lecture 5 - case study: gender identity

gender identity

• One’s sense of being male, female, or something else, such as intersexual.

• Most children first become aware of their sex by about the age of 18 months.

• By 36 months, most children have acquired a firm sense of gender identity.

• Gender-role stereotypes appear to develop through a series of stages (in the preschool years)

  • children learn to label the genders

  • children can distinguish between pictures of girls and boys

  • they display knowledge of gender stereotypes for toys, clothing, work, and activities

  • children imitate gendered roles they observe (Bandura social learning theory)

• Gender roles may impact a child’s understanding of their gender identity.

sex assignment

• The labeling of a newborn (or fetus) as a male or female.

• Also termed gender assignment.

transgender

• Descriptive of people who see themselves as people of the other gender and who may undergo hormone treatments and/or cosmetic surgery to achieve the appearance of being members of the other gender.

• Trangender people experience incongruity between their genital anatomy.

gender roles

• A complex cluster of traits and behaviours that are considered stereotypical of females or of males.

middle childhood

• children undergo cognitive developments, and their more abstract internal traits, or personality characteristics, begin to play a role in their self-definition.

adolescence

• is a key period in the lifelong process of defining just who we are—and who we are not.

• Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development states the stage that is related to adolescence is his stage of identity versus identity diffusion.

identity versus role diffusion

• The developmental task is to associate one’s skills and social roles with the development of career goals

• more broadly, the development of identity refers to a sense of who one is and what one believes in

identity diffusion

• an identity status that characterizes those who have made no commitments and are not in the process of exploring alternatives

• according to Marcia, the stage when adolescents are not committed to an identity and are not questioning who they are yet (Rathus, 2022)

gender identity over the course of the lifespan

• individuals develop a sense of being male or female

• for most adolescents their gender identity is associated with their anatomical sex (i.e. male or female) as well as the societal expectations of what its means to be “female” or “male”

• however, there are other gender identities or expressions that doo not fit the traditional gender identities

• The Public Health Agency of Canada (2014) put forth a question-and-answers resource on gender identity that explains and defines various gender identities youth may identify with, such as

  • genderqueer

  • transsexual

  • two-spirit

do people choose to be gender variant

• Research on the development of gender variant identities suggests that it is linked to a number of factors including neurological, hormonal, biological, social and relational influences and is not a passing phase.

• Instead, the development of gender identity, including a gender variant identity, occurs in stages across the lifespan.

• Studies on gender variant individuals suggest that the awareness and experience of being ‘different’ begins as a child, and that there is a long history of internal tension between the individual’s anatomical sex and their sense of their gender that extends into adolescence and, in some cases, beyond.

conversion therapy

• also known as “reparative therapy,” “reintegrative therapy,”, “sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts”

• includes individual talk therapy, behavioural or aversion therapy, group therapy treatments, spiritual prayer, exorcism, and/or medical or drug-induced treatments,

• attempts to actively change someone’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

concerns about conversion therapy

• There is no credible research that indicates you can change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

• Research tells us these change efforts can have devastating impacts on its victims, including increased anxiety, depression, self-hatred, compromised mental health, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide or suicidal thoughts, and many other lifelong psychological and social issues.

why is changing conversion therapy important

• Conversion therapy has been widely denounced as a harmful and unethical practice by dozens of major medical and human rights organizations around the world

• At last count, over a hundred professional health organizations/associations have also denounced conversion therapy as a deceptive, dangerous, and harmful practice

• Conversion therapy practices are unethical and immoral because they imply that LGBTQ2+ lives are less valuable, less desirable, and less worth living than heterosexual or cisgender persons.

• Ultimately, these practices believe that being an LGBTQ2+ person is a disorder, sin, or disease that must be fixed, cured, healed, or repaired