Gender Identity Disorder

"Gender identity disorder (GID) is a conflict between a person's actual physical gender and the gender that the person identifies himself or herself as."

Causes:
(Those with GID may act and present themselves as a member of the opposite sex.)

•  Choice of sexual partners
• Display of feminine or masculine mannerisms, behavior, and dress
• Self concept 

 Identity conflicts can happy in various situations and appear in multiple ways.  For example, some people with normal genitalia and sexual characteristics of one gender privately identify more with other gender.

Symptoms:
(Can vary it any age, and are affected by social environment)

• Children
• Disgusted by their own genitals
• Are rejected by their peers
• Believe they will grow up to become the opposite sex
• Have depression or anxiety
• Say they want to be the opposite sex
• Adults
• Dress as the opposite sex
• Feel Alone
• Have depression or anxiety
• Want to live as a person of the opposite sex
• Wish to be rid of own genitals

 Treatment:  For those who have GID and their family it is recommended for children to undergo family therapy, and couples therapy for adults.


Complications:

• Depression or anxiety
• Emotional distress
• Feeling alone
• Poor self concept

-Kati
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002495/

When Boys Won't Be Boys

When a mothers concern with her four year old son, she decided to ask the family doctor if his actions were or would become a problem.  Their doctor reassured them, "This is just a phase, nothing to worry about.  He will grow our of it." Although, the doctor was most likely wrong. 

Problems with gender identity includes cross-dressing, exclusive cross-gender play, and a lack of same sex friends should be treated as a symptom that something may be wrong.  Boys you display symptoms are more likely to be unhappy, lonely, and isolated.  To suffer separation anxiety, depression, and behavioral problems. 

The good thing is that if gender identity problems are identified and addressed, and if both parents cooperate in the solution, many of the negative outcomes can be prevented. 

Parents sometimes try their own methods of putting a stop to the behavior, but forcing a frightened child to engage in behaviors in which he feels inadequate is not a proper solution.  Some people may aviod treatment because they believe that gender identity problems are a sign that the child was born "homosexual," and that the parents should accept this. 


-Kati
Catholic Education Resource Center

Value priorities and how the Sexes differ?

        The battle between the relationships and the sexes has always been complex many have tried to research it but across the board there has never been research done that encompasses a wide variety of nationalities and cultures. However, a pretty cool article written at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem finally decided it was time to render an opinion that spoke for the male and female race more so as a whole. It digs deeper into whether or not the confusion is if women give more importance to their values than men or if there are universal differences at all.

       There are some values that are similar within almost all cultures. -power:social status and prestige, control or dominance over people and resources -achievement: personal success through demonstrating competence according to social standards -hedonism: pleasure and sensuous gratification for oneself -stimulation: excitement, novelty, and challenge in life -self-direction: independent thought and action choosing, creating exploring -universalism: understanding, appreciation, tolerance, and protection for the welfare of all people and for nature -benevolence: preservation and enhancement of the welfare of people with who, one is in frequent personal contact -tradition: respect, commitment and acceptance of the customs and ideas that traditional culture or religion provide the self -conformity: restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset or harm others and violate social expectations or norms -security: safety, harmony, and stability of society of relationships and of self.(1010-1011)

    To ensure diversity samples were taken from university students in 70 different countries, adults from 15 countries and 19 European countries and Israel. Two different methods were used: Personal Values Questionnaire and Schwartz value survey.


          The results showed show that women give more importance to universalism, benevolence and security and men to stimulation and power. Unfortunately, after reading this nineteen page article these results were not surprising. So many times men and women try to say they hate the stereotypes and placed upon them but how can they complain when they are living proof of the stereotypes we see. It seems that no matter where you go men and women remain the same, Although the language  may be foreign to our ears or the food may taste different to our mouths universally we are the same. Next time you sit down to think about our society and how its so different from others at our roots are we the same.

    


-Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Schwartz, Shalom H. , Rubel, Tammy
       2005.  Vol. 89 No. 6, 1010-1018. Apr 20, 2012
 < http://csaweb106v.csa.com/ids70/display_fulltext_html.php?SID=i4knd3tb9h054v466s8ufq43c7&db=psycarticles-set-c&an=2005-16185-013&f1=0022-3514%2C89%2C6%2C1010%2C2005&key=PSP%2F89%2Fpsp_89_6_1010&is=0022-3514&jv=89&ji=6&jp=1010-1028&sp=1010&ep=1028&year=2005&mon=12&day=0022-3514%2C89%2C6%2C1010%2C2005>

-Dominique

Toys for Toddlers

Quick what color comes to mind when you think of the word boy? What color comes to mind with the word girl? Sterotypes are so prevailent in our culture that we are exposed to it right from the womb and it only increases from there. As a matter of fact stereotyping infants has increased so much over the years that it has even started to affect toys that were once gender neutral, such as legos.

Notice how the video on top targeted for girls consisting on baking and playing resturant not to mention that a majority of the structures are assembled. This blog also touches upon the subject of stereotyping toddlerss while breifely comparing two common toys for young infants.

-Asael

Labelpalooza

While it's important to understand how diverse sexuality can be, especially since asexuality contains many more facets than ever before imagined, it has brought about the imagined need to slap a label on every possible sexual/romantic/asexual/aromantic orientation. This is a humorous take on the matter. 

The text reads as follows: GREAT, YOU’RE ASEXUAL! HAVE YOU FIGURED OUT WHAT ROMANTIC ORIENTATION YOU ARE YET?! WE ALL HAVE ONE! (KINDA). THAT GUY OVER THERE IS HOMOROMANTIC, HE’S ATTRACTED TO PEOPLE OF THE SAME GENDER, BUT NOT IN A SEXUAL WAY! ISN’T THAT GREAT! BUT IT DOESN’T STOP THERE! IF THAT DOESN’T HELP, YOU CAN SPLIT YOUR CONCEPTS OF ATTRACTION DOWN INTO SMALLER AND SMALLER PARTS UNTIL YOU HAVE A REALLY GOOD IDEA WHAT MAKES YOU TICK, AND, HEY LOOK, A CONVERSATION ABOUT NON-TRADITIONAL INTIMACY MODELS, YOU COMING? SO IT DOESN’T MATTER TO US WHAT YOU DECIDE YOU ARE–THE IMPORTANT BIT IS THAT YOU FEEL LIKE YOUR LABEL FITS AND IS COMFORTABLE, AND IF THE WORDS DON’T WORK YOU SHOULD TOTALLY MAKE SOME UP!!! MAKE UP SOME WORDS! GO ON! IT’S FUN! HERE, TRY SOME PUNS!! HAVE A GOURD! DOES THIS FIT? NO? WELL, HOW ABOUT THESE? DO THESE MODELS SEEM USEFUL? LOOK! I DREWED YOU A GRAPH! AND ANOTHER GRAPH, I DIDN’T LIKE THAT ONE!! YOU ARE THE POINT OF ORIGIN! NOW YOU’RE SPECIAL!! HOORAY! LOOK, HERE’S A RIDICULOUSLY COMPLEX SPIDER CHART! HOW MANY MORE DIMENSIONS DO YOU NEED? I’M UP TO 26! YOU SHOULD SEE IF YOU CAN CHART YOUR ORIENTATIONS TO BOTH MEN AND WOMEN AND POSSIBLY NONBINARY PEOPLE!! HAVE YOU NOT QUESTIONED YOUR GENDER YET, BY THE WAY? GET THEE TO A YADARY! IT’S FUUUUUUUUN! AND WHAT MAKES GENDER ANYWAY? HAVE SOME MORE LABELS…
-Ashley

Article: "Life without Sex"

David Jay, the leading founder of The Asexual Visibility and Education Network, believes that we are entering a "third phase of the asexual movement." The April 2012 article written by Rachel Hills for The Atlantic gives some insight on the state of the asexual community from one of it's leading figures. There is very large push to remove the stigma of asexuality being a defect from the everyday man's idea of what asexual means. To many it means that there is a past trauma or repressed desires and guilt keeping asexuals from acting in a sexual manner. What Jay and many others wish to make clear is that the majority of asexuals are simply without desire. Through interaction with other asexuals online and local communities many have realized that their lifelong asexuality is far from uncommon. To many who identify as asexual it is a welcome part of their personality an lifestyle but doctors and psychologists often disagree with this contentment.

You can find the article here!

-Ashley

Breakdown of the Community

This is a great visualization of how diverse the asexual community really is. Asexuality is something far more diverse than once thought!

-Ashley

Asexual Axolotl Meme

This collection of Asexual Axolotl Memes is full of witty observations on the hardships faced by Asexuals on a daily basis. I've taken some time to gather some select examples. Enjoy! -Ashley

Get Over It

Collaborative Post #2

Getting our blog up-and-running took some time but finally the Psychology of Gender and Sexuality blog has turned into the blog we always hoped it would be! By each taking a focus on our specific topic of interest, Ashley covering asexuality, Dominique covering sexual attraction, Asael covering gender stereotypes, and Kati with Gender Identity Disorder, we were able to gather information on many related topics without losing our overall focus. By each covering a specific theme within the broad "Psychology of Gender and Sexuality" we were able to learn more about some very specific and current issues. Included within to present or otherwise back-up our research we have used various forms such as:

• Gender Identity Disorder flow charts
• Statistics
• Images (e.g. comics, flyers, memes)
• Videos (e.g. news broadcasts, interviews)

Hopefully our blog has helped to shed some light on these pressing issues and current news-breaks in the field of Psychology. 

How it Works!

Gender Identity Disorder (also known as...): GID, gender identity confusion, gender dysphoria, transgenderism, and transsexualism.  Health professionals believe that there are three components that make up our gender identity: our sexual orientation, behavior and mannerism preferences, and core gender identity. 

The cause of this disorder continues to be a debated one, it is suggested that it is due by genetic abnormalities, endocrine problems like a testosterone or estrogen imbalance in the womb, social factors. 

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/genetic/gender-identity-disorder.htm
-Kati

 

-Kati

Gender Identity Disorder (Causes, symptoms)

Gender Identity disorder is defined as consistent cross-gender identification of a person that is, when an individual has a desire or insists that she or he is of the opposite sex.  They have a strong desire not to conform to the society's norm of his or her gender role. 

Causes:
1. Hormonal imbalances - occurring during fetal and child development
2. Genetic abnormalities of individual
3. Environmental factors such as parenting of child rearing
4. Mixture of above components cause this disorder

Symptoms/Signs:
1. Expressed want to belong to opposite sex
2. Calling oneself names used typically by opposite sex
3. Believes that in time they will grow up to become the opposite sex
4. Experience rejection from peer groups
5. Self-isolation
6. Manifesting behavior seen in the opposite sex
7. Depressed or anxious


http://ehealthwall.com/gender-identity-disordergid-treatment-symptoms-signs-test-causes/

-Kati

Youngest Case of Gender Identity Disorder

Zach Avery has been living as a girl for more than a year now, after refusing to live as a boy when turning three years old.  Instead of living as a boy, he began choosing to wear pink dresses and ribbons in his long, blonde hair.  Zach is one of the youngest to ever be diagnosed with gender identity disorder in Britain.




  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/9093108/Five-year-old-boy-lives-as-girl-in-youngest-case-of-Gender-Identity-Disorder.html

-Kati

Restroom

This is just an idea of what a restroom sign would look like with different terminology and genders/sexual orientations on it.

-Kati

Rights - Kati

I found this a bit interesting...

Compatibility or Sexuality?

So many relationships today do not last because they are based on attraction and lust rather than compatibility. In America so many relationships do no last because couples do not look into the deeper aspects of their potential partners. This article gives a look into what you should really look for in a partner.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/do-the-right-thing/201204/compatibility-the-secret-ingredient-happy-relationship

                                  
-Dominique

Fighting Like a Man

Meet Serah Farron

Serah is the protagonist of Final Fantasy XII-2 spending the game searching for her sister throughout time. The weapon you see there is a made up weapon (called a bowblade) that has the ability to transform from a crossbow into a sword. However it's mainly seen being used within cutscenes in its crossbow form. The reason I point this out is because in earlier development Serah was originally written to solely utilize a sword, but was rewritten to utilize the aforementioned bowblade to "preserve her femininity". The Final Fantasy series is notorious for having a majority of their female characters being relegated to "back row" positions casting spells or summoning creatures to do the fighting for them while the majority of their male characters get up close and personal with the enemy. There are only a handful of male or female characters in this series who go against these norms and are instead the opposite class of their gender. The following article also touches upon this female stereotype of non-aggressive female characters within the gaming industry.

http://gametheoryonline.com/2010/09/17/women-gamer-stereotype-girl-grrl-ladies-female-gaming/

However there are female video game characters out there who wield swords and bazookas with just as much or even more skill as a man, one of these being the heroine of Heavenly Sword Nariko. In the game Nariko is the daughter of a leader of a clan of warriors who was predicted to be born a boy who would bring great honor to the clan. However instead she was born a girl and this addled with the fact that her mother died giving birth to her caused many members of her clan to view her as a curse. However when they are captured by the evil King Bohan Nariko utilizes the power of the forbidden Heavenly Sword to save them. Now my question to all of the readers out there who watch the subsequent video is this; does Nariko still retain her femininity despite "fighting like a man"?

-Asael

Gender Line

-Asael

Battle of the Sexes

For ages Women and Men have been engaged in a constant struggle of men vs women. Although times have changed and its not always just "men" and "women" involved the struggle remains. But why?

-Dominique

Media Misrepresentation

As documented here a recent episode of the popular medical drama House M.D. caused a stir amoung the asexual community. The premise of the episode involved an asexual couple who seek medical attention for a minor issue. House, hearing of their asexual relationship, seeks to discover a medical condition which could be affecting their sex drive. However, he does not just suspect them to have a medical issue; this stance is evident in his statement that "lots of people don't have sex. The only people who don't want it are either sick, dead, or lying." The episode concludes with the husaband being diagnosed with a tumor which impairs his libido and the wife with a confession that she had been lying about her asexuality in order to continue the relationship.

The amount of media attention asexuals have had is growing at a relatively slow pace. Although media attention is welcome, seeing it portrayed as a symptom rather than a sexual orientation is what the asexual community is against. True, some instances of asexuality are related to physical ailments but the majority of "sufferers" are not truly suffering. Instead they are healthy individuals who happen to have been born without or have come to lack a drive to have sex with another. While media attention is important, such instances of misrepresentation are all too common when on the topic of asexuality.

-Ashley

Different Gender Icons

-Kati