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Subject PSYCHOLOGY

Paper No and Title Paper 11: Human Development

Module No and Title Module No 23: Development of Gender Identity

Module Tag PSY_P11_M23

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Learning Outcome
2. Introduction to gender identity
3. Conceptual Origins
4. Factors influencing the development of gender identity
5. Adolescence and development of gender identity
6. Gender identity disorder
7. Summary

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1. Learning Outcomes
After studying this module, you shall be able to
 Know about gender identity and its conceptual origins.
 Learn about the factors that influence the development of gender identity.
 Understand development of gender identity during adolescence.

2. Introduction

An individual’s private perception and personal experience of his/her own gender makes up
his/her gender identity. This is usually described as one's personal sense of being a man or
a woman, consisting primarily of accepting the membership into a category of
people: male or female. The gender categories in the society lead to the formation of social
identity of an individual in relation to others in the society. In almost all societies, there exists a
distinction between characteristics of males and females.
Identity related to gender, i.e. gender identity, is generally built by three years of age, and it
becomes really challenging to alter gender identity after that age. Other people in the society,
interactions with them impact gender identity of an individual, and the individual’s personal
interest also highly impact his/her gender identity. How an individual develops an understanding
of the construct of gender can be discussed in four steps:
1. understanding the concept of gender
2. learning role, standards, and stereotypes associated with gender
3. identifying with parents
4. forming gender preference
Hence, a three-year old child may only understand the concept of gender, i.e. whether he/she is a
boy or a girl but might not completely understand the further implications of being a boy/girl.
Gender identity is very fluid in children, but it starts to form as they look for social stimulus and
seek approval for their behaviour from the society. Research on development of gender identity
has suggested that it is developed in three distinct levels (Martin & Ruble, 2004):
1. in 3-5 years of age, children learn about set characteristics associated with each gender,
which are its socialized aspects
2. Integration occurs in 5 to 7 years of age, where the gender identity is highly rigid
3. During 7 year and above, there is flexibility in gender roles

3. Conceptual Origins

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In 1905, the theory of psychosexual development was

introduced by Sigmund Freud. He confirmed that children do not differentiate among individuals
based on their sex or gender in the pre-genital phase: they think that their parents have same
genitals and the same reproductive abilities. It is not until phallic stage of development that
children begin to ascertain gender identity. During the phallic stage, a child develops an Oedipus
or Electra complex where he/she has sexual fantasies involving the opposite-sex parent and starts
to hate the same-sex parent. This leads to the identification with the same-sex parent and
gradually leads to the development of gender identity.
Psychologists who began to work for understanding development of gender identity during 1950s
& 1960s were actually attempting to understand the origins of homosexuality, as it was
considered a psychological disorder during the time. It is during this time that there was research
on study of transgender, homosexual, as well as studying the development of gender identity and
formulating theories on the same. Psychoanalyst Robert Stoller is credited with introducing the
term gender identity to the International Psychoanalytic Congress in Stockholm, Sweden in 1963.
Behavioral psychologist John Money’s work disseminated an interactionist theory of gender
identity, which suggests that gender identity is rather fluid and susceptible to continuous
discussion up to a certain age.
In the 1980s, Judith Butler worked in this area and argued that gender identity does not contradict
sexual biology but it gives an alternative of something different than male or female.
Also, gender identity is widely used to refer to sex and gender categories in a particular society,
but some also use the term to refer to sexual orientation and sexual identity, i.e. categories like
heterosexual, gay, lesbian or bisexual.

4. Factors influencing the development of Gender Identity

Biological factors
Modern research conveys the idea that development of gender identity is associated with genetic
or hormonal influences. The biochemical theory of gender identity proposed that people acquire
gender identities through biological, rather than social, factors. Lynda Birke (1992) suggested that
hormones for sex-determination are released at an early phase of fetal growth, i.e. ovaries or
testes produce different hormones, which lead to the development of different reproductive
organs. So it is proposed that there is a natural disposition of humans’ brain, which may not be
the same as other sex, and if developed can lead to a mismatch between the genetic makeup and
primary reproductive organs. There are various physical situations and variations that can
originate in the prenatal stage of development, and can affect the gender identity of an individual,
for example chromosomal alterations, genetic makeup. In case of humans, genes are inherited
from parents and ordered into 23 pairs of chromosomes. One of them is a pair of sex
chromosomes. Females have XX and males have XY composition at 23rd chromosomal pair.
There is a misunderstanding that presence of Y chromosome implies that an individual is a male,
and its absence implies that the individual is a female; however it is not the case. The genes of the
Y chromosome determine if the individual will undertake a masculine trail. Actually, it is the
SRY gene on the tip of the Y chromosome that assists in sending the embryo on the masculine
path. Talking about X chromosome, there is a gene called DAX1, which when exists as a double

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copy in a male (XY), transforms into a female. Thus, gender

identity is the synopsis of the overall genetic makeup and hormones in the body of humans,
which provide the mechanisms of various bodily functions.
A study conducted by Reiner & Gearhart (2004) attempts to understand the consequences of a
situation where male children were sexually re-assigned as females and raised as females. The
study was done of 14 male children born with cloacal exstrophy (rare and complex condition that
happens during the prenatal development of the lower abdominal wall structures, and many inner-
abdominal structures are exposed when the child is born) and they were designated as female, and
there was a follow-up between the ages of 5 to 12 years. The results of the study were as follows:
8 of the subjects identified themselves as boys and all the subjects had at least moderate male-
representative interests and attitudes. The results of this study support the argument that there are
biological factors that influence gender identity of an individual.
Furthermore, there is data which suggests that differences in various aspects, like verbal skills,
memory, visual-spatial skills, aggression and others, are connected to variations in hormone
secretions between men and women. Lynda Birke (1994) proposed that humans’ brains and
hormones have mutual influence. During fetal development, there are some hormones that enter
the brain and make permanent change in the working of hypothalamus. Low levels of androgens
will lead to a cyclic organization of hormones, and high levels will lead to its absence. This is
why female sex hormones follow a monthly cycle and there is no such pattern for male sex
hormones. These mutual influences between hormones and brains illustrate yet other type of
biological influence on gender identity, i.e. hormones.

Social and environmental factors

Gender identity is also related to social & environmental factors; e.g. attitudes of parents, the
society or the culture the individual is brought up in. Attitude of authority figures will highly
influence how a child understands sexuality, and will determine his/her interest, behavior, and/or
self-identity. Social observational learning is important to understand development of gender
identity in a child; for example, the child observes his/her world and decides which behaviors are
positive on the basis of the consequences of the behavior, and present only the positive behaviors
in front of his/her parents to receive rewards in form of appreciation, praise, toy etc. So a child
would have stricter and firmer opinion on gender identity if his/her parents don’t support gender-
nonconformity. Although recent research suggests a drift towards lesser well-described gender
roles and identities; there have been studies on understanding how parents code various toys, i.e.
as feminine, masculine, or gender-neutral, and parents coding kitchens or dolls as gender neutral
rather than exclusively feminine is an indication that there are lesser well-described roles for
males and females in today’s time. However, Kane’s research shows that parents have a negative
reaction for objects, activities or constructs related to femininity. There has also been some
research evidence that suggests that parents socialize their sons in a way to keep them away from
any connection with femininity. On the other hand, to some extent, it surfaced that there was not
an immediate reaction if there was a relation between the gender performance and sexual
orientation in case of daughters, i.e. the parents weren’t concerned if their daughter were
considered homosexual as they felt that it a result of their daughter identifying with manly
attributes, but they were highly concerned for their sons in the similar situation, i.e. son

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identifying with womanly attributes. Traditional traits and

capabilities of womanliness (like nurturance, domestic skills, empathy) were mainly seen as
reason of parents’ concerns, and it suggests that heterosexuality and gender conformity are
directly associated with hegemonic expression of masculinity.
Even before the child is born, the social environment in which the child is to be reared is
prepared. Modern technology now permits parents to find out the sex of their child before his/her
birth and can accordingly adjust their planning and arrangements for the child. Thus, the child
arrives in a gender-specific environment. Then, the child is raised in that environment with
associated social roles and expectations based on the parents’ or society’s beliefs and attitudes.
Also, there is a notion that children actively participate in developing an understanding of gender
and their gender identity, and this is established by a child observing his/her environment (like
parents, teachers) and understand the consequences of various behaviors, and present only those
behaviors where the consequences were positive. Hence, there is a boundary which tries to keep
boys different from girls, and also depreciates both boys and girls for feminine activities, which
reinforces gender inequality and heteronormativity.
Gender roles and identity are hard to balance, and development of identity doesn’t stop once an
individual identifies himself/herself as masculine or feminine, but it surely is a life-long process.
Research has shown that development of gender identity is successful only if the individual has
been able to create identity which helps him/her sustain his/her self-esteem and give acceptance
in society. However, the individual may experience some identity conflicts in his/her lifetime.
The conflict between the contradictory identities is resolved using a negotiation between the
identity position that one was already in and the recently desirable one or more identity
perspective. For example, if an individual decide to go back to a school for completing his/her
education and become self-sufficient, but he/she is then dependent on his/her spouse. These two
are conflicting identities, but it sometimes raises an identity struggle. When understanding the
development of gender identity, it is important to note that its process is dependent on the
society’s beliefs, attitudes, traditions and customs; hence these aspects should be given primary
importance when studying gender identity.
Nature vs. Nurture
As we know there are few biological aspects and few social aspects of gender identity and
deciding which factors majorly impact development of gender identity is debatable. Thence, the
nature (i.e. the biological or innate factors) vs. nurture (i.e. the social, environmental factors) is a
continuing debate in psychology. Differences in sex and gender roles are recognized as factors
influencing behavior of individuals, but it is extremely difficult to determine which aspect of
gender identity is a result of biological factors, and which is a result of social factors.
Despite this ongoing debate, there is consensus that combining different perspectives and views is
required for completely understanding gender identity and its development.
Most common example of nature vs. nurture is David Reimer’s case. David had a flawed
circumcision as a child, which led to him being designed as female because he lost his male
genitals. His parents were asked to raise him as a girl, dressing him in girls’ dresses, giving him
dolls to play, and make him behave in typical girl behavior. But during his adolescence, he
realized something is wrong and attempted suicide at the age of 13 years. This is when he was
told that he was born a male, and after knowing this, he underwent a surgery to get his male

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genitals back. It suggests that biology as well as society plays

an important role in deciding the gender of the child, and also how the child behaves, what
beliefs, ideas, or expectations does the child hold.

5. Adolescence and Development of Gender Identity

Understanding of gender is rather inflexible and stereotyped during early or middle adolescence.
Consequently more young adolescents usually indulge in gender-stereotypical behaviour than
what older adolescents do. This implies that individuals learn to gravitate towards activities
associated with their gender, e.g. girls will indulge in girly activities and try to depict themselves
as feminine and boys will do more activities in order to present themselves as masculine.

There may be a number of reasons for the gender-stereotyped behaviours.

First, while individuals are going through puberty their bodies change and resemble bodies of
adult. Obviously, all changes in their bodies are not equally welcomed, i.e. individuals like some
changes more than the others. So individuals may want to augment the changes they like and
disguise or hide the changes they don’t like. For example, boys may be happy with their facial
hair but not with the powerful body odour so they proudly talk about their shaving routine and
they also use strong deodorants to cloud their body odour, similarly girls may be happy with the
figure of their body but not with the acne on their face, so they may love to wear clothes that
accentuate their body figure and use cosmetics to beautify their face. Hence gender-stereotyped
behaviours might result from such attempts to augment or disguise the physical changes they
experience during puberty.
Second, these days’ adolescents are becoming more interested in dating and romantic
relationships so they indulge in the gender-stereotypical behaviours to attract the members of
opposite sex. Generally, boys try to project themselves as masculine by playing sports like
football or basketball, lifting weights at gym, and girls try to present themselves as feminine by
opting for cosmetics products to beautify their skin, wearing girly and/or revealing clothes, using
scented sprays or lotions. This is usually the result of the fact that girls are attracted to strong-
built masculine boys, and boys are attracted to a feminine body, scents and facial features.
Thence, these behaviours to attract the members of opposite sex may be a strong determinant of
formation of gender-stereotyped behaviour in individuals.

Third, social groups, mainly family and friends influence how an adolescent evinces his/her
gender during early adolescent period. Hence the stereotyped behaviours are communicated from
social groups to adolescents, hence depicting how those behaviours are passed along one
generation to the other. The family or friends may guide or correct the adolescents to perform
behaviours appropriate to their gender. For example, fathers, uncles, and brothers in the family
tell adolescent how men are expected to act, and this information influences how the adolescent
understands manhood and impacts his behaviour; like when father asks an adolescent boy to take
the bag of groceries from his mother and carry it, he internalizes that he is expected to carry
heavy items and may show this behaviour with his sister and his girlfriend as well. Similarly
mothers, aunts, and sisters in the family communicate the expectations of being a girl, and this

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influences how the adolescent girl will understand womanhood

and impacts her behaviour; like she is asked not to laugh loudly and maintain a giggle in social
situations, so she learns to giggle in a typical womanly way in almost every situation.
Such increase in gender-stereotypical behaviours and actions occurs mainly during early or
middle adolescence, but it gradually decreases in the later adolescence. By late adolescence,
gender identity of individuals has become more stable, and at the same time, it’s also become
flexible; i.e. individuals feel secure as well as assured of their gender, and they are certain about
undertaking activities that they enjoy or find interesting, whether those activities are typically
linked to their gender or not. This strengthens the confidence of individuals in later adolescence
in their gender, as well as in the understanding that they don’t need to be perfectly masculine or
feminine to be characterized as man or woman. This enhances the realization of the social role,
including gender role, in individuals, and they establish their individual identity in accordance
with the beliefs, values, systems, and ideas of the society. This flexibility enjoyed by adolescents
suggests that they have attained a mature understanding of gender, i.e. they have recognized that
gender should be understood along a continuum, and most of the individuals are somewhere in
the middle of the continuum, rather than being on extremes of perfectly masculine or perfectly
feminine. Also, when people examine their characteristics in a wholistic way they observe a mix
of both masculine and feminine features in their characteristics, like personality traits,
preferences, interests, etc. Overall, we understand that for individuals transitioning into adulthood
the understanding of gender and roles associated with it becomes lesser rigid and more broadly
defined than it was in their early adolescence. However, major part of such individuals will
finally identify with the gender that corresponds to their gender.
6. Gender Identity Disorder

Gender Identity Disorder (GID) or Gender Dysphoria is a psychological condition that

includes the feeling of significant dysphoria (depression or discontent) experienced by an
individual when he/she is not comfortable with his/her sex and/or the gender roles related to the
sex. An individual suffering from GID frequently experiences distress related to his/her actual
biological sex. He/she may behave and show him/her as belonging to the group of opposite sex
and may communicate a wish to change his/her body. GID impacts self-image of an individual
and it can also influence how the individual behaves or dresses. Individuals who commit for
changing their bodies using cosmetic surgeries or medications influencing their hormonal levels
are known as transsexuals. Research on this disorder has suggested that its causes aren’t just
social or psychological factors in an individual’s life, but there may be some biological factors
too that may be responsible for this disorder, e.g. genetic factors, brain abnormalities, or exposure
to certain teratogens during pregnancy.
GID in children is often determined if the following symptoms are present:
 Desire of being a person of opposite sex
 Feeling disgusted with own genitals
 Having a belief of developing into the person of opposite sex
 Being disapproved by their peers
 Adopting mannerism of the opposite sex, like getting dressed or acting like the opposite
sex

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 Secluding oneself from social activity or interactions

 Feeling isolated, depressed or anxious

And GID in adults is confirmed if the following symptoms are present:

 Wishing to live their life as an individual of opposite sex
 Having a desire of getting rid of their genitalia
 Having ways or manners of opposite sex, like behaving or dressing up in a way particular
to opposite sex
 Secluding oneself from social activity or interactions
 Feeling isolated, depressed or anxious

According to the American Psychological Association (2000), transgender children have higher
probability of experiencing harassment and/or violence in their schools, foster cares, residential
treatment centres, homeless centres and juvenile justice programs. And transgender adult women
have higher rates of smoking, alcohol abuse and other drugs. Also, transgender women in US
have higher suicide rate, before as well as after a sex reassignment operation, and they are at a
higher risk to develop certain psychological disorders.

7. Summary

 Gender Identity refers to one’s own subjective experience about one’s gender.
 There is a strong nature versus nurture debate that attempts to explain factor which
influence gender identity development.
 Gender Identity Disorder or Gender Dysphoria refers to displeasure one experiences with
his/her biological sex and associated gender roles.

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Module no. 23: Development of Gender Identity