sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation
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Sex, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation. Sex Vs. Gender. Sex is based on a person’s biological features Gender is used in different ways: Gender roles – behavioral characteristics considered “masculine” or “feminine” - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Sex, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation
Sex Vs. Gender Sex is based on a person’s biological
features
Gender is used in different ways: Gender roles – behavioral characteristics
considered “masculine” or “feminine” Gender identity – internal sense of
ourselves as man, woman, or transgender
Biological Sex: Chromosome Abnormalities
Biological Sex: XX or XY Each parent contribute a
chromosome and sometimes things go wrong. For example women give an X chromosome and the father can give either an X or Y.
Fetuses are undifferentiated for sex until 8 weeks when the Y chromosome causes the body to secrete testosterone and the body forms male genitalia.
Hypothalamus and Pituitary glands regulate secretions of hormones by gonads in the ovaries and testes
In females, the hormone is estrogen. In males, it is androgen/testosterone.
Prenatal Hormone Abnormalities Andrenogenital
Syndrome (AGS) Too much androgen
is released to the fetus. Not a problem if you’re a male but females are masculine.
Genitalia will masculinize and more like a tomboy.
Androgen Insensitivity syndrome (AIS)
Baby doesn’t detect androgen. Boys don’t masculinize they develop female (XY)
No internal sex organs They are XY females. At puberty they grow
breasts but do not menstruate.
Gender Our race, class,
geographical, physical, and sexual identities affect and shape our gender and may change over time.
It may not remain the same from birth to death.
Gender Identity There are new terms that fall outside the two
gender categories our society has traditionally recognized: man and woman
Transgender – a person who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person's sex at birth
Transsexual - a person who strongly identifies with the opposite sex and may seek to live as a member of this sex especially by undergoing surgery and hormone therapy to obtain the necessary physical appearance
Sexual Orientation
Sexual Orientation Our gender is about who we are; our
sexual orientation is about whom we find attractive.
How we identify our gender influences how we name our sexuality, and whom we are attracted to may change throughout our lives.
“Some of us choose not to label our
sexuality at all. It’s important not to assume that we know another
person’s sexual orientation or
identity.”
Types of Orientation Straight/ Heterosexual Gay and Lesbian/ Homosexual Bisexual Asexual – someone who is not
experiencing or acting on sexual attraction at a give time
Pansexual – someone who is attracted to people across the range of genders
Don’t confuse sexual orientation with gender identity!