The Expression of Femininity in the Male

SUMMARY

This article by Virginia Prince, writing as Virginia Bruce, was first published in The Journal of Sex Research, vol. 3, no. 2, 1967, pp. 129–139. Prince distinguishes sex from gender. Sex is the biological division we share with other animals. Gender-the division of masculine and feminine-is a human invention. Socialisation entails children being pushed into one or other gender direction and the suppression of characteristics of the “opposite” gender. Transvestism is the expression in males of suppressed femininity. The “true transvestite” is a “FemmePersonator” who “personates,” that is, makes a real person out of and brings to life his feminine self. Questionnaire data is used to reject ideas that true transvestism is a sexual deviation, and true transvestites are psychiatrically disturbed.     

Dogmatic Behavior Among Students: Testing a New Measure of Dogmatism

Abstract

The study tested the validity of a new measure of dogmatism by examining university students' evaluations of the Bible. Those who believed that every word in the Bible came directly from God and that the Bible is free of any error, contradiction, or inconsistency scored much higher on this dogmatism measure than students who thought otherwise. Such “true believers” then read the 4 highly varying Gospel accounts of the resurrection of Jesus. The most dogmatic of them still insisted there were no contradictions or inconsistencies in the Bible. The less dogmatic acknowledged that contradictions and inconsistencies exist. These results reinforce those of 4 earlier studies that indicated that the new measure of dogmatism has empirical validity.     

God Language

Abstract

Words are inadequate to describe God. The words of the recent past have limited the concept of God by using only the masculine images and gender to describe God. Purposefully using feminine images and gender and using non-gendered symbols helps to expand our conception of God. The paper deals almost exclusively with God language in a Christian context. Rationales for describing each member of the Trinity in feminine as well as masculine terms are developed and various resources for using gender-inclusive and gender-neutral terms for God are shared.     

Masculine God Imagery and Sense of Life Purpose: Examining Contingencies with America's “Four Gods”

Though God imagery has been extensively studied within sociological and psychological traditions, much less attention has been paid to gendered God concepts and their connections to well-being. Previous work has suggested that God images may reflect ontological assumptions that inform interpretations of the world as well as one's place within it. We argue that the relationship between masculine God imagery and a sense of life purpose may vary by gender and depend on further contingencies of other God images held by individuals’ images of God as engaged, angry, critical, and distant. Drawing on nationally representative data from the 2007 Baylor Religion Survey (n = 415 men and n = 577 women), our results suggest that stronger masculine God imagery was associated with greater life purpose for men, and lower life purpose for women. We also observed that stronger beliefs in an engaged God appeared to weaken the association between masculine God imagery and lower life purpose for women, while men who did not support masculine gender ideology reported lower life purpose if they endorsed stronger beliefs in an angry or critical God. We interpret our results by drawing on research at the intersection of gender, religion, and theology, and suggest several directions for future work.     

To Know and Be Known: An Intimacy‐Based Explanation for the Gender Gap in Biblical Literalism

We assess the gender gap in U.S. Christianity by examining in a national sample (Baylor Religion Survey 2010) a particularly robust measure of religiosity: biblical literalism. Women are more likely to report biblical literalism than men in bivariate comparisons, but we argue that intimate attachment to God is a related intervening mechanism. The results of this study indicate: (1) intimate attachment to God is associated with more literal views of the Bible, (2) after accounting for attachment to God women are no longer associated with increased literalism, (3) divine proximity‐seeking behaviors are associated with more literal views of the Bible, (4) proximity‐seeking moderates the relationship between attachment to God and Bible views, and (5) gender moderates the relationship between both attachment to God and proximity‐seeking behaviors and Bible views. The evidence presented here provides a plausible mechanism by which gender differences in biblical literalism may be accounted for.     

Male and Female He Created Them: Gender Traditionalism,Masculine Images of God,and Attitudes Toward Same‐Sex Unions

Prior research demonstrates that religion and gender traditionalism are associated with less favorable attitudes toward same‐sex unions because of its deviation from customary religious doctrine and traditional patterns of gender behavior. This study examines the link between religion, gender traditionalism, and attitudes toward same‐sex unions by utilizing a novel measure of gender traditionalism that is distinctly religious as well. Recent work on images of God reveals that individuals’ views of the divine provide a glimpse of their underlying view of reality. The results suggest that individuals who view God as a “he” are much less favorable toward same‐sex unions than those who do not view God as masculine, even while controlling for gender traditionalist beliefs and other images of God. Individuals who view God as masculine are signaling a belief in an underlying gendered reality that influences their perceptions of the proper ordering of that reality, which extends to marriage patterns. These findings encourage future research to identify innovative measures of religion that incorporate aspects of other social institutions to account for their interconnected nature.     

Gender constructions from a project on sex offenders

Abstract

The four-year group therapy of 16 sex offenders in prison was videotaped, and 21 sessions were carefully transcribed and analysed by means of conversation analysis and analysis of metaphor and narration. These qualitative methods are apt for verbal data and can be combined with psychoanalytic thinking in a productive way. New forms of process analysis can be developed. The results presented here are selected to relate to the topic of how the imprisoned group therapy participants constructed “gender” by ways of speaking about themselves, women, and their victims, young girls. The results show that it would be a mistake to think of these ways of speaking as if they could be ignored in favour of “deeper” motives, lying “behind” the words. Our results show how unconscious constructions of gender are not beyond language, but in language. “Doing gender” is a conversational practice.     

“God is the creator of all life and the energy of this world”: German intersex Christians’ reflection on the image of God and being created in God’s image

ABSTRACT

Intersex individuals are often told they are not human beings because they do not neatly fit into the categories of “female” and “male.” Many are made to feel like monsters. Christianity enforces this model of sexual dimorphism with the notion that to be a human being means to be created clearly “female” or clearly “male” in the image of God. This paper draws on interviews with German intersex Christians to explore their diverse images of God and what it means to be created in God’s image with the goal of creating new “conditions of possibility” that represent the full range of human sex/gender.     

A critical commentary on follow-up studies and “desistance” theories about transgender and gender-nonconforming children

ABSTRACT

Background: It has been widely suggested that over 80% of transgender children will come to identify as cisgender (i.e., desist) as they mature, with the assumption that for this 80%, the trans identity was a temporary “phase.” This statistic is used as the scientific rationale for discouraging social transition for pre-pubertal children. This article is a critical commentary on the limitations of this research and a caution against using these studies to develop care recommendations for gender-nonconforming children.

Methods: A critical review methodology is employed to systematically interpret four frequently-cited studies that sought to document identity outcomes for gender-nonconforming children (often referred to as “desistance” research).

Results: Methodological, theoretical, ethical, and interpretive concerns regarding four “desistance” studies are presented. The authors clarify the historical and clinical contexts within which these studies were conducted to deconstruct assumptions in interpretations of the results. The discussion makes distinctions between the specific evidence provided by these studies versus the assumptions that have shaped recommendations for care. The affirmative model is presented as a way to move away from the question of, “How should children's gender identities develop over time?” toward a more useful question: “How should children best be supported as their gender identity develops?”

Conclusion: The tethering of childhood gender diversity to the framework of “desistance” or “persistence” has stifled advancements in our understanding of children's gender in all its complexity. These follow-up studies fall short in helping us understand what children need. As work begins on the 8th version of the Standards of Care by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, we call for a more inclusive conceptual framework that takes children's voices seriously. Listening to children's experiences will enable a more comprehensive understanding of the needs of gender-nonconforming children and provide guidance to scientific and lay communities.     

Warrior Chicks: Youthful Aging in a Postfeminist Prosperity Discourse

In a youth‐oriented evangelical congregation where being perceived as “old” might marginalize member involvement and participation, a Hollywood, California congregation's women's ministry, God Chicks, presents aging women as possessing “godly wisdom,” endowing older women with spiritually charged energy, authority, and responsibility for training younger women to live “godly” lives. Ethnographic research and in depth media analysis of the God Chicks ministry reveals a particularly energizing evangelical postfeminist orientation that applies prosperity theology to contemporary challenges of changing women's roles. Specifically, the God Chicks ministry provides “women over forty” with consumer and caretaking strategies for maintaining youthful selves and motivating younger women. A “God Chick” emerges as a compelling, youthful gendered religious identity that expects congregationally committed women to be strong, healthy, and active warriors who fight multiple relational and global humanitarian battles. Overall, this study demonstrates the construction of an innovative postfeminist evangelical identity through the tactical, opportunistic use of theological doctrine by ministry leaders within a particularistic geographic location.     

Christ's Love as the Basis of the Church's Faith Witness to Muslims

According to the Christian view, the essence of the triune God is revealed in the relational event between God the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. The Bible says of this God, “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). By way of example, the article explores “God's love” to show that the Qur'an's conception of God is incompatible with key tenets of the New Testament. Thus, when keeping both conceptions of God in view, we cannot speak of one and the same God. Now what does this mean for the pursuit of conciliatory relations between Christians and Muslims? Which relational paradigms need to be kept in mind? After reflecting on the concepts of neighbourliness, companionship, and hospitality, the article goes on to trace the conceptual outlines of Christian mission as a mission of God's love (missio amoris Dei). Its hypothesis is that a characteristically Christian conception of God can supply useful motifs for appreciative and conciliatory actions by Christians toward Muslims. Finally, the author proposes a theology of interreligious relations (which he has elaborated upon elsewhere) as an alternative approach to conventional theologies of religion.     

Sex vs. Gender

SUMMARY

This article was first published in D. R. Laub and P. Gandy, (eds), Proceedings of the Second Interdisciplinary Symposium on Gender Dysphoria Syndrome, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, California, 1973, pp. 20–24. Prince argues that previous contributors to the symposium in using such terms as “gender conversion surgery” and “anatomic and genetic gender” were failing to grasp the distinction between sex and gender. Genital anatomy is about sex; gender role is about a lifestyle. Out of 100 people applying for a surgery perhaps only 10 percent should have it. The majority confuse sex and gender and fail to appreciate that what they are seeking is a gender change and not a sexual change. Prince likes the word “dysphoria” but argues for distinguishing sexual dysphoria from gender dysphoria. They are different and people should be treated according to which one they happen to be suffering from.     

Ungraceful God: Masculinity and Images of God in Brazilian Popular Culture

Abstract

The article investigates how God is represented in popular culture, especially in music, in Brazil. It gives a general background about Brazilian culture showing how religion is part of the identity constructions of Brazilian people and how it is marked by multiplicity, syncretism and hybridization. It then analyses two popular songs that make explicit statements about "who God is" and how those statements are related to traditional masculine gender constructions. Finally, the article discusses how issues of masculinity and religion have been approached in recent scholarship and points to the need for other ways of imagining God that are related to people's experience.     

On Parish Theologizing in Response to Ted Peters

Abstract : What happens when a men's Bible study group discusses Ted Peters' article, “Christian God‐Talk, While Listening to Atheists, Pluralists, and Muslims”? Lay people like theologians confront the secularization of society, pluralism, Islam, and atheism, the threat of violence, the institutionalization of ideology. And they confront the power of grace provocatively proclaimed. This writing concludes with a proposal to seek new language in the ongoing debate.     

Mental-rotation performance in middle and high-school age: influence of stimulus material,gender stereotype beliefs,and perceived ability of gendered activities

ABSTRACT

In psychometric mental-rotation tests, males mostly outperform females. The stimulus material and stereotype beliefs could partly be responsible for these differences. This was investigated in an experimental study administering traditional cube figures (C-MRT) and structurally similar pellet figures (P-MRT) to middle- and high-school aged children. 168 participants either solved the C-MRT or the P-MRT and filled out a questionnaire about their perceived ability of stereotypically masculine and feminine activities and about their gender stereotype beliefs. Overall, boys outperformed girls and all children who solved the C-MRT were better than those who solved the P-MRT. Only boys' mental-rotation performance increased with age while girls' perceived ability of stereotypically masculine activities decreased. A regression analysis identified children’s gender, their perceived ability of stereotypically masculine activities and their female gender stereotype beliefs as predictors of mental-rotation performance. Results are discussed with a focus on stereotype threat effects and gender differences in mental-rotation strategies.     

THE IMAGO DEI AS THE MIND OF JESUS CHRIST

In this essay I examine David Clough's interpretation of the imago Dei and his use of “creaturely” language in his book On Animals: Volume 1, Systematic Theology. Contrary to Clough, I argue that the imago Dei should be interpreted as being uniquely human. Using a neuroscientific approach, I elaborate on my claim that while Jesus is the image of God perfected, the imago Dei is best understood as having the mind of Christ. In regards to language, I make the case that using terms such as “creature” when referring to nonhuman animals is problematic in that it can serve to alienate human beings from their capacity to image God. In addition I argue that “creaturely” language raises concerns for the African American community given Western Christianity's history as it relates to their valuation of black bodies and human enslavement.     

Processing grammatical gender of role nouns: Further evidence from eye movements

Two eye-tracking experiments investigated the effects of masculine versus feminine grammatical gender on the processing of role nouns and on establishing coreference relations. Participants read sentences with the basic structure My <kinship term> is a <role noun> <prepositional phrase > such as My brother is a singer in a band. Role nouns were either masculine or feminine. Kinship terms were lexically male or female and in this way specified referent gender, i.e., the sex of the person referred to. Experiment 1 tested a fully crossed design including items with an incorrect combination of lexically male kinship term and feminine role name. Experiment 2 tested only correct combinations of grammatical and lexical/referential gender to control for possible effects of the incorrect items of Experiment 1. In early stages of processing, feminine role nouns, but not masculine ones, were fixated longer when grammatical and referential gender were contradictory (Bruder _male–Sängerin _fem/brother–[female] singer). In later stages of sentence wrap-up there were longer fixations for sentences with masculine than for those with feminine role nouns. Results of both experiments indicate that, for feminine role nouns, cues to referent gender are integrated immediately, whereas a late integration obtains for masculine forms.     

First impressions online: The inclusion of transgender and gender nonconforming identities and services in mental healthcare providers' online materials in the USA

Background: When accessing mental healthcare services, transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals face systemic barriers to gender-affirmative care. Initial points of contact, like intake forms, may show limited consideration for the heterogeneity of TGNC identities and can lead to negative consequences prior to face-to-face interaction with providers. Aims: The first aim was to mimic a likely pathway a TGNC individual may follow to seek mental healthcare services in the USA and to describe the extent to which they may encounter enacted stigma or affirmative messages that may impede or facilitate access to care. The second aim was to determine if a positive State legal climate for TGNC people was associated with more affirmative provider materials. Methods: Content analysis was used to examine a national sample of websites and intake forms of mental healthcare providers who advertise online as working with TGNC clients. Intake forms were coded for usage of affirmative language in gender/sex questions and including questions for a client's pronouns and preferred name. Websites were coded for mentioning a variety of services or resources for TGNC clients. Results: While provider websites were found through Google searches for a “gender therapist,” only 56.6% of websites stated a provider specialty to work with TGNC clients and 32.1% of websites had no mention of services or resources for TGNC people. Additionally, a significantly larger proportion of intake forms from States with legal protections for TGNC people used affirmative language in gender/sex questions and asked for a client's pronouns than intake forms from States without legal protections. Discussion: Barriers to affirmative healthcare for TGNC people within patient and provider interactions have been identified in previous research and these data show TGNC individuals may face enacted stigma even in their search for a provider, particularly those TGNC people living in States without legal protections.