The Importance of Biological Factors in the Development of Gender Identity

The Importance of Biological Factors in the Development of Gender Identity

The biosocial theory suggests that gender identity develops as a

result of the obvious biological differences between boys and girls

and the hormonal differences between the sexes which can be observed

in the foetus from about six weeks (Durkin, 1995). Supporting evidence

has been found through animal studies, such as that by Young, Goy and

Phoenix (1964) who gave testosterone to pregnant monkeys and found

that any female offspring were prone to be unusually aggressive.

Evidence is also found in case studies of humans. Imperato-McGinley et

al. (1974) studied a family in the Dominican Republic in which four

children were born appearing to be biologically female and were reared

as girls until, at the age of twelve, they developed male genitals and

took on the appearance of ordinary adolescent males. They adjusted

well to their new role as males, took on 'male' jobs and married

women, suggesting that biological factors can be more important than

social ones in the formation of gender identity.

However, gender is not necessarily a matter of biological sex as early

evidence suggested that individuals would accept their sex of rearing

and learn appropriate gender role behaviours. This is shown through

the study of sufferers of testicular feminising syndrome, who are male

in the sense that they have male chromosomes and testicles but whose

bodies do not respond to the male hormone testosterone, causing them

to develop a female body shape. Goldwyn (1979) studied one case of

testicular feminising syndrome, Mrs DW, and found that on discovering

'she' was biologically m...

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and unusual human cases and therefore cannot be generalised to all

people while the sociobiological theory focuses on gender role

stereotypes within societies rather than the extent to which these

stereotypes are true. Therefore, nether theory can be relied upon to

be accurate in all cases of gender identity development. Biological

theories cannot provide more than a partial explanation for the

development of gender identity as they do not explain the impact of

social factors or the changes in gender roles in Western societies in

recent decades. These ideas are the focus of psychological theories of

gender development such as Freud's psychoanalytic theory, various

cognitive-developmental theories developed by Kohlberg, Martin and

Halverson and others and the social learning theory supported by

Bandura.