13 Facts About Gender identity

The term gender identity was coined by psychiatry professor Robert J Stoller in 1964 and popularized by psychologist John Money.

Essentialists argue that gender identity is determined at birth by biological and genetic factors, while social constructivists argue that gender identity and the way it is expressed are socially constructed, instead determined by cultural and social influences.

Martin and Ruble conceptualize this process of development as three stages: as toddlers and pre-schoolers, children learn about defined characteristics, which are socialized aspects of gender; around the ages of five to seven years, identity is consolidated and becomes rigid; after this "peak of rigidity", fluidity returns and socially defined gender roles relax somewhat.

The social learning theory posits that children furthermore develop their gender identity through observing and imitating gender-linked behaviors, and then being rewarded or punished for behaving that way, thus being shaped by the people surrounding them through trying to imitate and follow them.

Gender identity disagreed with the previous school of thought that gender was determined solely by biology.

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Gender identity argued that infants are born a blank slate and a parent could be able to decide their babies' gender.

Gender identity reported that she had been somewhat tomboyish during childhood, enjoying stereotypically masculine childhood toys and interests, although her childhood friends were girls.

Gender identity's job at the time of the study was a blue-collar occupation that was practiced almost exclusively by men.

In 1955, John Money proposed that gender identity was malleable and determined by whether a child was raised as male or female in early childhood.

Gender identity is credited with introducing the term gender identity to the International Psychoanalytic Congress in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1963.

Concept of gender identity appeared in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in its third edition, DSM-III, in the form of two psychiatric diagnoses of gender dysphoria: gender identity disorder of childhood, and transsexualism.

In 2015, gender identity was part of a Supreme Court case in the United States called Obergefell v Hodges in which marriage was no longer restricted between man and woman.

Gender identity measures have been applied in clinical assessment studies of people with gender dysphoria or intersex conditions.