Gender studies

Sex-role stereotypes

Smith and Lloyd

Videotaped women playing with 4 month old baby. Baby was dressed either as boy or girl with appropriate name. 7 toys present. Found woman’s choice of toy varied with the perceived gender of the infant. Also responded more physically with boys - such differential treatment is likely to affect children’s choices and behaviour as they grow up

Bem’s sex-role inventory

Bem

Used BSRI to find 34% of males and 27% of females to be androgynous. Suggests that a sizeable minority of the population are androgynous, justifying the development of an inventory which treated masculinity and femininity as separate, and argues it is possible to score highly in both

Testosterone effect on gender

Quadango - found female monkeys who were deliberately exposed to testosterone during prenatal development later engaged in more rough and tumble play than other females and were more aggressive

Van de Poll - found female rats injected with testosterone became more physically and sexually aggressive, also show more developed spatial memories (ability to quickly navigate maze)

Oestrogen effect on gender

Reinisch - injected female monkeys with oestrogen and found increased levels of maternal behaviour e.g. interest in babies

Reinisch and Saunders - found boys who were prenatally disposed to an anti-miscarriage drug which increased levels of female sex hormones showed more female-typical behaviours e.g. caring behaviour towards dolls

Evidence that sex hormones are associated with gendered behaviours

Dabbs - found, in a prison population, offenders with the highest levels of testosterone were more likely to have committed violent or sexually-motivated crimes

Van Goozen - studied transgender individuals undergoing hormone treatment. Those taking female hormones showed a decrease in aggression and visual-spatial skills. Those taking male hormones showed the opposite

Evidence that sex hormones do not necessarily have an effect on behaviour

Tricker

Conducted a double-blind study where 43 males were given either a weekly injection of testosterone or a placebo. No significant differences were found after the 10 week period between the 2 groups - suggests testosterone doesn’t have a significant effect on behaviour

Evidence supporting role of sex hormones in gender development in mature males

Wang

Gave 227 hypogonadal men (fail to produce normal levels of testosterone) testosterone therapy for 180 days. Monitored changes. Improved sexual function, libido and mood, and significant increases in muscle strength observed - testosterone has influence on male sexual/physical development in adulthood

Klinefelter’s syndrome

Simpson

Found that the behavioural and language difficulties resulting from KS could be successfully treated with androgen therapy like testosterone supplements and the greater improvements were seen the earlier the treatment was given - supports idea that the psychological symptoms of KS are due to abnormal levels of sex hormones so sex hormones do have a significant effect in shaping gender role behaviours

Turner’s syndrome

Brown

Performed MRI scans on 26 girls with TS and 26 aged-matched non-TS girls. The girls with TS had notable brain differences in cerebral and cerebellar brain areas. These results suggests that TS affects growth of certain brain areas, and these could explain the psychological symptoms associated with the disorder. 

Kohlberg’s theory - gender identity age

Thompson - found that while 2.5 yr olds were 76% correct in identifying their sex, 3 yr olds were 90% correct - suggests children do reach gender identity age at 2-3 yrs

Kohlberg’s theory - all stages of development

Slaby and Frey

Asked 55 children between 2-5.5: ‘Were you a little boy or a little girl when you were a baby?’ and ‘When you grow up will you be a mummy or a daddy?’ Of all children tested, 97% achieved gender identity, 75% gender stability, 50% gender constancy - suggests stages are sequentially ordered

Evidence for stages of development across cultures

Munroe

Found evidence of the 3 stages in a variety of cultures, including Kenya, Samoa and Nepal. Suggests sequence of stages he proposed occurs cross-culturally and is universal - theory has cultural validity and suggests the stages are innate

Many children demonstrate gender-appropriate behaviour before gender constancy is achieved

Bussey and Bandura

Found that children as young as 4 reported feeling good about playing with gender-appropriate toys and bad about doing the opposite - suggests children have developed gender stereotypes and conform to them before reaching gender constancy

Evidence supporting gender schema

Martin and Halverson

Found that children under 6 were more likely to remember photos of gender-appropriate behaviour than photos of gender-inappropriate behaviour when tested a week later - supports gender schema which predicts children under 6 would do this

Girls have more flexible gender concepts than boys

Hutson

Found that it was easier to get girls to take on masculine-type activities than to get boys to dress up as girls - not explained by gender schema theory, lacks sufficient depth

Support for role of Oedipus complex in gender development

Rekers and Morey

Rated the gender identity of 49 boys aged 3-11 based on interviews with their families and the children. Of those judged ‘gender-disturbed’, 75% had neither their biological father or a substitute father living with them - suggests being raised with no father has negative impact on gender identity

Children in non-nuclear families can have normal gender development

Golombok - Showed how children from single-parent families went on to develop normal gender identities

Green - found in sample of 37 children raised by gay or transgender parents, only 1 had atypical gender identity - suggests Freud’s theory lacks validity

Social learning theory

Fagot

Observed children around 2 playing at home with parents, recording the reinforcements/punishments the parents provided. Found that boys and girls were punished/reinforced for different behaviours. Boys reinforced for playing with gender-appropriate toys and punished for playing with dolls. Girls reinforced for staying close to parent and punished for rough play - supports idea that children are rewarded for gendered behaviour and discouraged for cross-gender behaviour

Cross-cultural studies of gender roles

Mead

Studied 3 tribes in Samoa. Arapesh: gentle/responsibe - femininity. Mundugumor: aggressive/hostile - masculinity. Tchambuli women were dominant and organised village life while men were passive and decorative

Concluded that there are not universal gender role behaviours and so socialisation is most important in gender development

• Ethnocentric

• Generalisations about behaviours of male/females - affects validity

• Other researchers didn’t get similar results - low replicability

Gender differences are innate - cross-cultural studies

Buss

Found consistent patterns in mate preference in 27 cultures. All women sought men who could offer wealth and men looked for youth/physical attractiveness in a potential partner - supports nature argument

Gender differences are due to cultural factors

Leung and Moore

Compared Australians of English and Chinese origin. English of both genders showed more masculine traits (valued in Western culture) Chinese of both genders showed feminine traits (valued in collectivist culture)

Gender roles in advertising

Eisend

Found women and men are portrayed differently in ways that conform to traditional gender roles. Women were 4x more likely to not have a speaking role, 3.5x more likely to be presented in domestic environment, 2x more likely to be associated with domestic products - adverts model stereotyped gendered behaviour

TV impact on gender roles

Williams

Studied 3 small Canadian towns: notel (no tv), unitel (1 channel), multitel (many channels). Assessed children’s behaviour in each. Found children in Notel and Unitel had weaker gender stereotypes than Multitel (especially true for girls). Towns reassessed after 2 years after tv introduced in notel. Views became more gender-typical and children showed more gender stereotyped behaviour - tv reinforces gender stereotyped behaviour through modelling/imitation

Effect of media supported by cultivation theory

Bond and Dragos

Found positive correlation between time spent watching reality TV programme Jersey Shore and permissive attitudes towards casual sex. Controlled for influence of factors like existing sexual attitudes, parental attitudes, religious beliefs - media ‘cultivates’ perception of reality, affecting gender behaviour

Brain Sex Theory

Zhou

Studied the bed nucleus of the stria terminals (control autonomic, neuroendrine and behavioural responses), known to be around 40% larger in males than females. In post-mortem studies of 6 mtf transgender individuals, the BSTc was found to be similar size to that of a typical female brain - suggests this area of brain is involved in gender identity and abnormalities may explain some cases of GID

GID genetic basis

Coolige- assessed 157 pairs of twins. Overall 2.3% of ppts suffered from GID and analysis of data suggested it is highly heritable and explained more by biology than environmental factors. Estimated GID is 62% genetic

Heylens - compared 23 MZ pairs with 21 DZ pairs, where one pair was diagnosed with GID. Found that 39% of MZ twins were concordant for GID compared with none of the DZs, indicating the role of genetic factors in GID development

Majority of individuals with CAH are content with their assigned sex

Dessens

Studied 250 genetic females with CAH who were raised as females and found 95% were content with their female gender role. Suggests that exposure to abnormal levels of sex hormones prenatally does increase likelihood of developing GID but it is only a slight risk - contradicts idea that exposure to abnormal sex hormone levels cause GID

Central claims of BST challenged

Hulshoff Pol

Studied changes in transgenders’ brains using MRI scans taken during hormone treatment. Showed that size of the BST changed significantly over that period - Suggests that differences in BST may have been effect of hormone therapy rather than cause of GID

Link between separation anxiety and GID

Coates and Peterson

Studied 25 boys with GID and found 60% of them also met criteria for separation anxiety disorder - suggesting link between separation anxiety and GID

Social explanations explain why many children showing early signs of GID develop a normal gender identity

Zucker

Longitudinal study on females aged 2-3 who showed strong signs of cross-gender behaviour. Only 12% were diagnosed with GID aged 18. Similar results found on study with males (only 20% went on to develop it) - supports idea that cross-gender behaviour accepted by family in early life but then punished by peers later