Gender Development, Gender Roles, and Gender Identity

Prenatal Development: X and Y Make the Difference

Sexual Differentiation in the Womb Atypical Sexual Differentiation: Not Always Just X and Y Gender Roles and Gender Traits Girls Act Like Girls, Boys Act Like Boys Are Gender Roles Innate?

Studying Gender

Gender Role Theory

Evolutionary Theory: Adapting to Our Environment Social Learning Theory: Learning From Our Environment Cognitive Development Theory: Age-State Learning Gender Schema Theory: Our Cultural Maps Gender Hierarchy Theories: Power and Subordination Varieties of Gender Masculinity: The Hunter Femininity: The Nurturer Androgyny: Feminine and Masculine Transgenderism: Living as the Other Sex

Transsexualism: When Gender and Biology Don’t Agree Third Genders: Other Cultures, Other Options Asexualism: The Genetics, But Not the Sex

■ PERSONAL VOICES Toby: An Asexual Person

Gender Role Socialization From Infancy

Through Old Age

Childhood: Learning by Playing

■ SEX IN REAL LIFE Play Like a Boy! Play Like a Girl! Adolescence: Practice Being Female or Male Adulthood: Careers and Families

The Senior Years

Different, But Not Less Than:

Toward Gender Equality

Chapter Review

Chapter Resources

Sexuality У Now Go to www. thomsonedu. com to link to SexualityNow, your online study tool.

When a baby is born, new parents are eager to hear whether “It’s a Girl” or “It’s a Boy,” but what if it were neither? What if a newborn child had ambiguous genitalia and it was impossible to tell whether it was a boy or a girl? A child with the gonads (testes or ovaries) of one gender but with ambiguous external genitalia is often referred to as intersexed. Intersexed girls and boys are often reared as members of their chromosomal sex. Throughout history most parents have opted for immediate surgery to quickly assign the child’s gender to either male or female (Neergaard, 2005). But isn’t gender more than anatomy or hormones? What is gender? Gender raises many issues. For example, does your university allow you to have a roommate who is the other gender? Over the last couple of years, many universities across the country have established “gender neutral” housing (Marklein, 2004), which means it doesn’t matter what gender you are when it comes to living quarters on cam­pus. These efforts are part of a national movement aimed at helping students who may feel confused or who have questions about their gender. Before we go any further, let’s talk about how people tend to use the words sex and gender synonymously, even though they have different meanings. When you fill out a questionnaire that asks you “What is your sex?” how do you answer? When you apply for a driver’s license and they ask, “What gender are you?” how do you respond? Although your answers here might be the same, researchers usually use the word sex to refer to the biological aspects of being male or female and gender to refer to the behavioral, psycho­logical, and social characteristics of men and women (Pryzgoda & Chrisler, 2000). You might wonder why exploring gender is important to our understanding of sexu­ality. How does gender affect sexuality? Gender stereotypes shape our opinions about how men and women act sexually. For example, if we believe that men are more aggres­sive than women, we might believe that these gender stereotypes carry over in the bed­room as well. Traditionally, men are viewed as the initiators in sexual activity, and they are the ones who are supposed to make all the “moves.” Stereotypes about women, on the other hand, hold that women are more emotional and connected when it comes to sex—more into “making love” than “having sex.” Do gender stereotypes really affect how we act and interact sexually? We will explore the relationship between gender and sexuality later in this chapter. So, let’s ask again, what is a man? A woman? Are we really made of sugar and spice or snails and puppy dog tails? For many years scientists have debated whether gender is more genetics and biology (“nature”) or social environment and upbringing (“nurture”), or is it a combination of the two? A real-life story1 from 1965 can help us understand more about the nature versus nurture debate. A young Canadian couple brought their two identical twin boys (Bruce and Brian) to the hospital for routine circumcisions when the boys were 8 months old. A surgical mistake was made during Bruce’s circumcision, and his penis was destroyed. At the time, a well-known sexologist from Johns Hopkins University, Dr. John Money, was promoting his ideas about gender identity. Money be­lieved that gender could be changed through child rearing and was not contingent upon chromosomes, genitals, or even sex hormones (Money, 1975).

yf magine that right now, as you are reading this page, an alien walks into the room. The alien tells you that “zee” (not he or she) is only on Earth for a short time and would like to learn as much as possible about life here during this visit. One of the things “zee” would like to learn about is gender, specifically, “What are a man and woman?” How would you answer such a question? You might try to explain how a man and woman look, act, think, or feel. But what is a man, and what is a woman?

gender The behavioral, psychological, and social char­acteristics of men and women.

gonads The male and female sex glands—ovaries and testes.

intersexed A person who has the gonads (testes or ovaries) of one gender but ambiguous external genitalia; also referred to as a pseudohermaphrodite.

sex The biological aspects of being male or female.

chromosome A threadlike structure in the nucleus of a cell that carries the genetic information.

*In 2001, John Colapinto wrote the details of this real-life story in a book called As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl (New York: Harper Perennial).

After meeting with Dr. Money and discussing their options, the Canadian couple decided to have their son, Bruce, undergo castration (removal of the testicles) and have surgery to transform his genitals into those of an anatomically correct female. Bruce be­came Brenda and was put on hormone treatment beginning in adolescence to maintain his feminine appearance. For many years, this Brenda/Bruce case stood as “proof” that children were psychosexually “neutral” at birth and that gender could be assigned, no matter what the genetics or biology indicated. As a result, many children who were born with ambiguous genitals or who had experienced genital trauma were advised to undergo gender reassignment. It is estimated that one in 2,000 births involves a baby with am­biguous genitals or reproductive structures that are both male and female in physiology (D. A. Lewis, 2000).2

However, even though Money paraded the Brenda/Bruce story as a success, and around the globe intersexed children began reassignments, no one paid much attention to the fact that Brenda was struggling with her gender identity. Once she reached pu­berty, despite her hormone treatments, her misery increased and Brenda became de­pressed and suicidal. She never felt that she was a girl, and she was relentlessly teased by peers. At 15 years old she stopped hormonal treatments and changed her name to David. Although David eventually married and adopted children, his struggles continued. He battled depression his entire life and felt “brainwashed” by physicians (Burkeman & Younge, 2005). In 2004, he took his own life.

This case illustrates the fact both nature and nurture are important in the develop­ment of gender. Evolutionary theory argues that there are many behaviors in men and women that have evolved in the survival of the species and that gender differences be­tween men and women may be at least partially a result of heredity.

In this chapter we will explore the nature versus nurture debate as it relates to gen­der in hopes of finding answers to the questions “What is a man?” and “What is a woman?” We’ll start by reviewing prenatal development and sexual differentiation. We will also look at atypical sexual differentiation and chromosomal/hormonal disorders. Although these disorders are not exceedingly common, their existence and how scien­tists have dealt with them help us learn more about gender. Our biological exploration of gender will help set the foundation on which we can understand how complex gen­der really is. We will also explore gender roles, theories about gender, and socialization throughout the life cycle.