PSY 301 Lecture 1: Lecture for Exam ll Notes
Document Summary
Biological sex: biological/anatomical sex a combination of physical characteristics including Sex chromosomes: help to determine the sex of the individual ( x & y) Xx (female) and xy (male), and many other variations such as xxy,xxxx, etc. Hormones: influence development of primary and secondary sex characteristics. Internal and external reproductive structures: primary sex characteristics body structures (testes, ovaries, external genitalia, secondary sex characteristics nonreproductive sexual traits (breasts, body hair) Intersex va(cid:396)iatio(cid:374)s i(cid:374) se(cid:454) (cid:272)ha(cid:396)a(cid:272)te(cid:396)isti(cid:272)s that do(cid:374)(cid:859)t fit the t(cid:455)pi(cid:272)al (cid:271)i(cid:374)a(cid:396)(cid:455) (cid:374)otio(cid:374)s of male or female; variations may be seen in the reproductive or sexual anatomy. Fairly common about 1 in every 2000 births. Controversial surgery was often (and sometimes still is) performed to make the individuals genitals appear one way or another rather than ambiguous. The issue is that the gender identity of the child is unknown until later, so surgery can cause a lot of psychological da(cid:373)age if it does(cid:374)(cid:859)t match the pe(cid:396)so(cid:374)(cid:859)s gender identity.
