' By Hein And Stassen Berger's Invitation To The Lifespan?

Gender Dysphoria was previously referred to as Gender Identity Disorder or transsexuals and is characterized by “a marked incongruence between one’s experienced or expressed gender and one’s assigned gender as a male or female” (Sue, Sue, Sue and Sue, 2014, p. 363). Using an article written for the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing (2012), “Gender Dysphoria in Children: Let’s Think This Through” written by Hein and Kathrene Berger, and our text, “Invitation to the Lifespan (2014)” by Kathleen Stassen Berger, we will expand upon the effects of what was proposed in the article and it would affect a child. Although highly controversial, Hein and Berger argue against diagnosing a child with GD providing several key points, while

It goes on to state that at age 2, children begin to apply gender labels consistently, and age 4, that certain toys and roles are “best suited” for one sex or the other. Our text also points out the differences between sex differences and gender differences (221). Sex differences refer to the biological differences between males and females, whereas gender differences refer to the roles and behaviors that are encouraged by the culture and society. Children who have GD, diagnosed or not, are most likely predisposed from the start of age 2 until early adolescence, and face gender differences opposed to biological differences at this point. Through Freud’s phallic stage, children attempt to identify and defend their behavior from their parent (222). Freud argued that they mimic the same-sex parent, but through speculation, the children with GD aspire to be the opposite-sex

Behaviorists tend to believe that virtually all roles, values, and morals are learned (223). Specifically, gender distinctions arise from operant conditioning and reward behavior that is “gender appropriate” and almost punish behavior that is “inappropriate” (223). According to the theory believed by behaviorists, GD would most likely stem from non-traditional parenting as opposed to traditional parenting. Cognitive theorists believe that gender identity becomes apparent around age 5, and based off of gender schema. Children see the world in simple black and white, male and female. When they see both men and female apply cosmetics, dress in certain ways, they’ll associate it with that gender and believe that “what they see is permanent and irreversible” (224). Humanists stress the hierarchy of needs. They believe that children want to be identified as male or female, “not because they disliked the other sex, but because same-sex groups satisfied their need to belong” (224). Essentially, they stress that young children set their gender identity by conforming to gender