Gender Identity Formation Research Articles

Transgender identity and cryptorchidism: A case study

Introduction. There is a wide range of possible combinations in relation to sex at birth, gender identity, and sexual orientations. Specific medical and psychological treatment needs may also vary depending on these combinations. Objective. In order to promote interventions that focus on the perceived needs of those directly involved, the aim of the present case study is to describe the clinical and life experiences of a 43-year old transgender woman with cryptorchidism and examine the interplay between this relative common testicular problem at birth, gender identity, and sexual orientation formation processes from her own perspective. Method. An in-depth interview was conducted at a specialized care centre in Mexico City, Mexico. The interview was audio recorded and transcribed for a content analysis. Results. The case under analysis was assigned to the male sex and identified herself as a transgender woman and lesbian. Although it is not possible to conclude that her gender identity or sexual orientation is related to her antecedent of cryptorchidism, as she reflected on her related negative experiences, she concluded that her gender identity and sexual orientation trajectories, as well as her life in general, would have been completely different if there were no clinical interventions in her early development. Discussion and conclusion. The present case could have been benefited from not receiving early treatment for her cryptorchidism. There is an urgent need for the development of standardized protocols or algorithms for physical and mental health care professionals, which focus on supportive guidance rather than adjustment to parental and medical expectations.

"Diagnosing" Gender? Categorizing Gender-Identity Variants in the Anthropocene.

In recent decades, two interrelated major controversies have been unfolding in the area of sex/gender research. (1) Are gender-identity variants to be understood as psychopathology or natural variation? (2) Is gender (and perhaps even sex) better conceptualized as binary or non-binary? The answer depends on the conceptual context and related considerations of utility. In the context of evolutionary biology, marked variants of sex and gender decrease reproductive success and are, thereby, deemed pathologic. In the present era of the anthropocene, however, the material conditions underlying the traditional division of labor between the sexes and the role of reproductive success have dramatically changed. These changes decrease the psychosocial importance of the binary gender distinction, provide more freedom for non-binary gender expression and identity formation, and render the distinction of pathologic and non-pathologic less useful, unless gender dysphoria develops secondary to a psychiatric condition. Although most people state their gender identity in the form of a nominal category, most self-report or interview-based ratings and multi-item scales of gender expression and/or identity show continuous distributions, either unimodal-asymmetric or bimodal, depending on whether they are designed for one or both of the traditional genders. Similarly, the rating scales of androgen-influenced variants of the genitalia-usually designed for one of the traditional sexes-typically represent a unipolar-asymmetric continuum. However, the binary gender system remains the primary framework against which individuals evaluate themselves. For those who develop gender dysphoria, assistance by mental-health service providers continues to be important.

Підготовка майбутніх вихователів до формування гендерної самоідентичності дитини засобом ІКТ

The content of the concepts of «gender identity» and «IC-technologies» is disclosed in the article. The importance of using teachers in pre-school educational institutions and adults, at home, means of information and communication technologies for the formation of gender competence in children of the senior preschool age is substantiated. Characterized factors influencing the formation of gender identity and formulated a number of challenges faced by teachers in this context of the educational process. Also offered are variants of combinations of didactic material using different educational platforms. As an option, the key issues for the topic and the projected «portrait» of the child after the end of one thematic block are presented. The specifics and development dynamics of a child of preschool age as a representative of the gender in the context of modern gender culture. The importance of integrating the educational process with the latest interactive technologies is highlighted. Created special conditions for direct educational activities will purposefully contribute to the formation of gender identity.

АВТОРСЬКА КАЗКА ЯК ДЖЕРЕЛО ГЕНДЕРНОЇ ІДЕНТИЧНОСТІ (НА ПРИКЛАДІ ЦИКЛУ МАРИНИ ПАВЛЕНКО «ПІВТОРА БАЖАННЯ. КАЗКИ З ЯЛОСОВЕТИНОЇ СКРИНІ)»

The article is devoted to the analysis of feminine and masculine constants, which are represented in the cycle “One and a Half Wish. Tales from Yalosoveta’s Treasure Chest” by Maryna Pavlenko and directed at the gender identity formation. Gender identity is supposed to be conformable valuable behavioral instructions, that lead to learning the roles and development of personality traits. Along with mythology and folklore, it is considered as a sum-total of standardized static roles and cultural ideals according to the way of life. In the fairy tale it is made with an articulated assessment of acts and actions of the characters, which depends on feminine and masculine semantics and is conditional on mental peculiarities of Ukrainian society. Maryna Pavlenko makes an accent on usual women’s and men’s traits, which start to acquire marginalized status because of development of democratic society, however, she doesn’t strive for hyperborlized positivity, that is a significant feature of the author’s tale text. Having a powerful moral-didactic potential, in the reader’s consciousness the writer’s tales make negative behavioral stereotypes urgent too, they are connected with moral character’s traits. In the cycle “One and a Half Wish. Fairy Tales from Yalosoveta’s Treasure Chest” Maryna Pavlenko represents her own outlook, shows ideal life model of the person, who has archaic views about relations and standards according to the gender area.

Gender Diversity Meets the 21st Century: Social Media and Peer Influences on Adolescent Gender Identity Formation

In the context of growing referral rates and increasing diversification of presentations of patients with gender nonconformity in behavior and/or identity [including “rapid onset of transgender identity declarations” (ROTID)], this panel aims to provide an overview of research on variants of social support and social stigma with an emphasis on the offline and online peer group to help clinicians disentangle their complexity and fine-tune patient evaluations and treatment planning accordingly.

The Role of Family and School on the Formation of Gender Identity of Girls: A Qualitative Study

The Role of Family and School on the Formation of Gender Identity of Girls: A Qualitative Study

Doom Guy Comes of Age: Mediating Masculinities in Power Fantasy Video Games

Doom Guy Comes of Age: Mediating Masculinities in Power Fantasy Video Games

The Digital Age on the Couch: Psychoanalytic Practice and New Media by AlessandraLemma. Published by Routledge, London, 2017; 154 pp, £24.99 paperback

The Digital Age on the Couch: Psychoanalytic Practice and New Media by AlessandraLemma. Published by Routledge, London, 2017; 154 pp, £24.99 paperback

The antinomy "man-woman" in the personal perspective of the formation of the individual religiosity of the Orthodox believer

In this article "The antinomy "man-woman" in the personal perspective of the formation of the individual religiosity of the Orthodox believer" by Anna Kulagina-Stadnychenko explores the antinomy of the phenomenon of "manwoman" from the point of view of theology and secular science, examines the peculiarities of its functioning at the level of individual religiosity of the Orthodox believer and in the Ukrainian context. Attention is drawn to several challenges that have always been the cornerstone of the collision of alternative thoughts in solving the antinomy "man-woman." The significance of the latter for the Orthodox believer in view of finding the meaning of life, which is due to awareness of the individual finale of the person. It is shown that the category of reciprocity remains universal for the phenomenological understanding of the meaning of gender. However, unlike secular approaches, apologists of Christianity prefer to talk about the formation of gender identity, and not to look for differences between sexes. Instead, a scientific approach clearly distinguishes the gender identities. It was investigated that the distribution of gender roles is significantly influenced by cultural and religious traditions. Regarding the influence of Orthodoxy on the solution of antinomy "man - woman" in the formation of the individual religious faith of a believer in Ukraine, here the author defines certain features. Finally, it is argued that religious pluralism, the temporary integration of certain parts of Ukraine into other Western European states, led to the inclusion of different ideological models into the individual religiosity of an Orthodox believer, practically made it impossible for a strict patriarchal dependence, and thus, reduced the relationship between "man-woman" through more partnerships.

Formation of gender identity in the Islamic republic of Iran: does educational institution matter?

This article focuses on the process of gender identity construction through the educational system from a socio-cultural perspective. Socialisation operates as a strategy to protect social unity and group superiority. Although socialisation is an enduring process involving various institutions, childhood is a vital period of gender socialisation whereby schools and school textbooks play a substantial role as the first official sources of socialisation in children. Using content analysis method, this article focuses on Iran’s primary school textbooks. The results support the pattern of ‘gender bias’, rather than ‘gender fairness’. This is a more evident observation in the higher educational grades. The patterns highlighted here are evidently incompatible with socio-demographic progresses in women’s status over recent years, which call for revision in the school education resources in this context.

Смислова модель сучасної гендерної ідентичності: тексти і контексти

Revealing of the logic of representations in culture is the basis of the modern visual literacy formation. Doubts about the potential of visual information as a reliable source of authenticity, require inclusion of other modes of reality perception, contextual expansion of the very concept of visuality, and interaction with different discourses. The questions of how the evaluation guides of the modern era change the visual language, how its contexts and texts are formed, and, in particular, how it affects the formation of modern gender identity, are acquiring actuality. The gender issue, being a field of interdisciplinary research, most clearly presents changes in the methods of visualization and modeling of reality, therefore, serves as a representative base of the material. Visual gender images show changes in the deep layers of culture, and gender studies are transformed along with changes in cultural field and capture the very nature of cultural change. The visual representation of femininity and masculinity represented in culture is based on the metaphor of sex, appealing to archetypes, the oldest ideas of men and women. Visual representations of gender in culture show a wide range of identification practices, from artificial and distorted corporeality to the return of the "natural body". In the context of modern studies of gender visual representations, we have to identify their connection with the dynamic changes in the structure of identity (fragmentation, mimicry, drifting) and with changes in the cultural codes of corporeality. It is proved that in the conditions of destruction of representative systems it makes sense to speak not only about the specifics of femininity and masculinity, which by losing self-sufficiency are curtailed in selfie-projects, but also about the general repressed subject of culture which lies in the "scissors" of new formats of discipline power: coercion and temptation. The screen demonstrates perfect “human-thing” with a blurred gender identity (new androgen), which keeps the attention, fixes it on itself as a narcissistic selfie-project that absorbs the views of others around through different techniques. It was found that the formation of gender identity changed the nature of sample imitation (as it was before) and acquired the character of simulation, where evaluative independent attitude towards the world or a narcissistic choice in the context of a hedonistic-oriented culture is possible. This arch for samples remains at the deep level of collective symbols and archetypes, which should become the subject of further developments.

Towards transnational gender identity. A case study of Polish children growing up in Norway

This article focuses on migration experiences of Polish children living in one of the most gender-equal countries in the world – in Norway. Empirically, the article is based on 30 semi-structured interviews with children aged 6–13 who were born in Poland and migrated with their parents to Norway after Poland’s accession to the European Union. Observation of their rooms during the interview also contributed to the study. We discuss ways in which gender roles, practices and identities are shaped by mobility in the Polish-Norwegian context and how ideas about girls/women and boys/men are affected by the migration experience. The article seeks to explore children’s experiences in the two highly contrasting and differentiated contexts: one where the children were socialized and the other where they then moved, the former being highly traditional in terms of gender, the latter emphasizing gender equality. We argue that the Polish home is the most important site for the formation of the traditional gender identity, while the Norwegian school and peer group are the most important sites for the formation of the modern gender identity. This situation causes tension and ambivalence with regard to children’s gender identities across a number of different spaces and spheres of their lives.

Gender identity and sexual orientation in autism spectrum disorder.

Clinical impressions indicate that there is an overrepresentation of gender-dysphoria within the autism spectrum disorder. However, little is presently known about the demographics of gender-identity issues in autism spectrum disorder. Based upon what little is known, we hypothesized that there would be an increased prevalence of gender-dysphoria among those with autism spectrum disorder compared to a typically developing population. We surveyed gender-dysphoria with the Gender-Identity/Gender-Dysphoria Questionnaire among 90 males and 219 females with autism spectrum disorder and compared these rates to those of 103 males and 158 females without autism spectrum disorder. When compared to typically developing individuals, autistic individuals reported a higher number of gender-dysphoric traits. Rates of gender-dysphoria in the group with autism spectrum disorder were significantly higher than reported in the wider population. Mediation analysis found that the relationship between autistic traits and sexual orientation was mediated by gender-dysphoric traits. Results suggest that autism spectrum disorder presents a unique experience to the formation and consolidation of gender identity, and for some autistic individuals, their sexual orientation relates to their gender experience. It is important that clinicians working with autism spectrum disorder are aware of the gender-diversity in this population so that the necessary support for healthy socio-sexual functioning and mental well-being is provided.

Gaharu King – Family Queen: material gendered political ecology of the eaglewood boom in Kalimantan, Indonesia

Framed with the concepts of material gendered political ecology and the Wirkmacht (agentive force) of gaharu (eaglewood), I give empirical insights into the intertwinement of power, marginality, identity and gender linked to natural resource governance in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Wirkmacht comprises the properties and functionalities of the resource, and includes gendered roles and identity formation connected to it. Material gendered political ecology therefore analyzes gender-specific governance and power structures by taking socio-natures and the materiality of resources into account. Currently, the extraction of gaharu as a boom commodity provides material gain, enhances prestige and functions as a marker for a specific masculine indigenous identity. Eaglewood is extracted without state regulations, meaning high autonomy and the uncontested control of the resource by villagers. Young male adults of marginalized Punan Murung communities thereby turn their spatial marginality into an advantage as their geographic location offers them control and access to wild gaharu. They counter their political, economic and social exclusion with the establishment of a niche in the margins, thereby twisting and reformulating marginality. Punan Murung thus could change the derogatory identity of a formerly isolated community towards positively connoted indigenous people.

Peran Ayah Muslim dalam Pembentukan Identitas Gender Anak Kampung Karanganyar, Brontokusuman, Mergangsan Yogyakarta

This study aims to (1) know understanding of Muslim father against his role as a father, (2)Â identify Muslim father's role in the gender identity formation of children aged 6-8 years, and (3) determine the factors that influence Muslim father's role against gender identity formation of children aged 6-8 years. In this study, researchers used a qualitative descriptive research with an ethnographic approach. Collecting data using observation, interviews, and documentation. The subjects consisted of five fathers (intact family) aged 30-40 years who had children aged 6-8 years. The results of this study are (1) understanding of Muslim father against his role as a father are as economic provider, protector, educator, dan nurtured mother; (2) Muslim father's rolein the gender identity formation of children aged 6-8 years include friends sharing, role model, resource, and disciplinary; and (3) the factors that influence Muslim father' srole against gender identity formation of children aged 6-8 years are (a) educational background of father, (b) background of ethnic/culture, (c) length of working time father, (d) awareness of the responsibilities of parenthood, (e) cooperation and mutual agreement, (f) knowledge of parenting fathers, (g) the pride of the father on the child' ssuccess, (h) lack of closeness between father and son, (i) the mental health of the father. Keywords: children, gender identity formation, muslim father's role

Research Gender Features of Formation of Student Life Scenarios

The article provides an analysis of the impact on gender identity formation of student life scenarios. It is shown that socio-economic and political changes are factors which change perceptions of themselves and the general picture of the world youth, and is a catalyst for the process of finding one’s own life script or harmonious way of life. The authors established that the individual life path or script must meet the abilities and capabilities of the young man and also be a means of self-realization in life. The paper stated that under current conditions the process of personal and professional self-education related to a number of difficulties, that is why the problem of forming life script personality in adolescence is becoming increasingly important. Based on the scientific approaches the problem of forming life scenarios identity and gender identity problem. We characterize the sample studied, which was caused by the objectives and purpose of the study. The article provided a description of methods by which we conducted the diagnosis of gender identity influence on the formation of individual life scenarios in adolescence. We used the results of correlation analysis

The gendering power of genres: How female Scandinavian crime fiction writers experience professional authorship

This article introduces the notion of genre as an analytical category for the study of gender inequality in creative work. Research on gender and creative labour typically identifies external, systemic and structural causes for gender inequality in media industries. In contrast, I argue that genres, by virtue of their internal, structural and discursive patterning, play a constitutive role in regulating media producers’ gendered professional identities, shaping their struggle for recognition and structuring their economic sustainability. Rather than being merely outcomes of production processes, genres shape gender inequality: They possess gendering power that influences how media producers work, think and feel. Gendering and gendered genre norms that privilege ‘masculine’ over ‘female’ values are so hard-wired in occupational practice and professional codes of conduct that the genre itself becomes a control and boundary ascription mechanism that implicitly governs, sustains and reproduces gendered identity formation, career aspirations and biographical standing. Drawing on in-depth interviews with female producers of Scandinavian crime fiction, globally branded as Nordic Noir, I examine how female writers in Denmark have coped with and experienced the gendering effect of the genre in which they work and to which they are financially beholden. I also tease out the ways in which crime fiction, a masculine genre, causes anxiety of authorship and affects female producers’ identity and boundary work. This focus on the gendering power of genres may potentially help us understand the gender disparities in media industries – disparities that endure despite efforts at policing fair access and equal opportunity.

THE IMPACT OF THE NUCLEAR FAMILY IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF GENDER ROLES IN CHILDREN BETWEEN 3 AND 7 YEARS AGE

The family is the foundation of society. Without it, there would be no development, prosperity and continuity of life. The influence of family affects our life including the development of gender roles in children aged 3-7 years. Family Education is the basis of any subsequent education, because personality and personal identity is formed there. Family also plays an important role in the socialization of gender roles in the ways they organize the environment for the child. This study aims to address the impact of the nuclear family, on the formation of the concept of gender roles as well as gender discrimination for boys and girls aged 3-7 years. We have used the qualitive method, through which we aim to highlight how do parents with their behavior influence the formation of gender roles, by including each other in activities of daily life and engagement in the division of housework. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the nuclear family in the formation of gender identity in children aged 3-7 years old in Albanian society. The study was conducted in the city of Elbasan. The findings of this study were identified from the viewpoint of couples who have children of both sexes. From data analysis, we have concluded that the nuclear family has great influence on the formation of gender roles of boys and girls aged 3-7 years. Men were seen as more focused and directed in the public area, while women in the private sphere. The impacts in the formation of gender roles were seen from the difference in colors, toys and children activities - activities for boys and activities for girls. Article visualizations:

Needs Assessment for Gender Equality Curriculum among High School Students: An Example of an Anatolian High School

When the needs of Turkish society are examined in gender equality which is an important determinant of human rights, it has been observed that women were not able to use the rights to life, health, education, work, equal pay for equal work, to right to vote and be voted for and participate freely in cultural life as required. Cases of violations of rights have occurred in these areas, as well. Determining needs of high school students for gender equality education, which coincides with the assimilation of gender roles, embrace of gender based patterns and completion of gender identity formation, will be one of the first steps in the upbringing of gender sensitive individuals in the future. The purpose of this research is to determine the educational needs of high school students for the Gender Equality Curriculum. The research data realized with the help of case study of the qualitative research methodology were obtained through semi-structured focus group interviews, participant observation and document review. The study group consisted of students who attended an Anatolian High School in Ankara during the academic year of 2012-2013. The data of the study was analyzed by using the content analysis technique on NVivo 8 computer software. The result of the research has discovered the followings: the students have adopted traditional gender roles and gender stereotypes; acts of violence are mostly done by male students towards female students or female teachers; some students do not consider women’s secondary status as discrimination; gender interactions have been restricted; gender discriminations are done by teachers; violence against women has occured and remained unresponsive. When the findings are evaluated in a holistic sense, it has been determined that high school students have educational needs on topics like "perception of gender", "gender roles and stereotypes", "homosexuality", "participation of women in decision making", "violence against women" and "participation of women in business and income".

Models in the construction of female identity in Nigerian postcolonial literature

Gendered identity in Africa has for centuries been a hotbed of ideological and narrative contestations. While colonial constructions of the African female were generally essentialist and negative in character, early postcolonial African literature also ironically deployed essentialisms and rigid gender binaries to portray African womanhood, thus prompting a challenge of both by female African writers of the first generation. However, in a significant twist, second generation Nigerian women writers were to restore the related tropes of wifehood and motherhood to the front burner. This article examines the corresponding models of representation of gendered identity and the inherent, and complex, negotiation of gendered power relations over time in Nigerian postcolonial literature. These models, which we describe here as “essentialism entrenched”, “essentialism challenged” and “essentialism negotiated” are examined against the background of gender theory and African womanist discourse. The essay observes that the resurgence of motherhood, albeit in mediated/transformative forms in Nigerian women writing, underscores the continuing challenge of culture in the formation of African gendered identities and in relation to societal development. The work of Akachi Ezeigbo, a leading Nigerian female writer of the second generation, is used in the article to illustrate this resurgence and its interface with womanist theorizing.