Theories of

Gender Development

Freudian Theories
Introduction
Gender develops through a combination of biological and social factors which emerges at
age 2 or 3 and is reinforced at puberty. Once established, it is generally permanent.

A major step occurs when children first becomes aware of anatomical differences between
sexes (at age 2 or 3), usually from the observation of siblings or peers. This is followed by
an awareness of cultural differences between males and females, and identification with the
parent of the same sex.

Sigmund Freud was one of the first to offer an explanation for the development of gender.
He believed that life was built round tension and pleasure. He also believed that all tension
was due to the build-up of libido (sexual energy) and that all pleasure came from its
discharge.
Introduction
In describing human personality development as psychosexual Freud meant to convey that
what develops is the way in which sexual energy (general description for all pleasurable
thoughts and actions) of the id accumulates and is discharged as we mature biologically.

Freud stressed that the first five years of life are crucial to the formation of adult
personality. The id must be controlled in order to satisfy social demands; this sets up a
conflict between frustrated wishes and social norms.

The ego and superego develop in order to exercise this control and direct the need for
gratification into socially acceptable channels. Gratification centers in different areas of the
body at different stages of growth, making the conflict at each stage psychosexual.
The Role of Conflict
Each of the psychosexual stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) is associated with a
particular conflict that must be resolved before the individual can successfully advance to the
next stage.

The resolution of each of these conflicts requires the expenditure of sexual energy and the
more energy that is expended at a particular stage, the more the important characteristics
of that stage remain with the individual as he/she matures psychologically.

But the greater the difficulty encountered at any particular point, the greater the need for
libido to be spent and thus less will be able to go on to the next confrontation.
The Psychosexual Stages
Oral Stage
- birth to 1 year
- libido is centered around the baby’s mouth
- the first psychosexual attachment of the individual will be the mother
- once the child recognizes the existence of the father, the child identifies with him.
- however, as the sexual wishes of the child intensifies, the child becomes possessive of the
mother and wishes the father out of the picture.
- this event starts the Oedipus and Electra Complex in the next two stages
The Psychosexual Stages
Anal Stage
- 1 to 3 years
- the libido now becomes focused on the anus, and the child derives great pleasure from
defecating
- the child is now fully aware that they are a person in their own right and that their wishes can
bring them into conflict with the demands of the outside world
- this type of conflict tends to come to a head in potty training, in which adults impose
restrictions on when and where the child can defecate
- the nature of this first conflict with authority can determine the child's future relationship
with all forms of authority
The Psychosexual Stages
Phallic Stage
- 3 to 6 years
- sensitivity now becomes concentrated in the genitals and masturbation (in both sexes)
becomes a new source of pleasure
- the child becomes aware of anatomical sex differences, which sets in motion the conflict
between erotic attraction, resentment, rivalry, jealousy and fear which Freud called the
Oedipus complex (in boys) and the Electra complex (in girls)
- this is resolved through the process of identification, which involves the child adopting the
characteristics (values, attitudes, and behaviors) of the same sex parent
The Psychosexual Stages
Phallic Stage
Oedipus Complex
- this complex arises because the boy develops sexual (pleasurable) desires for his mother.
He wants to possess his mother exclusively and get rid of his father to enable him to do
so.
- irrationally, the boy thinks that if his father were to find out about all this, his father would take
away what he loves the most (his penis, thru chopping). This is called castration anxiety.
- the little boy then sets out to resolve this problem by imitating, copying and joining in
masculine dad-type behaviors (thru identification), thus resolving the Oedipus complex
- the consequence of this is that the boy takes on the male gender role, and adopts an ego ideal
and values that become the superego
The Psychosexual Stages
Phallic Stage
Oedipus Complex

The erogenous The boy has an He starts to realise that he is He realises that his father
zone shifts from unconscious desire to have excluded from certain parts of has power over him and he
the anus to the sex with his mother and his parents life, e.g getting into has an unconscious wish to
genitals stay attached to her bed with them kill his father

He identifies with his father and takes To solve this, he represses any He thinks that his father will chop
on a male gender identity, becoming previous feelings for his mother his penis off if he finds out about
active and defiant with a strong super and identifies with his father his love for his mother
ego (castration anxiety)
The Psychosexual Stages
Phallic Stage
Electra Complex
- the girl desires the father, but realizes that she does not have a penis. This leads to the
development of penis envy and the wish to be a boy
- the girl resolves this by repressing her desire for her father and substituting the wish for a
penis with the wish for a baby
- the girl blames her mother for her 'castrated state,' and this creates great tension
- the girl then represses her feelings (to remove the tension) and identifies with the mother to
take on the female gender role
The Psychosexual Stages
Phallic Stage
Electra Complex

The erogenous She realises that her father

zone shifts from The girl notices that some has power due to the fact
She blames her mother for this
the anus to the people have a penis but that he has a penis and so
and becomes angry with her
genitals she does not she wishes to attach to her
father (penis envy)

She is fearful of losing her

She then identifies with her mother mothers love. She represses She unconsciously wants to have a
and takes on gender identity. She any past feelings she had baby with her father as a symbol of
becomes quiet and submissive towards her father social powe
The Psychosexual Stages
Latency Stage
- 6 to 12 years
- no further psychosexual development takes place during this stage (latent means hidden).
The libido is dormant.
- sexual development was more or less suspended and you concentrated on repressing and
sublimating your earlier desires and thus learned to follow the reality-principle
- much of the child's energy is channelled into developing new skills and acquiring new
knowledge, and play becomes largely confined to other children of the same gender.
The Psychosexual Stages
Genital Stage
- 13 years onwards
- a time of adolescent sexual experimentation, the successful resolution of which is settling
down in a loving one-to-one relationship with another person in our 20's.
- Sexual instinct is directed to heterosexual pleasure, rather than self-pleasure like during
the phallic stage
- At this point, you learned to desire members of the opposite sex and to fulfill your
instinct to procreate and thus ensure the survival of the human species.
Limitations of Freud’s Theories
Freud often had difficulty incorporating female desire into his theories, leading to his
famous, unanswered question: “What does a woman want?“

To explain women, Freud argued that young girls followed more or less the same
psychosexual development as boys.

This has often been criticized by feminists, who argue that Freud based his theories on the
assumption that “anatomy is destiny”.

One respected feminist theory is that of Nancy Chodorow, for whom the central factor in
gender identity acquisition is the mother's role as primary caregiver, which leads to a
greater sense of interrelatedness in girls, who identify with the mother and go on to
reproduce the same patterns of mothering in their own adult lives.