Sex/Gender Attribution: When the Penis Makes the Difference

The present study aimed to replicate Kessler and McKenna’s (1978) ethnomethodological study that investigated how an individual attributes gender to a person. By administering figures depicted on overlays (Overlay Study), Kessler and McKenna found that the penis more than the vulva and the male sexual characteristics more than the female ones were significantly more salient in the gender attribution process. From all this, their adage is: “See someone as female only when you cannot see them as male.” Taking as a model Kessler and McKenna’s Overlay Study, we administered to 592 adults 120 new digital stimuli elaborated on realistic frontal images of human nudes to verify if the previously obtained results would be confirmed by using more realistic images. We found that the participants attributed male gender 86% of the time when the penis was shown, but only attributed female gender 67% of the time when the vulva was shown. All findings had strong statistical significance, confirming the findings of the Overlay Study that the penis makes the difference in gender recognition. Beyond an ethnomethodological approach, we have interpreted and discussed our results from the outlook of evolutionary and cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience, concluding that the cultural stereotypes and prejudices that affect gender attribution might not just be a mere cultural product, but rather the consequence of evolved cognitive biases.

Thinking It’s a Male Rather Than a Female Is More Likely and Quicker, Ceteris Paribus

According to previous ethnomethodological and cognitive studies on sex assignment, if a figure has male sexual characteristics people are more likely to think it is a man than a woman when the figure has female ones. This male attribution bias is definitely reinforced when a penis is apparent in human nude images. We reported findings of three experiments aimed at replicating previous studies by administering the Sex/Gender Attribution Test for Adult (SGAT-A) created by digitally morphing bodies of two human male and female models into realistic images. We observed the sex attribution and response time of 1,706 young adult participants. A cross-cultural comparison was also carried out with a sample of young adult Chinese students. Findings substantially reconfirmed those obtained in previous studies. When male external genitalia were exposed, the odds of male sex attribution were 5.688 compared to 1.823 female attribution when female external genitalia were shown. The male external genitalia overshadow any other features that might rather suggest a female identity. The shortest response times were observed with masculine stimuli. Evolutionary and cultural determinants of the male sex bias are discussed.

The effects of proactive form-focused instruction and individual differences on second language acquisition

This study investigated the extent to which second language (L2) learners benefited from proactive form-focused instruction (FFI) targeting French grammatical gender attribution and the degree to which L2 learners’ attention control and working memory predicted their learning gains. A total of 102 L2 learners received either proactive FFI targeting French grammatical gender attribution or their regular instruction (i.e. control condition) for six 80-minute instructional sessions. A pretest, an immediate posttest, and a delayed posttest were administered, each entailing binary-choice, text-completion, picture-description, and listening tasks. The L2 learners also completed the Simon Test and the Corsi Block-Tapping Test, which measured their attention control and working memory. Results showed that L2 learners receiving the proactive FFI condition significantly outperformed those receiving the control condition in all tasks after the instructional sessions. More importantly, L2 learners’ attention control and working memory were significant predictors of their learning gains in the binary-choice and listening tasks, but not in the text-completion and picture-description tasks. The current study highlighted the roles of L2 learners’ attention control and working memory in proactive FFI.

“Let’s Be Trans”

This chapter examines how the youth of Spectrum are forming gender identities in the context of transgender phenomena, a paradigm shift in the way gender is represented, understood, and explained. As a space where genderqueerness is accepted and embraced, Spectrum is a kind of queer utopia. At Spectrum young people are allowed to feel ambivalence about their gender and can play with pronouns, gender expression, and identity. For those queer young people whose gender expression and identity is ambiguous, meaning that what they look like challenges mainstream society’s notions of what a boy or a girl is, Spectrum may be the first place they feel the liberation of not having to be one or the other. Spectrum youth are learning to complicate gender, be aware of the role gender attribution plays in our interactions with each other, and forge resistance to the entrenched gender binary.

Authority and Gender: Flipping the F-Switch

The very rules of our language games contain mechanisms of disregard. Philosophy of language tends to treat speakers as peers with equal discursive authority, but this is rare in real, lived speech situations. This paper explores the mechanisms of discursive inclusion and exclusion governing our speech practices, with a special focus on the role of gender attribution in undermining women’s authority as speakers. Taking seriously the metaphor of language games, we must ask who gets in the game and whose moves can score. To do this, I develop an eclectic analysis of language games using basic inferential role theory and the concept of a semantic index, and develop the distinction between positional authority and expertise authority, which often conflict for members of oppressed groups. Introducing the concepts of master switches and sub-switches that attach to the index and change scorekeeping practices, I argue that women’s gender status conflicts with our status as authoritative speakers because sex marking in semantics functions as a master switch—“the F-switch”—on the semantic index, which, once thrown, changes the very game. An advantage of using inferentialism for understanding disregard of women’s discursive authority is that it locates the problem in the sanctioned moves, in the deontic structure of norms and practices of scorekeeping, and not primarily in the individual intentions of particular people.

How the “Non-duped” Pass

This essay responds to Slavoj Žižek's recent criticism of trans activism by arguing for an understanding of gendered recognition within the symbolic-social realm that goes beyond acknowledgment and acceptance of diverse gender identities without requiring the presumption of any biological or physical essence of gender. This model is defended through a review of social constructionist and psychoanalytic models of perception and gender attribution, and illustrated through examples drawn from ChaosLife and Eve's Apple—two Web comics by and about transgender people.

Do Transmasculine Speakers Present With Gender-Related Voice Problems? Insights From a Participant-Centered Mixed-Methods Study

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there are indications of gender-related voice problems in our transmasculine participants and to analyze how discrepancies between participant self-evaluations and researcher-led examinations can be best negotiated to ensure a participant-centered interpretation. Method We conducted a participant-centered mixed-methods study combining qualitative content analyses of semistructured interviews, acoustical voice analyses, and an examination of gender attributions to voice. Fourteen German-speaking transmasculine people, 14 cisfemale control persons, and 7 cismale control persons participated. The data were examined for indications of gender-related voice problems pertaining to vocal gender presentation and gender attribution to voice received from others. Results Eleven participants (79%) presented with indications of gender-related voice problems. Problems included dissatisfaction with gender-related voice features, difficulties with control of vocal gender presentation, and mismatch between desired gender attribution and gender attributions received from others. Discrepancies between participant self-evaluations and researcher-led examinations were observed in a number of cases. Conclusion Transmasculine speakers may experience a range of gender-related voice problems. Research and clinical practice with transmasculine people need to be adapted to better match the diversity of the population and the complexity of the processes that shape the production of speaker vocal gender in interaction.