ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Gender Identity

Updated on March 10, 2020

Gender Identity

Gender Identity

Sex is biological but gender is psycho-sociocultural. Gender means being male or female and defined by social status, roles and attitudes about the sexes. Specifically, gender is culturally based explanations of male and female behaviors such as careers. Gender identity is defined as perception of oneself (Segall, Dasen, Poortinga, & Berry, 1999). This paper will discuss gender identity to include hormone and behavior interaction. As well as examine psychological, environmental and biological influences on sexual differentiation.

The Interaction between Hormones and Behavior

Studies have shown hormonal processes influence exhibits of hostility. Further suggesting aggression relations could imitate processes of sexual maturation and genetic characteristics. Many of the studies on hormones connect aggression to influences of androgens, specifically testosterone. Hypotheses have been established determining hormones influence degree of aggressive behavior through their effects on emotions. Which results in the antagonistic effects on the expression of aggression, in turn activating influences stem from contemporaneous effects hormones on behavior, but may be affected by earlier organizational influences (Inoff-Germain, Chrousos, Arnold, Nottelmann, & Cutler, 1988).

Hormones and Behavior Interaction Affects on Gender Identity

Hormones are chemicals that combine with programmed cell receptors and respond accordingly. The most critical periods for hormonal effect on humans are puberty and prenatal periods. According to John Money’s studies prenatal hormonal anomalies result in confused sexual identity. The study discovered 25 fetal androgenized girls raised as girls were considered tomboys by their peers. They resembled their male counterpart in attitudes, grooming, achievement and sexuality. Several case studies followed Money’s theories and raised significant questions about genetic and environmental roles in gender identity (Hetherington & Parke, 2002).

Biological Influences on Sexual Differentiation and Gender Identity

Biology’s influence on gender identity has focused on hormonal function and cerebral lateralization. Before humans are born gender is determined biologically. But the gender identified with is based on feminine or masculine characteristics. Hormones and lateralization of brain function are biological factors believed to effect gender distinctions. Hormones linked to sexual characteristics and reproductive functions are found in different levels in males and females from infancy through adulthood. Puberty further triggers the tendency toward a specific gender, normally attractions to people of the opposite sex (Hetherington & Parke, 2002).

Studies using brain imaging have identified blood flow confirm greater bilateralism in females. When both sexes were tested using nonsense rhyming words the left and right sides of the brain was activated in women while the left hemisphere in men was activated. The brain of males is organized reflecting greater lateralization, attributing to male success in mathematical and spatial tasks. (Hetherington & Parke, 2002).

Psychological Influences on Sexual Differentiation and Gender Identity

Four psychological explanations exist to define gender-linked behavior models. Freud theorized using the process of identification, cognitive social learning theory and gender schema theory. While Kohlberg used the cognitive developmental theory in which he stated children use physical and behavior evidence to discern gender roles to gender type at an early age (Hetherington & Parke, 2002).

Freud’s theories about gender identity begin around five years old based on the perception of their bodies. Boys begin to have sexual love for their mothers and rival their fathers for her love known as the Oedipus complex. Boys understand the powerfulness of their fathers and absorb his features. In contrast girls realize the lack of a penis and feel inadequate. Freud believed children come into the world psychosexually neutral and study their same sex parent to learn appropriate behaviors (Bland, n.d.).

Environmental Influences on Sexual Differentiation and Gender Identity

The family is the first environment a child experiences and can have great impact on gender identity. From the time the baby comes home from the hospital they are dressed in gender specific clothing and treated according to their gender. As they grow especially the father has influence on their behavior. Boys are treated rough while girls are protected. An example of the parent’s impact on the gender typing of their offspring is through traditional roles. Boys are influenced more by parental power than girls. Father’s influence on their daughters’ feminity is achieved through their own masculinity and acceptance of her feminine role. The absence of a father upsets the gender typing in pre-teen males as well as relationships with the opposite sex for females. The father’s absence affects girls throughout life including marriage decisions (Hetherington & Parke, 2002).

Influences outside the family affect choices in gender identity as well. Fairytales and children’s books, television, movies and music portray stereo-typical gender roles. Children who watch television regularly are more likely to have traditional gender related roles influencing their decisions.

Greatest influence on Gender Identity

Environment, biology and psychology influence gender identity almost equally. Environmental factors influence more than the others. The classroom defines the role of the students based on gender, expecting more of boys in the area of science and math than girls. Upon birth males and females are treated differently by their parents. As the children mature television further establishes the role expected of them based on their sex at birth.

If a father figure is missing throughout the child’s development identity is impacted. Girls are effected so deeply that the absence influences’ choice in marriage partner.

References

Bland, J. (n.d.). Freud, the Father of Psychoanalysis. Retrieved January 31, 2009, from http://www.gender.org.uk/about/01psanal/11_freud.htm

Gollnick, D. M., & Chinn, P. C. (2009). Multicultural Education in a Pluralistic Society (8th ed.). : Pearson Merrill.

Hetherington, M., & Parke, R. (2002). Child Psychology: A Contemporary Viewpoint (5th ed.). : McGraw-Hill.

Inoff-Germain, G., Chrousos, G., Arnold, G., Nottelmann, E., & Cutler, G. (1988). Relations between hormone levels and observational measures of aggressive behavior of young adolescents in family interactions. Developmental Psychology, 24, 129-139.

Segall, M., Dasen, P., Poortinga, Y., & Berry, J. (1999). Human Behavior in Global Perspective: An Introduction to Cross-Cultural Psychology (2nd ed.). : Pearson Education Company.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)