Danielle Murray

UWRT 1103
Blandford
Final Conversation
Psychology has always been an interest of mine, specifically the developmental
aspect. I enjoy learning how others develop from adolescence to adulthood. While
listening to a lecture in psychology in high school, I heard the term gender identity. At
first, I didnt know what it meant but as I studied personality, I became familiar with it.
Gender identity, defined by dictionary.com, is persons inner sense of being male or
female, usually developed during early childhood as a result of parental rearing practices
and societal influences and strengthened during puberty by hormonal changes. Gender
identity involves the idea of how people express themselves through external appearance.
This refers to how they dress and how they act. A sense of gender identity develops
around the second year of life, and sex role behaviors begin to emerge as early as
preschool. By the beginning of the school years, children havent developed their gender
identity but they do have some gender constancy, which can be altered by clothing or
activity. (Mukaddes.Gender Identity Problems in Autistic Children) Ive never really
understood how one could sexually be one gender and identify as another. Psychology
also plays a huge part in gender identity. Im curious and have questions about what
factors play into how people determine their gender identity.
Gender identity is categorized in the DSM as a personality disorder. DSM stands
for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The DSM is used by
psychiatrists and psychologists to diagnose individuals with psychological disorders.

Gender identity in this case is called gender dysphoria. According to the DSM- V, For a
person to be diagnosed with gender dysphoria, there must be a marked difference
between the individuals expressed/experienced gender and the gender others would
assign him or her, and it must continue for at least six months. In children, the desire to
be of the other gender must be present and verbalized. I dont see how this could be
considered a mental illness. This is where nature vs. nurture comes in. Nature versus
nurture is the psychological concept that one is either influenced by their environment or
inherited through their genetics. Its very common for mental illness and/or personality
disorders to be passed down from generation to generation. This has never happened in
the history of the disorder but the factors that influence ones decision on their identity
can be passed down from generation to generation.
Religion is also a factor when it comes to influences on gender identity. I grew up
believing that God made man and woman, separately. There were no men that dressed
like women or women that dressed like men in the Bible. My parents instilled that in me
in a very young age. I grew up knowing that if I ever saw a man dressed in womens
clothes, something was wrong but I didnt realize that people could really identify as
another gender until recently. The books I read as child started out very restrictive. My
parents didnt let me just read anything. It wasnt until I started middle school that I
started exploring different options when it came to reading books. I read books with
cursing in them, even though my parents didnt approve so much. I remember reading a
book where one of the characters, who was a male, hung out with and acted like a female.
Being so young, I didnt understand or comprehend what was really going on in the book
and did not dare tell my parents what I was reading about. My parents and religions

influence on me made me feel restricted and shut out from some things that I wanted to
explore when reading, such as topics like gender identity. I knew what was going on in
the book wasnt religiously acceptable, but why would I not explore something I didnt
understand? Why not research and try to understand a topic I wasnt sure about nor
identified with?
Since I was also interested in child development with gender identity, I wanted to
know when the turning point for these individuals was. It is, in fact, puberty according to
some case studies. Many factors influence children up until this point depending on their
environment but once they hit puberty, their gender identity is pretty much set in stone.
This is when an individual makes their consensus on identifying whether theyre a male
or female. Puberty is a crucial time in an individuals life, not only physically, but
mentally as well. The next three to four years in ones life is where youre trying to figure
out who you are as a person, who you want to be, and what you want to do with the rest
of your life. At this age, which is around as early as eleven or twelve years old, it is very
easy to get peer pressured and be easily influenced by things around you. Media and the
people you hang out with are huge influences. Girls feel like they have to look like a
model on television and boys think they have to be tough like that rapper they see in all
the music videos.

Gender Identity Disorder (GID) is manifested by a repeated desire to be a member

of the opposite sex, a preference for cross-dressing in boys, a persistent preference for
cross-sex roles in make-believe play, and a strong preference for playmates of the
opposite sex.(Mukaddes.Gender Identity Problems in Autistic Children) This leads into

the first case study that I found about two males diagnosed with autism. The two boys
were raised in two different environments but had the same feminine tendencies. Between
the ages of three and eight years old, they were both diagnosed with autism. In the first
case, around the age of 6, the boys mother reported some cross-gendered behaviors such
as wearing his mothers dresses, putting lego bricks in his socks under his heels and
pretending to have high heels. He also started to state his disappointment about his
gender. Sometimes, he prayed and begged God to make his penis disappear. He always
avoided rough-and-tumble play and preferred to play with girls. (Mukaddes.Gender
Identity Problems in Autistic Children) At the end of the study, he was receiving
treatment for his autism. They still saw no change in his behavior, though his
communication skills did improve. In the second case study, the boy was diagnosed
around the same age. Because of his language delay and problems with his social
interaction, he was taken to be tested. He was diagnosed with autism at the age of seven.
His family had a history of OCD and his parents were middle aged. His mother was forty
and his father was forty one. These factors played a part in his development. At the age of
four, he started make- believe play. At the same time, he had shown persistent attachment
to his mothers and some significant female relatives clothes and especially liked to
make skirts out of their scarves. This shows the influence of the environment on certain
individuals. This also brings up an interesting point of how people with certain disorders
perceive things. As time went on, his parents were worried and tried to prevent it but he
reacted aggressively. Although there are some improvements in terms of social
relatedness, language and the disappearance of stereotypical behaviors, his social
interaction pattern is still inappropriate for his age. One needs to bear in mind that the

cases reported here had acquired sufficient linguistic ability, which is an important factor
in developing self-concept, to express themselves. These two cases help understand the
nature vs. nurture concept. These two boys, though they had a previously diagnosed
disorder, show that their environment had an impact on how they behaved. Even though
we dont know exactly what autism is caused by, its interesting that theres a correlation
between GID and the autism itself.
When it comes to American culture, many look at transsexuals, the politically
correct name for individuals identifying as another gender than their own, as outcasts.
This is shown through an article I found in a textbook for educators dealing with gender
identity in the K-12 setting in schools. It contains the stories of two transsexual teachers
obstacles in the school system. Gayle Roberts was a male to female trans-woman and
taught in the school district in both genders. When Roberts was younger, in the 60s and
70s, he tried to escape the social norms of being a male. It became too much for him and
the mounting anguish (which he later understood to be gender dysphoria) eventually
intensified to the point where I could no longer function- even as a successful and highly
respected teacher.(Roberts.Allan.Wells. Understanding Gender Identity in K-12
Schools) Another teacher in Canada went through the same thing. Carol Allans
transition occurred in the late 80s. She moved schools numerous times. When she tried to
go back to her original district, things changed. I was exposed to constant pressure and
surveillance from my school principal who attempted to force me out of teaching all
together. The principal was very open about having no fear of teachers association, and
she saw it as her solemn duty to remove undesirable teachers.; To my relief, the
students and parents showed no sign of seeing anything unusual about my appearance or

mannerism. Sadly, my principal continued her attempts to have me removed.; The

school district official and board lawyer who met with us reacted to the news of my
intention to transition with marked laughter. (Roberts.Allan.Wells. Understanding
Gender Identity in K-12 Schools) Both of these teachers had a hard time because the
school district wasnt too favorable of their change. In the time this was written, having
gender identity disorder was clearly looked down upon. It went against social norms and
you were looked as weird if you didnt follow the norm.
Times have changed over the years and theyre more accepted and common to see
in society but in other cultures its different. I found another case study that shows how
gender identity is perceived according to another the culture in Thailand. A case study
was found about a little boy in Thailand that was thought to be the reincarnation of his
grandmother. In cultures with a belief in reincarnation, children are sometimes identified
by their families as being the rebirth of a deceased individual such as family member, a
family friend, or, at times, a stranger.; The identification is usually made on the basis of
physical features of the child, statement that the child makes about a previous life, or, at
times, dreams that a parent or family member has.; Somes families make marks on the
body of a deceased individual in the hope that when that person is reborn, he or she will
have a birthmark at the site where the deceased person was marked. For the case study
interviews were held with the subjects mother, the subject himself, his father, his
maternal great aunt, and his maternal aunt by marriage who live with the subjects
grandmother before her death. At one point, the grandmother told her daughter in law that
she would like to be reborn as a male so that she could have a mistress like her husband
did. The day after the grandmother died, the daughter in law used white paste to make a

mark on the back of the grandmothers neck so that she could recognize her if she was
reborn. When the subjects mother was three months pregnant with him, she had a dream
that the grandmother was reborn to her. When the subject was born, he had a
hypopigmented birthmark on the back of his neck. The subject started to show feminine
behavior. We he was younger, he sat to urinate. He wore his mothers earrings and
clothing. (Tucker. Can Cultural Beliefs Cause a Gender Identity Disorder?) This shows
the difference in cultures across the world. It is accepted in other cultures when it is
representative of something but otherwise, its looked down upon. American culture has
this conscious act that if someone is different from you, theyre seen as an outcast.
Though transsexuals are more accepted in modern day society than back in the 80s and
90s, people still dont accept them.
All in all, I now have a better understanding of gender identity and what it is. I
know now that many factors play into how individuals determine their gender for
themselves instead of what they were biologically born as. Though I still dont know the
etiology of the disorder, I learned how children develop their identity. The articles that I
found while doing research were extremely helpful. Though they gave me all sorts of
information, I still couldnt find answers to some of my questions like how the parents
sexuality can be an influence or the differences between the typical American family and
a family with a child that has gender identity disorder. It was also helpful to make the
connection between my literary memoir and how I didnt identify with gender identity.
My religion played a huge part in what I was exposed to as a child. Overall, I now
understand the identity of gender and child development.

References
Association, American Psychiatric. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric,
2013. Print
Mukaddes, N M. "Gender Identity Problems in Autistic Children." Child: Care, Health
& Development. 28.6 (2002): 529-532. Print.
Roberts, Gayle, Carol Allan, and Kristopher Wells. "Understanding Gender
Identity in K-12 Schools." Journal of Gay & Lesbian Issues in Education. 4.4
(2007): 119-129. Print.
Steensma, TD, BP Kreukels, Vries A. L. de, and PT Cohen-Kettenis. "Gender
Identity Development in Adolescence." Hormones and Behavior. 64.2 (2013):
288-97. Print.
Tucker, Jim, and Keil. "Can Cultural Beliefs Cause a Gender Identity Disorder?"
Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality. 13.2 (2001): 21-30. Print.