Sex and gender

• Sex


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


  Genders refers to the psychological, social and cultural differences between boys/males and girls/women, including attitudes, behaviours and social roles.
• Gender subcategories

  • Refers to a persons psychosocial status, as either masculine or feminine.
  • Including attitudes, role and behaviours that we associate with being a man or a woman.
• Explain sex and gender, reference the nature, nurture debate.

  • Sex is innate and the result of nature, whilst gender is partly environmentally determined, therefore due to nurture.
  • Gender is heavily influenced by social norms and cultural expectations. It is a fluid concept depending on the social context a person is in.
• Gender dysphoria


  This is where the biologically prescribed sex does not reflect the way they feel inside and the gender they identify themselves as being.
• Why do people get gender reassignment surgery?

  To bring their sexual identity in line with their gender identity.
• Batista Boys: Imperato McGinley et al

  • 4 of the children within the family were identified as girls and raised as such until puberty when they changed into males- each of the children’s vaginas closed over, testicle appeared and they grew normal sized penises.
  • Affected by genetic disorder which meant their male genitalia were not external at birth.
  • In each of the cases the boys abandoned their female gender identity with few problems of adjustment and quickly adapted to their new roles as boys and men.
• What conclusions can be made from Imperato McGinley study on Batista boys?

  Gender identity may be flexible rather than fixed.
• Sex-role stereotype

  A set of beliefs and preconceived ideas about what is expected or appropriate for men and women in a given society or social group.
• How are sex-role stereotypes brought about?

  These expectations are communicated or transmitted throughout society and may be reinforced by parents, peers, the media as well as other institutions such as schools.
• Research support for sex-role stereotypes

  • Ingalhalikar et al, scanned the brains of 949 young men and women, using MRI scans.
  • They mapped the connections between the different parts of the brain.
  • They found that women’s brains have far better connections to the left and right sides.
  • Men’s brains display more intense activity within the brains individual parts, especially the cerebellum which controls motor skills.
  • So women’s brain can cope better with multi-tasking whereas a male brain prefers to focus on a single complex task.
• Research support for sex-role stereotypes

  • Smith and Lloyd
  • Mothers were videotaped playing for 10 minutes with a baby (not there own child).
  • Baby was 4-6 months old and dressed as a boy or girl but clothes were not always consistent with sex.
  • 7 toys were present (stuffed rabbit in trousers, masculine) and (a doll, feminine).
  • if a mother thought she was playing with a boy, she verbally encouraged more motor activity, more active and offered gender-appropriate toys.
  • So mothers can conclude that mothers do treat boys and girls differently, in line with sex-role stereotypes.