atypical gender development

• Brain Sex theory


  Has a basis in brain structure - the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST), involved emotional responses and also male sex behavior in rats.

  Kruijver et al 2000, area is larger in males than in females and has found to be female-sized in transgender females. People with gender dysphoria have a BST which coordinates with the gender they identify with.

  Zhou 1995, dismorphism of the BST fits with the report made by transgender people that they feel, from early childhood, that they were born the wrong sex.
• Genetic factors


  Coolidge at al 2002 assessed twin pairs, 96MZ & 61DZ, for evidence of gender dysphoria. 62% of the variance could be accounted for by genetic factors, strong heritable component to gender dysphoria.

  Heylen at al 2012 compared 23MZ twins with 21DZ twins where one of the pair had GD. 9 of the MZ twins were concordant for GD compared to 0 in the DZ - genetic influence
• social constructionism


  concept of gender was 'invented' by society, gender 'confusion' occurs because society forces people to be either a man or a woman. It is not a pathological condition but a social phenomenon which arises when people are required to choose one of the two particular paths.

  McClintock 2015 some biological males to be categorised as girls at birth because they have labia+ clitoris, genitals change because of the increase in testosterone levels.
• psychoanalytic theory


  Ovesey and Person 1973 emphasise social relationships within the family as the cause of gender dysphoria. Biological males- boy experiencing extreme separation anxiety before gender identity has formed. Boy fantasises of a symbiotic fusion with his mother to relieve the anxiety and the danger of separation is removed. Boy becomes the mother, and adopts a woman's gender identity

  Stoller 1973 -GD biological males displayed overly close relationships with their mothers suggesting stronger female identification
• evaluation- contradictory evidence


  -Hulshoff Pol et al 2006 studied changes in transgender individuals' brains using MRI scans taken during hormone treatment. Size of the BST changed significantly over that period of time.

  Kruijver & Zhou, the BST was examined post mortem after hormone treatment
• evaluation- other brain differences

  +Rametti at al 2011, sexually dimorphic aspect of the brain. There are regional differences in the proportion of white matter in males and females. Analysed the brains of both males and female transgender individuals, before they began the hormone treatment. The amount and distribution of white matter corresponded closely to the gender they identified with
• evaluation- social constuctionism


  +Not all cultures have two genders, challenges traditional binary classifications of males and females. Increase in the amount of people that label themselves as non-binary
• evaluation - psychonanalytic theory

  -Ovesey and Person's theory only applies to transgender women- Rekers 1986 gender dysphoria in those assigned male at birth is more likely to be associated with the absence of the father than the fear of separation from the mother