Discuss explanations into Gender dysphoria. (Psychological & Biological)

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PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS

AO1  Mental illness 

A number of psychologists have proposed that gender dysphoria is related to mental illness, which in turn is linked to some childhood trauma or maladaptive upbringing. For example, Coates et al. (1991) produced a case history of a boy who developed GID, proposing that this was a defensive reaction to the boy's mother's depression following an abortion. The trauma occurred when the boy was three, a time in development when a child is particularly sensitive to gender issues. Coates et al. suggest that the trauma may have led to a cross-gender, fantasy as a means of resolving the ensuing anxiety.

AO2

Cole et al. (1997) studied 435 individuals experiencing gender dysphoria and reported that the range of psychiatric conditions displayed was no greater than found in a 'normal' population, which suggests that gender dysphoria is generally unrelated to trauma or pathological families.

IDA

One major criticism of this theory is that it does take ethical considerations into account. This is because it can be highly destructive to put the blame on the parents and can cause psychological harm. Therefore this theory as well as being based on methodologically flawed studies it blames the upbringing of the children.

AO1 Mother-son relationships

Stoller (1975) proposed that GID results from distorted parental attitudes. In clinical interviews with individuals diagnosed with GID Stoller observed that they displayed overly close mother-son relationships. This would be likely to lead to greater female identification and confused gender identity.

AO2

This theory is supported by research conducted by Rekers, who studied a sample of “gender disturbed boys” who showed cross-gender identity, and had a history of cross-dressing and cross-gender role-play behaviour. He found that 75% of the most disturbed boys and 21% of the least disturbed had no father figure. In those cases where the father figure was present, he was described as being “psychologically distant” in 60% of cases.  This suggests that the absence of a male figure while children are growing up can have a severe psychological impact.

BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS

AO1 BSTc

A biological explanation is the brain sex theory. One region of the brain that has been studied is the BSTc. On average, the BSTc is twice as large in heterosexual men as in heterosexual women and contains twice the number of neurons. Zhou et al. found that the number of neurons in the BSTc of MtF transsexuals was similar to that of the females. Therefore it may be that the size of the BSTc that correlates with preferred sex rather than biological sex.

AO2

There is some research support from Rametti et al who studied the brains of FtM transsexuals before they started transgender hormone therapy. In terms of amounts of white matter in their brains, the FtM individuals had a more similar pattern to individuals who share their gender identity (males) than those who share their biological sex (females).

AO2

The brain sex theory was challenged by Chung et al who noted that the differences in BSTc volume between men and women does not develop until adulthood whereas most transsexuals report that their feelings of gender dysphoria began in early childhood. This suggests that the difference found in the BSTc could not be the cause of transsexualism but might perhaps be an effect. 

Furthermore Hullshoff Pol et al also challenged the dutch study (Zhou et al) as they found that transgender hormone therapy does in fact affect the size of the BSTc and so therefore their study's results are flawed.

AO1 Prenatal Hormone

Prenatal hormone levels may be affected by genetic conditions and this may lead to a mismatch between hormones and genetic sex, as we saw at the beginning of this chapter. AIS (androgen insensitivity syndrome) and CAH (congenital adrenal hyperplasia) may result in an intersex condition when external genitalia do not match genetic sex, and an individual may be assigned to the wrong sex at birth

AO2

Dessens et al. (2005) studied 250 genetic females with CAH who were raised as females. Despite prenatal exposure to male hormones 95% were content with their female gender role. The remaining 5% did experience gender dysphoria but generally prenatal exposure to male hormones did not show a clear relationship with dysphoria.

IDA

Understanding of gender dysphonia has real world applications. It is very important in providing information about the effects of erroneous sex assignations and determining the best solutions. Various organizations campaign for the rights of intersex individuals and rely on research evidence to show both the biological and social influences on gender self-concepts.

IDA

One final consideration is the socially sensitive nature of this research. It may be good for transsexuals because if a biological cause is identified this may help other people to be more accepting about the needs of transsexuals. On the other hand if a biological cause is identified then this might harm individuals born with the abnormality because it might be assumed incorrectly that transsexualism is inevitable. 

IDA

The human brain undergoes considerable development pre-nattally and continues to develop after birth. By the time it is fully developed, the child has been subjected to numerous environmental influence including gender socialization. It then becomes impossible o disentangle the effects of nature and nurture on both the brain and gender related behaviour. Therefore although researchers accept some biological element to gender dysphoria, the extent to which it offers a full explanation is still debatable. In other words it seems that we have to look at both psychological and biological explanations to have a complete understanding of gender dysphoria.