Psychology
Gender Identity
Gender identity refers to an individual's internal sense of their own gender, which may or may not align with the sex they were assigned at birth. It is a deeply personal and subjective experience that can encompass a range of identities beyond the traditional binary of male and female. Gender identity is a fundamental aspect of a person's self-concept and can have significant implications for their psychological well-being.
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12 Key excerpts on "Gender Identity"
eBook - PDF- Robert Crooks, Karla Baur, Laura Widman, , Robert Crooks, Karla Baur, Laura Widman, (Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
Gender Identity refers to each individual’s personal, subjective sense of their gen- der. Gender Identity can encompass the psychological attributes commonly associated with being a man, woman, or transgender per- son. A third term, gender expression, refers to the way that people outwardly express their Gender Identity. Thus, although our biological sex is linked to various physical attributes (chromosomes, testes, penis, ovaries, vulva, and so forth), Gender Identity is our internal sense of our gender and gender expression is our out- ward expression of the psychological and sociocultural characteristics associated with our gender—in other words, our masculinity or femininity. While Gender Identity and biological sex are pretty well aligned for many people (this is known as being cisgender or cis), other people find that their biological sex and internal sense of Gender Identity are mismatched (these people might prefer labels such as transgender or trans). We look into this area in more detail later in this chapter. • Figure 5-1 provides a visual representa- tion of these terms. biological sex Biological sex characteristics associated with being male, female, or intersex. Gender Identity How one psychologically perceives one’s gender. gender expression The way that we outwardly express our Gender Identity as masculine and/or feminine. cisgender or cis Gender description for a person whose biological sex assigned at birth matches their Gender Identity. Sometimes shortened to cis. transgender or trans Term widely used as an umbrella term for individuals whose Gender Identity differs from what is typically associated with the biological sex they were assigned at birth. Sometimes shortened to trans. Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
eBook - PDFNormed Children
Effects of Gender and Sex Related Normativity on Childhood and Adolescence
- Erik Schneider, Christel Baltes-Löhr, Erik Schneider, Christel Baltes-Löhr, Matthias Müller, Svantje Volkens(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- transcript Verlag(Publisher)
While trans and inter persons do have specific problems with sexual categorizations, their situations are not defined by these. The subject’s autodetermination Psychological Gender Identity is to be understood, more so than the social one, as the result of a construction process the individual participates in. This implies a departure from role theories that presume social role expectations to be simply adopted by the subject. The psychological Gender Identity is the temporary result of a process and is produced by individuals engaging with their surroundings. 33 It is an individual effort , 34 which does not mean, however, that it is a matter of 33 | According to Money/Hampson/Hampson (1957) at the age of 18 months to 3 years; Kreisler (1973, p. 186) mentions two and a half years; according to Beier/Bosinski/Loewit (2005, p. 99) children can tell the dif-ference between men and women at 18 months, and at three and a half years that they themselves will one day be a man or a woman. Money and Ehrhardt (1973) assume that the “gate to Gender Identity” remains open for a year after birth, but then closes forever. Cases of changing psychological Gender Identity of intersex persons contradict this assumption, as well as the identity theories of Erikson, Habermas or Kohnstamm (see Rieben 2008, p. 172) or the theory of Stoller (1968). 34 | According to Rieben (2008, p. 173). The result is based on a broad analysis of the different psychological identity concepts, drawing on Piaget, Kohlberg, Erikson, Habermas, including Oerter, as well as concepts of Gender Identity and the interplay of social, personal and I-identity. For the development of psychoanalytical theory see Eckert (2010) or Quindeau (2012). The Concept of Human Gender: Its Epistemological and Ethical Impact 74 random choice. Psychological Gender Identity is just as far from being some-thing essential or natural as nationality is. Whoever insists on understanding identity in an essentialist way, i.e.
eBook - PDFChildhood Psychological Disorders
Current Controversies
- Alberto M. Bursztyn Ph.D.(Author)
- 2011(Publication Date)
- Praeger(Publisher)
Gender Identity relates to one’s subjective and internal identification with a particular gender category. Typically, a biological male Debates Surrounding Childhood Gender Identity Disorder 169 perceives himself to be a boy/man, and a biological female sees herself as a girl/woman. Gender expression is a public display of Gender Identity through be- havior, clothing, or body shape and mannerisms. Transgender is an umbrella term used to describe people who, to a larger or smaller degree, violate conventional conceptualizations of what it means to be a man or a woman or who mix various as- pects of gender roles and identity commonly associated with being a man or a woman (Diamond & Butterworth, 2008). Included in this umbrella term are transsexuals, cross dressers, androgynous, and other gender nonconforming people. Recent media attention has focused on transsexuals, people whose Gender Identity does not correspond to their physical bodies and who sometimes choose to transform their bodies into congruence with their identity. This process, called “transition,” may involve hormone therapy, sur- gery, and other medical and cosmetic interventions. According to some scholars, the term transsexual best describes adults, not chil- dren (Diamond, 2002). People that transgress conventional gender roles are also described as gender-nonconforming or gender-variant . Throughout this chapter, we will use the terms gender-variant and gender-nonconforming interchangeably to describe children whose gender expression, gender role behavior, and/or Gender Identity does not conform to the traditional gender norms. Sexuality/sexual orientation refers to people’s romantic and/or sexual attraction to people of a particular gender.
eBook - PDF- Peggy T. Cohen-Kettenis, Friedemann Pfäfflin(Authors)
- 2003(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications, Inc(Publisher)
In his view, Gender Identity disorders (see below) stem from an incongruity between the assigned sex and the two-sided concept Gender Identity/role. However, in persons with a Gender Identity disorder, the gender role, which, according to Money, is the public expression of one’s Gender Identity, is, at least for some period, seri-ously blocked. Their Gender Identity, but not their gender role, may thus be opposite to their assigned sex. For this reason and because in research the concepts are usually dealt with separately, we prefer to use the term gender role as separate from Gender Identity. In the current literature gender role is defined as behaviors, attitudes, and personality traits which, within a given society and historical period, are typically attributed to, expected from, or preferred by persons of one gender or the other (Golombok & Fivush, 1994). A more neutral term with regard to etiology is sex-typed behavior. We use the term interchangeably with gender role behavior . Developmental psychologists have largely focused on cognitive compo-nents of Gender Identity (Fagot & Leinbach, 1985; Kohlberg, 1966; Ruble & Martin, 1998). For instance, Kohlberg (1966) defined gender iden-tity as the “cognitive self-categorization as boy or girl” (p. 88) and Fagot and Leinbach (1985) consider Gender Identity to be “the concept of the self as male or female” (p. 685). Much of the extensive research in this field con-centrates on the implications of achieving more or less sophisticated levels of understanding of being a boy or a girl. Recently, however, there seems to be more interest in more affective components, such as feeling of content-ment with one’s gender (Egan & Perry, 2001). In their formulations of the concept, clinicians have always put more emphasis than developmental psychologists on the affective aspects of Gender Identity.
eBook - PDFIntroduction to Psychiatry
Preclinical Foundations and Clinical Essentials
- Audrey Walker, Steven Schlozman, Jonathan Alpert(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
Whereas sex is primarily biological, gen- der is primarily social. Gender is mutable and culturally dependent; it varies across culture, ideology, race/ethnicity, and time. The World Health Organization defines gender as “the socially constructed characteristics of women and men, such as norms, roles, and relationships of and between groups of women and men. It var- ies from society to society and can be changed.” Every person’s gender is informed by a complex interplay between their body, identity, and expression and role. Multiple concepts are discussed below that may sound similar though describe discrete constructs. For example, Gender Identity, expression, and roles inform each other though are different processes. For clarity, it may be helpful to think of examples and/or consider how these concepts manifest differently in your life. 450 Psychiatry of Gender and Sexuality Gender Identity is a person’s inner sense of being a girl/woman, boy/man, some- thing else in terms of gender, having multiple gender identities, or having no gen- der identity at all. Gender Identity refers to a person’s feelings about themselves in terms of how they relate to masculinity, femininity, and a blend of similar traits. Although studies demonstrate a wide spectrum of gender identities, society reinforces a notion that gender is a binary phenomenon consisting of only two genders, girl/woman or boy/man. Gender Identity is often thought of as internal, whereas gender expression is considered more external. Gender expression refers to the behavioral manifestations of one’s gender. It is the way we show our Gender Identity to the world around us. This includes behaviors and rituals we may take for granted: wearing pants rather than a skirt, using the women’s bathroom, speaking with a bass rather than falsetto voice, and responding to particular pronouns such as “he,” “she,” or “they.” Gender expres- sion is defined by clothing, mannerisms, vocal patterns, and behaviors.
eBook - PDFBehavioral and Emotional Disorders in Adolescents
Nature, Assessment, and Treatment
- David A. Wolfe, Eric J. Mash, David A. Wolfe, Eric J. Mash(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- The Guilford Press(Publisher)
Thus, it is timely to provide an updated review on youth who experience distress about their Gender Identity. TERMINOLOGY Several terms are used throughout this chapter, so it is useful to provide a brief definition of each. These are (1) sex, (2) gender, (3) Gender Identity, (4) gender role (masculinity–feminin- ity), (5) sexual orientation, and (6) sexual iden- tity. Sex The term “sex” refers to attributes that collec- tively, and usually harmoniously, characterize biological maleness and femaleness. In humans, the most well-known attributes that constitute biological sex include the sex-determining genes, the sex chromosomes, the H–Y antigen, the gonads, sex hormones, the internal repro- ductive structures, and the external genitalia (Grumbach, Hughes, & Conte, 2003; Migeon & Wisniewski, 1998; Money & Ehrhardt, 1972; Vilain, 2000). Over the past couple of de- cades, there has, of course, also been great inter- est in the possibility that the human brain has 535 certain sex-dimorphic neuroanatomic struc- tures which, perhaps, emerge during the course of prenatal physical sex differentiation (see, e.g., Arnold, 2003; Chung, De Vries, & Swaab, 2002; Swaab, Chung, Kruijver, Hofman, & Hestiantoro, 2003). Our understanding about biological sex has been a gradual, cumulative process. From his- torical studies, it is clear that knowledge about it has included many false and flawed notions (Laqueur, 1992). In modern times, the common “person on the street” likely can identify the sex chromosomes as constituting an important component of biological sex; yet, it should be remembered that it was only in the 1950s that reliable techniques were developed to karyo- type the sex chromosomes (Moore & Barr, 1955). In the 1990s, there were substantial develop- ments in understanding aspects of biological sex that had been speculated about for several decades.
eBook - PDFThe Power of Feelings
Personal Meaning in Psychoanalysis, Gender, and Culture
- Nancy J. Chodorow(Author)
- 2008(Publication Date)
- Yale University Press(Publisher)
Gender here is not simply inter-nalized. Each little step in gender socialization is ruminated upon by the young Mernissi and her boy cousin, and each value is charged, conflictual, and elaborated on in individual and collective stories and plays. Indeed, the emotional charge constitutes the cultural meanings of gender and keeps them alive for all the participants. Pratt and Mernissi make it clear that one s multifarious cultural and social positioning always includes psychological history—trans-ference and emotionally infused development. As they also make clear, this psychological history, like any history, is not fixed once and for all in early childhood but continually unfolds and changes, lend-ing emotional animation and personal coloring, through current and past relationships and through fantasy, to all aspects of identity-class, nationality, race or ethnicity, and religion, as well as gender. Mernissi shows how women who hold identical positions in society and are situated in similar ways culturally can yet have very different psychological experiences of gender. Such narratives highlight the contribution of individual, personal animation to Gender Identity. By contrast, feminist suspicion of psychology or of psychology's ten-dency to universalize precludes understanding of the role of such personal animation. To consider our experience of personal meaning in the light of an individual's inner psychic reality of emotion and fantasy, then, is to revise and expand our understanding of cultural and linguistic mean-ing. Insofar as we are talking about individual subjectivity, cultural meaning does not precede individual meaning. From earliest in-fancy, meaning is emotional as well as cognitive. Creation of personal meaning and the potential for emotionally resonant experience ante-dates the acquisition of language. Cognitions, such as knowing one's gender and having thoughts or experiences of gender, are infused with emotions, fantasies, and personal tonalities.
- Margaret F. Bello(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Society Publishing(Publisher)
Figure 3.4: Relevant terms associated with Gender Identity disorder. Gender and Other Identities: Complex Conceptualizations in the New Age 74 Never the less, more research is required to find out if an identical mechanism could be operating in the GID. 3.6.2. What are the Signs and Symptoms of Gender Identity Disorder? GID is the feeling that a person does not belong to the sex in which they were born. in the context of the GID, the person is not happy in their present gender role. With respect to the transsexualism, they also commonly want to take steps to shift their body with the help of the hormones and/or surgery so that it is more in keeping the way it should be. These types of feelings, every so often, takes into the direction towards wearing of clothes of their preferred gender and shifting their role in the society according to the same. People with GID have normal body appearances and hormone level for their birth gender. It is very critical to identify the difference between the GID, where the person feels they were born in the wrong gender, and the disorders of the sex development. This term covers a wide range of situations present from the time of birth. Where, the development of one or more elements of anatomical, chromosomal or gonadal sex if not so general, but the person generally does not feel they have born in the wrong gender. 3.6.3. How Common is Gender Identity Disorder? GID is estimated to occur in 1 in 12,000 men and 1 in 30,000 women. 3.6.4. Is Gender Identity Disorder Inherited? There is no such proof of an inherited cause for GID. 3.6.5. How Is Gender Identity Disorder Diagnosed? The diagnosis and the treatment of the GID is commonly made according to the World Professional Association of Transgender health guidelines, which suggest that this can be done with the help of mental health practitioner who has experience in working with the clients who have issues of gender as well as sexuality.
eBook - PDF- Karen R. Huffman, Katherine Dowdell, Catherine A. Sanderson(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
Experts at the time believed this surgery, along with female hor- mones and “appropriate” gender-role expectations of the parents, would be enough to create a stable female Gender Identity. But David ultimately rejected this female gender assignment. In contrast to the rare, tragic accident that created serious problems with Gender Identity for David, a much larger group of people who also struggle with Gender Identity were born with the biological characteristics of one sex, but identify with the other. This is known as being transgender (having a Gender Identity that does not match one’s biological sex). What causes this type of Gender Identity confusion? Is Gender Identity a choice? People who are transgender often report feeling as if they are victims of a “birth defect,” and they tend to have a deep and lasting discomfort with their sexual anatomy. In fact, there is ample ev- idence (e.g., Saraswat et al., 2015) that Gender Identity is biologically driven, so it does not appear to be a personal choice or something that can be changed through therapy. Further ev- idence comes from a study with 32 transgender children, ages 5 to 12, indicating that their gen- der identity is deeply held and is not the result of confusion about Gender Identity or pretense (Olson et al., 2015). The study used implicit measures that operate outside conscious aware- ness and are, therefore, less susceptible to modification than self-report measures. These and other studies of transgender children suggest that Gender Identity is really deeply held and not just a phase that could be “outgrown.” Sadly, transgender children and adults are more likely to experience ostracism, harass- ment, bullying, and psychological problems, including self-mutilation, suicide attempts, and drug abuse (Ghabrial, 2017; Rinehart & Espelage, 2016; Tosh, 2016). In some cases, they undergo medical procedures and/or drug therapies to change their bodies physically to be more like the other sex (Figure 11.4).
eBook - PDFThe Troubled Mind
A Handbook of Therapeutic Approaches to Psychological Distress
- Susy Churchill(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Red Globe Press(Publisher)
Gender role is the term used to express culturally sanctioned behaviours, attitudes and personality ‘appropriate’ to one’s sexual identity. Sexual identity (or Gender Identity) is one’s personal identification as ‘male’ or ‘female’. Sexual orientation is a preference for sexual activity with those of the same or different sexual identities. Sexuality includes available sexual identities, gender roles, sexual orienta-tion and sexual behaviours. People can have problems with any of these: gender roles can still be a major source of friction in heterosexual couples; ‘coming out’ as gay or lesbian is often a challenge; and I can remember a woman in her mid-40s exploring whether it was OK for her to wear a short skirt. Anyone who works with couples will find that sexuality will emerge as an issue, and an individual presenting with sexual concerns, such as Margaret, our case study, may well have issues relating to their relationship. School counsellors will meet clients with body-image concerns, including worrying that their peers have entered puberty and they have not. Many medications, including those prescribed for emotional distress, have side effects on sexuality. For many people, sexual concerns are very hard to share – embarrassment is frequently involved, as is shame associated with the belief ‘I’m abnormal’: this is the case for our client Stefan. If you are heterosexual and working with gay or lesbian clients, it is important to remember that Mair (2003) found that most of the gay men he interviewed felt that heterosexual counsellors were not really open to exploring gay identity, or struggled with understanding relationships based on different norms of sexual fidelity. One key suggestion is match-ing the language used by the client – if they say ‘gay’ don’t use the term ‘homosexual’. People who are bisexual often experience discrimination from both heterosexuals and gays.
eBook - ePubAutobiographical Memory and the Construction of A Narrative Self
Developmental and Cultural Perspectives
- Robyn Fivush, Catherine A. Haden, Robyn Fivush, Catherine A. Haden(Authors)
- 2003(Publication Date)
- Psychology Press(Publisher)
In this chapter, we explore one critical aspect of identity, namely gender. Whereas many theorists have conceptualized gender as a foundational construct, setting the stage for an understanding of self (e.g., Chodorow, 1978; Gilligan, 1982), we argue instead that gender and identity are defined dialectically in the process of interacting with others (e.g., Deaux & Major, 1987). Most important, from a developmental perspective, we argue that both gender and identity must be viewed as evolving concepts that change as a function of the specific developmental tasks individuals face as well as the specific contexts in which particular aspects of gender and identity are privileged over others; there are some developmental and situational contexts in which gender will be foregrounded and differences between females and males maximized, whereas there are other developmental and situational contexts in which gender will be backgrounded, leading to few differences between females and males. From this perspective, gender cannot be conceptualized in terms of the ways in which females and males are different, but rather must be contextual-ized in terms of situations in which aspects of male and female identity are more or less likely to be highlighted.We first present evidence for this assertion and then try to provide a developmental contextual model for understanding when and why gender may or may not be a critical aspect of identity.GENDER, IDENTITY, AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Scattered throughout the literature on autobiographical memory, a number of studies demonstrate differences in male and female life stories (see Buck-ner, 2000, and Fivush & Buckner, 2000, for reviews). Stemming from postmodern and feminist theories of Gender Identity, researchers have focused on explanations of these differences as emanating from the ways in which females and males characterize their relationships to and with others in recounting their past experiences (e.g.,Cross & Madson, 1997; Gergen, 1992). Females are hypothesized to be relationally oriented and thus perceive themselves as being situated in a rich web of interconnections with others, and portray themselves as socially and emotionally entwined with those around them. Males, in contrast, are thought to be more autonomous in their orientation, presenting themselves as independent of others, focusing on individual goals and achievements. These differences are often assumed to be rooted in basic developmental experiences (Chodorow, 1978; Gilligan, 1982). According to Chodorow (1978), our first intimate interactions are with our mothers and our identities depend on how we negotiate that relationship. Males must break away from the mother in order to establish a masculine identity; thus they come to view themselves as unconnected, autonomous beings. Females, on the other hand, remain identified with the mother, and thus their identity is based on maintaining connections. This difference is expressed as ways of being in the world, with males continuously carving out a separate space for themselves, apart from others, and females creating interpersonal networks, connected with others.
eBook - PDFSupporting Transgender and Gender-Creative Youth
Schools, Families, and Communities in Action, Revised Edition
- Elizabeth J. Meyer, Annie Pullen Sansfaçon, Elizabeth J. Meyer, Annie Pullen Sansfaçon, Elizabeth Meyer(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
As Spade (2003) argues, the diagnosis of ‘Gender Identity Disorder’ implicitly creates a dichotomy between abnormal and normal gender development that promotes a ‘fiction of natural gender’ (p. 25). In doing so, it assumes that all forms of gender expression that fall outside this definition are fundamentally deviant (Lev, 2005). Paradoxically, while the ‘Gender Identity Disorder’ criteria risk encapsulating many gender-creative individuals beyond the scope of ‘transsexualism’ (making it impossible to be ‘transsexual’ and mentally ‘healthy’), they simultaneously exclude many they are designed to support (Lev, 2005). For example, there is a diverse range of individuals who wish to pursue body modification surgery or receive hor- monal treatment to ease the distress of gender dysphoria. However, as the diag- nosis acts as what Lev (2005) describes as an ‘admission ticket,’ those who do not fulfill the criteria often find that treatment is not available. For instance, as ‘trans- vestism’ is separated from ‘transsexualism’ based on the criterion of wanting to change sex, a previous diagnosis of ‘transvestism’ can result in a refusal for medical treatment (Lev, 2005). Another frequent criticism of ‘Gender Identity Disorder’ (GID) is the dec- laration that mental disorders have subsequent distress for the individual. Several have queried the cause of childhood distress as an internal mental pathology that leads to deteriorated social relationships, arguing for the possibility that the distress is a result of social stigmatization from the diagnostic label. Lev (2005) states, ‘If gender-variant behavior was not stigmatized by labeling these expressions as psychi- atric diagnoses, then transgender and transsexual people might experience signifi- cantly less emotional, legal, or social distress’ (p. 48).
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