Gender Flashcards
(100 cards)
1
Q
What is Sex?
A
Sex refers to an individual’s biological status as either male or female (or hermaphrodite possessing both male and female genitals).
2
Q
What is gender?
A
Gender refers to a person’s sense of, and expression of, their maleness or femaleness.
3
Q
What is Gender dysphoria?
A
Refers to an individual’s sense of feeling uncomfortable/inappropriate with their sex and gender others assign to them.
4
Q
What is Androgyny/androgynous?
A
Androgyny/androgynous refers to people who are possessed of equally male and female characteristics.
5
Q
What are sex-role stereotypes?
A
This relates to the role (how we behave and think we should behave) we play as a result of the sex we are, and our own and others thought about our sex and gender.
6
Q
Why do people conform to sex-role stereotypes?
A
Conforming to stereotypes is often rewarded i.e. praise for being brave (boy) or pretty (girl), and not conforming to stereotypes is often punished (disapproval, abuse etc.)
7
Q
What do difference cultures’ social norms about gender relate to?
A
Different cultures’ social norms about gender often relate to stereotypes about what is appropriate in terms of behaviour for your gender.
8
Q
Although we tend to view masculine and feminine as opposites it may be more accurate to view gender on?
A
A scale with most people fitting somewhere between the 2 extremes.
9
Q
What questionnaire is there designed to measure how androgynous a person is?
A
Bem’s Sex Role Inventory
10
Q
What is Bem’s Sex Role Inventory?
A
Bem’s sex role inventory is a questionnaire designed to measure how androgynous a person is.
11
Q
What was the procedure for Bem’s Sex Role inventory study?
A
Bem asked 50 male and 50 female students to rate 200 traits for how desirable they were for males or females.
From this list she selected 20 traits which were regarded as desirable for men e.g. independence, aggressiveness, 20 from women e.g friendliness and 20 which were gender-neutral e.g. honesty.
She ten asked over 600 participants to rate each of the 60 items on a scale of 1 (never our of me) to 7 (always true of me).
12
Q
What were the findings from Bem’s sex role inventory test?
A
Although many participants scores clustered around feminine or masculine, many were fairly androgynous (high scores on both masculine and feminine traits) and some were undifferentiated (low scores on both masculine and feminine traits).
13
Q
What are weaknesses of Bem’s sex role inventory test?
A
Critics argue that the Bem SRI (sex role inventory test), developed in the 1970’s is outdated and based around stereotypes from 40+ years ago. In a 2001 a sample of 400 students failed to reach agreement on what adjectives were stereotypically masculine or feminine. Thus, the SRI may lack temporal validity.
A possible extraneous variable with Bem’s SRI (sex role inventory test) relates t o the fact that most of the traits on the SRI are positive and desirable. Therefore, respondents scoring highly on masculinity and femininity could rather simply be people with high self-esteem rather than being androgynous. It could also be argued that people high in self-esteem are more likely to rate themselves higher on traits in general rather than lower ranking responses. Again, this would confuse the issue of whether someone who scored highly for androgyny was simply someone with high self-esteem.
14
Q
What is a strength of Bem’s Sex Role Inventory?
A
A follow-up study involving a smaller sample of the same students revealed similar scores when the students were tested a month later. This suggests that the scale has high test-retest reliability.
15
Q
What link did Bem believe that was between androgyny and psychological well-being?
A
Bet argued that strongly sex-typed individuals i.e. those who conformed to traditional gender stereotypes had poorer psychological health than androgynous individuals.
16
Q
What evidence is their supporting Bem believing that people who were androgynous had better psychological health than those who were not?
A
Prakash (10) found a positive correlation between androgyny and psychological.
100 married females were tested using a masculinity/femininity scale and it was found that women with high masculinity scores had lower depression and high psychical health scores.
17
Q
What studies are there supporting the idea that the role of parents, peers etc can play in gender stereotyping even very young children?
A
Smith 78 observed mothers with a baby who were presented, in terms of their name and clothing, as either male or female. Mothers tended to select gender-appropriate toys and responded more activity when boys displayed physical play.
Fagot (‘92) found that parents who displayed the clearest patterns of differential reinforcement have children who are quickest to develop strongly gender stereotyped identities.
18
Q
How is the sex of a baby determined?
A
The sex of a baby is determined at conception when the sperm and the ovum form a zygote.
The sperm and the egg both contribute chromosomes to the zygote. The 23rd chromosome contains dNA instructions to ermine the zygote’s sex. The ovum can only supply an X chromosome ,the sperm can contribute either an X or a Y chromosome.
If the sperm contributes a Y chromosome the zygote will be genetically male (XY), if the sperm contributes an X the zygote will be genetically female.
19
Q
When do male and female embryos external genitalia look the same?
A
Male and female embryos up to 8 weeks have external genitalia that look the same.
20
Q
When do male and female embryos external genitalia differ?
A
At 8 weeks, genetically XY males produce androgens which stimulates the development of male genitalia.
In XX females this process does not take place, thus female genitalia develop.
21
Q
What are Atypical sex chromosome patterns?
A
Any sex chromosome pattern that deviates from the usual XX/XY formation and which tends to be associated with a distinct pattern of physical and psychological symptoms.
22
Q
What are the two types of Atypical sex chromosome patterns?
A
Klinefelter’s syndrome
Turner’s syndrome
23
Q
What is Klinefelter’s syndrome?
A
A syndrome that occurs around 1/1000 males due to an extra X chromosome e.g. (XXY). The infant is born with male genitals.
Sufferers are usually taller than average, have poor muscular coordination, and low levels of testosterone which may cause infertility and a more feminine look, with features such as less facial hair, broader hips, breast tissue.
There are also some psychological differences as well, such as poor developed language skills and reading ability, sufferers tend to be passive, shy and lack interest in sexual activity. Many tend not to respond well to stressful situations.
24
Q
What is Turner’s syndrome?
A
A syndrome that occurs around 1/2000 females due to the 2nd sex chromosome being partially or completely missing, therefore, the infant is referred to as X0.
Sufferers have a vagina and womb but do not menstruate due to undeveloped ovaries, are shorter than average and may present symptoms such as small lower jaw, webbed neck, narrow hips etc.
Sufferers also can have higher than average reading ability, however spatial, visual memory and mathematics is lower than normal. They can also be socially immature.
25
What is testosterone?
Testosterone is a form of androgen, it affects brain growth as a foetus, and in childhood and adulthood is associated with stereotypically male behaviours such as aggression
Female human and animal foetuses exposed to high levels of testosterone tend to show more masculine behaviours and interests.
26
Who conducted a study to see the that effect testosterone has?
Wenger 79
27
What was Wenger 79 study on testosterone?
Wenger castrated mice which prevented the creation of any more testosterone which resulted in decreased aggression. however, when these mine were injected with testosterone, levels of aggression rose to pre-castration levels.
28
What is Androgen insensitivity syndrome?
Is a rare condition where an XY male foetus is insensitive to androgen, thus male genitals do not appear meaning that the newly born infant although genetically male will have female genitals and be labelled as female.
29
What is Oestrogen?
Oestrogen in females governs the development of secondary sexual characteristics (e.g. breasts) and menstruation from adolescence onwards.
30
Who investigated the link between oestrogen and maternal behaviour?
Smith ('12)
31
What did Smith ('12') find on his investigation on the link between oestrogen and maternal behaviour?
He found a positive correlation between oestrogen levels and the number of children women desire, and between oestrogen and how feminine females' faces were rated.
32
What is Oxytocin?
Oxytocin is produced by the pituitary gland and promotes feelings of bonding contentedness and calming. It is particularly important in breastfeeding to promote lactation and is released by females at times of stress to reduce the fight-flight response.
33
What study is there supporting that concept that oxytocin and its affect on hormones?
Taylor ('00) found that oxytocin reduces the fight-flight response in women so they are less likely to behave aggressively during times of stress (tend and befriend i.e. caring for infants and forming friendships with other women) whereas in men oxytocin is reduced by testosterone so they are more likely to act aggressively on the face of stress.
34
What is the difference between sex and gender?
Sex refers to biological differences between males and females, for example chromosomes (female XX, male XY), reproductive organs (ovaries, testes), hormones (oestrogen, testosterone).
Gender refers to the cultural differences expected by society and culture of men and women according to their sex. a person's sex does not change from brith, but their gender can.
35
What is the biological approach to the difference between sex and gender?
The biological approach suggests there is no distinction between sex and gender, thus biological sex creates gendered behaviour.
Gender is determined by two biological factors hormones and chromosomes.
36
What evidence is there supporting the biological approach to determining gender?
Geschwind ('87) argued that gender differences in testosterone levels affect the developing brain. Male and female brains are different in many ways: females being generally better at social skills and empathy, males being less talkative but better at spacial-navigation skills.
Finger length is influenced by exposure to prenatal hormones. Women tend to have a long index finger than ring finger and vice-versa for men. Rommsayer ('07) used the Bem sex role inventory to assess stereotypically male/female character traits and found that men with a more feminine sex role had a more feminine type index-to-ring finger ratio. Thus pre-natal hormone exposure may affect adult personality.
Money ('72) claimed that biological sex was of little importance in deterring gender role - rather gender was learnt and intersex e.g. (Androgen insensitivity syndrome) individuals could be raised as either boys or girls. Money conducted a case study of David Reimer a boy who after damage to his penis during circumcision, was given gender reassignment surgery and raised as a girl. Although Money claimed Reimer's case supported his belief that gender was learnt rather than biologically determined, Colapinto (00) reported that although David had no knowledge of what had happened to him as a child, he always felt unhappy as a girl and suffered depression. when his parents told him the turn in his teens he requested gender reassignment surgery. Thus, Reimer's case supports biological explanations of gender.
37
What evidence is there against the biological approach to determining gender?
Despite evidence pointing towards biological factors being the main factor in determining gender, genes and hormones do not produce a simple formula for determining gender. Social, cultural and parental influences during socialisation also have a part to play.
For example, congenital adrenal hyperplasia occurs when XX females are exposed to unnaturally high levels of testosterone in the womb which results in rudimentary male genitalia at birth. Dessens ('05) study of 250 CAH females who were raised as females found that 95% were content with the female gender assigned to them. This indicates that learning and social influences can possibly overside hormonal influences.
The study of the influence of genes and hormones in gender development is a classic example of the nature-nurture debate. In this case, evidence seems to suggest that gender is primarily determined by biology but can be modified by social-environmental factors: for example, gender is expressed by men and women in different ways in different cultures, and ideas of acceptable behaviours for genders have changed dramatically in Europe over the past century.
38
What is the cognitive explanation of gender development?
The cognitive-developmental approach emphasises the role of cognitions in the process of gender development.
As infants grow older physical changes in the brain mean we progress from simple to complex, abstract thoughts about our gender identity.
39
What two theories are used to show the cognitive explanation of gender development?
Kohlberg's development theory?
Gender Schema theory
40
What was Kohlberg's development theory?
Kohlberg theory is based on the idea that a child's understanding of gender becomes more sophisticated with age.
The understanding of gender runs parallel to intellectual development as the child matures biologically. Gender development when we are 2-6 is thought to progress through three stages:
Gender labelling
Gender Stability
Gender consistency
41
What are the 3 stages of Kohlberg's development theory?
Gender labelling
Gender stability
Gender consistency
42
What is the gender labelling stage of Kohlberg's developmental theory?
Aged 2-3 infants label themselves and others as boy or girl based on outward appearances such as hairstyle or dress.
Children will tend to change gender labels as appearances change, i.e. a boy with long hair might be labelled a girl.
43
What is the gender stability stage of Kohlberg's developmental theory?
Around 4 years children recognise that gender is table over time, boys grow into men etc, but they do not recognise that gender is consistent across is situations - believing for example that males might change into females if they engage in female activities.
44
What is the gender consistency stage of Kohlberg's developmental theory?
Around the age of 6 children come to realise that gender is consistent across situations e.g. that just because a boy may dress or play like a girl they remain a boy. Gender is now fixed rather than a fluid category in the child's mind.
45
What did Kohlberg's theory drew on?
Piaget's concept of 'conservation'
46
What is Piaget's concept of 'conservation'?
The ability that develops at around the age of 6 to understand that despite superficial appearances the basic properties of an object stay the same.
47
What happens if a child can't conserve? (conservation)
Children who can't conserve may believe that superficial changes to appearance means that the essence of something has changed e.g. a man who puts on a women's wig becomes a women.
48
What happens when a child develops the ability to conserve? (The concept of conservation)
Once the ability to conserve develops children realise that despite changes in appearance gender is consistent.
49
What evidence is there supporting Kohlberg's Developmental theory, thus supporting the cognitive explanation for gender development?
Kohlberg's theory predicts that as infants grow older they are increasingly accurate in correctly labelling gender. Thompson ('75) found that whereas 76% of 2 year o lads could accurately identify their sex, 90% of 3 year olds could.
Slaby ('75) asked young children questions such as: 'were you a girl or a boy when you were a baby?' and 'when you grow up will you be a mummy or a daddy?'. As predicted by Kohlberg, infants only started to give correct answers once they had recognised that gender was stale over time, in the gender stability stage.
50
What evidence is there against Kohlberg's Developmental theory, thus not supporting the cognitive explanation for gender development?
Bem ('89) showed young children a photo of an infant naked, and dressed in same sex clothing than opposite sex clothing, and asked them to identify what gender the infant was. 40% of 3-5 year olds identified gender correctly - i.e. they could conserve gender at a far younger age than Kohlberg predicted, and of the 60% who failed to answer the questions correctly, 77% simply failed because they did not know what opposite sex genitalia looked like. Bem argued that when infants are asked questions about gender when models are pentad with contradictory cues e.g. a boy dressed as a girl, they are likely to make a decision based on which cue is most obvious and relevant to labelling gender - in our society cues to do with clothing, hair style or play activities.
Slaby ('75) found that boys exhibit gender consistency before girls, possibly because whereas it is relatively easy to get girls to take on masculine activities boys may resist engaging in female activities. Thus boys develop a firm sense of gender identity quicker by defining them as self as male but also 'not female'.
51
What is a schema?
A schema is a mental map of understanding of set ideas about the world.
52
Why are gender schemas important for infants?
Gender schemas play an important role in organising and structuring the infant's thoughts about information such as what behaviours or emotional responses are appropriate for males/females.
53
What are gender schemas?
An organised set of beliefs and expectations related to gender that are derived from experience. Such schema guide a person's understanding of their own gender and gender-appropriate behaviour in general.
54
What is Gender schema theory?
Gender schema theory argues that children gain their gender identity between the ages of 2 and 3 when they work out that they are a boy or a girl. At this stage, their gender schema is extremely simple, consisting of two groups - boys and girls.
Their own group is viewed as the 'in group' and the opposite sex is viewed as the 'out group'.
Once a child identifies with their gender they think of others of that gender as an in-group, and those who are 'different' (i.e. don't share their gender' as an out-group.
Out-groups will be negatively evaluated (judged). This identification leads infants to imitate in-group behaviours and would avoid out-group behaviours.
Infants will actively seek out information about what their in-group does i.e. try to acquire schemas of understanding relating to gender-appropriate behaviour, such as is it wrong for boys to cry.
55
How are Kohlberg's theory and gender schemata theory similar?
They both focus on the role of the child's thinking in their acquisition of information about their gender and gender identify.
56
How is Martin's GST and Kohlberg's theory different?
Get argues that the process of acquiring gender relevant information happens before gender consistency is achieved. Martin argues that the basic gender identity acquired at the gender labelling stage is sufficient for an infant to take an interest in and begin identifying with their gender.
Martin emphasises the role of how infants' schemas affect their gender identity and behaviour.
57
What evidence is there supporting Martin's gender schema theory?
Martin ('90) found that children under the age of 4 display strong stereotypes about what boys and girls were permitted to do. This supports GST and contradicts Kohlberg's claim that this doesn't happen until gender consistency occurs aged 6.
Martin ('83) found that when children were asked to recall pictures of people, they remembered more of those showing gender-consistent behaviour than gender non-consistent behaviour. Thus as predicted by GST, gender schemas affect memory recall.
Bradbard ('86) found that when 4-9 year olds were told that certain gender neutral items such as burglar alarms were either male or female, boys took a greater interest in and were able to remember more details about gender-specific items and vice-verse. This supports how gender schema influence memory and organisation of information.
58
What evidence is there against Martin's gender schema theory?
It is assumed within gender schema theory that it should be possible to change children's behaviour by changing their schemas or stereotypes. In fact it is very difficult to change behaviour even if certain beliefs are held. This is reflected in the fact that many married couples have strained views related to equality of the sexes and equal division of labour in the home, but research suggests that this rarely has much effect on their behaviour (Kane and Sanchez 1994)
59
How does gender schema theory help explain why children may hold sexiest ideas about gender regardless of sisal influences such as parents or schools trying to combat these attitudes?
Children actively seek to learn gender-appropriate schemas and ignore information which is presented to combat these stereotypes. This suggests that there may be alternative, more successful ways to reduce gender stereotyping in children.
60
Who did a study on children whose mothers worked that showed less stereotyped views of genders?
Hoffman 98
61
What was Hoffman 98 study?
A study by Hoffman 98 found that children whose mother's work tend to hold less stereotyped views of the genders. This indicates the role that upbringing and the behaviour of the parents can have in influencing children's concepts of gender and gender-appropriate behaviour.
62
What is the psychodynamic explanation of gender development?
Frued's psychoanalytic theory
63
What is Frued's psychoanalytic theory?
After passing through the oral and anal psychosexual stages of development, you reach the phallic stage which is when gender development occurs. Prior to reaching the phallic stage, which occurs between the ages of 3 and 6, children have no concept of their gender identity.
In the phallic stage, the focus of pleasure for the children switches to the genitals, and it is within this stage that children experience the Oedipus complex for boys and the elytra complex for girls.
If the child successfully resolves this complex they acquire the gender behaviour typical of their sex.
64
What is the Oedipus complex?
Boys wish to be the sole object of their mother's attention and experience immature sexual desire for her.
They view their father as a rival for their mother's attention/affection but also fear the father and feel guilty about their desires to get rid of him. The fear of the father is experiences as fear of castration. This fear is repressed into the unconscious. To resolve this crisis boys repress their desires for their mother and enter a period of sexual latency which lasts until puberty where they find a substitute mother in the form of an opposite sex partner. They also identify with (identification) and internalise (internalisation) their father's gender role and adopt stereotypically masculine behaviours.
65
What is the electra complex?
Girls are initially attracted to their mothers in the same way as boys. Awareness of the lack of a penis leads to the girl believing she has been castrated and experiencing penis envy.
The girls immature sexual desires then focus on the father. To resolve this crisis, the girl conversations her desire for a penis into a desire for a baby. The girl then identifies with the mother and internalises stereotypical feminine behaviours.
Girls repress their desires for their father and enter a period of sexual latency which lasts until puberty where they find a substitute father in the form of a boyfriend/partner.
66
What is identification? (identifies)?
A desire to be associated with a particular person or group often because they possess certain desirable characteristics.
67
What is internalisation? (internalises)
An individual adopts the attitudes and or behaviour of another.
68
What are criticisms of Frued's psychoanalytic theory, thus the psychodynamic explanation of gender development?
Frued's highly controversial case of Little Hans (05) formed the basis for his belief in the Oedipus complex. The 5 year old Hans was phobic of horses which Frued argued was a repressed and splayed fear of his father. Frued also claimed he expressed sexual desire towards his mother, wished his father dead, and feared castration.
The case study is highly criticisable for generalising from a sample of 1 boy, and that Frued may have interpreted Han's behaviour to provide proof for the Oedipus complex.
The theory has an inadequate account on female development, although Frued wrote extensively about the Oedipus complex, much of the theorising on girl's parallel development was undertaken by Carl Jung, one of Frued's contemporaries. Frued admitted women were a mystery to him and his notion of penis envy has been criticised as reflecting the patriarchal Victorian era within which he lived.
Frued's theory relies on the children having two parents of different genders so they are able to manage the Oedipus or Electra complex effectively. It is logical to assume from the conclusions Frued drew the being raised in a non-nuclear family would have an adverse effect on a child's gender development. Evidence does not support this assumption though. For example, Susan Golombok et al demonstrated how children from single-parent families went on to develop normal gender identities. Similarly, Richard Green studied a sample of 37 children who were raised by gay of transgender parents, and discovered that only one had a gender identify that was described as 'non-typical)
69
How does social learning theory explain gender development?
Bandura's social learning theory emphasises the role of observation, imitation and reinforcement in how children acquire their gender role. Parents, peers and media figures act as gender-appropriate models whom children base their behaviour son and who contribute to children's cognitions about gender identity.
Learning occurs in 3 ways for gender development.
70
What are the 3 ways learning occurs for children about gender development?
Vicarious reinforcement
Direct reinforcement
Direct tuition
71
What is vicarious reinforcement and how does learning occur through it?
Children observe the consequences of others behaviour and model their own behaviour on that which they observed being positively reinforced e.g. a boy who observes another boy being reinforced with respect from his peers for being aggressive may learn to act aggressively himself.
This can be the child modelling which refers to imitating a role model's behaviour.
72
What is direct reinforcement and how do children learn about gender development through it?
Children may be directly reinforced or pushed for behaving in certain ways. This will influence the likelihood of this behaviour being repeated e.g. a boy who plays with a doll may be bullied and learn that this gender inappropriate behaviour brings 'punishment': thus this behaviour will be less likely to be repeated in the future.
The way in which boys and girls are encouraged to show distinct gender appropriate behaviour is called differential reinforcement. It is through this differential reinforcement that a child learns their gender identity.
73
What is direct tuition and how do children learn about gender development through it?
Children are directly instructed about appropriate gender behaviour, for example, parents e.g. 'boys don't cry'
74
Evaluate the strengths of the social learning theory explanation for gender development?
The influence of parents is shown in a study by Smith ('78) who observed mothers with a baby who were presented in terms of their name and clothing as either male or female. Mothers tended to select tended to select gender-appropriate toys and responded more actively when boys displayed physical play. Fagot ('92) found that parents who displayed the clearest patterns of differential reinforcement have children who are the quickest to develop strongly gender stereotyped identities.
The influence of the peers as as a gender model is shown in a study by Perry ('79). In this study 8-9 old boys and girls were shown a film of a boy eating an apple and a girl eating a pear (we assume fruit is gender neutral). When later given the choice of eating either an apple or a pear children tended to choose the one they viewed as gender-appropriate.
The influence of media is shown in a study by McGhee. He found a positive correlation between exposure to TV and gender stereotypical behaviour. Bandura ('96) found that men were presented as independent and in control and women were presented as more dependent, emotional and less ambitious. Therefore, the media may encourage or discourage self-efficacy (a belief in one's own capabilities) in men and self-doubt in women.
75
What are weaknesses of the social learning explanation of gender development?
Critics have argued that social learning theory does not provide an adequate explanation of how learning processes change with age. There are some age limitations, for example, motor reproduction as a mediational process suggests that children may struggle to perform behaviours if they are not physically or intellectually capable.
However, the general implication is that modelling of gender-appropriate behaviour can occur at any age. This may not be the case, however. Andrew Dublin 1992 suggests that, although the child make taken note of the behaviour of same-sex role models at an early age, selection and imitation of gender-role behaviour does not come until later. This is consistent with Lawrence Kohlberg's theory that children not become active in their gender development until they reach gender constancy.
The influence of age and maturation on learning gender concepts is not a fact considered by social learning theory and this may be a limitation of the explanation.
76
What theory shows the influence of media on gender roles?
Social learning theory
77
What three studies show the influence of media on gender roles?
McGhee ('80)
Williams ('85)
Bandura ('99)
78
How does social learning theory show the influence of media on gender roles?
SLT emphasises the role of observations, imitation and reinforcement in how children acquire their gender role. Media figures act as gender role models whom children base their behaviours on and who contribute to children's cognitions about gender identity.
Learning can occur through vicarious reinforcement and direct tuition.
79
What was the McGhee ('80) study that shows the influence of media on gender roles?
McGhee ('80) found a positive correlation between exposure to TV and gender stereotypical behaviour.
80
What was the study conducted by Bandura ('99) that shows the influence of media on gender roles?
Bandura found men were presented as independent and in control and women were presented as more dependent, emotional and less ambitious. Therefore, the media may encourage or discourage self-efficacy in men and self-doubt in women.
81
What was the study conducted by Williams ('85) that shows the influence of media on gender roles?
Williams studied 3 towns, (i) 'Notel' - a town with no television, (ii) 'Unitel' - a town with 1 TV channel, (iii) 'Multitel' - a town with a large number of TV channels.
The gender behaviour/attitudes of children were found to be less sex-typed in Notel and Unitel, particularly for girls.
Children were re-assessed 2 years after the introduction of TV into Notel and it was found that behaviours/attitudes had become significantly more sex-typed.
This implies that the media and media stereotypes can have an important effect on how children think about their own and other's gender and this had lead to pressure being put upon programme makers to try to present males and females in non-gender typed ways to encourage women to pursue, for example, careers typically defined as male e.g. a lawyer.
82
What is culture?
Culture can be defined as the ideas, behaviours, attitudes, and traditions that exist within a large group of people. These are passed down from one generation to the next and are often resistant to change.
83
What studies on cultural differences shows the influence culture differences can have on gender roles?
Berry ('02)
84
What was the study conducted by Berry in 2002 on cultural differences that highlights the impact culture has on gender roles?
Berry examined male and female ability in 17 cultures on spatial-perceptual tasks, which men are thought to be universally superior at. They found male superiority on this task was only present in modern, crowd, urban societies. In nomadic societies there was no difference. Berry found the same results with the personality characteristic of conformity- traditionally thought to be stronger in women.
This implies that sex differences in physical and psychological characteristics are affected by cultural and environmental factors.
85
What studies have been conducted on cultural similarities that show the impact culture can have on gender roles?
Monroe ('75)
Williams (90)
86
What was the study conducted by Monroe ('75 that shows the impact cultural similarities have on gender roles?
Monroe found that all societies have a gender division of labour: food preparation and childcare being predominately carried out by females, and females being socialised towards compliance, nurturing, responsibility and obedience as opposed to an emphasis on male independence, self-reliance and achievement.
87
What was the study conducted by Williams (90) that shows the impact cultural similarities have on gender roles?
Williams gave 2800 students in 30 countries a list of 300 adjectives and asked the to assign each adjective as either male or female. Men were seen as more dominant, aggressive and self-reliant whereas women were nurturing, emotional and interested in affiliation. This suggests there are universal gender stereotypes about male-females characteristics.
However, participants had to select either male or female there was no equal category, the sample as also of only university graduates therefore it is unrepresentative.
88
Conclude on what the evidence suggests impacts gender roles in society?
The weight of evidence seems to favour the biological point of view that gender roles, to an extent are natural and innate, however, there is also convincing evidence that unequal power relations between the genders are strongly correlated with strongly divided gender roles.
In societies where women have a higher status gender roles are more equal.
89
What is gender dysphoria?
Gender dysphoria refers to an individual's sense of feeling uncomfortable/inappropriate with their sex and the gender assigned to them. This may lead to gender reassignment surgery.
90
What is gender identity disorder?
Gender identity disorder is a psychiatric (mental health) classification for those who experience gender dysphoria but are not intersex individuals.
91
Gender identify disorder doesn't include people with what conditions?
Intersex conditions that have a recognised biological basis, such as Klinefelter's syndrome and congenital adrenal hyperplasia.
92
What is the social-psychological explanation for gender identity disorder?
Some view gender dysphoria as psychiatric problem arising from childhood trauma or maladaptive upbringing. (Mental illness)
Supported by Coates ('91) and Stoller ('75)
93
What is the Coates ('91) study that supports the social psychological explanation for gender identity disorder?
Coates produced a case study of a gender identity disorder boy and proposed that his condition was a defensive reaction his mother's depression following an abortion.
Coates suggested that the boy developed cross-gender fantasies as a means of resolving the anxiety he experienced as a result of his mother's depression.
94
What was the Stoller ('75) study that supports the social-psychological explanation for gender identity disorder?
Stoller claimed to have found evidence from interviews with males with gender identity disorder sufferers that they had overly close mother-son relationships and thus developed an exaggeratedly strong identification with women and confused gender identity.
95
What are the two biological explanations for gender identity disorder?
Transexual gene
Brain sex theory of transsexualism
96
What is the transexual gene biological explanation for gender identity disorder?
Hare ('09) examined the DNA of 112 male to female transsexuals and found that they were likely to have a longer version of the androgen receptor gene. This may lead to reduced action of testosterone in the womb which may lead to a more 'feminised' brain.
97
What is the brain-sex theory of transsexualism biological explanation for gender identity disorder?
Research has focused on neurological abnormalities in transsexual's brains. A location in the brain called the BSTc (located in the thalamus) is x2 as large in males as females and contains x2 the amount of neurons.
Studied by Zhou ('95) and Krujiver ('00) found that male-to-female transsexuals had the same number of neurons in the BSTc as normal females, and that female-tamale transsexuals had a similar number of neurons to normal men.
98
Evaluate the social explanations for gender identity disorder?
Cole ('97) studied 435 gender dysphoria sufferers and found no greater incidence of psychiatric problems than in the general population. Thus, gender dysphoria seems unrelated to childhood trauma or dysfunctional families.
Zucker ('96) studied 115 boys with concerns about their gender identity. Of the boys eventually diagnosed with gender identity disorder 64% were also diagnosed with separation anxiety disorder. This points to some kind of disordered relationship with mothers as being an important determinant in male-to-female transsexuals.
99
Evaluate the biological explanations for gender identity disorder?
Brain-sex theory was challenged by Chung ('00) who noted that differences in BSTc volume in transsexuals did not develop until adulthood, whereas most transsexuals report that their feelings of gender dysphoria emerged in childhood. Thus changes in BSTc may be the result rather than the cause of gender dysphoria. Also, the transsexuals in the original studies into BSTc size were receiving hormone therapy, and it may have been these hormones which caused changes to the BSTc and to their gender identity.
100
Why is the field of gender dysphoria ethically sensitive?
The field of gender dysphoria is ethically sensitive in that the implications of research findings affect dysphorics' and the public's attitudes to gender identity. Biological explanations may encourage people to accept dysphoria as a natural condition rather than a psychiatric disorder.
