Commentary on Langer and Martin’s (2004) “How Dresses Can Make You Mentally Ill: Examining Gender Identity Disorder in Children”

Langer and Martin’s (2004) essay on the diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder in Children (GIDC) is the most recent addition to a literature of critics. Although many of Langer and Martin’s criticisms have been raised by others, elements of their essay are novel. In this commentary, I attempt to counter some of their criticisms with a more detailed explication of the theoretical, research, and clinical literature on GID in children.Kenneth J. Zucker is Head, Gender Identity Service, Child, Youth, and Family Programme at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. He is also the Psychologist-in-Chief at CAMH and Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Toronto.     

Gender-sensitive data: the state of the art in Europe*

Gender statistics play a crucial role in social research and in the creation of gender sensitive policies. Gender statistics document the situation of women and men around the world, making it easier to raise awareness about inequalities between them, to monitor gender equality and promote actionable change. There is thus a need to encourage awareness about gender statistics and their usefulness in gender mainstreaming. The paper has different aims: (1) to discuss the role of gender statistics and gender sensitive indicators; (2) to give an overview of the main gender sensitive European databases; (3) to present the European Commission Strategy on Gender Equality; (4) to display information collected by the European Institute for Gender Equality (Eige) database; (5) to promote proposal for increasing the gender sensitivity of social indicators.     

Stereotypes as Ideologies. The case of Gender Categories

Abstract

The paper reviews some of the theoretical models of gender stereotypes. Different approaches, such as the sociocognitive, the intergroup, in particular the role model, the expectations model and the social function of stereotypes are discussed. Gender stereotypes are seen as social representations or collective ideologies defining models of behavior.     

Gender in Social Work Education and Practice in India

Social work as a profession is committed to the creation of an equal and just society. Social work pedagogy combines an analysis of psychosocial, economic and political contexts and methods of active intervention and administration of social welfare. Gender sensitization and awareness is an integral component of social work education and training in India. Through conscious efforts students are enabled to imbibe the concept of gender, to look at women not only as individual entities but also in relation to men, and the way relations between the two are socially constructed. This paper examines the integration of a gender perspective in social work education and practice and explores how this may play a part in enabling students to ‘unlearn’ their gender stereotypes imbibed during socialization. The paper draws on case study examples of some projects in India.     

Intersectionality in Gender Mainstreaming:Equity Organizing in Turkey

ABSTRACT

Historically, Turkey is home to multiple identities and cultures. In following with the critiques of Diversity Mainstreaming approach toward Gender Mainstreaming, this article argues that recognition of identities can be possible if an intersectional approach is adopted. To overcome the particular challenges of Gender Mainstreaming’s implementation in Turkey’s multicultural society, this article introduces a concept that supplements Gender Mainstreaming, called Equity Organizing, which further develops the views on intersectionality and equity that Diversity Mainstreaming proposes. It is different from Diversity Mainstreaming because it seeks to address the challenges to democracy in strong central and authoritarian leaning states. Equity Organizing is committed to the construction of progressive state policies for social justice through the realization of diverse identities.     

“女汉子”:多义的建构

性别秩序是特定历史进程中关系网络的建构,它支配着男男女女的日常生活与社会实践。性别类型表征着文化对性别特征的调配或想象,它连带着复杂的权力关系与多变的身份认同。如果缺少这样的理论视野,就难以深刻理解作为一种文化现象的"女汉子"——从古代的"女侠"到现代的"铁姑娘"、"女特工",再到最近的"女屌丝"——何以生成及其多样的内涵。     

Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Gender Analysis in Kosova

Gender relations fluctuate in times of violent change with flight, exile, displacement and return and relations of inequality between men and women can prevent women from fully participating in the reconstruction processes and gaining political voice. Undertaking a gendered analysis of Kosovar women's involvement in the emerging feminist reconstructive politics highlighted the ways in which international governmental responses at times hindered women's progress. The central concern in this Gender Audit is the extent to which encouragement has been given to increasing women's social,economic,educational and political participation - in both informal civic fora and organizations and at the formal levels of power. The Gender Audit assesses the gaps in policy-making, service provision, data collection and in co-ordination and monitoring of projects designed to increase the participation of women and girls. In post-conflict situations it is vital that all people are enabled to contribute their ideas, expertise and skills in reconstruction and rehabilitation processes leading to democratization and democracy-building. Working in coalitions combining local, national and international elements is providinga positive contribution for somewomen in Kosova.     

Organizational perspective to gender mainstreaming in the Finnish state administration

Gender mainstreaming has been celebrated as a new policy strategy for change in gender relations. However, its transformative potential seems to be lost in the process of implementation. The aim of this article is to evaluate the policy effectiveness of gender mainstreaming and its ability to bring about change in gendered social structures and practices. Previous research has focused on gender mainstreaming as a policy strategy. This article provides a new perspective on the problems of implementation by approaching gender mainstreaming from an organizational perspective. Gender mainstreaming takes place in certain organizational contexts, implemented by local actors. This article reveals the practices of implementation in the Finnish state administration, specifically in the Ministry of Defence. The analysis is based on a discursive reading of thirteen group and individual interviews collected in the Ministry of Defence in 2012. The article pinpoints two interlinking problems concerning implementation of gender mainstreaming on the organizational level. First, the state officials, who should implement gender mainstreaming, do not have enough information to do so successfully. Second, there is resistance toward gender mainstreaming on the organizational level. This article suggests that negotiations about gender, gender equality and gender mainstreaming as complex issues concerned with social power relations should be included in the process of implementing gender mainstreaming.     

Force of Circumstance: Feminist Discourse in a Matrilineal Society

The present paper discusses some of the ways feminist discourse was articulated on Bougainville both during and after the secessionist war that took place on the island between 1989 and 2000. Inspired by feminist discourse, non-governmental organisations have reconfigured Bougainvillean women into newly organised spheres of influence (as moral agents, peacemakers or victims) that potentially distort the matrilineal structure of their society, which is the true source of the women's power and authority. Gender mainstreaming has become a major platform for social and political change managed by outside agencies in what is now the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. The present paper engages with current feminist debate that challenges the universal application of the concept of gender and gender mainstreaming, and especially considers the indigenous African critique in relation to matrilineal societies.     

Gender Dynamics in Social Work Practice and Education: A Critical Literature Review

This paper offers a critical analysis of existing literature on historical and contemporary gender dynamics in Australian social work education and practice. Analyses of gender dynamics and inequalities have the potential to illuminate pathways for inclusive social work education and practice, for both practitioners and people who access social work services. This critical review of the literature demonstrates that Australian social work education and practice have been shaped by gendered discourses, structures, and power dynamics since its inception. In a contemporary sense, women constitute the majority of social work educators and practitioners, while men disproportionately dominate positions of power and prestige, although rigorous Australian data on the roles and representation of men and women are not readily available. Our findings point to the need for further engagement with gender as a unit of analysis in Australian social work research, including further engagement with inclusive and intersectional feminisms.

IMPLICATIONS

• Enhanced knowledge of Australian social work history, particularly in relation to gender, allows for a greater understanding of current gendered power relations in social work education and practice.

• Gender dynamics are underresearched in contemporary Australian social work education and practice.

• Up-to-date data on the status and representation of men, women, and nonbinary people in social work are needed as the foundation for transformative and inclusive social work education and practice.

     

TOOLS AND TOYS : Communicating gendered positions towards technology

With the rising importance of technology in the information and knowledge society, the gender-technology relationship is ever more important when thinking about gender equality. Gender researchers have shown not only that the use and design of technologies is gendered, but that people also position themselves in relation to technology, based on certain gendered assumptions about technology in societies. This article looks at how people working in quintessential information and knowledge society professions, namely information communication technology (ICT) work, position themselves in relation to technology. Using a social constructivist framework and a discourse analysis, it shows how gender differences are achieved in communication: men tend to describe technology as a toy, while women tend to describe technology as a tool. In some instances this pattern is broken, which opens up the opportunity to rethink the gender binary. This article argues that the way in which people position themselves in relation to technology continues to be gendered, which may threaten gender equality in the information and knowledge society, and it also indicates that there is the possibility of change.     

The Three Malinches: betrayal and the death of an urban popular movement

I examine the death of an urban popular movement in Guadalajara, Mexico, through the experiences of three women who were active in the movement's local-level leadership. Betrayal emerges as a central theme in their accounts. Gender and betrayal have provided a longstanding subtext in Mexico's political history. La Malinche, who was the indigenous translator and lover of the conquistador Hernando Cortés, epitomizes this historical trope. She is to this day disparaged by Mexicans as a sell-out, a betrayer of the nation. In much the same way, the women whose stories inform this account of the death of a social movement are Malinches, readily cast by themselves and others, including First World academicians, as sell-outs.Yet contemporary feminist revisionings of La Malinche explore the ways in which she was also betrayed. Exploring the manylayered relationship between gender and betrayal can contribute to understanding not only the demise of an urban popular movement, but also the larger political and theoretical economies in which scholars and activists are differently involved,positioned, and connected.     

An analysis of the Gender Differences and Causes in the English Language

Gender differences in the English language are a kind of language phenomenon which exists objectively and gender difference is a basic feature of linguistics.Gender differences reflecting in language are influenced by the social,cultural,custom and other factors.This paper analyzes the gender differences reflecting in phonology,vocabulary and syntax,and its social,cultural and psychological factors.     

Gender Differences in Self-Reported Reasons for Homelessness

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate some of the ways in which the perceived pathways into homelessness are socially structured. We do this by examining the relative frequency of 11 different reasons homeless males and females cite for being homeless. Males were more likely to cite the following as their main reasons for homelessness: loss of a job, discharge from an institution, mental health problems, and alcohol or drug problems. Women were more likely to cite the following as their main reason for homelessness: eviction, interpersonal conflict, and someone no longer able or willing to help. Self-reported reasons for being homeless are also related to age, marital status, race, and being a veteran. As expected, they are also linked to receptiveness to treatment. Gender differences in reasons for homelessness may require different approaches to building helping relationships with homeless men and women.     

Disordering Gender Identity

Abstract

The inclusion of Gender Identity Disorder and Transvestic Fetishism in a psychiatric diagnostic nosology is a complex topic that is best understood within the larger context of the history and politics of diagnostic classification systems. The diagnostic labeling of gender-variant individuals with a mental illness is a topic of growing controversy within the medical and psychotherapeutic professions and among many civil rights advocates. An overview of both sides of this controversy is outlined, highlighting questions about the potential damage caused by using psychiatric diagnoses to label sexual behaviors and gender expressions that differ from the norm, and the ethical dilemmas of needing a psychiatric diagnosis to provide legitimacy for transsexuals' right to attain necessary medical treatments. The author reviews the use of diagnostic systems as a tool of social control; the conflation of complex issues of gender identity, emotional distress, sexual desire, and social nonconformity; the reification of sexist ideologies in the DSM; the clinical and treatment implications of diagnosing gender for “gatekeepers”; and some recommendations for GID reform.     

大学生性别角色群体对同性恋态度的研究

同性恋是当今社会无法回避且必须正视的问题之一,高校校园中的同性恋状况更值得关注。对1288名大学生的调查发现,大学生中的未分化角色和双性化角色比例较高,大学生群体的性别角色与其对同性恋的态度具有一定关联性。同性恋在高校校园具有一定的比例,但大学生对同性恋的态度总体比较客观和宽容,同时也发现现有性别教育不能满足现实需要,应该通过防艾知识教育、心理健康教育、性别角色教育加强大学生的性别教育。     

‘The house belongs to both’: undoing the gendered division of housework

This article studies 28 dual-income Spanish childless couples who were undoing gender in routine domestic work. We understand ‘undoing gender’ as defined by Deutsch [(2007). Undoing gender. Gender & Society, 21, 106–127, p. 122]: ‘social interactions that reduce gender difference’. The dual-earner couples came from different socio-economic backgrounds and were interviewed in four different Spanish towns in 2011. The analysis shows that resources in a wide sense, time availability, external help, ideas about fairness, and complex gender attitudes are key interdependent factors that can weave together to form different configurations leading to a non-mainstream division of housework. All configurations were based on principles of gender equality: some couples found it fair to have a 50/50 division of domestic work, others a 50/50 division of all work (paid and unpaid); and a third group showed conflicts in practice. These couples’ ways of undoing gender illustrate the external, individual, and couple circumstances under which spouses are able to achieve a non-traditional construction of unpaid work.     

A few introductory notes on the special issue on the Evaluation Framework for Promoting Gender Equality in Research and Innovation (EFFORTI)

Being European with a long standing research interest in evaluation of gender policies, I could not begin my assignment as Editor in Chief with a better task. Readers will forgive me for these few biographical notes. Before presenting this special issue, I owe many thanks to Jonny Morell who involved me in its design as early as June 2018. I also want to thank Susanne Bührer, Clemens Striebing, Evanthia Kalpazidou Schmidt, Rachel Palmén, Sybille Reidl, Florian Holzinger and Jörg Müller, who invited me at the 2019 conference in Brussels, where the final results of the European initiative ‘Evaluation Framework for Promoting Gender Equality in Research and Innovation’ (EFFORTI) were critically debated.¹ And drawing on the outline and comments I pointed out on that occasion, in this short introduction, I highlight why this special issue is politically relevant and theoretically innovative.     

Can Cultural Beliefs Cause a Gender Identity Disorder?

Abstract

Gender identity disorder (GID) is a relatively rare disorder with an unclear etiology. This case report involves a boy from Thailand who was thought by his parents at birth, on the basis of a birthmark, to be the reincarnation of his maternal grandmother. He subsequently demonstrated cross-gender behavior. A link between his parents' cultural beliefs and the boy's cross-gender behavior is explored. Implications for the causes of other cases of GID are explored, and in particular, the question of whether parental expectations, as exemplified by these parents' cultural beliefs, can be a contributor to the formation of GID is considered.