This document provides an overview of topics related to gender and sexuality across the lifespan. It discusses gender identity and how it develops from a very young age, with influences from biology like prenatal hormone exposure as well as social and environmental factors like parent-child interactions and societal expectations. It also addresses the concepts of sex and sexuality. While differences between male and female infants tend to be minor, gender-typed behaviors often emerge during early childhood as children become aware of gender identities and show preferences for same-sex playmates.

1. Gender & Sexuality
Lifespan Development
Dr. Giobbi

2. Sequence of Topics
• Gender
• Sexuality
• Relationships

3. GENDER
Sense of “maleness” or “femaleness”.

4. Other -The Third
Dichotomy fallacy

5. SEX
Sexual anatomy
Sexual behavior

6. Performance
Performing
(acting) a social
role.
Judith Butler
http://bigthink.com
/videos/your-
behavior-
creates-your-
gender

7. At Birth
• Fathers interact more with sons
• Mothers interact more with daughters
• Boys receive rougher play from parents.
(Parke, 1996)

8. Attitudes Towards Genders
• Researchers showed video of baby.
• S’s told baby was either “John” or
“Mary”.
• John was viewed as “adventurous”.
• Mary was viewed as “fearful” and
“anxious” (Condry & Condry, 1976).
GIOBBI

9. BIOLOGY
• Male infants tend to be more active
than female infants at birth (Eaton &
Enns, 1986)
• Male sleep tends to be more disturbed

10. The Fine Print…
“Differences between M & F infants,
however, are generally minor. In most
ways infants seem so similar that
usually adults cannot discern whether a
baby is a boy or a girl…”
(Feldman, 2012).

11. Infants Awareness of the M/F
Dichotomy
• By the age of 1 year, infants are able to
distinguish between males & females
(Caldera & Sciaraffa, 1998).

12. By age 2 years…
• Girls behave more compliantly than
boys (Kuczynski, et al., 1990)

13. Reactions to the First step
• Boys are encouraged to keep going,
girls are embraced & hugged (Poulin-
Dubois, et al., 2002).

14. Androgen
• Male hormone.
• Girls who were exposed to high levels
of androgen while in utero were more
likely to play with boy preferred toys
(Levine, et al., 1999).

15. Dr. Louann Brizendine Talks
The Female Brain• http://evolvify.com/dr-louann-brizendine-the-female-brai

16. Biology
• Corpus callosum is larger in females
than in males (Benbow et al., 1997)
• Evolutionary pressures for reproduction
& survival

17. Gender Identity
Boys Awards
• Best thinker
• Most eager learner
• Most imaginative
• Most scientific
• Hardest worker

18. Gender Identity
Girls Awards
• All-around sweetheart
• Sweetest personality
• Cutest personality
• Best helper
• Best manners
(Deveny, 1994)

19. Gender Identity
• Gender (n) from stem of Latin genus
(genitive generis) "race, stock, family;
kind, rank, order; species," also (male or
female) "sex”
• Gender (v) "to bring forth," late 14c.,
from Old French gendrer, from Latin
generare "to engender"

20. Gender Identity
• As sex took on erotic qualities in 20c.,
gender came to be the common word
used for "sex of a human being," often
in feminist writing with reference to
social attributes as much as biological
qualities; this sense first attested 1963.
Gender-bender is first attested 1980,
with reference to pop star David Bowie.

21. Gender Identity
• Gender is established by the age of 2.
(Coltrane & Adams, 1997)
• Children show preference for same-sex
playmates by at 2-3 years of age.

22. Gender Identity
• Preschoolers hold very rigid gender
conceptions.
• By age 7 the conceptions relax
(Eichstedt, et al., 2002)

23. Psychoanalysis
• Penis envy
• Castration anxiety
• Oedipus
• Antigone
• Phalocentrism
• Psychosexual
Development

24. Cognitive Psychology
• Gender schema (Martin, 2000)
Cognitive framework that organizes
information relevant to gender.
• Gender constancy people are
permanent M or F, fixed by biology
(Warin, 2000).

25. AIS
Androgen Insensitivity
Syndrome
• http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Androgen-
insensitivity-
syndrome/Pages/Introduction.aspx
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=AKWK7vhspS4

26. Me, My Sex, & I (BBC)
• http://watchdocumentary.org/watch/me-
my-sex-and-i-video_97eba7f1e.html

27. Sex Unknown (NOVA)
Intersexuality
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/gender/
• Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=r1yT9apMepQ

28. Gender as Spectrum
• http://video.pbs.org/video/1897204646/