Chapter 4

1. Chromosomes
(DNA – Genes)
– Sex Chromosomes
– Female: XX
– Male: XY
2. Gonads
– Glands produce sex hormones
– Female Gland: ovaries (eggs)
– Male gland: testes (sperm)

3. Hormones
– Produced by gonads, no hormones are unique to one sex
– Female: higher levels of estrogen & progesterone
• Produced by adrenal gland
– Male: higher levels androgens (testosterone)
• Some androgens produced by testes converted into estrogen

4. Genitals (internal & external)
• Female:
– Internal: ovaries, uterus (sexual functioning, menstrual cycle, pregnancy)
– External: Vulva (all components of external vagina)
• Male:
– Internal: Production, storage of sperm, sexual arousal
– External: Penis & Scrotum
5. Secondary Sex Characteristics
• Female: breasts
• Male: facial hair

• Gender is a person’s psychological sense of self as a male or female
• Gender is a complex variable influenced by:
– Biological Factors
– Socialization
– Experience

• Individual’s sense of belonging to the male or female sex
• Attributes:
– Masculinity (being ‘like a man’)
– Femininity (being ‘like a woman’)
• Traits:
– Instrumentality (masculine)
– Expressiveness (feminine)
– Androgynous (attributes of both)

• DSD – congenital conditions in which development of chromosomal, gonadal or anatomical sex is atypical; formerly known as intersex conditions
• Case of Bruce / Brenda Reimer (1965-
2004)
– Born male, raised female after botched circumcision.

• Transgender
– Person feels trapped in wrong biological sex
– Sometimes considered to be suffering from
GID
• Controversy about whether transgender should be considered a psychological disorder

• Gender Identity Disorder (GID)
– Intense distress over one’s birth sex
– Evaluated Treatment:
• Sex reassignment surgery

• Biological
• Evolutionary
• Social Cognitive
• Social Role

• Biological
– Focuses on the way that genes, hormones, and brain structures relate to gender differences (brain based)
• Evolutionary
– Views gender through Darwinian natural selection that human beings have evolved through process of sexual selection in which:
• Males compete for mates
• Females choose their male partners

• Social Cognitive
– Emphasizes how learning, modeling, and cognitive schemas influence development of gender
• Social Role
– States a division of labor between the sexes based on male-female physical differences which can lead to the social construction of gender roles and gender stereotypes
• theory predicts that as social structures change, gender differences decline

• Social Factors do not seem to play a large role in sexual orientation
– Gender Identity is not attached to sexual orientation
• Genes explain a small amount of the variations we see in sexual orientation
– Some research shows gay men have thicker corpus callosa than hetero men
– Other research suggests lesbian women may be more similar to hetero men in terms of brain hemisphere asymmetry
– In women: prenatal testosterone exposure shows some links to eventual lesbian & bisexual orientation

• In 1973, homosexuality was removed from the DSM-II classification of mental disorders and replaced by the category Sexual Orientation
Disturbance
• This represented a compromise between 2 views
– Preferential homosexuality is a mental disorder
– Homosexuality is a normal sexual variant
• The 1973 DSM-II controversy was highly publicized