Gender Identity

Some children exhibit many of the gender characteristics of the other sex. This has been mostly studied in Western cultures. Some boys may prefer girls for playmates, avoid rough-and-tumble play and team sports with peer boys, and may identify with female characters and prefer feminine roles in play. Such boys may express dissatisfaction with their male sex and express a desire to be the other sex. Despite considerable rejection and teasing from peers, they persist in their incongruous gender role behavior. Some girls excel in sports and athletics and prefer to engage in these activities with boys. They may avoid domestic play with girls and refuse to wear dresses or skirts. Some also express dissatisfaction with their sex and say they want to be male when they grow up. These girls are subject to peer pressure to be more feminine, but are not usually teased as much as the boys with incongruous gender role behavior.

Extreme manifestations of these characteristics can be considered symptoms of gender identity disorders in children. Parents, teachers, and other professionals may be concerned that these children want to change their sex. However, almost none of these children seek sex reassignment when they grow up. Most of these gender incongruous boys turn out to be homosexual, as do some of the girls. The diagnosis of gender identity disorder in children and the associated benefit of treatment have become controversial. The outcome of homosexuality is not a disorder, and treatment does not seem to influence this outcome.

Homosexuality is a sexual orientation that is also a variation in gender identity and role. Lesbians and gay men fall in love and are sexually attracted to people of the same sex instead of the other sex. This aspect of a person's gender identity is usually revealed in sexual fantasies in adolescence or young adulthood. This variation may come as a surprise to some; to others it explains the incongruity of gender identity and role that was present from earlier childhood but not understood as sexual orientation. Individuals go through a process of adjusting to this newly revealed component of their gender identity, which is sometimes confusing and upsetting.

Transsexualism represents a severe incongruity of physiological sex, gender identity, and role. Adolescents and adults with a gender identity disorder (transsexuals) know which sex corresponds to their body and the gender in which they were raised. Instead of being comfortable with this gender identity and role, however, they experience discomfort, called gender dysphoria. They believe that the other gender role is more appropriate and consistent with how they feel about themselves (their gender identity). This leads them to seek out medical procedures to alter their body and social presentation to correspond with their gender identity. Transsexuals may be either male-to-female or female-to-male. The frequencies of both of these types of transsexuals vary among different societies.

Some individuals have developed a transgendered identity, rather than identifying as male or female. These individual gender identities do not currently correspond to any specific social gender role. The International Journal of Transgenderism shows that this phenomena has been occurring in different societies. Some of these individuals may seek to change only some aspects of their sexual characteristics, or have an identity or social presentation that does not correspond clearly to either the male or female social categories.

Variations in gender identity can cause difficulties of acceptance within families of origin or marriage. In these cases, the traditional gender-role expectations of others have been disappointed. In situations where there is some social tolerance, the individual usually strives to live according to her or his gender identity. Difficulty of acceptance, however, can be associated with a higher suicide rate among gender variant individuals, particularly adolescents and young adults.

Individuals and societies may be hostile toward individuals who manifest variations in gender identity and roles. However, changes in social gender roles have little immediate impact upon the gender identities of members of that society. Gender identity, once established, is remarkably stable and resistant to change.