Sex, Gender and Androgyny

The first distinction the specification tests is between sex and gender. These words are used loosely in everyday speech, but psychology treats them as two separate concepts, and confusing them costs marks.

• Sex is a person's biological status as male or female. It is fixed by chromosomes and anatomy and is usually treated as a product of nature.
• Gender refers to the psychosocial and cultural attitudes, behaviours and roles that a society associates with being male or female. It is shaped partly by nurture (socialisation, culture and experience).

Feature	Sex	Gender
What it is	Biological status	Psychosocial and cultural roles
Determined by	Chromosomes and anatomy	Socialisation, culture, upbringing
Nature/nurture	Largely nature	Partly nurture
Changeable?	Fixed biologically	Can vary between cultures and over time

A person's gender identity (their internal sense of their own gender) may or may not correspond to their biological sex. This is why sex and gender are not interchangeable terms.

Keeping these two ideas apart is the foundation for everything else in this topic, from chromosomes to the Bem Sex Role Inventory.

Biological sex is determined at conception by the sex chromosomes, one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in every cell.

• Females have two X chromosomes: XX.
• Males have one X and one Y chromosome: XY.

The Y chromosome carries a small but critical gene called the SRY gene (Sex-determining Region Y). The SRY gene triggers the development of the testes in a male embryo. The testes then produce testosterone, which drives the development of male sex organs.

Without a Y chromosome, and therefore without the SRY gene, the embryo develops along the female pathway by default.

Sex	Sex chromosomes	Key trigger
Female	XX	No SRY gene → develops as female
Male	XY	SRY gene → testes → testosterone

The SRY gene on the Y chromosome is the switch that starts male development. Identify the presence of the SRY gene, not simply the Y chromosome as a whole, as the trigger for testes formation.

Chromosomes set sex in motion, but hormones carry out much of the physical and behavioural development. Three hormones are named on the specification.

Testosterone is a male sex hormone (an androgen). It controls the development of male sex organs in the womb and, later, characteristics such as facial hair and a deeper voice. High levels are associated with aggression.

Oestrogen is the main female sex hormone. It governs female sexual characteristics and regulates the menstrual cycle. It can also affect emotion, for example in premenstrual tension.

Oxytocin is often called the "love" or "bonding" hormone. It is released during childbirth, breastfeeding and intimacy, and promotes attachment and bonding. Both sexes produce it, but women typically produce it in larger amounts, especially around childbirth.

Hormone	Main role	Notes
Testosterone	Development of male sex organs; linked to aggression	Main androgen; both sexes, more in men
Oestrogen	Female sexual characteristics; menstrual cycle	Can affect emotion
Oxytocin	Bonding and attachment; released at childbirth	Both sexes, larger amounts in women

Do not overstate hormone effects. Testosterone is associated with aggression, not a guaranteed cause of it. Both sexes produce all three hormones, just in different amounts.

Most people have XX or XY chromosomes and develop in the typical way, but the specification requires three named conditions that illustrate diversity in sex development. Studying them shows how chromosomes and hormones influence sex and gender.

Condition	Chromosomes	Physical features	Psychological features
Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS)	XY	Cells cannot respond to androgens, so external female characteristics develop despite XY chromosomes	Often raised and identify as female
Klinefelter's syndrome	XXY	Reduced body and facial hair, some breast development, long limbs, underdeveloped genitals	Poorly developed language and reading skills, passive and shy, executive-function problems
Turner's syndrome	XO (single X)	No menstruation, undeveloped ovaries and breasts, webbed neck, low-set ears	Higher-than-average verbal ability but lower spatial, visual and maths ability; socially immature

Androgen insensitivity syndrome affects a genetically XY person whose body cannot respond to androgens (male hormones). Because the male-hormone signal is not received, the individual develops external female characteristics.

Klinefelter's syndrome affects biological males with an extra X chromosome (XXY). Turner's syndrome affects biological females who are missing an X, leaving a single X (XO).

Memory hook: Klinefelter's is XXY (an extra X in a male); Turner's is XO (Only one X in a female).

The modern specification recognises that gender identity is not always a simple choice between "man" and "woman". Three terms are named explicitly.

• Binary — identifying as exclusively a man or exclusively a woman, in line with the traditional two-category model.
• Non-binary — identifying as neither exclusively a man nor exclusively a woman; the identity sits outside the binary categories.
• Gender fluid — having a gender identity that shifts or changes over time rather than staying fixed.

These terms reflect the idea introduced on the first slide: gender identity is distinct from biological sex. A person's chromosomes and anatomy do not dictate the gender they identify with.

Binary, non-binary and gender fluid are named on the AQA specification. You should be able to define each one clearly and explain that gender identity may not correspond to a person's biological sex.

This modernised terminology replaces older language and matters because gender is treated as psychosocial, and so it can vary between individuals, cultures and time in ways that biological sex does not.

If gender is psychosocial, psychologists need a way to measure it. Sandra Bem developed the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) in the 1970s to do exactly that.

The BSRI is a questionnaire of 60 items:

• 20 stereotypically masculine traits (for example, "assertive", "independent")
• 20 stereotypically feminine traits (for example, "affectionate", "gentle")
• 20 neutral traits (used as fillers)

Respondents rate how well each trait describes them on a 7-point scale. This produces two separate scores: one for masculinity and one for femininity. Crucially, these are independent scales, so a person can score high or low on each.

Result	Masculinity score	Femininity score
Masculine	High	Low
Feminine	Low	High
Androgynous	High	High
Undifferentiated	Low	Low

Androgyny is a balance of masculine and feminine characteristics: an androgynous person scores high on both scales. Bem argued that androgynous people are more psychologically healthy and adaptable, because they can draw on both sets of traits depending on the situation.

Androgyny is scoring high on both masculinity and femininity, not sitting "in the middle". Scoring low on both makes a person undifferentiated, which is the opposite classification.

Strength: the BSRI was developed systematically. The traits were not chosen at random. Bem asked judges to rate which characteristics were seen as typically masculine and feminine, so item selection was based on evidence rather than opinion. However, the inventory is now dated and culturally specific, having been devised in 1970s America, so stereotypes it captures may no longer apply. It also relies on self-awareness and self-report, and reducing a complex identity to a single score may oversimplify it.

Strength: sex-development research supports the role of biology. Conditions such as AIS, Klinefelter's and Turner's syndrome show how chromosomes and hormones shape sex and gender. But inferring causation by comparing atypical to typical development is problematic, and this approach risks biological reductionism — social factors also matter. For example, the "social immaturity" seen in Turner's syndrome may partly result from being treated as younger than their actual age, rather than being a direct effect of the missing X.

Nature versus nurture. These conditions and hormone effects show that biology is important, yet gender identity is best explained by an interaction of biology and socialisation, not biology alone.

Socially sensitive research. Studies of sex-development conditions deal with vulnerable individuals and are based on relatively small samples, which limits how far the findings can be generalised.

1. Using "sex" and "gender" interchangeably

Sex is a biological status (chromosomes and anatomy); gender is the psychosocial and cultural roles associated with being male or female. Swapping the terms, or defining one when the question asks for the other, loses easy marks.

2. Muddling the chromosome patterns

Klinefelter's syndrome is XXY and affects biological males; Turner's syndrome is XO and affects biological females. Mixing these up is one of the most common errors on this topic.

3. Describing androgyny as being "in the middle"

Androgyny means scoring high on both masculine and feminine scales, not somewhere between the two. A person low on both is undifferentiated, which is a different classification entirely.

4. Forgetting the hormone roles

Learn all three named hormones: testosterone (male sex organs, aggression), oestrogen (female characteristics, menstrual cycle) and oxytocin (bonding, released at childbirth and during intimacy). A question may ask for any of them.

5. Confusing AIS chromosomes with its appearance

In androgen insensitivity syndrome the individual is genetically XY, but because the cells cannot respond to androgens they develop external female characteristics. State both facts; naming only the appearance misses the point.