Male or Female? - Influence of Gender Role and Sexual Attraction on Sex Categorization of Faces

The categorization of dominant facial features, such as sex, is a highly relevant function for social interaction. It has been found that attributes of the perceiver, such as their biological sex, influence the perception of sexually dimorphic facial features with women showing higher recognition performance for female faces than men. However, evidence on how aspects closely related to biological sex influence face sex categorization are scarce. Using a previously validated set of sex-morphed facial images (morphed from male to female and vice versa), we aimed to investigate the influence of the participant’s gender role identification and sexual orientation on face sex categorization, besides their biological sex. Image ratings, questionnaire data on gender role identification and sexual orientation were collected from 67 adults (34 females). Contrary to previous literature, biological sex per se was not significantly associated with image ratings. However, an influence of participant sexual attraction and gender role identity became apparent: participants identifying with male gender attributes and showing attraction toward females perceived masculinized female faces as more male and femininized male faces as more female when compared to participants identifying with female gender attributes and attraction toward males. Considering that we found these effects in a predominantly cisgender and heterosexual sample, investigation of face sex perception in individuals identifying with a gender different from their assigned sex (i.e., transgender people) might provide further insights into how assigned sex and gender identity are related.

THE CRISIS OF IDENTITY AND ITS ROLE IN THE REPRODUCTIVE FUNCTION OF A WOMAN, PREGNANCY AND ITS OUTCOME

Purpose: To conduct a theoretical and empirical study of the formation of female identity and its role in solving infertility issues in conjunction with the cultural characteristics of modern society. Abstract: The article raises the issues of a set of views on the causes of the phenomenon of infertility and the formation of the function of motherhood as a result of the parental role and upbringing of the girl, her gender role identification and identity Сonclusion: Using clinical experience and the analysis of the literature, I would like to summarize this work and draw conclusions on the issue of studying the formation of female identity and its role in the problem of our time - infertility, given the totality of cultural characteristics and modern views on the issue of motherhood. One of the most important tasks facing a person is the search for the meaning of life, and identity crises (motherhood can be seen as a manifestation of a woman’s identity crisis) are a powerful catalyst for this search. When approaching the concept of female identity, we are faced with such a concept as the "Oedipus complex". It is what forms the unconscious core of any neurosis, and all other complexes and fantasies revolve around him. As a rule, in women with functional infertility, the "Oedipus" situation is not quite ordinary: mother plays the role of father. The father in such families is weak and is not included in the processes of raising children in the family. A weak man in the childhood of a girl leaves an imprint on an unconscious level. This imprint does not allow her to be fertile in adulthood. Formed, female identity goes through a number of stages: early childhood, as the time of formation of the core of sexual identity; time of triadic relationships (Oedipus complex) and the beginning of sexual orientation; time of practice of a sexual role (latent period); the time of choosing an object, the consolidation of female traits of gender, sexual role and sexual-partner orientation; the time of the final formation of femininity is motherhood. The semantic organization of the gender identity of women with psychogenic infertility is characterized by internal conflict in the perception of oneself as a woman and the characteristics of gender role identification. The resolution of the internal conflict of "identification-differentiation" with her mother is a prerequisite for the formation of a mature sexual identity of a woman. Studies of deviant maternal relationships, conducted in a psychoanalytic manner, allow us to talk about personal predispositions to psychogenic infertility and rejection of your own child - infantility, self-centeredness, increased aggressiveness, which are rooted in childhood traumatic experiences related to sexuality. The nature of the future maternal relationship depends on the experience of interacting with her own mother in childhood, how the mother treated her pregnancy and childbirth and how much she managed to solve the problem of separation from the parent family and build her own identity.