I remember I brought this up to a few of you, and also our teacher, but I completely forgot to scour the interwebs for it. While on stumble upon I found this article on the two gay male penguins that were forced to be separated.

Here is the link

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/3220W8/www.treehugger.com/endangered-species/zoo-plans-split-same-sex-penguin-romance.html/


-Derek Moskal

Sexuality Regulating in Children

This study came from the academic journal Sex Roles: A Journal of Research vol. 62. This study shows how mothers teach adolescent children differently on sexual topics --even thought young children are often viewed as asexual-- such as abstinence till marriage, contraceptive usage, sexual values, and body development. The main point of the study was to "...examine whether gender differentiation in sexual socialization is a feature of sexual socialization across all age groups given the close relationship between gender and sexuality, or only a feature of adolescent sexual socialization, given the American culture understanding of young children as asexual". They surveyed over 600 mothers on a lot of different things that they have taught/ shown their children. I found it really shocking that less than 1/6 of the mothers surveyed taught their children about gay and lesbian couples, and even more shocked that barely any more than that taught them that calling someone a homo/fag/queer is disrespectful and to not do it.

They came up with six different hypotheses:
1. In regards towards relationships, mothers are more likely to talk to their daughters than their sons.
2. Mothers talk to daughters more than sons about reproductive bodies.
3. On sexual abuse, mothers inform their daughters more than their sons.
4. Mothers lecture their daughters on morality more than their sons.
5. Mothers talk more about intercourse and sexual pleasures to sons than to daughters.
6.  If hypotheses 1-4 are all true, then mothers are more comfortable talking to their daughters, rather than sons, on sexual issues.

The results were that only hypotheses 1, 2, and 4 true; which automatically made number 6 false.



Here is a link to the article (p.s. it's only about 12 pages long):
http://corwin.emich.edu/sfx_local?genre=article&__char_set=utf8&spage=278&sid=Thomson+Gale&issn=03600025&issue=3-4&pages=14&pid=info%3Asid%2Fgale%3Augnid%3Alom_emichu&date=2010-02-01&aulast=Luke&au=Katherine+Luke&atitle=Gender+Differences+in+the+ABC%27s+of+the+Birds+and+the+Bees%3A+What+Mothers+Teach+Young+Children+About+Sexuality+and+Reproduction&title=Sex+Roles%3A+A+Journal+of+Research&aufirst=Katherine&volume=62

I hope you learned something from this
-Derek Moskal =]

Dr. Phil YouTube Video

This video on YouTube was about a segment on Dr. Phil show about a boy who wanted to be a girl from the age of two. There was a very interesting theory brought up by the other Doctors. Very quick and interesting video.

Check it out.! :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8Iq3E85-VY

-Brittani Moorer

Gender Identity Disorder (Christian POV)

In this fairly short piece, there was a break down of  Gender Identity Disorder as far as what is being done with rights, as well as causes treatments, and etc. In this article written in the Christian Medical Fellowship in 2004, there were strides in UK to make birth certificate changes in order to protect transsexuals (interchangeably used with GID) privacy as well as gain marriage rights to the opposite sex of their choice. As the article went on it was discussed that this was listed in the DSM as a psychological disorder, but they were not sure whether to necessary treat it in a physical manner (surgery) or psychiatric treatment based on the loose speculation that it actually is a psychiatric disorder.  There was also a short mention of how the brain may have a effect on sexual behavior, but it was speculation as well. Towards the nitty gritty of it all they began to talk about the negative rebuttal from priests and their marriage beliefs as well as how no matter how much physical change they make they never be biological their desired sex. In the end,  it began to more clearly look like  a silent attack that I took in lamest terms "transsexual people need Jesus", which I found to be a bit absurd and offensive, and I do not even identify as transsexual.

In the entire article the whole undertone to me seemed to have some sort of down play on these people's lives that do identify as transsexual. One particular quote I had to read a couple times was when they defined GID as "an unshakable belief they belong to the opposite sex". I do not really know why but it really sounded as if they almost laughed in the face of every transsexual person as if their life were a game, or  the way they feel is a phase (for a lack of better words).  Personally I believe that this article was informative, however the tone I felt to be kind of offensive. I do love the silver lining that strides are being made for transsexuals, because I am big on equality for all.

Check Out The Link to the Article Here:

http://admin.cmf.org.uk/pdf/cmffiles/25_gender_identity.pdf

-Brittani Moorer

Similarities in the brains of women and transsexual men

Here's a page from Ph. D. Madeline H. Wyndzen's website, All Mixed Up. She discusses neuropsychologist, Zhou's study on the central subdivision of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BSTc). Zhou found that the size of the BSTcs of transsexual men were more similar to those of women than those of non-transsexual men.

Professor Marc Breedlove's article, which addresses this similarity in BSTc. He proposes that perhaps these transsexual men weren't born with their BSTcs reflecting those of women, but they were altered over time due to their experiences and interactions.

Here's the link for more info: http://www.genderpsychology.org/psychology/BSTc.html

-Amanda Ranusch

Gender Identity Disorder

Now a days when people deviate from the social norms we have to find a explanation as to "what's wrong" with them. If we are introduced to someone who acts unexpectedly wrong we cast them away as misfits or crazy. With GID, psychologists have proven to be no different when it comes to this idea. GID is a disorder in the Diagnostic Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) that expresses someone with extreme unhappiness with their biological sex. Apparently this is supposed to be crazed obsession in my eyes. Many transgender people as well as professionals support the declassification of these type of disorders as mental illness (wiki). My question is why has it even been classified in the first place, and it all seems to comes back to the point that it is not normal for a woman to desire to be a man or vice versa. When it all comes down to it, I feel as though this is a way of discriminating against unique individuals. It also is seemingly unfair. There have been criticism and research done over the several years since the classification in the DSM many years ago. Within posts to come I want to continue to develop and explore the disorder as well as hopefully figure out why we have decided it fit to put transgender people or people who desire to trans into a category of mentally ill.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_identity_disorder

Here's a picture that I found interesting as well personifying the idea of the DSM trapping transgender people within the DSM as mentally ill:

http://www.qlinks.ca/Websites/qlink/Images/APAprotestcartoonDSM.jpg

-Brittani Moorer

Why the Corpus Callosums of right-handed male homosexuals are unique

This journal article discusses the anatomical differences of the corpus callosum (CC) in the brains of right-handed homosexual and heterosexual males. Various studies show that homosexual men have a higher tendency of left-handedness, which is associated with increased size of the isthmus of the corpus callosum, which is the part of the CC that connects two regions. Participants of this particular study, which included both homosexual and heterosexual men, underwent MRIs, from which the isthmus of the corpus callosum was traced and measured. The participants also underwent cognitive tests and hand preference tests. The results showed that the CC isthmus was larger in the homosexual males, but there was no significant difference in the cognitive tests. However, the homosexual participants did score lower in the left hand performance tests. Despite apparent hand preference, the size of the CC isthmus in homosexual men suggests that their brain structure and organization is closer to that of left-handers. For more detail, please see attached article:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/n462n4382243n412/
-Amanda Ranusch