1. 1 Psychology 320: Gender Psychology Lecture 28

2. 2 Invitational Office Hour Invitations, by Student Number for November 26 th 11:30-12:30, 3:30-4:30 Kenny 2517 16254070 16948077 21883079 46066080 66228081 81664062

3. 3 Thoughts About Last Class …. My goals in inviting an individual who is a transgender activist to class: 1. Providing you with authentic and meaningful responses to your questions about transgenderism. 2. Reducing the stigmatization of individuals who defy conventional gender norms.

4. 4 A student contacted me with a valid concern about the guest lecture: Did the guest lecture facilitate an appreciation of gender variance or result in the representation of individuals who are gender variant as “exceptions?” Thoughts About Last Class …. Your thoughts?

5. 5 “Last week I was sitting across from a very talkative 3 year old girl on the bus. She looked at me very intently for a few seconds and whispered to her nanny ‘that's a girl, see! She's wearing purple.’ I smiled at her, but inside I felt the same awkward, misunderstood loneliness that I've felt so many times when people are trying to establish what my gender is. My discomfort doesn't stem from being offended; I guess I'd just hoped that children would be more receptive to gender variance without having to label, and just respond to individuals as people. Sure, I'm a woman, womyn, however you want to spell it, but the concept of gender identity for each individual extends far beyond sex, sexual orientation, physical appearance and socially sanctioned gender dichotomies. No, I'm not transgendered, but why can't I exist in a space between two labels? Why should I be forced to ‘pick a side?’ Why should there be any labels at all- someone's always going to be left out? No amount of gender research, whether based in sociological, psychological, biological, or other fields will ever be able to assess and decipher gender for what it really is. We're talking about something that's so inherently part of every individual, their history, experiences, and influences, that most people aren't even aware of it because they fit the heteronormative mold upon which the gender dichotomy of male/female is based. I think that the lack of recognition that defines white privilege can be used here to parallel the lack of recognition to genders beyond the male/female gender dichotomy; gender privilege, if you will. Imagining other genders existing seems hard, impossible, when all you know is your own gender, whatever it is, and when it's comfortable. Really, how do you even know that your gender IS male or female or other? The point is, gender as it's taught is a construct, an umbrella term that tries to embody everyone into 2+ categories; at the end of the day all it leaves us with are categories, labels and generalizations that polarize to the greatest degree. The reality is that gender identity is just a feeling, just something that you know, something that is you." -- An anonymous classmate

6. 6 Course Content... From This Point Forward The bulk of the remainder of the course will focus on questions surrounding sex differences. Although the research literature focuses on sex differences, we may interpret statistics that are relatively small as suggestive of sex similarities. In focusing upon sex differences, the research literature often fails to consider gender.

7. 7 Intelligence and Cognitive Abilities: 1. Do females and males differ in their cognitive abilities?

8. 8 By the end of today’s class, you should be able to: 1. discuss sex differences in sensation and perception.

9. 9 Do females and males differ in their cognitive abilities? A large body of research has examined the cognitive abilities of females and males:

10. 10 Research on sensation and perception:  Olfaction: F > M.  Taste: F > M.  Audition: F > M. Exception: Sound localization.  Vision: M > F. Exceptions: Adaptability to darkness, tolerance for high levels of illumination. Males are prone to attend to “mechanical motion,” whereas females are prone to attend to “biological motion.”

11. 11 Intelligence and Cognitive Abilities: 1. Do females and males differ in their cognitive abilities?