gender

• Androgyny


  A gender identity that displays a balance of masculine and feminine traits, an appearance and personality that can't be easily described as 'male or female'
• Androgyny blurs traditional views of gender
• More young people are becoming androgynous due to social media, equality, and SLT
• Biological factors that determine an individual's biological sex

  • Genetics
  • Chromosomes (xx and xy)
  • Hormones
  • Anatomy (body hair / shape, reproductive organs)
• BSRI (Bem Sex Role Inventory)


  A questionnaire developed by Sandra Bem to categorise gender roles, consisting of 60 statements that participants rate on a 7-point scale
• BSRI categories


  • Masculine: high masculinity, low femininity
  • Feminine: high femininity, low masculinity
  • Androgynous: high masculinity, high femininity
  • Undifferentiated: low masculinity, low femininity
• The BSRI was developed to challenge the view that masculinity and femininity were polar opposites
• Biological sex


  Whether an individual is biologically male or female
• Sandra Bem


  Suggested that there are more than just two gender identities, and added androgynous to the identities
• Gender


  The psychological and social characteristics of males and females
• Bem stated that androgynous people are more psychologically healthy, primarily due to flexibility
• How gender is influenced

  Social norms
• Masculinity/femininity not matching your biological sex was previously seen as a sign of poor mental health
• Gender Dysphoria


  When a person's biological sex doesn't match their gender identity (who they perceive themselves to be)
• BSRI evaluation


  • High validity (1000 students tested, scores corresponded to gender identity)
  • Good test-retest reliability (small sample repeated test after a month with good correlation)
  • Self-esteem higher in androgynous people
  • Negative correlation between androgyny and depression
• BSRI evaluation


  • Temporal validity (40 years old, doesn't account for modern attitudes)
  • Methodological issues with self-report techniques (questionnaires and social desirability bias)
  • Ethnocentric in favour of Western traits (masculinity more favourable than femininity)
  • BSRI is too complex, gender identity can't be measured by just a set of statements and a score
• Explanations for Gender Dysphoria

  • Biological
  • Social
  • Psychodynamic
• Intersex


  Hormonal imbalances in the womb resulting in genitals not being either male or female
• Intersex


  • Some countries (Germany, India) account for intersex as a third gender
• Sex Role Stereotypes


  A shared set of expectations held by society for what it is to be male or female
• Sex Role Stereotypes


  • Men in professional roles, women in domestic roles in TV ads (Farnaner, 2000)
  • Clothes, toys, colours, role models, ads
• Chromosomes


  xx= female, XY = male, made from DNA, 23 pairs of chromosomes and the 23rd pair determines sex
• SRY gene


  Chromosome carries the SRY gene, which causes the testes to develop and male androgens to be produced, otherwise the embryo develops into a female
• Hormones


  Secreted by glands, travel through the bloodstream, impact the development of the brain and the reproductive organs
• Hormones and their effects

  • Testosterone: Controls development of male sex organs and secondary sexual characteristics, linked to aggression (females produce it as well)
  • Oestrogen: Primary female sex hormone, regulation of the reproductive system and menstrual cycle and the development of secondary characteristics
  • Oxytocin: Love and bonding in males and females, higher in females due to oestrogen in the bloodstream, produced by the hypothalamus and released via the pituitary gland
• Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia


  High prenatal levels of testosterone which causes ambiguous genitals in females, individuals described as masculinised, suggesting testosterone is at least partly responsible for gender differences in behaviour
• Batista Boys


  • Children in Dominican Republic identified as girls at birth, testes didn't develop outside the body due to dihydrotestosterone missing in the womb, at age 12 testes developed properly, they were identified as boys
• Turner's Syndrome


  Condition where individuals are born with only 1 complete X chromosome, all or part of the second one is missing
• Turner's Syndrome affects 1 in 2500 births worldwide
• Turner's Syndrome

  • Individuals are physically shorter, have a broader chest, underdeveloped/unstereotyped ovaries, lack of menstruation, don't go through "typical" puberty, have lower life expectancy
• Turner's Syndrome


  • Individuals are poor at maths, poor spatial ability, socially immature, have higher reading ability
• Treatment for Turner's Syndrome is important for the psychological factors to enable individuals to feel 'normal' or accepted by society</b>
• Klinefelter's Syndrome


  Condition where males are born with 1 extra X chromosome, but they are still genetically male
• Klinefelter's Syndrome affects 1 in 600 males
• Klinefelter's Syndrome


  • Individuals have less facial and body hair, are less muscular, have delayed puberty, have lower testosterone levels, have broader hips, have longer legs
• Klinefelter's Syndrome


  • Individuals have lower self-esteem, language difficulties, lower reading ability, lack of interest in sexual activity
• Treatment for Klinefelter's Syndrome has shown improvements in behavioural and language problems associated with the disorder, as well as muscle development, facial hair, and deeper voice
• Gender Schema Theory


  Cognitive developmental explanation that gender develops with age (similar to Konibeng), children actively structure their own learning rather than passively observing imitating (SLT)
• The process starts much earlier than Konberg suggested and children learn pre-programmed gender schema between the ages of 2 and 3
• Gender schema development


  1. Children begin to search the environment for information that encourages the development of gender schema

  2. Schema helps the child make sense of the world, so they form stereotypes