John Money was a psychologist who’s work continues to be referenced in the fields of gender and sex research. He coined the terms “gender role” and “gender identity.” His theory was that someone’s gender role is learned, but that Gender identity is one’s personal preference of sexuality. Money was one of the first scientists to acknowledge that one’s biological sex may not relate with one’s gender identity. Money was also famous for developing the concept of the lovemap to characterize a person's idealized partner and sexual preferences. He also regularly studies pedophilia- the difference between love-based attraction to children and sadistic pedophilia. He believed that Sadistic pedophiles abuse and sometimes even kill their victims. But affectional pedophilia is due to the relationship with someone’s parents.
Due to his beliefs in gender identity, he was very curious in the effects of sex reassignment surgery. In the 1960s, the son of Janet and Ronald Reimer experienced circumcision gone wrong that left him with a severely mangled penis. When John Money was consulted, he suggested that the boy be raised as a girl, and the child underwent sex reassignment surgery. Money used the case as evidence that gender is learned and not instinctive.
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The sex reassignment surgery proved a lot of John’s theories. For example, his theory that Gender role is learned from the behavior around you, but that gender identity is someone’s own internal feelings of gender. Brenda was actually born a boy but was reconstructed to a female, and raised as a girl. During her childhood Brenda acted as a boy and believed she was a boy, this further proved John’s idea of gender roles. Later in her early adult life Brenda was told the truth- later admitting that deep down she has always felt like a girl, this also providing more evidence for John’s other theory of gender
money.In the line “To be made of it !” Gioia uses a hyperbole by referring to rich people as being
To conduct a successful research study it must go through a series of steps. Researchers must be responsible in terms of how they conduct their research, which includes the gathering of facts, the ethical treatment of what they are studying and of the participants. In the movie viewed in class, “Doctor Money and the Boy With No Penis,” it is obvious that Doctor John Money did not treat either Bruce or Brian Reimer properly. Taking advantage of Bruce’s malfunctioned circumcision, Doctor Money wanted to conduct research on his theory about what makes us a man from a woman, and if a boy can be raised as a girl. He developed a profound new theory on nature vs. nurture as he wished to explain how we think of ourselves as either a boy or
In How Sex Changed by Joanne Meyerowitz, the author tell us about the medical, social and cultural history of transsexuality in the United States. The author explores different stories about people who had a deep desired to change or transform their body sex. Meyerowitz gives a chronological expiation of the public opinion and how transsexuality grew more accepted. She also explained the relationship between sex, gender, sexuality and the law. In there the author also address the importance of the creation of new identities as well as how medication constrain how we think of our self. The author also explain how technological progress dissolve the idea of gender as well as how the study of genetics and eugenics impacts in the ideas about gender/sexuality and identity. But more importantly how technology has change the idea of biological sex as unchangeable.
Our text describes pedophilia as a person who “gains sexual gratification by watching, touching, or engaging in sexual acts with prepubescent children, usually 13 years old or younger” (Comer, 2013, p. 411). The movie, The Woodsman describes the story of a convicted sex offender recently released from prison. Walter, depicted by Kevin Bacon shed some insight into the motivations and thought processes that a sex offender, specifically a pedophile might have.
Sex exists in a binary system of male and female, and people can be forced into this binary. A mother of an intersex child states that the surgery comes from “the message that a child’s body is not acceptable as-is and should conform to what the state thinks it should be” (“Their Baby Was Born”). Sex, just like gender, exists in a binary, and when individuals do not fall into the two categories, society becomes uncomfortable. Sex, like gender, is socially constructed (Fausto-Sterling). This means that sex is a spectrum and not the binary it has been made to be. However, society continues to see the binary as normal and will attempt to force individuals to fit the already established system. Because they are in the middle of the sex spectrum rather than at the ends, most intersex individuals in the documentary experienced and continue to experience the same pressures to conform described by the mother and Fausto-Sterling. One person identified with the female gender, but her mother raised her as male. Despite her gender identification, she was continually told to be more masculine and to conform to her assigned male sex and gender. Others also had their appearance shaped through surgery and other means to fit into the sex-gender binary but now choose to identify as neither male nor female. However, this lack of gender-sex identification can leave them socially isolated since
Response: One of Appiah’s main points regarding how race is less central to our ethical identities than gender, is that race is not biological. He continues to explain that race and ethnicity should be considered in the same way because they are both voluntary. While discussing the correlation between ones ethical identity and gender Appiah demonstrates his thoughts using himself as a metaphorical example. He argues that had he been born a male, circumcised improperly and then changed into a female as an infant, his social gender would have been changed because society would see him as a female despite his chromosomal, biological gender. He continues to break down how had he had a sex change, there would be two potential outcomes that would depend on how strong his social masculinity is. Transexuals, he discusses, may say that after transitioning they are still the same ethical person because they were always their current gender despite the chromosomal implications. One of Appiah’s greatest distinctions is the difference between social gender and biological gender,
“...an individual with [pedophilia] has the same ingrained attraction that a heterosexual female may feel towards a male, or a homosexual feels towards their same gender.” (Johnston, Pg. 1). Pedophilia - “the fantasy or act of sexual activity with children who are generally age 13 years or younger” (American Psychiatric Association, p.1) - a word that holds multiple negative connotations, is often seen as aberrant thought process or behavior, and is under debate as to whether or not it’s a sexual orientation. But can it be considered a sexual orientation? As a member of the LGBT community, this issue has surfaced among us and shocked the majority.
This theory asserts that pedophiles see themselves as children, and in turn feel most comfortable with children (Batrol & Batrol, 2014, p. 394). McaPhil and colleagues (2013) found that high emotional congruence with children was most strongly associated with sexual pre-occupation in which sex was used as a means to cope with negative emotions as well as deviant sexual interests and cognitions that support child molestation. Loneliness and social rejection were also found to be associated with emotional congruence with children. In support of previous theories, emotional congruence with children was also associated with problems in sexual self-regulation. Moreover, Stinson et al. (2008) found that self-regulatory deficiency was a significant causal predictor of both sexual deviance and anti-social
First; comes, the notion of nature. West and Zimmerman term this as sex, referring to a person’s biological makeup through genitalia, having a penis or vagina, or simply chromosomal pairing of XY or XX (29). Although there is no escape or control an individual has, if their foetal tissues formed into a penis or vagina, biology does play an underlying role in an individual’s identity and personality formation which is socially constructed. What is the correlation between biology and socially constructed gender then? The case study West and Zimmerman present of “Agnes, a transsexual person who was born (31), ” and raised a boy, but went through sex reassignment surgery, and identifies as a female, shows that although biology may result in a certain genitalia, an individual’s response to that may be one that is conforming or opposing to it. By the terms conforming and opposing I mean to say that Agnes could have either continued to
A child is not born with a blank slate that his or her parents can socially construct their gender. The gender is what we feel inside which is independent from the sex anatomy of our body. A natural born male body consists of different hormone levels than a natural born female. If there is unusual exposure of these hormones, then it can affect how an individual feel on the inside from what they look like on the outside. Dr. Money’s theory was
In Gail Godwin’s story “A Sorrowful Woman” the character that I have found to be the most interesting was the mother, who is also the protagonist of the story. The mother appears to be dissatisfied with her life and mostly with her son. In my opinion, one of the main reasons to why she remains a sympathetic character despite her refusal to be a traditional housewife, is that she still cares about her family and does not want to hurt them. The character might be angry at her son from time to time, but this does not change the fact that she loves him. I have also noticed that the mother in the story is also a little unstable.
Gender dysphoria was not really identified as disorder until the early 1960’s when the first Gender Identity clinic was established by Dr. Robert Stoller (Reicherzer, 2008). Stoller maintained a theory of core gender identity challenges that resembled an altered version of Freud and that was the libido is primarily masculine. Freud had the opinion that both girls and boys, starting at birth, associated themselves little boys and were only altered based on environmental influences (Peterson, 2014). Stoller’s inverse opinion against Freud was a precursor to studies of gender and sexual disorders all over. Stoller identified three main components that construct the core gender identity, being able to distinctively develop a sense of being male or female by the second year of life: establishing biological...
Gender identity has been a delicate issue when it comes to determining if a person's gender is set at birth or develops and changes as a person ages. A person’s gender is not as simple as being classified as either male or female. There’s a considerable amount of external factors that can influence someone’s identity. Although society has a major role in gender identity, sex assignment at birth is not final; furthermore, a person's gender can be influenced by psychological, physiological differences and undergoing changes to the human body. A common misconception many people believe is that gender and gender are the same or go hand in hand with one another.
As a child grows and conforms to the world around them they go through various stages, one of the most important and detrimental stages in childhood development is gender identity. The development of the meaning of a child’s sex and gender can form the whole future of that child’s identity as a person. This decision whether accidental or genetic can effect that child’s life style views and social interactions for the rest of their lives. Ranging from making friends in school all the way to intimate relationships later on in life, gender identity can become an important aspect to ones future endeavors.
Feldman, R. (2008). Sexualty and Gender. Understanding Psychology (9 ed., p. 353). New York City: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.