Gender Identity

Gender Identity

Gender identity has been the subject of various research and experiments , especially since the contention of its development has been institutionalized often as a debate akin to the nature versus nurture paradigm that pits biological and genetic background and influence against that of society 's influence , especially family socialization

Though a person may have physical characteristics suggesting their inclination to be male or female , behavior , preference and in some cases , socialization or medical intervention play a hand in developing a person 's self-perception and gender identity , especially in cases

br wherein the individual was born with congenital defects pertaining to their sex organs

Examples of such defects are cloacal exstrophy and congenital adrenal hyperplasia . The former is a rare disease found in infant boys wherein their penises were either extremely small or xistent while the latter is a disease found in girls wherein they produce excessive amounts of male hormone throughout their lives despite the presence of female sex organs (Dingfelder , 2004 . These two defects are treated by either reassigning a new sex for the individual during infancy through medical reconstruction of their sex organs and appropriate socialization by the individuals ' families , withholding the knowledge of their previous medical condition . Usually , when reassigning gender , and even sex of a person through medical intervention and surgery , female genitals are constructed because construction of such is easier than male genitals (Dingfelder , 2004 . This practice of `reassigning ' gender shows how in practice , both biological and social influences are used in determining a person 's gender socialization . Normally , a person would identify himself or herself to a gender that fit the physical characteristics of the body and this would be reinforced by the socialization of his or her early years at home from the primary caregivers . The interplay of biological and social factors in determining a person 's gender identity is taken into consideration here However , this wishes to seek more knowledge on which aspect provides more influence , as well as the nature of this influence

Normal practice , as mentioned above , is posited as a process of differentiation (Net Industries , 2008 ) wherein social and biological influences shape a person 's identity over time along with his or her cognitive-learning ability (Net Industries , 2008 . This would also posit that for males and females , the process of differentiation occurs similarly but each with a different set of factors that would influence a person to be one or the other (Net Industries , 2008 . For a female , a certain set of factors must be present for this differentiation to occur , such as the presence of female genitals at infancy , which is to be followed by socialization based on the presence of the mentioned female genitals . A male would undergo male-suited socialization based on being born with a penis . Thus it may be posited that the distinction of the genitals provide a basic cue for society on a person 's gender identity . The question then arises as to the possibility of opposite socialization techniques in differentiating gender...