Sex redefined : Nature News & Comment

The idea of two sexes is simplistic
Biologists now think there is a wider spectrum than that

From the February 18, 2015 Nature News Feature

““The main problem with a strong dichotomy is that there are intermediate cases that push the limits and ask us to figure out exactly where the dividing line is between males and females,” says Arthur Arnold at the University of California, Los Angeles, who studies biological sex differences. “And that’s often a very difficult problem, because sex can be defined a number of ways.”

The article goes on to explain DSDs (Differences/Disorders in Sexual Development) both in and out of the womb.

Read the entire news item here

[Book review] Mass murder, mental illness, and men | EurekAlert! Science News

Mass murder, mental illness, and men | EurekAlert! Science News.

From the 11 May 2015 post

 

IMAGE: VIOLENCE AND GENDER IS THE ONLY PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL FOCUSING ON THE UNDERSTANDING, PREDICTION, AND PREVENTION OF ACTS OF VIOLENCE. THROUGH RESEARCH PAPERS, ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS, CASE STUDIES, AND OTHER ORIGINAL CONTENT,… view more

CREDIT: ©MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC., PUBLISH

 

 

 

Author Michael Stone, MD, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Hospital, New York, NY, provides an in-depth look at the scope of mass murders committed in the U.S. during recent decades, describing the crime as “an almost exclusively male phenomenon.” Most mass murderers have a mental illness characterized by a paranoid personality disorder that includes a deep sense of unfairness and a skewed version of reality. Unfortunately, this profile of the men who have committed mass murders has often led to the unwarranted stigmatization of the mentally ill as a group as being inherently dangerous, which is not the case.

Dr. Stone points in particular to the growing availability of semiautomatic weapons as a key factor contributing to the increasing rate of random mass shootings in the U.S. during the past 65 years. The number of events nearly doubles in the 1990s compared to the 1980s, for example.

[News release] Research aims to reduce health care disparities

From ScienceDaily

Date:March 26, 2015

Source:H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute

Summary:The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/transsexual, queer/questioning and intersex (LGBTQI) population has been largely understudied by the medical community. Researchers found that the LGBTQI community experience health disparities due to reduced access to health care and health insurance, coupled with being at an elevated risk for multiple types of cancer when compared to non-LGBTQI populations.

—

The study highlights that LGBTQI populations face barriers to health insurance such as when partnerships and marriages are not legally recognized; concerns about disclosure in a health care setting, discrimination, misconceptions, legal and financial barriers and the disenfranchised stress and distress of caregiving same-sex partners.

Additionally, there are higher rates of smoking and substance abuse and low screening rates resulting in poor patient outcomes and survival rates for LGBTQI populations. Her review, The Importance of disclosure: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer/questioning, and intersex individuals and the cancer continuum, was published in the American Cancer Society’s journal, Cancer.

Researchers identified that the real or perceived limited access to care due to fear of discrimination and lack of sensitivity and knowledge of LGBTQI issues stood as roadblocks to patient care. In a study of family physicians only 1 in 80 reported routinely asking patients about sexual orientation, while the majority reported rarely or never asking. The National Institutes of Health and the Institute of Medicine now recognize gender identify and sexual orientation as vital aspects of a health history and the need for improved research in this population.

“For many years, physicians did not ask patients about their sexual orientation. The importance of recognizing gender identity and sexual orientation is critical to ensuring the best quality and evidence-based care is available to patients,” explained Quinn.

Related articles

• LGBT Rights in Utah
• June is LGBT Pride Month
• Gay & LGBT Agenda – March 13, 2015
• Study: Public opinion, state law at odds on LGBT workplace protections
• Homosexual by Choice? Planned Parenthood Says Sexual Orientation Can Change Over Time
• Defeat of Charlotte anti-discrimination bill demonstrates long road ahead for equality
• Anti-bias bill supported by Mormon Church passes in Utah legislature
• Designing the Future for Equality Is Our Business in Arkansas

[Press release] GVSU study on gender: Who counts as a man and who counts as a woman

 

From the 28 October 2013 Grand Valley State press release

Gender is no longer determined solely by biological factors, according to a new study by a Grand Valley State University researcher whose article, “Doing Gender, Determining Gender: Transgender People, Gender Panics, and the Maintenance of the Sex/Gender/Sexuality System,” was recently published in Gender & Society.

Laurel Westbrook, assistant professor of sociology at Grand Valley State, and Kristen Schilt, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, examined various case studies and found that biological factors, such as genitals and chromosomes, used to be the ultimate determiner of gender, but that is slowly changing.

“We explore the criteria for determining who is a ‘man’ and who is a ‘woman’ in sex-segregated spaces,” said Westbrook. “We are at an interesting point in the history of gender, where people are torn between valuing self-identity and believing that biology determines gender. Our study explores that change in the gender system.”

Westbrook examined case studies involving public debates over the expansion of transgender employment rights, policies determining eligibility of transgender people for competitive sports, and proposals to remove the genital surgery requirement for a change of sex marker on birth certificates.

“Transgender equality has never been more visible as a key issue than it is today, and with the development of every new trans-supportive law or policy, there typically follows an outbreak of criticism,” said Westbrook. “In our analysis, we find that these moments, which we term ‘gender panics,’ are the result of a clash between two competing cultural ideas about gender identity: a belief that gender is determined by biology versus a belief that a person’s self-identity in terms of gender should be validated. These gender panics frequently result in a reshaping of the language of such policies so that they require extensive bodily changes before transgender individuals have access to particular rights.”

These gender panics reveal the criteria for who counts as a woman and a man in our society, said Westbrook. The study shows that the criteria for determining gender — the practice of placing others in gender categories — are not the same across all social spaces. While self-identity is sufficient in many circumstances, such as the workplace, people are more likely to believe that biology determines gender in sex-segregated spaces.

“In the controversies we examined, it is access to bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams at the center of gender panics,” said Westbrook. “Moreover, not all sex-segregated spaces are policed equally. Because of beliefs that women are inherently vulnerable, particularly to unwanted heterosexual advances, it is women’s spaces at the center of these debates. Thus, with these controversies, much of the discussion is about a fear of ‘male’ bodies in ‘women’s’ spaces.”

Westbrook said as a result of these fears, transgender rights policies are often discarded or altered in ways that force transgender people to conform to normative ideas of gendered bodies in order to access public facilities and activities that fit their identities.

For more information, contact Laurel Westbrook at (510) 541-7378 or westbrol@gvsu.edu.

– See more at: http://www.gvsu.edu/gvnow/index.htm?articleId=FA97C788-0DFB-DB29-40E6CF0EF0EF9F22#sthash.qtNKGBfv.dpuf

Related articles

• GVSU study on gender: Who counts as a man and who counts as a woman (eurekalert.org)
• Study on gender: Who counts as a man and who counts as a woman (phys.org)
• B.C. transgender girl, 10, makes formal request to have gender removed from her birth certificate (theprovince.com)
• California Transgender Rights Bill Is ‘An Affront To God’ And Children, Claims Pastor Jack Hibbs (huffingtonpost.com)
• Should Transgender People Have To ‘Compromise’ On Which Facilities They Can Use? (zackfordblogs.com)
• International Bill of Gender Rights (USA) (genderidentitywatch.com)
• When is 90% not Substantially ALL? (bugbrennan.com)
• A Statement from Gender Identity Watch (genderidentitywatch.com)
• Transgender (universalmankind.com)

 

Top Health Issues for LGBT Populations (Free Information and Resource Kit)

I learned a lot just by looking at the powerpoint slides and the overview.

From the SAMHSA site

Equips prevention professionals, healthcare providers, and educators with information on current health issues among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations. Includes an overview of terms related to gender identity and sexual expression.

Table of contents

Helpful Terms for Prevention Specialists and Healthcare Providers A-1
A Discussion about Gender Identity B-1
Top Health Issues for Lesbians C-1
Top Health Issues for Gay Men D-1
Top Health Issues for Bisexual Men and Women E-1
Top Health Issues for Transgender People F-1
Selected Web-based Resources G-1
PowerPoint Slides: Top Health Issues for LGBT Populations H-1

Related articles

• STUDY: 40 Percent Of Homeless Youth Are LGBT, Family Rejection Is Leading Cause (thinkprogress.org)
• National LGBT Cancer Network adds 300 facilities and ‘transgender-friendly designation’ (miamiherald.typepad.com)
• Public Education Campaign on Acceptance of LGBT Members in Latino Families is Launched (hispanicallyspeakingnews.com)
• The true north LGBT: New poll reveals landscape of gay Canada (news.nationalpost.com)
• LGBT Foster Care Bill Headed to Senate Committee (newamericamedia.org)
• First Gay Pride Held in Laos (lawprofessors.typepad.com)
• New LGBT Cancer Survivor Support Group Starts in Baton Rouge Louisina (prweb.com)
• Cyndi Lauper Launches National Program for Homeless LGBT Youth (towleroad.com)
• LGBT Seniors, Invisible No More (thepurplejacket.com)

Acceptance is protection: How can parents support gender nonconforming and transgender children?

From the 6 December 2011 Eureka news alert

New approach supports families dealing with ‘normal diversity’ of gender identity and expression

How should parents respond when their four years old son insists on wearing girls’ clothes, or their daughter switches to using a male version of their name? These are the questions increasingly being asked of family therapist Jean Malpas who writes in Family Process about a new approach to support parents with gender nonconforming and transgender children.

Jean Malpas, the Director of the Gender and Family Project at the Ackerman Institute for the Family, explains how families of gender nonconforming and transgender children can benefit from a multi-dimensional approach to negotiating two understandings of gender: One being a traditional system of male or female which dominates mainstream society, which contrasts with a more flexible and fluid spectrum of gender being expressed by their children.

“Parents of gender nonconforming children often struggle with how to best protect their child from bullying and ostracism, while accepting and nurturing their child’s identity and expression.” said Jean Malpas. “This research shows how coaching, education, parent support group and family therapy can support everyone in the family in negotiating this dilemma.”

Jean Malpas’ clinical findings confirm that a normal diversity of gender expression exists among children and uses anonymous case studies to demonstrate the varied paths children take when developing their identity. Some nonconforming children will grow up to be transgender, others will eventually feel comfortable identifying with their biological sex, while others will continue to display gender nonconforming traits without requesting social or medical transition.

“Research on gender nonconformity also has implications for education policy,” said Malpas. “It is important that schools are aware and sensitive to the non-binary and non-biological aspects of gender, as it means gendered activities and segregation of students based on gender lines may no longer be appropriate if our children’s understanding of gender is expressed in more complex ways.”

Clinical approaches based on the non-pathologisation of gender diversity contrast with traditional psychiatric approaches, which have used cognitive-behavioral methods to extinguish atypical behaviours and reinforce traditional gender expression.

“Our clinical findings show that gender nonconformity in children is not a psychopathology but a normal display of diversity in gender expressions and identities,” concluded Malpas. “Providing multi-dimensional support to parents of gender nonconforming and transgender children allows them to accept and affirm their child’s identity while providing valuable protection at home, in school and out in the world.”