = parents, media, institution, socialisation
• Research into sex-role stereotypes

  Madhura Ingalhaiker et al. (2014)

  -Scanned brains of 949 young men & women using high tech diffusion MRI imaging to map the connections between different parts of the brain (Neurological brain activity)

  -Supported the stereotype that women are better at multi-tasking than men
• What did Madhura et al. find?

  -Women’s brains have much better connections between the left & right side

  -Men’s brains show more intense activity within the brains individual parts, especially in the cerebellum which controls motor skills
• What does Madura et al. research suggest?

  Female brains are hard wired to cope better with several tasks at once (left & right side work together better), whereas the male brain prefers to focus on single complex tasks

  * Therefore there may be a biological basis for sex role stereotypes
• Criticism of Madhura‘s research

  Were men and women born with their brains like this or were they socialised into it
• Gender Dysphoria

  When someone’s biological sex does not reflect the way they feel inside the gender they identify as

  (Some ppl may have gender reassignment surgery)