gender case studies

guevedoces + eval

born with female genitalia because of a lack of alpha 5 reductase at birth

male genitalia is not present until puberty when there is a rush of testosterone

rare condition only really seen in certain areas like dominican republic and the sambia, wasn't considered pathological gender dysphoria until contact with other cultures

bem (1974)

developed bsri by asking 50 male and 50 female to rate 200 traits in terms of 'maleness' and 'femaleness'

highest scoring traits became the 20 masculine and 20 feminine traits on the bsri

piloted with 1000+ students and result broadly corresponded with their gender identities

bem eval

over 50 years old and not temporally valid

sterotypical traits from american 1970's gender roles

uses self report, not everyone has a clear understanding of their gender identity

quantitave so useful for doing research

bem believed andro people would be most mentally health due to having a balance of masc and fem traits, some researchers think masc people would be most mentally healthy as men / masc traits are more highly valued in individualist cultures

wang (2000)

gave men with hypogonadism (low testosterone) testosterone therapy

improved libido, sexual function, muscle strength, mood

link between sex hormones and development

wang eval

other studies failed to produce same results

double blind study in 2004 found no significant increases in sexual behavior when increasing the testosterone levels of healthy men

david reimer

born male, raised and treated in a stereotypically feminine way after penis was accidentally burnt off during circumsision

wasnt told about his sex until his teen years, experienced psychological distress the entire time while growing up

committed suicide in 2004

herlihy (2004)

men with klinefelters that were identified + treated from a young age

had benefits in terms of managing their syndrome compared to men diagnosed in adulthood

kohlberg (1966)

(2 - 3) gender identity, can identify other people as boy or girl, can say which picture out of a boy and a girl is most like them, don't view gender as fixed

(4 - 5) gender stability, understand their own gender is fixed, cannot apply this to others, would think a man with long hair is a woman

(6 +) gender constancy, understand that other peoples genders are fixed too, are not confused by outward changes like a man with long hair but may still find them unusual

kohlberg eval

four year olds thought it was fine for george to play with dolls, six year olds thought it was wrong, evidence for gender stereotyping starting at 6 +

children as young as four in other studies felt good about gender appropriate toys and bad about inappropriate toys (gender scheme theory)

doesnt account for the impact of gender socialisation earlier than six years

may be different degrees of gender constancy, children may first learn importance of gender when choosing friends, then they may have heightened understanding of clothing / behaviour gender norms

bem thought children should be shown genitalia as they would be more likely to not understand that, makes sense that children would get confused at gender stability as we culturally demarcate gender by stereotypical outward appearance

martin and halverson (1981)

children will try to develop their gender schema after 2 - 3 years rather than 6 +

children have elaborate schemas for their ingroup, don't develop elaborate outgroup schema until 8 +

martin and halverson eval

children under 6 more likely to remember photos of stereotypically gender appropriate behaviour than inappropriate, when asked to recall the photos a week later the children would usually replace the gender to an appropriate one

zosuls found that the average age children started to label themselves as boy or girl was 19 months, so gender identity may begin sooner than gst thinks

may not be important what age each stage happens because it's the stages themselves that are what's important

gst explains how there are cultural variations in gender norms

freud (1905)

no concept of gender identity until the phallic stage around 3 - 6

oedipus complex boys develop incestuous feelings towards mother, gets castration anxiety and starts to identify with father

electra complex girls experience penis envy, substitute it with desire to have children

freud believed little hans displaced his castration anxiety and his fear of his father into the horse

freud eval

he doesn't use many case studies and his theories are unconscious and untestable / unfalsifiable

freud said women were a mystery to him and his idea of penis envy is androcentric

relationship between absent fathers and gender identity is not supported generally, study of children from lesbian families and traditional families, children in lesbian families felt less pressure to conform to gender stereotypes but there were no differences in gender identity

agrees with kohlberg that gender appropriate behaviour starts at six, but freud thinks it all happens at once

smith and lloyd (1978)

group of babies, half dressed in typical boys clothes and half in girls

babies assumed to be boys more likely to be given hammer toy and encouraged to do active play

babies assumed to be girls were more likely to be given cuddly toys and encouraged to play passively

mead (1935)

found three groups in papua new guinea - gentle arapesh, aggressive mundugumor, dominant tchambuli women and passive tchambuli men

mead eval

may have been misled by her participants, observer bias, ethnocentrism

supports the idea of culturally relative gender norms

buss (1995)

in all cultures he explored mate preference was similar, women seek men with wealth and men seek young women

bond and drogos (2014)

positive correlation between time spent watching jersey shore and permissive attitudes towards casual sex

mitra (2019)

indian girls who watched the detective program adha-full were more likely to view themselves as capable of working outside the home

coolidge (2002), heylens (2012)

assessed 157 twin pairs for evidence of gender dysphoria

62% of variance could be accounted for by genetic factors

compared mz with dz twins where one of each pair was diagnosed with gender dysphoria

nine of the mz twins were concordant for gender dysphoria compared to none of the dz twins

bst area + eval

bst is larger in men than women

people with gender dysphoria have a bst the size of the gender they identify with

however, some research shows that bst size changes significantly with hormone treatment, so it's not clear whether transgender people are born with different size bsts or if it comes from hrt

analysis of white matter in the brain in transgender people before hrt, in most cases they already had the white matter distribution of the gender they identify with instead of their assigned sex

ovesey and person (1973)

gender dysphoria in males is due to separation anxiety since before gender identity is formed

boy fantasies about symbiotic fusion with the mother which relieves anxiety

ovesey and person eval

only applies to transgender women so isn't a complete explanation

dysphoria in amab people is more likely to be associated with the absence of a father than separation anxiety from the mother