Minnesota V. Riff
Gender Identity
Leta McDaniel
PSY/265
March 25, 2012
Carol Watson
Gender Identity Gender identity develops around age three and is almost impossible to change after that. Some of the factors that determine gender identity are genetics, family, society, culture and sex hormones such as testosterone, estrogen and progesterone. Gender identity is how we view ourselves sexually as male or female. This is usually consistent with the gender we were born with. However; there is what they consider a third gender where the sex a person is born with is not the sex they view themselves as. Many times this gender will decide to have the sex organs they were born with removed and changed to the opposite sex, this is transexualism. Our gender roles have much to do with how our cultures believe they need to be. Often times we behave the way we are told to or how society expects us to. Parents are responsible for nurturing their children to be the gender they were born with. They do this by the toys they buy for their children, the clothes they dress them in and the way they teach them to act. (Rathus et al., 2011, pg. 168). This however does not guarantee that the child will relate to the gender they were born with. It is a scientific fact that homosexuals are not raised, they are born. Parents teach them how they want them to act, but they will not sexually relate to their gender. The things in my life that helped me to relate to my gender are the feelings I had as a female such as how I related to males, however; although I have always felt comfortable with my sexuality, I was a bit of a tomboy. I grew up on a small farm and my siblings and I used to do things like build forts, play with toy cars, get really dirty and all of these things are considered masculine activities. I wore dresses when I had to but for the most part I hated them. That did not take away from the fact that I was a girl. I had school girl crushes and spent time with female
Leta McDaniel
PSY/265
March 25, 2012
Carol Watson
Gender Identity Gender identity develops around age three and is almost impossible to change after that. Some of the factors that determine gender identity are genetics, family, society, culture and sex hormones such as testosterone, estrogen and progesterone. Gender identity is how we view ourselves sexually as male or female. This is usually consistent with the gender we were born with. However; there is what they consider a third gender where the sex a person is born with is not the sex they view themselves as. Many times this gender will decide to have the sex organs they were born with removed and changed to the opposite sex, this is transexualism. Our gender roles have much to do with how our cultures believe they need to be. Often times we behave the way we are told to or how society expects us to. Parents are responsible for nurturing their children to be the gender they were born with. They do this by the toys they buy for their children, the clothes they dress them in and the way they teach them to act. (Rathus et al., 2011, pg. 168). This however does not guarantee that the child will relate to the gender they were born with. It is a scientific fact that homosexuals are not raised, they are born. Parents teach them how they want them to act, but they will not sexually relate to their gender. The things in my life that helped me to relate to my gender are the feelings I had as a female such as how I related to males, however; although I have always felt comfortable with my sexuality, I was a bit of a tomboy. I grew up on a small farm and my siblings and I used to do things like build forts, play with toy cars, get really dirty and all of these things are considered masculine activities. I wore dresses when I had to but for the most part I hated them. That did not take away from the fact that I was a girl. I had school girl crushes and spent time with female
References: 1. Rathus, S. A., Nevid, J.S., and Fichner-Rathus, L. (2011). Human sexuality in a world of diversity (8th ed.) Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. 2. Biopsychology, Seventh Edition, by John P.J. Pinel. Published by Allyn & Bacon. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.