Gender is a social construction. And it has historically been built based on the sex with which we are born: if you are born with a vagina you have to be a woman, feminine, and if you are born with a penis you have to be a man, masculine. The point is that you can agree with this association, identify with the gender you have, or not. If you want to know more about gender identity, what it is and how it is constructedcontinue reading this Psychology-Online article.
What is gender identity
The gender identity It is the identification with the contents of the genre, that is, with the person model male or female that each individual builds on himself, and is part of the personal identity.
How gender identity is constructed
Gender identity is constructed, first, on the sex with which one is born, and then through the symbolic processes that shape gender in a culture. That is to say, culture establishes what is associated with the masculine gender and what is associated with the feminine genderand each person identifies with these elements, being conditioned by the sex with which one was born and the interaction with learning roles, stereotypes and behaviors.
Gender identity is manifested when, for example, a boy refuses to be dressed in a dress because “it is for girls.” Along these lines, it is worth mentioning Judith Butler’s theory of performativity, which according to her, gender is nothing more than a stylized repetition of acts and, in fact, is constituted through them.
Gender identity is historically constructed according to what the culture considers “masculine” or “feminine” at that moment, and these are criteria that can and do change. Furthermore, the construction of gender identity is at the same time influenced by social class, ethnicity, race, etc. For example, the femininity of an upper-class woman is not conceived in the same way as that of a poor woman.
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Types of gender identity
As we have seen, gender identity is something that has to be constructed and that has historically been constructed based on sex: Women “must” identify with the feminine gender and men with the masculine.. In these cases, when gender identity coincides with biological sex, we find cisgender people. From here we extract the classic binary gender identity types:
- Female gender identity: the one that has classically been associated with women.
- Male gender identity: the one that has classically been associated with man.
Of course, this does not have to be the case, and this is where we find the entire range of “trans” terms and other queer alternatives that escape the classic terms, both binary and non-binary:
- Transgender: gender identity differs from biological sex.
- trans person: transgender person who does not want to define themselves by any specific gender.
- trans man: transgender person who identifies as male.
- trans woman: transgender person who identifies as female.
- Transfeminine: transgender person who was assigned the male gender at birth but who identifies more with the signs of femininity than with those of masculinity.
- Transmasculine: transgender person who was assigned the female gender at birth but who identifies more with the signs of masculinity than with those of femininity.
- Androgynous/gynoandros: person whose identity is a mixture to varying degrees between woman and man.
- Neutral gender/neutrois/gender neutral: person who suppresses characteristics traditionally assigned as masculine or feminine.
- Agender: person who does not believe in gender and therefore does not identify with any.
- Biggender: person who identifies with two genders (e.g. masculine and neutralis).
- Polygender/multigenre: person with more than two gender identities.
- Gender fluid / genderfluid: person whose gender fluctuates between several (two or more).
- Pangender: identity that collects all identities.
- Intergender: gender assigned to intersex people who fall between two genders, usually binary ones.
What is gender identity disorder?
“Gender identity disorder“is how it was formerly designated gender dysphoria in the DSM-IV and as it continues to be designated in the ICD-10. However, the “disorder” label for those people who do not agree with the gender they have been assignedhas been outdated.
The DSM-V only considers “gender dysphoria,” focusing on dysphoria as a clinical problem, and not on identity per se. Furthermore, in the ICD-11, which will be published in 2022 by the WHO, it will also no longer be considered a disorder, and will be called “gender incongruence.” thus depathologizing trans identities.
Difference between gender dysphoria and transgender
The gender dysphoria It refers to the dissatisfaction affective/cognitive of a subject with assigned gender. It is associated with a clinically significant discomfort which can accompany incongruence between the gender experienced or expressed by a subject and the assigned gender, or a deterioration in social, school, work or other important areas of functioning.
While the term transgender refers to the wide spectrum of subjects who temporarily or permanently identifies with a gender different from their native gender and, unlike gender dysphoria, not all subjects have to present discomfort as a consequence of incongruence.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- American Psychiatric Association (2014). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th edition. Panamericana Medical Editorial.
- Butler, J. (1990). The gender in dispute. Feminism and the subversion of identity. Barcelona: Paidós.
- Fuller, N. (1997). Feminist thought and studies on male gender identity. Warmi Leaves, 8, 13-24.
- García-Leiva, P. (2005). Gender identity: explanatory models. Psychological Writings, 7, 71-8.
- Lamas, M. (1999). Uses, difficulties and possibilities of the gender category. Population Papers, 5(21), 147-178.