PSY 3121 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, Sex Steroid, Highbeam Research
5 May 2018
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Sexuality, Sex, and Love Relationships
•Love Relationships
-Attachment: “couples who stay together beyond the initial attraction phase will develop an
attachment bond, and attachment-related differences have implications for the maintenance
of relationships.” (Impett, Muise & Peragine, 2014).
-A love relationship refers to the one shared within parental, friendly, or partner.
-They believe that a love relationship requires three things:
1) Sex: romantic, sexual attraction and the act of sex
2) Caregiving: seeking comfort during anxiety and stress, feel like being taken care of
3) Attachment (Hazan & Shaver, 1987): seeking and maintaining a physical bond
-way we are attached to the other individual will predict the course of the relationship
•Marriage
-There are three different types of marriage, and a combination of these types. These can
change throughout time and are based on individual beliefs (religious, moral, etc.).
1) Traditional Marriage: one partner has more authority over the other, patriarchal
-men is in the power position, women looks after home and children
-wife looks for companionship outside the marriage (friends, family)
-nothing is shared within this couple (x opinions and feelings)
2) Modern Marriage: wife works outside the home however her work is not as important as
the husband and she is not in charge of major decisions
-woman still looks after the home and family, but can also help provide income
-second shift: wife works, comes home, and continues working
-partners share more of their time together
3) Egalitarian Marriage: partners have equal power and authority of relationship, second
shift is equal for both partners
-one occupation does not take precedent over the other
-companions and confidants, discuss and take care of things together, share
intimacy and information
-There are also different types of marriage:
a) Arranged Marriage: economics, security, procreation, love was expected to follow
-marriage for love and satisfaction is a new concept and one common in Western world
b) Same-Sex Marriage: relationships are just starting to have their own research in literature
-marriage was legal in 2005 and Canada was the 4th country in the world after
Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain
•Perceptions and Histology
-Biological Determinism!”refers to the idea that all human behaviour is innate, determined by
genes, brain size, or other!biological!attributes. This theory stands in contrast to the notion
that human behaviour is determined by culture or other social forces.” (encyclopedia.com).
-born with, genes and other biological attributes
-Social Construction: “a social mechanism, phenomenon, or category created and
developed by society; a perception of an individual, group, or idea that is ‘constructed’
through cultural or social practice.” (dictionary.com).
-things come later in life
-construction site: build the idea of what is male and female as you learn throughout life
-it is argued that sex is a social construction: no universal truths as it has fluid definitions
defined in different ways at the individual and group levels
-when a child is born, a gender is placed upon them and they are given the label boy or
girl before psychological processes have taken shape
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-Essentialist/ Determinist Perspective: gender and sexuality are simple, quick and easy to
determine because they are central to being, takes biological and social aspects into account
-problematic: limits gender binary individuals
-rejects social construction thinking, doesn’t take into account social perspective/culture
-ie. sexual relationships are sex relationships are normal, pre-programmed and inherent
(something that we are born with), not shaped by outside sources — rejects
-Social Constructionist: “gender and sexuality are responses of the individual to cultural
pressures and expectations of the social environment”
-building is fully formed by society (quicker)
•Sex
-Back to the beginning: XX and XY and gonadal hormones. Women have two XX
chromosomes and men have XY chromosomes.
-Gonadal Hormones: These steroid hormones stimulate the reproductive organs.
—Males are exposed to androgens, linked to hormones such as testosterone.
—Females are not exposed to such high doses of testosterone.
-Turner’s Syndrome: when females have one X rather than XX chromosomes
-these individuals do not have a female reproductive system, and are often raised as
female (typically given estrogen to develop a female figure)
-often causes poor self-esteem and body image
-do not usually go through puberty (shorter) and are not able to conceive (infertile)
-Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia: affects the adrenal glands that help metabolism and the
immune system and it limits the body’s ability to make hormones (insufficiency in cortisol)
–In females, the genitals are enlarged, looking more like male genitals.
–In males, there is no indication by the genitals.
-Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome: individuals are born genetically male (XY), however appear
to be female at birth and genitalia does not form (testes do not drop)
-does not respond to male hormones
-Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (PAIS): ambiguous genitalia at birth and are
assigned as either male or female
-tend to have heterosexual tendencies later in life
•Challenging “Sex”
-What is considered “normal sex” is typically based on appearances. Individuals who defy
these binaries typically have difficulties in life while attempting to challenge the dominant
attitudes towards what is normal.
-When these “intersexed” conditions are discovered, the treatment was often done swiftly after
birth. Medical and surgical teams would quickly design treatments to make the child’s genitals
more “normal.”
-The Optimal Gender: treatment is done to assign children their gender based on what the
child fits best. These are based on two criteria:
i) Reproductive Ability: whether the child has reproductive organs, particularly for the
female have the ability to have children
ii) Sexual Function Ability: whether they can function sexually as a male or female,
particularly males to have an erection
*Biased view as it is based on the female’s ability to have children and male’s satisfaction.
-Challenges the dominant attitudes towards normality and what is normal in terms of
reproduction, pleasure and the act of sex.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
