Title: Gender Dysphoria:

• What is Gender Dysphoria? (A01)

• Explain psychological and biological explanations for Gender Dysphoria (A01).

• Evaluate theses explanations (A02) by using PEEEL paragraphs

What is Gender Dysphoria?

Gender Dysphoria is when an individual experiences a mismatch between their biological sex and gender identity. They feel uncomfortable with the gender to which they have been assigned

It is not the same as transvestism!

Signs and symptoms?From DSM IV

• Strong and persistent cross gender identification

• Desire to live as the opposite sex and have surgery to change body

• Clinically significant distress in social, occupational areas of functioning

• Must be present for at least 2 years

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDJXR1wXofA

What causes gender dysphoria?

• The most widely held view is that it is both biological and social factors that contribute to the development of gender dysphoria.

• This is a biosocial explanation

Biological explanations

If males are exposed to a lack of testosterone during prenatal development or vice versa

• The brain sex theory• Certain structures in males and females brains

are different• The BSTc is twice as large in males and has twice

as many somatostatin neurons

• Size of BSTc correlates with thePreferred sex not biological sex

Biological explanations

Zhou et al carried out post mortems of 6 male-to-female transsexuals

BSTc

Support for Biological explanations

• Read Kruijiver et als (2000) study and answer the following questions……….

1. How do you think they measured the number of somatostatin neurons in participants BSTc?

2. Who had the largest number of somatostatin neurons, male to female or female to male transsexuals?

3. What did they conclude from their results, e.g does it support biological or social explanation?

4. Evaluate the study. Please elaborate: TMB…(p 201)

Social explanations

• Mother-son relationships. Stoller proposed that GD results from overly close mothers-son relationships.

• Evidence from interviews with Gender Dysphoria patients

Social explanations

• Recker links GD in boys to an absence of a father figure either physically or psychologically.

Support• Recker (1986) conducted research on 36 gender

disturbed boys. • In the group of most disturbed boys, 75% had no

father figure.• In the group of least disturbed boys, 21% had no

father figure.In the cases where there was a father figure, he was often described as psychologically absent

Kim’s story…

Think back to Kim’s story.

Do you think the biological theories or social theories best explain the case of Kim? Or do you think the biosocial theory best explains Kim’s gender dysphoria?

Why?

PEEEL paragraphs (A02)

After your A01, your essay can be made up of PEEEL paragraphs……

Point – “Support for this theory comes from…”Evidence- “The results showed that….”Explain- “This supports the theory because…”Evaluate- “However there are methodological issues with the study…”Link back- “This matters because…”

Task: Write a PEEEL Paragraph for • Kruijiver et als

study• Recker’s study

• Find another study in Cardwell!