What Are The Biological Influences Related To Gender Identity And Development?

Gender identity can be defined as the fundamental sense of being male or female. It is independent of whether the person conforms to the social and cultural rules of gender. With gender identity comes gender typing. This is the process by which children learn the abilities, interests, and behaviors associated with being masculine or feminine in their culture. A person can have a strong gender identity, but not be gender typed. For example, a man can be confident in his masculinity/maleness but do things that may be considered “un-masculine” or feminine, such as doing hair or makeup. The same goes for women, a female may be confident in her femininity but do things that may be considered masculine, such as construction work. There are three influences to gender identity and development: biological influences, cognitive influences, and learning influences. The biological approach suggests that there is no distinction between sex and gender. This means that biological sex is gendered behavior. Hormones and chromosomes are two factors that gender is determined by. Hormones are chemical substances that are
The main influence is the environment. Gender is influenced by what a child learns and is taught. Children may be taught that a girl can’t or shouldn’t play around and get muddy/dirty like little boys can. Young children observe the people around them, and they pick up on certain actions. Some of these actions may relate to gender. For example, a little girl might notice her mother sitting with her legs crossed, and she may start to imitate this action. Boys can also be taught that there are things that he shouldn’t do because “boys don’t do things like that”. For example, a little boy might have older sisters who like to try on dresses and play in make-up. His father may not say anything to his sisters, but he may scold the little boy because wearing dresses is something that boys don’t