Sexual identity

In Sociology, the sexual identity refers to the kind by which a person is socially recognized; i.e. certain people recognize themselves as being a Homme or a Femme or in a less conventional way, but that can as refer to the kind as the other people allot to somebody on the basis of what they know of the social indicators of kind (Vêtement S, Coiffure, step, etc).

The identity of kind can be affected by a variety of social structures, including the pertaining cultural one, the social status, the professional situation, the education, the family.

Sexual identity - under surface

Many people are considered Cisgenre, their identity sexual being the same one as their biological kind (for example, a newborn with the female sexual organs, and high as a girl, feels woman). Before the 20th century, the sex of a person was only given by the appearance of the visible sexual organs, but at the time of discovered Chromosome S and Gène S, those started to be used to determine the kind. The people whose kind was defined as a woman have female sexual organs and two X chromosomes; those definite as men have the male bodies as well as a X chromosome and a Y chromosome. However, there are people who have combinations of chromosomes, Hormone reproductive S and bodies which do not enter the traditional definitions of " hommes" and of " femmes". The reproductive apparatuses vary from a person to other, certain individuals having more than one type of reproductive apparatus; other physical attributes allotted to the kind of a person (the shape of the body, facial pilosity, voice serious or acute, etc), can or not coincide with the kind allotted, man or woman, according to the appearance of the reproductive apparatuses. Recent research suggests that a person on hundred can have a intersexuelle characteristic . The Transgenre S are those whose sexual identity and/or the reproductive bodies and the chromosomes differ from the traditional definitions.

The sexual identities (and more specifically, aspects considered to raise of the good behavior of, or correct appearance for, a man or a woman), differ according to the culture. The sexual identity often does not follow the stereotyped roles d'" homme" and " femme" , and some into divergent more than others.

For including/understanding well the difference between the sexual kind and the sexual identity, the cases simplest to take are those where the external reproductive apparatus (Pénis, Clitoris…) was removed. The Libido and the capacity to express its sexual desire are changed, but the sexual identity can remain the same one. An example is that of David Reimer, whose penis was destroyed at the time of a Circoncision badly made shortly after its birth. A clitoris was built to him surgically, and it was high as a girl, but it always insisted on the fact that its sexual identity was that of a boy.

In other cases, the sexual identity of a person can contrast with her physical sexual kind (the reproductive bodies) and/or its appearance (Androgyne, man or woman) can not coincide with its sexual kind.

The term of sexual identity thus goes beyond the only sexual kind determined by the external sexual organs.

Creation of the sexual identity

The creation of the sexual identity is a complex process which starts with the design and implies not only the development of the Fœtus in the Utérus but also of the experiments of the life. The languages and the traditions of the majority of the cultures categorize all the individuals as a man or a woman, but there are some who include other categories, such as the North-Amerindians and their Berdache S, neither women nor men.

When the sexual identity of an individual is male, but its genitals are female (or vice versa), the individual can live a Dysphorie of kind, a great dissatisfaction caused by its experiment of life as a man or woman without the genitals of its sexual identity.

Research found that the sexual identity is proven in early childhood, and is then immutable. This research is generally made while requiring of the transsexuals to which age they realized that them sexual identity was not the same one as that imposed by the company. These studies evaluate that the age of the realization of the sexual identity goes from 2 to 3 years.

This research can pose problem if they do not make efforts to discover the age of discovered of the sexual identity of the people not-transsexuals. Some criticize the research made near the transsexuals, believing it likely in skews of sampling. The acquisition of the Therapy by hormones of substitution and the Chirurgie of sexual reassignment is generally controlled by the doctors. One of the questions which they pose to distinguish between the " vrais" transsexuals and the others is " When you realized that you are identified better with the opposite sex? " The researchers could thus involuntarily have eliminated certain people from their research while trying to determine the age of the formation of the sexual identity. The transsexuals can feel obliged to give the answer " correcte" to increase their chances to have the therapy by hormones of substitution. Patrick Califia, author of several works on sexuality, indicates that the transsexuals know which answers to give at the time them medical questionnaires in order to be entitled to the therapy and/or the surgery:

None the specialists in sexuality realizes that it is them the persons in charge of this situation where the people transsexuals must describe fixed symptoms and recite a history published in a way clearly prescribed to gain the approval of the doctors and thus to reach what should be a right inaliénable.

Problems - sexual identity and kind

Some believe that their sexual identity does not correspond to their biological kind, of which the transgenres, the transsexuals and much of intersexués. The complications follow when the company insists to make them adopt a sexual expression (man or woman) based on their biological kind, contrary with their sexual identity.

Intersexués are those whose sex chromosomal was not expressed in the genitals, from hormonal or different problems during the gestation of the fetus. They can thus be put with a kind of which they do not feel to form part. The causes of the Transgendérisme are less clear; they were the subject of many conjectures, but no psychological theory was proven to apply to same a minority of transgenres, and the theories basing itself on a sexual difference in the Cerveau are relatively new and difficult to prove because requiring a destructive analysis of the internal structures of the brain.

It has been possible to surgically reallocate the kind for a few decades. A person suffering from the dysphorie of kind can thus ask for this kind of medical intervention so that its genitals agree with its sexual identity. Certain people reached of the dysphorie of kind can however want to keep their genitals of origin but to adopt a role which corresponds to their sexual identity.

Relationship to the social kind

The term of " social" kind; has two definitions which can diverge according to the individual. The social kind gathers all the ways in which people express their sexual identity, but can be as defined as a kind of activities as the company judges acceptable for the people according to their genitals.

There are probably as many nuances and complexities of sexual identity and kind that there are the human ones on Ground. The companies, on the other hand, tend to assign certain roles with the individuals considered " mâles" and others with the individuals considered " femelles" , according to their manner of determining the kind. In certain cultures, there exist other social kinds, for example the surgically castrated males, the Eunuque S (see also will hijra). The bond between the sexual identity and the social kind can be vague. The sursimplification of origin is that where people are completely men or completely women, and that they all must behave in manner " naturellement" male or female (Hétéronormalité). The research made in the fields of the Biology and the Sociologie strongly supported the point of view: " the sex between the ears is more important than the sex between the jambes" , which implies that the people adopt the social kind of their sexual identity and express themselves as a man or woman or an other according to their sexual identity. It can be very difficult to determine, for example, if a Drag queen in particular is a person with female sexual identity which learns the female social kind or if it is a person with a male sexual identity which likes to imitate the female social kind to amuse the others or to make fun of the more strict people of its culture or for any other reason. Certain people, whose RuPaul, refuses to be categorized.

There are several very known people for their Cross-country race-dressingroom or their aspect Androgyne: Brett Anderson, Gladys Bentley, David Bowie, Pete Burns, Eddie Izzard, Boy George, Norman Iceberg, K.d. Lang, Annie Lennox, Jaye Davidson, Marilyn Manson, Marlene Dietrich, Mylène Farmer, Gackt, Grace Jones, Patrick Wolf, Marc Bolan, Brian Molko, Stalemate, Phranc, Prince, Susan Powter, Kate Bornstein, and Kristen McMenamy.

Origin of the concept

The psychologists started to study the development of the sexual identity of the children during the years 1950 and 1960, partly to include/understand the origins of the Homosexualité (at the time still thought like a mental health disorder). The Gender Identity Research Project was founded in 1958 with the the University of California to Los Angeles to study intersexués and the transsexuals. The psychanalist Robert Stoller speaks about many the results of their analyzes in his book Sex and Gender: One the Development off Masculinity and Femininity . One allots also the introduction to him of the term gender identity (sexual identity in English) at the time of the Congress Psychoanalytique International of 1963. The psychoendocrinologist John Money also played a big role in the development of the first theories concerning the sexual identity. Its work with the private clinic of the sexual identity to the Université Johns-Hopkins (established in 1965) developed and made connaìtre the theory interactionist of the sexual identity, which suggests that the sexual identity remains fluid and prone to constant negotiation until a certain age. Its book Man and Woman, Servant boy and Girl , was very much used in the universities.

Not-Western sexual identities

See also: Berdache and Third kind

Fa' afafine

In certain cultures Polynesia, the Fa' afafine are a Third kind on the same level as the men and the women. They are biologically male but behave in a way considered as typically female. According to Tamasailau Sua' ali' I, the fa' afafine of Samoa are physiologically unable of reproduction. The fa' afafine are accepted as a natural kind, and neither are discriminated nor scorned.

Hijra

In the culture of the Indian sub-continent, a will hijra is considered neither man nor woman. The majority are biologically men or intersexués, but some are biologically women.

See too

Internal bonds

External bonds

'' International Foundation for Gender Education ''
'' National Center for Transgender Equality ''
'' Public Gender Advocacy Coalition ''
'' Human Rights Campaign Foundation ''
'' The World Professional Association for Transgender Health, Inc.
''Genderology Directory''

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