Discuss the role of genes and hormones in gender development free essay sample

Gender refers to the social, psychology and behavioural aspects of being male or female. In other words, masculinity or femininity, however this is different from Sex, which is the biological fact of being male or female. This is normally identified by chromosomes and genitalia. The hundred of genes we have in our 23 pairs of chromosomes carry information about our physical and behavioural characteristics. The sex chromosomes are thought to determine biological sex. There is usually a direct link between chromosomal sex and external genitalia and the internal genitalia. Gene abnormalities can lead to problems in gender development. Kleinefelters syndrome occurs when a foetus possesses an extra X chromosome in addition to the normal male XY. They will develop as a normal male but in puberty the extra chromosome prompts the development of female attributes such as breasts, and also means the individual is infertile. Turner’s syndrome results in an individual being born with a single X chromosome and they are called XO individuals. They are born with female genitalia but ovarian development is irregular and they are also infertile. They may also lack secondary sexual characteristics, and as a result may feel like incomplete females and can cause gender role confusion. Both of these conditions demonstrates the importance of genetics in healthy development. However, a criticism of saying that defects in genes can cause gender role confusion and lead to problems in gender development comes from Willerman. He suggests that we should not expect too much of genetics differences between males and females because they share 45 out of 46 chromosomes and the Y chromosome carries the least amount of genetic information. Although this is true, chromosomes only initially determine sex, hormones govern most of gender development. Hormones are produced in the womb and there is a surge of testosterone during puberty which lead to the development of secondary sexual characteristics. Women and men produce sex hormones in different amounts. These hormones influence the functioning of bodily organs, for example oestrogen is involved in breast development and menstruation, testosterone is involved in muscle growth, voice change and body hair. Quandagno et al (1977) supports this looked at the effect of testosterone of brain development in animals. They found that female monkeys who had been deliberately exposed to testosterone during pre-natal development later engaged in more rough and tumble play, and were more aggressive than other female monkeys. Therefore this suggests, that the exposure to testosterone in the womb, lead to the development of a masculinised brain. A strength of this research was that they were able to deliberately manipulate hormone levels during fetal development, which means we can make statements about cause and effect. However, the research could be described as reductionist because it assumes that gender development is equivalent in monkeys and humans. Care must be taken when generalizing to humans because humans are more self-aware, can control their behaviour and how they are viewed by others, so that they act in accordance with social norms, and this raises the nature-nurture debate, i. e behaviour in humans in likely to involve both hormones and social factors. A problem that we have is that it would be difficult to replicate this research as it is now considered unethical, therefore this raises questions of the validity of the research, because we cannot replicate it. Hormones influence the development of genitalia and can also affect brain development. Some individual are exposed to abnormal hormone levels in the womb. This can lead to inter sex conditions. Congential Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) occurs when a normal XX female feotus is exposed to abnormally high levesls of the hormone Cortisol. This results in enlarged female genitalia. This may lead to the female being labelled male at birth and the true sex may not be identified until puberty. These individuals often identify themselves as male and behave in a stereotypically male way, for example rough play and preference for male activities and dress. Research has shown that some sufferers of CAH do accept the sex that is assigned to them at birth. However, the label and sex of rearing is not accepted by all and some opt for gender reassignment. It has been shown that once diagnosed, CAH can be treated with hormone therapy. This has led to successful gender realignment. This suggests that a simple cause and effect relationship between hormones and gender is unlikely. There is no simple formula for predicting gender and it seems to be an unpredictable combination of genes, sex of rearing and socialisation. In other words, gender is formed through a combination of a complex interaction between nurture and nature. Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is caused by dysfunctional androgen receptors which prevent the male from developing male genitalia. In many cases when the testes start to produce testosterone the lack of functional androgen receptors means that the body continues to develop along female lines. These males appear to be female as birth and therefore wrongly assigned a female identity. Evidence from AIS was carried out using a case study of Mrs DW. At puberty she developed no pubic hair, she didn’t menstruate but she did develop breasts. It was discovered that she had AIS but she chose to live an active life as a woman. She adopted two children and is married. This suggests that maybe the sex of rearing was more influential in her gender development than genes and hormones. In contrast, another case study suggests the opposite. A rare case was reported in the Dominican Republic by Imperato and McGinley 1979. The Batista family had 4 children who were presumed female at first and were raised as girls. At puberty, the production of androgens caused male genitalia to appear. It seems that these individuals accepted their change of sex without too much difficulty. This finding seems to contradict the case of Mrs DW. This may be because the Batista children never took on the feminine role because other relatives have the same condition and they expected to become boys in puberty. It could also be argued that gender is a social construction rather than an objective reality. In the Dominican Republic, the people seem to have a more flexible view of masculinity and femininity which would enable individuals to express aspects of their identity which would be more difficult in the West where thinking about gender is more rigid. This view seems to contradict the biological explanation. This evidence is not drawn from a normal population. These are exceptional cases and their experience of gender development may not be representative of the normal population. In other words intersex individuals may be more vulnerable to social influences than normal individuals because they have to search harder for information about gender identity. Therefore we must take care when extrapolating from these cases about any conclusions about the validity of the biological approach in gender development. The David Reimer case study suggests that people are not flexible. We are not neutral at birth and despite being raised for 10 or 12 years as a girl, he couldn’t accept that he was a girl. David went on the Oprah Winfrey show and accused Money of making his childhood, humiliating miserable and confusing. Evidence seems to suggest he’s wrong, such as building loopholes, and the gate was closing; the argument that psychology is a pseudoscience. If gender roles are determined by biology, can the biological approach explain change in social roles e. g. womens roles. If we are biologically suited to a certain role there is no reason for change. Male brains are different to female brain, for example girls appear to be better at social skills and males seem to have better awareness. It has been suggested that these difference could be caused by the effects of testosterone on the developing brain leading to a masculinised brain. The biological approach is a reductionist approach because it can explain the way men and women act in terms of the genes and hormones. It suggests that We are victims of our biology, however this is not true in terms of the gender we choose to be, especially for those that are born with or develop genetic or hormonal defects.