Gender Identity Disorders - Abnormal Psychology - Lecture Slides, Slides of Abnormal Psychology

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Sexual and Gender Identity

Disorders

Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders

• Sexual Dysfunctions: Problems of inhibited sexual desire, arousal, and response.
• Gender-Identity Disorders: Incongruity or conflict between one’s anatomical sex and one’s psychological feeling of being male or female.
• Paraphilias: Sexual urges and fantasies about situations, objects, or people not part of the usual arousal pattern leading to reciprocal and affectional sexual activity.

What Is “Normal” Sexual Behavior?

• Merck Manual’s process for judging if a behavior constitutes a sexual problem: - Persistence/recurrence over long period of time. - Personal distress. - Negative effect on relationship with one’s sexual partner.

The Sexual Response Cycle

• Appetitive Phase: Characterized by desire for sexual activity.
• Arousal Phase: Moves out of appetitive phase when specific and direct (not necessarily physical) sexual stimulation occurs.
• Orgasm Phase: Characterized by involuntary muscular contractions throughout the body and eventual release of sexual tension.
• Resolution Phase: Characterized by relaxation of the body after orgasm.

Homosexuality: Research Findings

• No physiological differences in sexual arousal and response for homosexuals/heterosexuals.
• No significant differences on measures of psychological disturbance.
• Gender conflicts due to societal intolerance, not gender identity confusion.
• Sexual concerns differ because of societal context.

Theories of Homosexuality Is it a choice?

• Estradiol resulting from aromatization appears to be responsible for masculinizing the developing brain.
• In humans and many other mammals, the placenta normally blocks the mother’s estrogens.
• Prenatal exposure to synthetic estrogens may masculinize the female brain.
• The hyena placenta does not prevent masculinization.

Courtesy Dr. Stephen Glickman

Theories of Homosexuality Is it a choice?

• Early exposure to androgens may affect adult behavior in rats.
• Exposure to testosterone necessary for sexual dimorphism of SDN-POA in rats.
• Low-testosterone rats are more likely to engage in sexual activity with males.
• Unusual exposure to testosterone in females may promote sexual activity with females.

Theories of Homosexuality Is it a choice?

• Women exposed to high levels of prenatal androgens are more likely to engage in bisexual and lesbian behavior.
• Most women exposed to high prenatal androgens are heterosexual.
• The vast majority of lesbians and bisexual women have not experienced exposure to high prenatal androgens.

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Theories of Homosexuality Is it a choice?

Simon LeVay compared INAH-3 in heterosexual and homosexual males.

Courtesy Simon LeVay,Salk Institute

Theories of Homosexuality Is it a choice?

• The likelihood of a gay man having a gay brother is:
  • 25% for fraternal twins.
  • 50% for identical twins.
• Data for lesbians are less clear, leading LeVay and others to question a genetic role in female homosexuality.

Aging and Sexual Activity

• Physiologically based changes
• Illnesses affect sexual activity
• Medical procedures help minimize effects of organically-based problems.
• AARP survey (1999):
  • Relationships more important than sex
  • Sexual activity affected by “partner gap”
  • Despite health-related declines in sexual activity, ~2/3 of men and women with sexual partners are satisfied with their sex lives docsity.com